Beach Boys

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The Beach Boys are an American rock and roll band. One of the biggest rock and roll groups of all time, the Beach Boys recorded thirty-six U.S. Top 40 hits (including four #1 singles) and many best-selling albums. The group has sold the most Top 40 hits of any U.S. rock and roll band, with Chicago at a close second place. Performing since 1960, the Beach Boys are America's longest running continuous rock group. They have sold more singles and albums than any other American rock band. The Beach Boys are especially well known for their distinctive vocal harmonies.

The act first gained popularity as the musical spokesmen for surfing, girls, and cars, but their chief composer Brian Wilson's growing creative ambitions transformed them into a more artistically innovative combo.

The primary group comprised singer-musician-composer Brian Wilson; his brothers, Carl and Dennis; their cousin Mike Love, and friend Alan Jardine. This core quintet, along with David Marks and Bruce Johnston, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Many changes in both musical style and personnel have occurred during their sometimes stormy career, notably Brian Wilson's mental illness, drug addiction, and eventual withdrawal from the group; the deaths of Dennis Wilson in 1983 and Carl Wilson in 1998; and continuing legal battles among surviving members of the group. After Carl Wilson's death, founding member Al Jardine was fired by Mike Love. However, Mike Love and Bruce Johnston leased the rights to the name from Brother Records and continue to officially tour as The Beach Boys.

The group was formed in 1960. The early inspirations of the group were the Wilsons' musician father, Murry and the close vocal harmonies of groups such as The Four Freshmen. From the beginning, the group relied on Brian Wilson; brother Dennis was later quoted as saying "Brian is the Beach Boys, and we are his messengers."

Although surfing motifs were very prominent in their early songs, Dennis was the sole actual surfer in the group.

On June 13, 2006, the major surviving Beach Boys (Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks) all set aside their differences and reunited for a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the album Pet Sounds and the double-platinum certification of their greatest hits compilation, Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys, in a ceremony atop the Capitol Records building in Hollywood. Plaques were awarded for their efforts to all major members, with Brian Wilson accepting for his late brothers Carl and Dennis. Wilson himself implied there was a chance that all the living members (not having performed together since September 1996) would reunite again.

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