I Am Brian Wilson
The genius behind the Beach Boys
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4.3 • 8 Ratings
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
THE EXTRAORDINARY, HEARTFELT MEMOIR OF THE LATE MUSICAL GENIUS
'My life has been written about over and over again, and that's mostly okay with me. Other people can talk about my life. Sometimes they'll get it right and sometimes they'll get it wrong. For me, when I think back across my own life, there are so many things that are painful. Sometimes I don't like discussing them. Sometimes I don't even like remembering them. But as I get older, the shape of that pain has changed. Sometimes memories come back to me when I least expect them. Maybe that's the only way it works when you've lived the life I've lived: starting a band with my brothers that was managed by my father, watching my father become difficult and then impossible, watching myself become difficult and then impossible, watching women I loved come and go, watching children come into the world, watching my brothers get older, watching them pass out of the world.
Some of those things shaped me. Others scarred me.... I've had a whole lifetime to take them in. Now I have a whole book to put them out there.'
Excerpt from I Am Brian Wilson
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this charming and powerfully written memoir that will engage a readership beyond the multitude of Beach Boys fans, Wilson honestly tells the story of his life from its humble beginnings in Southern California where he was raised by a father who routinely demeaned, frightened, and beat him to becoming a Kennedy Center Honoree for his 50 years of musical contributions to American culture. Despite his fame and success, Wilson comes off as a genuinely modest and gentle soul who, with the help of his second wife, Melinda, has come to terms with his ongoing mental illness, his past failures as a father, and the profoundly sad deaths of his brothers, Dennis and Carl, who, with Wilson, were core members of the Beach Boys. He goes into great detail about how the band's dozens of hits were produced and the many music superstars who added to the lush, complex arrangements Wilson is famous for. He recounts the pain of his many breakdowns and stays in psychiatric hospitals, as well as the nightmare years when Eugene Landy, Wilson's psychologist, brutally took control of the artist's life, forcing him to produce music for financial gain. Wilson's emotional authenticity is beguiling as he takes readers deeply into his mind, voices and all, to describe his unique manifestation of musical genius.
Customer Reviews
Thank you Brian!
The Wilson Family are all back together again now
Brian wilson
Well having read Mike loves book with great interest it seems all was not well within the beach boys from about 1967.
Brian's book confirms all of this, the bickering within the band and Brian's illness did not help.
A great read, would recommend you read both versions to get the real insight into my favourite band of all time.
Such a shame that so much went on between them.
Sang great harmonies but never in harmony in the studio.