Beach Boy Mike Love – even when Brian couldn’t speak we sang together | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV

As writers of some of the most magical hits ever, Beach Boys Brian Wilson and Mike Love were famed for the harmonies that created such classic pop moments as California Girls, I Get Around and the timeless wonder of Good Vibrations. With Brian writing the music and Mike the lyrics, chemistry forged as cousins growing up together in Los Angeles emerged in songs which captured the glamour of their surroundings.

Sadly, Brian suffered from dementia in his later years. He also suffered from sepsis and cystitis before his death last month, aged 82. But Mike has movingly revealed how Brian’s love of singing endured right up until the end of his life, even when he struggled to speak. Talking to the Daily Express from his home in California, Mike revealed: “I was able to visit Brian three weeks before he passed. What Brian wanted me to do was to sing for him.

“Brian asked me to sing Fun, Fun, Fun, so I sang that. Then he said: ‘Sing Surfin’ USA!’, so I sang Surfin’ USA to him. I sang I Get Around for Brian, too. We even harmonised on a song called Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring. That was a song by The Four Freshmen, a group which was a huge influence on The Beach Boys’ harmonies.”

Despite Brian’s health problems, Mike says his cousin and bandmate loved their final moments together. Smiling as he describes that last visit, Mike says: “Brian had trouble forming a sentence. But he had no problem asking me to sing, and he had no problem with that harmony. It was a very sweet moment.”

The cousins’ closeness in their final days belies longstanding claims that Mike, 84, is resentful of Brian’s reputation as the genius of The Beach Boys. Over our video call, Mike has nothing but warmth and admiration for his cousin’s talents, enthusing: “I’d think up concepts for the lyrics and hooks in our records which would make people feel good. That was my contribution to Brian’s brilliant music.

“Brian came up with such fantastic tracks, in the way he structured harmonies and his chord progressions.” Referring to The Beach Boys’ landmark 1966 album, Mike laughs: “Listen to Pet Sounds. How the heck did Brian ever do that?”

Mike is especially proud of Good Vibrations and its euphorically beautiful melody. Describing the positivity of The Beach Boys’ music, Mike explains: “Life is challenging enough. When we came up with Good Vibrations, it was 1966: the Vietnam War was going on. There were student demonstrations, civil rights issues and apartheid was so strong in South Africa.

“But I wanted to write a song about the positive part of the 1960s, of how people were into peace, love and flower power. When I write, I want to accentuate the positive. So I wrote words which went along with this beautiful track Brian had already come up with. Not only did Good Vibrations top the chart, it was the most avant-garde song to have been a number one record. And Good Vibrations is still avant-garde now, it’s so unique.”

Despite Mike’s positivity, he admits his final work with his cousin was soured by a troubled relationship with Brian’s producer, Joe Thomas.

The cousins reunited in 2012 for The Beach Boys’ final studio album featuring Brian, That’s Why God Made The Radio. It was their first music together for 16 years. The band toured together again to promote album, but Mike admits: “It was produced by a guy who barely let me do anything with Brian, although we both wanted to do stuff together. I just appliquéd an occasional word here and there. So it wasn’t that special, as it wasn’t like doing our earlier recordings. That’s when it was special.”

Although The Beach Boys created so many timeless moments, when asked for his favourite memory of Brian, Mike picks a time before they began making music together.

His mother Emily had been an amateur opera singer and he describes growing up in “a household all about music”. A year younger, Brian was also obsessed with music. Mike smiles warmly, recalling: “We’d go Christmas carolling together. As teenagers, we’d practice harmonies. But, as he had to get up for work early, my dad would sometimes kick us out of the house.

“So then we’d go in Brian’s car, a Nash Rambler, and listen to the radio. Times like that, which don’t have anything to do with the music business, were some of the greatest times.” Famously, Brian became a reclusive, troubled soul after experimenting with drugs, leading the maverick great to withdraw from regular society at the height of The Beach Boys’ fame in the early 1970s.

It’s partly why Mike savours those pre-success days, as he recalls: “The great times with Brian go back to childhood, living life. We both had silly senses of humour. We’d make each other laugh hysterically, just being silly.”

That sense of humour was one The Beach Boys shared with The Beatles. The two groups became instant friends, pushing each other onto ever greater heights. “Us and The Beatles, that was definitely a friendly rivalry,” chuckles Mike. “We talked about girls and cars with them. I was a big Anglophile when it came to cars, so I could talk to George Harrison particularly about cars, as he was into car racing.”

When The Beatles were on tour in Portland, Oregon, in 1965, The Beach Boys even came to their rescue. Mike, Brian’s brother Carl and then-new singer Bruce Johnstone were backstage before the show, when John Lennon approached them.

Mike recalls: “John’s voice was out, gone. He asked us, ‘When we get to this part of the song, shake your heads like you’re fans. The girls will scream, and nobody will hear that I can’t sing it.’”

Two years later, Mike’s friendship with George intensified when The Beatles and The Beach Boys studied transcendental meditation together in India. George’s bandmates soon dismissed their experiences studying with spiritual leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – but Mike still meditates every day.

He says of that time: “George had his birthday in India on February 25 and I had mine on March 15. We were both Pisces, and I wrote the song Pisces Brothers about George, so that I could reminisce about a special time together in India.

“George was a spiritual person, a great songwriter and just a nice guy. Not everyone stuck with meditation, and it didn’t mean much to them, but I’ve practiced it regularly ever since December 1967. It’s given me clarity, energy and peace of mind. It’s been a huge help. To say the least, I’ve got really into it.”

Despite Mike’s general air of calm, he admits he was frustrated that it took until last month to be officially recognised for his songwriting talents, when he was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall Of Fame in New York.

Brian was inducted in 2000, and Mike says of the long wait to join him: “Being inducted is in the ‘better late than never’ category, because my cousin and I wrote those songs together. But it’s nice to get recognition for the things you’ve done and it couldn’t have been a nicer event.”

For Mike, he became aware of The Beach Boys’ potential greatness soon after they started. Playing at a “tiny ballroom” in Minnesota in 1963, he saw a long line of cars parked outside, full of people desperate to see their concert. Then fans began breaking the ballroom’s windows to gain entry.

Mike reveals: “Brian and I looked at each other, and he said, ‘This must be what it was like when Elvis started out!’ We had no other frame of reference for what being famous was like. But we knew what we were doing must be pretty special, for people starting to break windows just to see us play.”

More than 60 years on, The Beach Boys’ concerts are still pretty special. They play their only British concert this year at Englefield House in Reading on July 20. Mike and Bruce Johnstone remain in the band from their 1960s heyday – and Mike has no intention of calling it a day. Scoffing at the thought of retirement, he says: “The main reason I keep getting inspired is seeing the audiences’ responses. It’s great to be able to sing songs that make people feel so good. How wonderful that our music can do that.

“Seeing that effect on thousands of people, it’s unbelievable. How could I not be impressed and touched by that? That’s something that will never leave me.”

• The Beach Boys perform their only UK show this year on July 20 at Englefield House, as part of Heritage Live Festivals. See heritagelive.net for tickets