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Brian Wilson

Highest Rated: 100% Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1994)

Lowest Rated: 70% The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean's American Pie (2022)

Birthday: Jun 20, 1942

Birthplace: Inglewood, California, USA

Arguably the most significant American pop composer of the 20th century, Brian Wilson was a founding member of the Beach Boys and a major influence on the sound and scope of popular music for over five decades. With brothers Dennis and Carl, cousin Mike Love and schoolmate Al Jardine, Wilson created a signature sound that linked folk and jazz vocal harmonies to rock's heavy beat, which instantly minted them as pop stars. His songwriting talents matured in the mid-1960s, moving from danceable pop ditties like "Surfin' Safari and "I Get Around" to mini-symphonies marked by lyrical beauty and intricate arrangements. The culmination of this period was the complex, emotionally stirring Pet Sounds, a high-water mark in the development of pop music as an art form. But the achievement came at a price; drugs and internal pressures within the group destroyed his proposed masterwork, SMiLE (1968), sending Wilson into a psychological tailspin for the next three decades. He resurfaced in 1995 with his demons in check, and began an astonishing string of musical accomplishments, including the completion of SMiLE in 2004. Eight years later, he stunned observers by reuniting with the surviving Beach Boys for That's Why God Made the Radio (2012), which returned them to the Top 5 for the first time in nearly four decades. Throughout his life, Brian Wilson clung to the idea that music was a direct link to love and spirituality, a notion that preserved his status as one of popular music's most revered figures.

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Highest rated movies

100% 70% Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey
Watchlist
94% 84% The Wrecking Crew Watchlist 89% 84% Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road Watchlist 89% 81% The Beach Boys Watchlist 89% 92% Echo in the Canyon Watchlist
87% 78% Mayor of the Sunset Strip
Watchlist
70% 70% The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean's American Pie
Watchlist
92% Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile
Watchlist
55% The Beach Boys: Making Pet Sounds
Watchlist
Brian Wilson
Watchlist

Filmography

Movies

Credit
89% 81% The Beach Boys Self - 2024
70% 70% The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean's American Pie Self - 2022
89% 84% Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road Self,
Executive Producer,
Original Music
- 2021
89% 92% Echo in the Canyon Self $3.4M 2018
No Score Yet 55% The Beach Boys: Making Pet Sounds Unknown (Character) - 2017
No Score Yet No Score Yet Revolting Screenwriter - 2010
94% 84% The Wrecking Crew Self $800.5K 2008
No Score Yet No Score Yet Brian Wilson Presents - Smile Unknown (Character) - 2005
No Score Yet 92% Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile Unknown (Character) - 2004
87% 78% Mayor of the Sunset Strip Self $257.3K 2003
No Score Yet No Score Yet An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson Unknown (Character) - 2001
No Score Yet No Score Yet Brian Wilson Unknown (Character) - 1995
100% 70% Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey Self $8.3K 1994
No Score Yet No Score Yet Reception to Follow Unknown (Character) - 1993
No Score Yet 63% The Beach Boys: An American Band Unknown (Character) - 1985

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet American Masters Self 2022
No Score Yet 55% The Kelly Clarkson Show Music Performer 2021
No Score Yet 50% The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Music Performer 2020
No Score Yet No Score Yet Soundstage Music Performer 2016
No Score Yet 12% The View Guest 2015
No Score Yet No Score Yet Conan Music Performer 2015
No Score Yet 42% Jimmy Kimmel Live! Music Performer 2015
No Score Yet No Score Yet Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Music Performer,
Guest
2012-2013
No Score Yet No Score Yet Classic Albums Guest 2010
No Score Yet No Score Yet Late Night With Conan O'Brien Music Performer 2008
No Score Yet No Score Yet Baywatch Self 1995
No Score Yet 57% Saturday Night Live Music Performer 1976