Mike Love mourned Brian Wilson as both family and musical partner after Wilson died on June 11, 2025, aged 82. “Today, the world lost a genius, and I lost a cousin by blood and my partner in music,” Love wrote in a tribute reproduced by iHeart.
What Mike Love said about Brian Wilson
Love’s tribute captured the two sides of their bond: Wilson was his cousin and a central collaborator in the Beach Boys. Speaking to the Associated Press after Wilson’s death, Love called the loss “a tough one.”
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At a June 12, 2025, Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York, Love also reflected on the band’s place in his life. “Without the Beach Boys, life would be a mistake,” he told the AP.
Family and songwriting partners
Love and Wilson were cousins, but their relationship also helped shape the Beach Boys’ early sound. According to the AP, they wrote “Surfin’,” the band’s first hit, in 1961. Their creative partnership made Love’s description of Wilson as a partner in music more than a figure of speech.
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- Format: Vinyl...
- Genre: Rock...
- Released: 2018-05-04...
- Format: Vinyl...
- Released: 2018-05-04...
A tribute set against a complicated history
Their working relationship had a difficult business chapter. The AP reported that Love sued over songwriting credits, arguing he had been deprived of credit on dozens of songs. That dispute is part of their history, but it does not erase the personal grief Love expressed after Wilson’s death.
Wilson’s place in the Songwriters Hall of Fame
Love’s tribute came as he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2025. Wilson had entered the Hall in 2000, the AP reported; the two were not inducted together.
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How the Beach Boys remembered Wilson onstage
In an August 2025 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Love said a video tribute to Wilson was being played at the band’s concerts, adding, “He’s with us every night in the music.” That describes Love’s account at the time; it does not establish the band’s current concert set list.
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