Brian Wilson in the Beach Boys

I was just kind of trippin on him lately. Him and Syd Barret are probably the most famous schizophrenics in music ever. Maybe it should be just Brian Wilson alone since Barret never was really officially diagnosed. Brian Wilson actually made a comeback in recent after years of dealing with this illness.He now performs and occasionally releases CD’s. His appearance is a little sad. You can see in his eyes what he’s been through and he looks worn out. He has those haunted eyes. It’s hard to believe from seeing him singing now but on most of the Beach Boys biggest hits that’s him singing lead vocals. He had an outstanding voice and seeing him on YouTube in videos before he got sick is simply amazing. I would say he is almost on par with John Lennon musically. Not better, but surely in the same league. It’s hard to imagine that voice coming out of anyone let alone Wilson.

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That’s him in the middle singing lead on one of my favorite songs of theirs.

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Good song. I didn’t know that Brian Wilson had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. I knew vaguely that something was wrong with him.

If you are interested you could probably find his story somewhere online. It’s an interesting read. What’s interesting also is that some of the Beach Boys hung around Charles Manson in the sixties before those murders.

Brian Wilson

As former leader of the Beach Boys, Grammy Award-winning singer Brian Wilson became one of Rolling Stone’s 100 greatest singers of all time. However, Wilson had numerous mental problems, including schizoaffective disorder that caused him to suffer from delusions similar to schizophrenia. There are many theories regarding the cause of his problems, including drug abuse and a stroke. Luckily, Wilson gained control over his problems and he continues to perform to this day.

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“Wilson suffers from auditory hallucinations, and has been formally diagnosed as mildly manic-depressive with schizoaffective disorder that presents itself in the form of disembodied voices.According to him, he only began having hallucinations in 1965 shortly after experimenting with psychedelic drugs.”

thanks Nick for bringin up Brian Wilson…I love Pet Sounds and listen to it almost once a week…I also love the other “commercial” beach boys but Pet Sounds is my favorite…he is genius and such a voice, I agree…you might check out “smile”…brian’s solo project that took a long, long time to compose for brian…I saw him perform with the beach boys for the grammy’s a couple of years ago…he was still on spot with his singing…

I was never into the beach Boys much, but I do respect them and I knew about Brian Wilson having schizoaffective disorder, I do admire him for being successful after his diagnosis - If my memory serves me right, there was some sort of controversy surrounding his doctor treating him for years - can’t remember what it was exactly.
But from what I understand Brian wrote - composed his music as well as performing. I hope he is doing well

i know he was successful b4 he got ill but it just goes to show that with the right support, it doesn’t have to stop u achieving ur dreams xxx

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My favourite Beach boys song.

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Good song @firemonkey. Thanks for posting.

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