Деннис Уилсон: Музыкант, барабанщик The Beach Boys и трагическая судьба.

American musician (1944–1983)

Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician who co founded the Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. Dennis was the only true surfer in the Beach Boys, and his personal life exemplified the "California Myth" that the band's early songs often celebrated. He was also known for his association with the Manson Family and for co starring in the 1971 film Two Lane Blacktop. Wilson served mainly on drums and baritone backing vocals for the Beach Boys. His playing can be heard on many of the group's hits, belying the popular misconception that he was always replaced on record by studio musicians. During his final years, Wilson struggled with alcoholism and the use of other drugs (including cocaine and heroin), exacerbating longstanding tensions with some of his bandmates. His solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue (1977), was released to warm reviews and moderate sales comparable to those of contemporaneous Beach Boys albums. Carl said, "Brian liked to use [session drummer] Hal [Blaine] because he was so much more reliable than Dennis, but whenever Dennis got the chance to play he always did a great job. He played drums on more of our records than most people realize. I think because he didn't play on Pet Sounds everybody assumes he never played at all, and that's just not the case." During the Smile sessions, Dennis played on "Vega Tables", "Holidays", and "Good Vibrations". It is rumored that the album's working title, Dumb Angel, referred to Dennis himself. Van Dyke Parks, the project's lyricist, credited Wilson with inspiring the name of the would be album track "Surf's Up". Dennis said that the group ultimately scrapped Smile because they became "very paranoid about the possibility of losing our public. Drugs played a great role in our evolution but as a result we were frightened that people would no longer understand us, musically."

On April 6, 1968, Wilson was driving through Malibu when he noticed two female hitchhikers, Patricia Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey. He picked them up and dropped them off at their destination. On April 11, Wilson noticed the same two girls hitchhiking again. This time he took them to his home at 14400 Sunset Boulevard. He recalled that he "told [the girls] about our involvement with the Maharishi and they told me they too had a guru, a guy named Charlie [Manson] who'd recently come out of jail after 12 years." Wilson then went to a recording session; when he returned later that night, he was met in his driveway by Charles Manson, and when Wilson walked into his home, about a dozen people were occupying the premises, most of them young women. They were later known as members of the "Manson Family". Wilson was initially fascinated by Manson and his followers, referring to him as "the Wizard" in a Rave magazine article at the time. Band engineer Stephen Desper said that the Manson sessions were done "for Dennis [Wilson] and Terry Melcher". In September 1968, Wilson recorded a Manson song for the Beach Boys, originally titled "Cease to Exist" but reworked as "Never Learn Not to Love", as a single B side released the following December. The writing was credited solely to Wilson. When asked why Manson was not credited, Wilson explained that Manson relinquished his publishing rights in favor of "about a hundred thousand dollars' worth of stuff". Around this time, the Family destroyed Wilson's Ferrari, as well as his Mercedes Benz, which had been driven to a mountain outside Spahn Ranch.

Growing fearful of the situation, Wilson distanced himself from Manson and moved out of the house, leaving Manson and his followers there, and subsequently took residence with Gregg Jakobson at a basement apartment in Santa Monica. Virtually all of Wilson's household possessions were stolen by the Family; the members were evicted from his home three weeks before the lease was scheduled to expire. When Manson subsequently sought further contact, he left a bullet with Wilson's housekeeper to be delivered with a threatening message. Conversely, band manager Nick Grillo said that Wilson became more concerned after Manson had got "into a much heavier drug situation taking a tremendous amount of acid and Dennis wouldn't tolerate it and asked him to leave. It was difficult for Dennis because he was afraid of Charlie." Writing in his 2016 memoir, Mike Love recalled Wilson saying he had witnessed Manson shooting a black man "in half" with an M16 rifle and hiding the body inside a well. Melcher said that Wilson had been aware that the Family "were killing people" and had been "so freaked out he just didn't want to live anymore. He was afraid, and he thought he should have gone to the authorities, but he didn't, and the rest of it happened."

In August 1969, Manson Family members perpetrated the Tate–LaBianca murders. Shortly afterward, Manson visited Wilson's home, telling him that he had "just been to the moon", and demanded money, which Wilson agreed to give to him. That November, Manson was apprehended and charged with numerous counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Wilson refused to testify against Manson. He explained: "I couldn't. I was so scared." Instead, he was privately interviewed by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. Wilson's testimony was deemed inessential since Jakobson agreed to publicly testify and corroborate Wilson's claims. Melcher later commented that Wilson had not been taken to the stand because the prosecutors "thought he was nuts, and by that time he was. He had a hard time separating reality from fantasy." Bugliosi said that when he attempted to procure tapes of the songs that Wilson had recorded with Manson, Wilson responded that he had destroyed them because "the vibrations connected with them didn't belong on this earth." In the subsequent years, Wilson allegedly received death threats from members of the Manson Family, who telephoned his home and told him: "You're next". In 1976, he commented that "I don't talk about Manson. I think he's a sick fuck. I think of Roman and all those wonderful people who had a beautiful family and they fucking had their tits cut off. I want to benefit from that?" In the 1978 biography The Beach Boys and the California Myth, Wilson acknowledged the interest in his relationship with Manson and said: "I know why [he] did what he did. Someday, I'll tell the world. I'll write a book and explain why he did it." According to biographer Mark Dillon: "Some attribute [Wilson's] subsequent spiral of self destructive behavior ― particularly his drug intake ― to these fears and feelings of guilt for ever having introduced this evil Wizard into the Hollywood scene." On December 4, Stateside/EMI released "Sound of Free", a single issued only in Europe and the UK under the credit "Dennis Wilson & Rumbo". The B side was the Sunflower outtake "Lady" (also known as "Fallin' In Love"). At the Beach Boys' concerts in 1971, Dennis played solo piano renditions of his songs "Barbara" and "I've Got a Friend". Biographer Jon Stebbins writes, "He was developing a power ballad style that would become his signature." Dennis's two song contributions to the Beach Boys' August 1971 album Surf's Up – "4th of July" and "(Wouldn't It Be Nice to) Live Again" – were left off the record. At the time, Dennis stated that he "pulled" the songs off the record because he did not feel they flowed well alongside the other tracks. According to band manager Jack Rieley, the absence of any Dennis songs on Surf's Up was for two reasons: to quell political infighting within the group concerning the album's share of Wilson brother songs, and because Dennis wanted to save his songs for a solo album. Engineer Stephen Desper said of Dennis's album, "ninety percent of it was ninety percent done". Fred Vail, the band's co manager, described the album as "diamonds never cut and polished", and explained, "The Beach Boys obviously weren't buying into his songs as part of the group output." Several tracks from the album – "Baby Baby", "It's a New Day", "I've Got a Friend", "Behold the Night", "Hawaiian Dream", "Medley: All Of My Love / Ecology", and "Before" – were released on the 2021 box set Feel Flows. In June 1971, Dennis injured his hand badly enough to prevent him from playing drums for some time, so Ricky Fataar took over as the group's drummer between 1972 and 1974. Stebbins writes, "Now, during concerts, the impulsive, physically aggressive Dennis would be reduced to sitting behind a keyboard or standing off to one side behind a microphone. It hurt him deeply. He felt like a caged animal. His drinking became worse and his participation in the band became erratic." Biographer David Leaf wrote that, by this time, "Dennis was constantly quitting [the band] or getting fired and then rejoining." Two more songs intended for Dennis's album – "Make it Good" and "Old Movie" (retitled "Cuddle Up") – were ultimately placed on the Beach Boys' 1972 release Carl and the Passions – "So Tough". Dennis wrote and produced two songs – "Steamboat" and "Only with You" – on their next album, Holland (1973). A third song, "Carry Me Home", was left off the record. The cover of their 1973 live album, The Beach Boys in Concert, depicts only Dennis onstage, although the album itself contains none of his songs.

Wilson's onstage antics (including streaking) occasionally disrupted the Beach Boys' live shows. He continued recording for his forthcoming solo album at the band's Brother Studios facility in Santa Monica. In 1974, concurrent with the success of the greatest hits compilation Endless Summer, Dennis returned to his role behind the drums. According to Billy Hinsche, keyboardist for the Beach Boys' supporting band, it was during this year that Dennis co wrote the lyrics and modified part of the melody of "You Are So Beautiful" while attending a party with Billy Preston. Hinsche said, "I was there that night, and I would not dispute that Dennis had a hand in writing 'You Are So Beautiful,' and that's the reason we would do it in concert." By 1977, Dennis had amassed a stockpile of songs he had written and recorded while factions within the Beach Boys became too stressful for him. He expressed: "If these people want to take this beautiful, happy, spiritual music we've made and all the things we stand for and throw it out the window just because of money, then there's something wrong with the whole thing and I don't want any part of it." Despite Dennis claiming the album had "no substance", Pacific Ocean Blue received positive reviews and later developed status as a cult item, ultimately selling nearly 250,000 copies. The album remained largely out of print between the 1990s and 2000s.

Pacific Ocean Blue follow up, Bambu, began production in 1978 at Brother Studios, with the collaboration of then Beach Boys keyboardist and Dennis' close friend Carli Muñoz as songwriter and producer. The first four songs officially recorded for Bambu were Muñoz's compositions: "It's Not Too Late", "Constant Companion", "All Alone", and "Under the Moonlight". The project was initially scuttled by lack of financing, Dennis' physical and mental decline due to alcoholism and severe drug abuse, which stemmed from his severe economic and marital problems at the time, and the distractions of simultaneous Beach Boys projects. Bambu was officially released in 2008 along with the Pacific Ocean Blue reissue. This material was also released on vinyl in 2017, without Pacific Ocean Blue, for Record Store Day. Two songs from the Bambu sessions, "Love Surrounds Me" and "Baby Blue," were lifted for the Beach Boys' L. A. (Light Album) (1979). Dennis and Brian also recorded together apart from the Beach Boys in the early 1980s. These sessions remain unreleased, although they are widely bootlegged as The Cocaine Sessions.

In succeeding years, Dennis abused alcohol, cocaine and heroin. Following a confrontation on an airport tarmac, he declared to Rolling Stone on September 3, 1977, that he had left the Beach Boys: "They kept telling me I had my solo album now, like I should go off in a corner and leave the Beach Boys to them. The album really bothers them. They don't like to admit it's doing so well; they never even acknowledge it in interviews." Two weeks later, disputes were resolved, and Dennis rejoined the group. As the Beach Boys pressured Brian to readmit himself into Eugene Landy's 24 hour therapy program, Dennis was informed by friends that he would be the band's next target, to Dennis's disbelief. On December 28, 1983, Dennis drowned at Marina Del Rey after drinking all day and then diving in the afternoon to recover his ex wife's belongings, previously thrown overboard at the marina from his yacht three years earlier amidst their divorce. On January 4, 1984, Dennis's body was buried at sea by the U. S. Coast Guard, off the California coast. The Beach Boys released a statement shortly thereafter: "We know Dennis would have wanted to continue in the tradition of the Beach Boys. His spirit will remain in our music." Dennis's widow Shawn Love reported that Dennis had wanted a burial at sea, and his brothers Carl and Brian did not want Dennis cremated. At the time, only veterans of the Coast Guard and Navy were allowed to be buried in US waters without being first cremated, but Dennis's burial was made possible by the intervention of then President Ronald Reagan. In 2002, Brian expressed unhappiness with the arrangement, believing that Dennis should have been given a traditional burial.

In the 1990 television movie Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys, Wilson is portrayed by Bruce Greenwood. In the 2000 miniseries The Beach Boys: An American Family, Wilson is portrayed by Nick Stabile. In the 2015 movie Love & Mercy, Wilson is portrayed by Kenny Wormald. In 2019, Wilson appeared as a character on the NBC crime drama series Aquarius, portrayed by Andy Favreau. Wilson is a minor character in Quentin Tarantino's 2021 novel Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.