• February 23, 1998
• Vol. 49
• No. 7

End of a Long Ride

In Stormy Times, Carl Wilson Kept the Beach Boys Afloat

LAST DECEMBER, CAROL KAYE, A STUDIO Musician who had played with the Beach Boys in the 1960s on hits such as "Help Me, Rhonda" and "Good Vibrations," caught up with Brian Wilson and experienced some very bad vibrations. Wilson, 55, was the creative force behind the band whose songs about California surfer girls, little deuce coupes and teenage angst helped define American rock in the 1960s. But, as Kaye recalls, their reunion was melancholic that day. "Brian said, 'You know, pretty soon I'm going to be the only Wilson left,' " says Kaye. "I knew right then that Carl was in trouble."

In fact, Carl Wilson, the band's lead guitarist and the youngest of its three brothers (drummer Dennis Wilson drowned in 1983 at 39), had been diagnosed last March with lung cancer, which was later found to have spread to his brain. But the longtime heavy smoker (who quit in 1987) had insisted on joining the Beach Boys' 36th annual summer tour, where, weakened by chemotherapy, he sometimes played guitar while sitting. Such quiet strength was characteristic of Carl, the steady rock who had kept the band going in spite of the brothers' periodic bouts with drugs. On Feb. 6, Carl died at 51 in the rented L.A. home he shared with second wife Gina, 41 (Dean Martin's daughter), and sons Jonah, 28, and Justyn, 26, from his first marriage to Annie Hinsche.

Brian, Beach Boys vocalist Mike Love and guitarist Al Jardine were among those attending a private funeral service last Tuesday in L.A. The mourners also included Carl's former manager, Jerry Schilling. "I just lost my best friend," he says. "For a lot of months, we thought he was going to beat this—including the doctors."