DIVISION 2 Chino Hills 8, Redlands East Valley 7 Etiwanda 11, Santa Monica 10 La Habra 13, Alta Loma 10 Los Alamitos 22, Walnut 13 Orange Lutheran 11, San Marino 10 El Segundo 17, Edison 16 Damien 14, Crescenta Valley 11 Crean Lutheran 21, Carpinteria 13 Redondo Union 12, La Serna 8 Royal 11, Riverside King 10 Ventura 11, Corona Santiago 6 Aliso Niguel 16, Dana Hills 13 Capistrano Valley 17, Woodbridge 6 Anaheim Canyon 6, Murrieta Valley 5 St. John Bosco 11, Portola 9 Riverside Poly 14, Cate 9
DIVISION 3 Camarillo 11, Flintridge Prep 5 Burbank 13, Agoura 9 Trabuco Hills 21, Eastvale Roosevelt 13 Bonita 17, Brentwood 3 Temple City 19, Redlands 13 Arcadia 8, Yorba Linda 7 Glendora 15, Troy 10 Malibu 14, Millikan 8 Santa Barbara 11, Valley View 9 Hoover 9, Elsinore 8 Pasadena Poly 9, Schurr 7 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 18, Villa Park 8 Irvine University 11, Fullerton 9 Great Oak 14, Long Beach Poly 10 Brea Olinda 11, Rancho Cucamonga 9 Cathedral at Temecula Valley
DIVISION 4 Charter Oak 18, Webb 8 Santa Ana 11, Tustin 9 Garden Grove Pacifica at La Canada Placentia Valencia 15, Temescal Canyon 8 Aquinas at Buena Park Anaheim 15, La Quinta 8 Palm Desert 13, Los Altos 11 Hemet 21, Paloma Valley 9 Glendale 22, La Salle 15 Western 16, Estancia 15 Mission Viejo 10, Sunny Hills 6 Culver City 21, West Covina 12 Liberty 15, West Torrance 3 Sonora 14, Don Lugo 10 South Torrance at Xavier Prep Garden Grove at Corona
DIVISION 5 Fontana 21, Bolsa Grande 7 Edgewood 13, Lakeside 9 Ramona 17, Heritage 7 Chino 6, Los Amigos 5 Warren 19, Cerritos 4 Westminster 16, Summit 10 Rowland 14, Pioneer 13 Norte Vista 21, Artesia 9 Montebello 16, Nogales 3 La Mirada 5, Chaffey 4 San Bernardino 21, Westminster La Quinta 11 Hillcrest 21, Indio 10 La Palma Kennedy 22, Riverside Notre Dame 6 Nordhoff 16, Savanna 12 Santa Fe 9, California 8 Baldwin Park 21, West Valley 7
FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 5 p.m. unless noted)
First Round
DIVISION 1 Servite at Loyola San Marcos at San Juan Hills Huntington Beach at Buena San Clemente at Dos Pueblos Downey at Mater Dei Sage Hill at Yucaipa Westlake at Beckman Foothill at Harvard-Westlake
Note:Open Division Pool Play second round Nov. 1 at higher seeds; Divisions 2-5 second round Nov. 4; Open Division Pool Play third round Nov. 5 at higher seeds; Division 1 quarterfinals Nov. 6; Divisions 2-5 quarterfinals Nov. 7; Open Division crossover round Nov. 8 at higher seed; Divisions 2-5 semifinals Nov. 11; Open Division semifinals Nov. 12 at Woollett Aquatics Center; Division 1 semifinals Nov. 12; Finals (all divisions) Nov. 15 at Mt. San Antonio College.
Note:Open Division Pool Play second round Nov. 1 at higher seeds; Divisions 2-5 second round Nov. 4; Open Division Pool Play third round Nov. 5 at higher seeds; Division 1 quarterfinals Nov. 6; Divisions 2-5 quarterfinals Nov. 7; Open Division crossover round Nov. 8 at higher seed; Divisions 2-5 semifinals Nov. 11; Open Division semifinals Nov. 12 at Woollett Aquatics Center; Division 1 semifinals Nov. 12; Finals (all divisions) Nov. 15 at Mt. San Antonio College.
Note:Open Division Pool Play second round Nov. 1 at higher seeds; Divisions 2-5 second round Nov. 4; Open Division Pool Play third round Nov. 5 at higher seeds; Division 1 quarterfinals Nov. 6; Divisions 2-5 quarterfinals Nov. 7; Open Division crossover round Nov. 8 at higher seed; Divisions 2-5 semifinals Nov. 11; Open Division semifinals Nov. 12 at Woollett Aquatics Center; Division 1 semifinals Nov. 12; Finals (all divisions) Nov. 15 at Mt. San Antonio College.
My Life With the Walter Boys fans were left in a frenzy after spotting a clue that could suggest Jackie Howard and Cole Walter are endgame in the Netflix drama.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from My Life With the Walter Boys.
My Life With the Walter Boys fans were absolutely thrilled to hear a Gracie Abrams hit featured during a pivotal scene between Jackie Howard and Cole Walter.
The second series of the Netflix teen romantic drama dropped today, Thursday, August 28, 18 months after that cliff-hanger ending.
Despite being in a relationship with Alex Walter (played by Ashby Gentry), Jackie Howard (Nikki Rodriguez) shared a steamy kiss with his brother Cole Walter (Noah LaLonde) in the barn.
This led her to abandon Silver Falls and head back to New York but following some words of wisdom from Katherine Walter (Sarah Rafferty), Jackie makes her way back to the ranch.
During the opening episode, Jackie did everything possible to steer clear of Cole, determined not to create drama once more but it’s the closing scene where he corners her alone in the barn.
Singer Gracie Abrams’ song Let It Happen features in My Life With the Walter Boys season two.(Image: GETTY)
Following an uncomfortable initial meeting, she attempts to leave when he pleads: “Can you please stop running away from me? Don’t go.”
Whilst this scene unfolds, Gracie Abrams’ 2024 smash Let It Happen soundtrack the moment with the tune intensifying until she spins round and they gaze at each other with burning intensity.
Delighted viewers flocked to social media to share their thoughts on this scene, with one posting: “Not them playing Let It Happen for Jackie and Cole OMG. The buzz.
“Let It Happen playing during the Jackie and Cole scene? Gracie OMG? I might change team,” another declared, alluding to supporters’ Team Cole and Team Alex split.
My Life With the Walter Boys sparks frenzy as Gracie Abrams hit plays during tense reunion(Image: NETFLIX)
One fan hailed it as “Gracie world domination” as another of the singer’s tracks featured in the latest episode of Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Another viewer chimed in: “Cole and Jackie…Let It Happen…OMFG…Baby that’s endgame right there.”
But does this hint at a future for Jackie and Cole, or could a reignited flame with Alex throw a monkey wrench into their plans?
Regardless of how this series concludes, there’s plenty more drama to unravel, with the show already securing a third season set to premiere in 2026.
My Life With the Walter Boys is currently streaming on Netflix.
My Life With The Walter Boys season two is on the horizon and Netflix has already renewed the hit teenage drama for a third outing.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from My Life With The Walter Boys.
Netflix’s My Life With The Walter Boys season two is on its way and fans are chomping at the bit to get all the juicy details.
The life of Jackie Howard (portrayed by Nikki Rodriguez) took a dramatic turn in the first series when she was compelled to leave New York and move in with her mum’s best mate Katherine Walter (Sarah Rafferty) in Silver Falls, Colorado, following the tragic demise of her family.
She had no idea that she would be sharing a roof with nine lads, including two nephews, and Katherine and George’s (Marc Blucas) only daughter Parker Walter (Alix West Lefler).
What came as an even bigger surprise was the budding love triangle between herself, the gentle-hearted Alex (Ashby Gentry), and the seemingly rebellious Cole Walter (Noah LaLonde).
But what’s next after Jackie’s passionate kiss with Cole before her abrupt departure from Silver Falls?
My Life With The Walter Boys season two will see Alex Walter learn rodeo training.(Image: NETFLIX)
My Life With The Walter Boys season two release date
The countdown is on for the return of My Life With The Walter Boys for its second season, with the Netflix sensation set to make a comeback on Thursday, 28 August, on Netflix.
Netflix has also already given the green light for a third instalment of the drama, with production for My Life With The Walter Boys season three already in progress.
My Life With The Walter Boys season two cast
All the main stars from the inaugural series will be back for the second run of My Life With The Walter Boys.
This includes Rodriguez reprising her role as Jackie, LaLonde as Cole, Gentry as Alex, and Rafferty as Katherine.
My Life With The Walter Boys season 2 release date, cast and plot as Netflix hit returns(Image: NETFLIX)
Other stars returning to their roles include Marc Blucas as George, Johnny Link as Will, Connor Stanhope as Danny, Corey Fogelmanis as Nathan and Ellie O’Brien as Grace.
Several fresh faces are joining the cast this series, featuring actress Natalie Sharp as champion rodeo rider Blake Hartford, Carson MacCormac as charming senior Zach, Joanne Wagner as Grace’s traditional mum, Riele Downs as “flirty” Maria and Jake Manley as competitive rodeo rider Wylder Holt.
What to expect from My Life With The Walter Boys season two
Jackie will be heading back to Silver Falls following her summer stint in New York, a spontaneous journey triggered by her kiss with Cole.
She’ll be attempting to rebuild her bond with Alex, establishing limits with Cole and seeking to rediscover her position within the Walter household.
Meanwhile, Alex will be concentrating on rodeo preparation whilst Cole continues to grapple with losing his football identity and quickly reverts to previous patterns.
There’s also drama brewing for George and Will as their scheme to transform their farm into a commercial venture doesn’t receive a warm reception from all community members.
My Life With The Walter Boys season two launches on Thursday, August 28, on Netflix.
It was a sight that’s been all too rare this season, coming precisely when the Dodgers needed it most.
Mookie Betts, bat in hand, game on the line. A swing as smooth as it was strong, his two-handed finish sending the ball out of sight.
For so much of this year, the Dodgers have been picking Betts up amid a career-worst season at the plate.
On Sunday afternoon, with a rivalry game and division lead hanging in the balance, he returned the favor with his biggest moment in what felt like ages.
After once leading by four, then watching the San Diego Padres claw back to tie the score, the Dodgers completed a weekend series sweep on Betts’ go-ahead home run in the eighth.
The no-doubt, 394-foot, stadium-shaking blast sent the Dodgers to a 5-4 win and gave them a two-game lead in the National League West; and had Betts skipping around the bases with a swagger that has been missing for much of the campaign.
“It’s been a long time,” Betts said — since he had delivered such a clutch hit, looked so much like his old self at the dish, and trusted a swing that has frustrated him since the earliest days of the season.
“Finally, I did something good for the boys that’s with the bat. I feel like I’ve done a decent job with the glove. But the bat, I haven’t really been able to help much. So just good to help with that.”
Mookie Betts hits a solo home run for the Dodgers in eighth inning Sunday against the Padres.
As Betts came to the plate in the eighth, Dodger Stadium stood still in a silent, tense trance.
In the first inning, the team had ambushed Padres starter Yu Darvish for four runs on long balls from Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages.
But from there, a crowd of 49,189 watched the Padres slowly come back.
Tyler Glasnow fizzled after two electric opening innings, leaving the game at the end of the fifth after allowing two runs.
A patchwork Dodgers bullpen couldn’t hold off the Padres, giving up runs in the top of the sixth and eighth to make it a 4-4 game.
At that point, San Diego had the advantage. Their league-best bullpen was fresh. Their closer, Robert Suarez, was on the mound. And the Dodgers were almost completely out of pitching options, having burned five relievers to get the previous nine outs.
But then, Betts delivered. In a 2-and-0 count against Suarez, he launched a center-cut fastball deep into the left-field stands.
“To get into a good count and turn that fastball around, that’s the Mookie we like,” manager Dave Roberts said.
“He was able to stay through it, back-spin the ball, hit it over the fence in a big situation,” Freeman echoed. “Been saying it the last few weeks. Mookie Betts is gonna be Mookie Betts. No one here is worried about him.”
That might have been true of his teammates. But for much of the summer, Betts seemed to be battling constant self-doubt.
His swing never felt right, off from the start after a late-spring stomach virus that zapped him of almost 20 pounds. His typical production never materialized, with a lack of power or consistent on-base ability contributing to distant career-lows in batting average (.242), OPS (.683) and home runs (he is on pace for only 17).
“I don’t know how to get through this,” Betts said last month. “I’m working every day. Hopefully it turns.”
When mechanical tweaks and long-trusted swing cues didn’t fix the issue, Betts recently decided to adopt a new mindset.
At the behest of Roberts, and the encouragement of his wife Brianna, Betts began this month by reframing his perspective.
“We’re going to have to chalk [this] up [as] not a great season,” Betts said two weeks ago, at least as far as his overall numbers were concerned. “But I can go out and help the boys win every night. Get an RBI. Make a play. Do something. I’m going to have to shift my focus there.”
Of late, the shift seemed to be working.
From Aug. 5-13, he went 14 for 35 over an eight-game hitting streak with seven RBIs, three extra-base hits and only two strikeouts.
This weekend had been more of a struggle, with Betts going hitless in his first nine at-bats.
But when he came up in the eighth, he had mental clarity. He wasn’t worried about his numbers, or a statline long past saving.
“Just trying to do something productive,” he said. “It definitely helps to not carry burdens from previous at-bats.”
Mookie Betts runs the bases after hitting a solo home run in the eighth inning for the Dodgers against the Padres on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
As the ball sailed out, landing in a left-field pavilion of rollicking fans, Betts practically floated around the bases, giving a two-handed wave to the bullpen, the team’s Shohei Ohtani-inspired finger swoosh to the dugout, and a couple emphatic salutes to both teammates and the crowd.
“To take the pressure off — trying to recover from the season and get more micro, just game to game, at-bat to at-bat — it’s a better quality of life,” Roberts said. “Certainly, we’re seeing the performance from Mookie.”
And as a result, the Dodgers (71-53) had a triumphant ending to their pivotal rivalry series sweep of the Padres (69-55), going from second place Friday to all alone in first again.
“We just played a good brand of baseball this weekend,” Betts said. “But again, we still got a long way to go.”
Long before the dramatic ending, Sunday had started like the previous two games. The Dodgers were getting good pitching, with Glasnow striking out four of his first five batters while pumping increased fastball velocity and generating foolish swings with his slider. The Padres were making mistakes; most notably, Freddy Fermín getting gunned down by Pages from center while trying to leg out a double in the top of the third, turning what could have been a crooked-number rally into only a one-run inning.
Darvish, meanwhile, made a pair of two-strike mistakes in the first, leaving a fastball up to Freeman for a three-run homer before failing to bury a splitter to Pages for a solo shot.
It all seemed to give the Dodgers full control of the series finale.
In the top of the fifth, however, things began to shift.
Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow delivers in the first inning against the Padres on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
First, Ramón Laureano lifted a solo drive just over the wall in right to lead off the inning. And though Glasnow got out of a jam later in the inning, his fading command and rising 91-throw pitch count prompted Roberts to go to the bullpen with still 12 outs to go.
In the sixth, Anthony Banda gave up one run on a pair of doubles (the second one, a floating fly ball into the right-field corner from Ryan O’Hearn that slow-footed Teoscar Hernández couldn’t track down).
And though Blake Treinen stranded a runner at third in the seventh — thanks in no small part to a generous strike call against Manny Machado that negated a walk — more trouble arose in the eighth, after Alexis Díaz started by hitting a batter and giving up a double to Laureano on a line drive to center.
“Man, fought our tail off to come back,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “Could have easily said, you know what, it’s not our day again, down four.”
Tying the game, however, was as close as the Padres would get.
Facing the two-on, one-out jam, Roberts summoned Alex Vesia to try and get out of the inning. The left-hander retired both batters he faced, with only a ground ball from Jose Iglesias managing to level the score.
Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia, right, celebrates with catcher Will Smith after the Dodgers’ 5-4 win over the Padres at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
When Vesia returned to the dugout, Roberts phoned to the bullpen, instructing Justin Wrobleski to get loose with the game veering toward extras.
Vesia, however, had a different plan in mind.
“They told me I was done. And I was just like, ‘No,’” Vesia declared. “So I told Doc, I walked up to him and said, ‘Hey, if we’re up [in the ninth], I want it.’ He was like, ‘OK, you got it.’ Sure enough, Mook, bang, homers. Sweet, let’s go.”
Indeed, just when it seemed like all the momentum the Dodgers had built this weekend was suddenly fading, and the series would end with them only tied atop the standings, Betts instead flipped the script with his moment of salvation. Then Vesia returned to the mound for a clean ninth inning — punctuated by a strikeout of Machado that left him one for 11 in the series.
“To really weather the last couple innings, and to get that big hit off a really good closer was big,” Roberts said. “Yeah, feel a lot better today than a week ago.”
As “Madame Web” star Sydney Sweeney remains mum on allegations of promoting eugenics via her American Eagle advertisement, she has seemingly stirred up even more support from far-right figures after recently gaining the favor of President Trump.
A black-and-yellow banner covering a billboard on the 91 Freeway in Corona boldly states: “Proud Boys Love Sydney Sweeney,” according to a photo that one Corona resident shared with ABC7.
The banner, which uses the neo-fascist group‘s signature colors, also references the hot-button American Eagle ad. “She has the best blue genes,” the banner says. Note “genes,” not “jeans.” It’s worth remembering that President Trump during a 2020 presidential debate ordered the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” when pressed about condemning right-wing violent extremists.
It’s unclear who put up the banner bearing the far-right group’s name, according to ABC7.
A representative for Sweeney did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment on Friday.
Earlier this month, jeans retailer American Eagle dropped a string of commercials for its latest campaign featuring the “Euphoria” star. In one advertisement, the Emmy-nominated actor who is blond says, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue,” she says.
Posters for the American Eagle campaign also featured the totally innovative, never-before-seen wordplay on “jeans” and genes.” A slogan reads, “Sydney Sweeney has great genes,” with the final word crossed out and replaced with “jeans.”
Sweeney, who seems to have a penchant for odd marketing opportunities, and the ads quickly faced criticism on social media, with users alleging the campaign leaned into the language of eugenics. Eugenics is a discredited practice that essentially touted the idea of improving the human race through selective breeding. It gained traction in the early 20th century and was used as a justification for Hitler’s Nazi Germany to wipe out millions of Jewish people, and U.S. authorities to forcibly sterilize more than 60,000 people in California and more than 30 other states.
In an attempt to quell the ire, American Eagle posted a statement stating that its campaign “is and always was about the jeans.”
Sweeney and the American Eagle campaign notably found support among the conservative crowd — it wasn’t the first time for the 27-year-old “Immaculate” actor. Days after the ad dropped, public records revealing her most recent voter registration history resurfaced, unveiling she registered as a Republican in June 2024. Trump found that irresistible to post about on his Truth Social platform.
“Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there. It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves.’ Go get ‘em Sydney!” he posted Monday. In an earlier version of his post, Trump misspelled the actor’s name as “Sidney Sweeney.”
He also used the post to diss brands he claimed used “woke” marketing, including Jaguar and Bud Light. Trump also couldn’t resist throwing shade at pop star Taylor Swift, who openly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election.
Amid the fashion fracas and social media discourse, it seems neither Sweeney nor American Eagle had anything to lose.
Sweeney shrugged off her latest bout of controversy last week as she was spotted doing karaoke with some “Euphoria” co-stars in Santa Monica. She also hit the red carpet on Monday to promote her latest film, “Americana,” from writer-director Tony Tost.
American Eagle, on the other hand, saw its stock surge this week.
At a time when most of their peers have retired, threatened to call it quits or died, the Beach Boys continue to perform 120 shows per year. Led by original singer Mike Love and longtime multi-instrumentalist Bruce Johnston, this version of the Beach Boys performs the sounds of Southern California to three generations of fans, something which isn’t lost on Love.
“The positivity that our music generates, and the good vibes and good feelings, is a wonderful thing to see,” Love says. “It’s an inspiration to me to see kids with their parents or their grandparents at our shows.”
This weekend, the Beach Boys return to Long Beach for the first time in nearly 15 years to the day, when they performed at Harry Bridges Memorial Park. As Love recalls, the band played one of its first shows in the city at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium on New Year’s Eve 1961.
“That first concert we were paid for as the Beach Boys at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium for the Ritchie Valens Memorial Dance,” he recalls. “We played three songs and got $300, but also on that show was Ike Turner and Kings of Rhythm. We got to hear Tina Turner sing this song called ‘I’m Blue.’ It was primordial and blew my mind.”
Thousands of shows later, the Beach Boys continue to have a receptive audience who will gladly see them perform the hits of yesteryear. Love has no issue leaning into the band’s 1960s heyday. In fact, he sees it as his duty to spread “peace and love” through the Beach Boys’ concerts.
Chatting hours before he departed his Lake Tahoe, Calif., home to fly to Southern California for the band’s latest string of shows, Love reflected on nearly 65 years of the Beach Boys, feeling like he finally got his due by being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, why he’s looking forward to the decidedly un-Beach Boys crowd at Riot Fest, and honoring his late cousin Brian Wilson.
Mike Love
(Udo Spreitzenbarth)
How did it feel to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame?
Better late than never, but it was a great honor. It meant a lot because I wasn’t recognized for my contribution to so many of the Beach Boys’ hits over the years. So, the recognition is a good thing. There are various reasons I wasn’t recognized for it. My uncle [Beach Boys original manager] Murry [Wilson], didn’t put my contribution of the lyrics. “I Get Around,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Be True to Your School,” a lot of great songs that I wasn’t credited for. We fired my uncle as manager to get even for me, and he excluded me when he handled the publishing. We didn’t know what publishing was when we started in 1961. We were unsophisticated regarding the business end of it, and we just loved creating music. We loved harmonizing. That was a family tradition that morphed into a long-lasting profession because my cousin Brian and I got together and wrote some songs that people still love to this day.
What is it about the songs that continue to bring people together at a time when people can hardly agree on anything?
The harmonies and the positivity go a long way towards eliminating the negativity. In “Good Vibrations,” I wrote every word of it. I even came up with (sings) “I’m thinking of good vibrations / She gave me excitations” with the chorus melody as well as all the lyrics. But that was written in 1966. The Vietnam War was percolating, and there were student demonstrations. There were problems with integration, and stuff like that made the news. But I wanted to write “Good Vibrations.” I wanted to write this song. I wrote a poem about a girl who loved nature. She was only into the peace, love and flower power, which was also going on at that time. The juxtaposition of the negative and the positive is pretty amazing. It turns out there’s a psychologist in Sheffield, England, who wanted to find out which songs made people feel the best. And our song “Good Vibrations” came in at No. 1, which is unbelievable. In 1966, when it went to No. 1 in England, we were voted the No. 1 group in Great Britain, with No. 2 being the Beatles. Incredible. That was a pretty amazing achievement.
You’ve been joined on stage by the likes of Mark McGrath and Dexter Holland from the Offspring. What does that say to you about the longevity of what the songs have meant?
Dexter sounded amazing on it! He is a really good singer, obviously, but he wanted to do “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” and so we rehearsed backstage [at Oceans Calling Festival in Maryland last September], ran through it about once or twice, and came out on stage in front of 40,000 people, and it was pretty amazing! Mark McGrath is just the most positive and fun guy ever. We have the same birthday, so he’s a few years younger than I am (laughs).
And of course, John Stamos, who inducted you into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
He’s been with us since he was Blackie on “General Hospital.” At this point, he is pretty much an honorary Beach Boy and family.
In the days after Brian’s death, the clip of the band appearing on “Full House” made the rounds on Instagram. What’s it like to remember that when both Brian and Carl were there and you appeared on that show?
John Stamos likes to say that we need this music more than ever now because of so much negativity in the world, and I agree. When I was writing, I accentuated the positive with the harmonies, giving that warm feeling, and the subject matter being fun at times. We’d maybe been a little introspective on “God Only Knows,” maybe “In My Room,” and “The Warmth of the Sun.” The upbeat songs are all fun, positive, and make people feel good. We were just in Spain, and we had standing ovations every night. It was amazing.
What’s wild is seeing the Beach Boys appear on the historically punk festival Riot Fest. Are you familiar with it?
Yeah! We were invited to do it a year ago, but we are doing it this year. Our songs go over well with every demographic and all kinds of people. It doesn’t matter what the format of this is. We’ve done very well with some country festivals, enormously well. It doesn’t matter what the genre of the festival appeals to. We played Stagecoach last year, and there were 70 or 80,000 people at our set. Singing along and dancing around, so we had a great time at that one.
Who are you looking forward to seeing at Riot Fest?
Who is on it other than us?
On your day, it is Weezer performing the Blue Album, Jack White, a reconfigured version of the Sex Pistols, Dropkick Murphys, All Time Low, James …
Weezer! They did “California Girls” on a tribute show that aired on Easter Sunday a few years ago. There’s a lot more guitar in that particular version (laughs). Maybe one of those guys will come and sing with us. What happens at those things is that you’re with a lot of people you don’t ordinarily see, and people like to do unique things.
Do you think the Beach Boys would be considered a punk band, if that was a term, in 1961?
If you listen to some of our songs, like “Surfin’ Safari,” “Catch a Wave” and “Hawaii,” there’s a lot of tempo there. I think those songs appeal to all kinds of genres.
Does returning to Long Beach, near where you all grew up, carry more weight with the loss of Brian?
Well, we have a tribute song called “Brian’s Back” that I wrote many, many years ago. So, back when that was released (in 1976 as part of “15 Big Ones”), we did a video tribute to Brian that we play every night at our concerts, which people love and appreciate. He may have passed on, but he’s always with us every night in the music.
Elton John said that the “Pet Sounds” album would be the one album that would be played forever, which is an amazing accolade,” Love said. “So those songs are pretty much immortal to some degree. So if somebody is capable of replicating them as closely as possible for the record, then great.”
(Udo Spreitzenbarth)
Do you see the Beach Boys continuing to tour in name after you and Bruce are done?
I’m not sure. We haven’t given that a whole lot of thought because we’re very active these days with this configuration. Elton John said that the “Pet Sounds” album would be the one album that would be played forever, which is an amazing accolade. So those songs are pretty much immortal to some degree. So if somebody is capable of replicating them as closely as possible for the record, then great.
But the problem is that mortality is an issue, of course. So, at some point in time, nature will take over and say, “OK, you’re out of here, huh?” But in the meantime, I think we’ve got a good several years to go.
What do people misunderstand about your and Brian’s relationship?
Well, there’s a lot of misinformation given out over this early part of our careers that says I didn’t like the “Pet Sounds” album, which is bull—, because I actually named it and Brian brought it to Capitol Records, who didn’t know what to do with it. If you listen to the tracks of “Pet Sounds,” you say, “How the heck did he ever do that with the greatest musicians in L.A., the Wrecking Crew?” My cousin Brian did some amazing stuff that’ll stand the test of time, if Elton John is right, forever. It’s a true blessing to be able to do what started as a family hobby and became a long-lasting profession.
Is “That’s Why God Made the Radio” the last Beach Boys album, or do you all have one more left in you?
Anything’s possible. We don’t have immediate plans, but I do think of that kind of thing from time to time.
Fans have reacted sharply to the return of Mrs Brown’s Boys, with many on social media branding it unfunny and questioning why it was ever commissioned
22:09, 01 Aug 2025Updated 22:09, 01 Aug 2025
Mrs Brown’s Boys viewers ‘beyond horrified’ as controversial show returns to BBC(Image: CREDIT LINE:Graeme Hunter / BBC Studios / BOC)
First aired in 2011, the comedy became a holiday fixture and enjoyed huge popularity in its early years. Its 2013 Christmas Day special drew 11.52 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched festive programmes of the decade.
The series has long divided audiences and critics, and was recently labelled the “worst ever BBC show” by some viewers on social media.
Comments on X during tonight’s broadcast included: “Worst programme in human history should’ve never been commissioned” and “Just speechless… I honestly don’t know one person who thinks this show is remotely funny.”
Another insisted: “This show needs to be axed asap. It’s not one bit funny.” Someone else fumed: “I actually hate this show with a passion and I’m Irish and from Dublin and I GET that kind of sense of humour.”
Agnes and the gang are back for a new series of Mrs Brown’s Boys(Image: CREDIT LINE:Graeme Hunter / BBC Studios / BOC)
In 2023, Mrs Brown’s Boys faced further scrutiny after O’Carroll made a racial slur during rehearsals for the Christmas special. Crew members were reportedly “shocked” by the remark and lodged complaints with BBC bosses.
The broadcaster suspended production and launched an investigation. O’Carroll later apologised, expressing “deep regret” over what he called a “clumsy attempt at a joke.”
Speaking publicly about the incident for the first time on Irish YouTube programme Conversations With Gerry Kelly, O’Carroll claimed his words had been “completely taken out of context.”
He also argued that the episode ultimately had a positive impact.
Brendan O’ Carroll plays Mrs Brown in the BBC sitcom(Image: BBC / BocPIX / Greame Hunter)
“The one thing that that incident did is give great awareness about racism, and great awareness about the BBC, they don’t take any messing… However, I think in the long run it was a good thing, because it got people talking about it.”
O’Carroll, who has won the National Television Award for Best Comedy six times for Mrs Brown’s Boys, has made it clear he is unfazed by negative feedback.
“The ones that love me, I love them, and the ones that don’t, f*** them,” he told Kelly, adding that those who dislike the show should simply “pick up the remote and change the station.”
Fans have hit out at the new series
Despite its dwindling audience, the series maintains a loyal fan base and continues to be a fixture in the BBC’s comedy line-up.
The new series, which began tonight, marks a fresh chapter for the show as it seeks to recapture some of its former success in the face of ongoing criticism.
After starring in several back-to-back projects over the past six months, Jack Quaid has been eager to finally settle in for a bit.
“It’s amazing that I get to do this job, but I do find myself missing home a lot,” Quaid says from his Los Angeles apartment, which he shares with his girlfriend and “The Boys” co-star Claudia Doumit. “So it will be nice to really connect with the people I grew up with and the place I’m from.”
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Quaid kicked off his jam-packed year with the sci-fi thriller “Companion,” and a couple of months later, he transformed into a superhero who feels no pain in “Novocaine.” Shortly after, he co-starred in a crime thriller called “Neighborhood Watch,” and he traveled across the pond to London to star in “Heads of State” with Idris Elba, John Cena, and Priyanka Chopra, which is now streaming on Prime Video.
When we hop on a Zoom call, Quaid has recently returned to L.A. after shooting the fifth and final season of “The Boys,” Prime Video’s superhero dramedy.
“I’ve really grown up on that show,” says Quaid, who dedicated an Instagram post to “The Boys” with a collection of bloody selfies. “I worked a bit before, but that show was really like actor boot camp.”
Quaid talked about his perfect Sunday in L.A., which involves taking a “giant walk” to visit all of his favorite spots, including a comic book store, coffee shop and a classic diner. If it were up to him, the action star would break the laws of physics and be in more than one place at a time. For now, sadly, that only works in superhero movies.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
7:30 a.m.: Coffee, records and backgammon
Claudia or I will usually make coffee. We kind of have a whole morning routine. Not to sound too douchey, but I’m never really here or at least I haven’t been in the past year, so every time I’m home, I just want to take it in. The one constant every day is that we wake up, have coffee and put a record on. It’s usually “Pink Moon” by Nick Drake or “Super Sad Generation” by Arlo Parks. Sometimes it’s Marty Robbins’ “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs,” which is a good one. Just stuff that starts the day off in kind of a chill way.
We’ll go out onto our balcony, have our coffee and play backgammon. Backgammon is something I learned on the set of “The Boys.” It’s just such a fun game that keeps your mind active. You’re not on your phone and it’s nice to play with someone that you love, obviously.
10 a.m.: Fill up my tote bag with new comics
I usually go for a giant walk. L.A. is not a walkable city, but I’m trying to make it one. I love my local businesses and coffee shops, and I try to be a regular whenever I can. I typically will walk to my favorite comic book shop in L.A. called Golden Apple. I started going there to get all the issues of “The Boys” to research the comic. I was really into comics when I was younger, and then recently, I’ve gotten very into comics. My specification is that it can’t be about superheroes. No disrespect to those comics, but I’m in that world a lot.
I really started getting into this writer named James Tynion IV. I stared reading “Something Is Killing the Children” and I got obsessed with it, and that kind of spawned this new comic renaissance for me. I just go to the shop, I talk to the guy who works at the store and he recommends new books to me and I just love that.
11 a.m.: Feel nostalgic at my favorite diner
I’d probably walk all the way to Swingers Diner and meet up with a friend. I used to go there with my sketch comedy group — we would write there a lot. Everyone who works there is amazing and that place is legendary. I grew up in Santa Monica and I used to go to that location which used to have purple cows on the walls. I think that closed, which is unfortunate. Back then, I’d be doing a school play and that’s where everybody would go after a performance.
Typically, I get the protein breakfast with quinoa, egg whites and chicken. Very boring. But on my ideal Sunday, I’d get something involving bananas, pancakes and peanut butter. I’d want to sit and eat on the [patio] area. If it has a little bit of tree shade, I’m in.
1:30 p.m.: Coffee break
Then I would go to Coffee for Sasquatch, which is amazing. My sketch comedy group is called Sasquatch so I feel like I have to go in there. Since it’s my ideal Sunday, I’ll kind of eschew any dietary restrictions. Usually I have black coffee, but I’d get their frozen blended coffee with almond milk, which is basically a milkshake. I can’t remember the name, but It’s so good and it gets you that caffeine buzz. I’d probably have my headphones on, listening to music and reading comics.
4 p.m.: Video games and virtual photography
I think that 4 p.m. is my least favorite time of day. It’s not quite settling down in the evening. The sun is still high in the sky. There’s something about it that I just don’t like, so I’d probably want to go home. My internal clock wherever I am just knows it’s 4 p.m. and I get a little sad.
I’ve gotten really into virtual photography. A lot of games have a photo mode where you can pause the game and put a digital camera anywhere in the 3D space. There’s like lenses and filters, and it’s kind of inspired me to do photography in the real world if I can. It’s really calming so I think I would need that around 4 p.m.
5 p.m.: Run down Sunset Boulevard
5 p.m. is fine because the sun is starting to set and that’s cool. I’d probably go for like a giant jog. I’d basically go to where Book Soup is and then head back. Some of it’s on Sunset Boulevard, which is kind of overwhelming but it’s nice to see the new billboards in town. I’d jog by the Comedy Store and the Laugh Factory. I’m an anxious person and jogging is good for anxiety.
7 p.m.: Mexican food with friends
At 7 p.m., I’d assemble the biggest group of people I know who are in town, including my group of high school friends and their partners, to go to a classic Mexican restaurant. My favorite thing to do in L.A. is to eat authentic Mexican food. L.A. is better with these places here. It’s just what makes L.A. L.A. to me. So I’d go to any restaurant with “El” in the title. The three big “El’s” to me are El Compadre, El Coyote and El Carmen. They’re all delicious and they have so much history to them, which I love. I was literally at El Coyote last night. I always order a combo of shrimp and chicken fajitas, and I’d get a spicy margarita or three of them. I’m a giant spice fan.
9 p.m.: Watch “Jaws” in a cemetery
My favorite thing to do in L.A., period, and I’ve been doing it since high school, is to go to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to watch a movie. There’s this company called Cinespia that does screenings of classic movies. I say it’s in a cemetery and people go, “Why are you doing that?” But it’s on this big grassy field and — at least they say — you’re not on top of dead bodies. People bring a blanket, wine, snacks and everyone just watches a movie.
But let’s say we want to go see a movie that’s currently in theaters. In the fantasy of my perfect Sunday, the ArcLight is back. That was a big pandemic loss for me because that was my favorite movie theater I think I’d ever been to. When you came out of the theater, you’d talk about it with everyone. I loved the employees doing the intro of the movie. I’d love to manifest another dream. ArcLight was the best place to be a moviegoer, so I want to have a hand in creating something like that in L.A. again.
12 a.m.: Canter’s and cartoons before bed
I’d probably go home and fall asleep to “The Simpsons” or “Futurama.” That’s usually the way that Claudia and I go down. But if I’m still hungry, I’d order take out from Canter’s Deli cause I’ve had three margaritas and that’s the best place to have some good greasy, classic L.A. diner food. I’d get a turkey Reuben with some thick french fries. Then I’d like to go to bed late on my perfect Sunday like around 1 a.m. I’d like to relish in that as long as I can.
Connie Francis, the angelic-voiced singer who was one of the biggest recording stars of the late 1950s and early 1960s, has died. She was 87.
Her friend and publicist, Ron Roberts, announced the singer’s death Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
A month prior to her death, Francis was hospitalized for “extreme pain” following a fracture in her pelvic area. The singer, who shared details about her health with fans on social media, used a wheelchair in her later years and said she lived with a “troublesome painful hip.”
Francis emerged when rock ’n’ roll first captivated America. Her earliest hits — a dreamy arrangement of the old standard “Who’s Sorry Now?,” the cheerfully silly “Stupid Cupid” and the galloping “Lipstick on Your Collar” — fit neatly into the emerging genre’s lighter side. Although she targeted teen listeners with such songs as the spring break anthem “Where the Boys Are,” Francis ultimately gravitated toward the middle of the road, singing softly lit, tasteful pop for adult audiences.
Francis’ commercial peak roughly spanned from Elvis Presley’s induction into the U.S. Army to the Beatles first setting foot on American soil. Over that five-year period, Francis was one of the biggest stars in music, earning three No. 1 hits: “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own” and “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You.” As her singles offered familiar adolescent fare, her albums were constructed for specific demographics. During the early ’60s, she cut records dedicated to “Italian Favorites,” “Rock ’n’ Roll Million Sellers,” “Country & Western,” “Fun Songs for Children,” “Jewish Favorites” and “Spanish and Latin American Favorites,” even recording versions of her hits in Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese.
This adaptability became a considerable asset once her pop hits dried up in the mid-’60s. Francis continued to be a popular concert attraction through the 1960s, her live success sustaining her as she eased into adult contemporary fare. A number of personal tragedies stalled her career in the 1970s, but by the ’90s, her life stabilized enough for her to return to the stage, playing venues in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and elsewhere until her retirement in the 2010s.
Connie Francis circa 1960.
(Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Connie Francis was born Concetta Maria Franconero on Dec. 12, 1938, in Newark, N.J. When she was 3, her father bought her an accordion and she spent her childhood learning Italian folk songs. By age 10, her parents enrolled her in local talent contests. When her father attempted to book her on the New York-based television show “Startime,” producer George Scheck only agreed because Francis played the accordion and he was “up to here in singers.” Francis remained a fixture on “Startime” through her early teens — Scheck served as her manager during these formative years — during which time she also appeared on Arthur Grodfrey’s “Talent Scouts.” Godfrey stumbled over her Italian name, suggesting she shorten it to something “easy and Irish,” thereby giving birth to her stage name.
Scheck managed to secure Francis a record contract with MGM in 1955. As she received work dubbing her singing voice for film actresses — she subbed for Tuesday Weld in 1956’s “Rock, Rock, Rock” and Freda Holloway in 1957’s “Jamboree” — MGM steadily attempted to move her from pop to rock. Nothing clicked until Francis recorded “Who’s Sorry Now?” as a favor to her father, giving the 1923 tune a romantic sway.
“Who’s Sorry Now?” caught the ear of Dick Clark, who regularly played the record on his “American Bandstand,” which had just expanded into the national market. Clark’s endorsement helped break “Who’s Sorry Now?” and sent it into the Billboard Top 10. MGM attempted to replicate its success by having Francis spruce up old chestnuts, but to no avail. The singer didn’t have another hit until she cut “Stupid Cupid,” a song co-written by Neil Sedaka and Howie Greenfield, a pair of young songwriters at the Brill Building who were navigating the distance separating Broadway-bound pop and rock ’n’ roll.
“Stupid Cupid” was the first of many hits she’d have with the songwriters, including the slinky ‘Fallin’” and the ballad “Frankie.” She later said, “Neil and Howie never failed to come up with a hit for me. It was a great marriage. We thought the same way.” Sedaka and Greenfield weren’t the only Brill Building songwriters to command Francis’ attention: She developed a romance with a pre-fame Bobby Darin, who was chased away by her father.
Over the next few years, Francis recorded both standards and new songs from Sedaka and Greenfield, along with material from other emerging songwriters, such as George Goehring and Edna Lewis, who wrote the lively “Lipstick on Your Collar.” Within less than two years, her popularity was such that MGM released five different Connie Francis LPs for Christmas 1959: a set of holiday tunes, a greatest-hits record, an LP dedicated to country, one dedicated to rock ’n’ roll and a set of Italian music, performed partially in the original language.
Connie Francis and Neil Sedaka in 2007.
(George Napolitano / FilmMagic / Getty Images)
With her popularity at an apex, Connie Francis made her cinematic debut in the 1960 teen comedy “Where the Boys Are,” which also featured a Sedaka and Greenfield song as its theme. Francis appeared in three quasi-sequels culminating in 1965’s “When the Boys Meet the Girls,” but she never felt entirely comfortable onscreen, preferring live performance. “Vacation” became her last Top 10 single in 1962 — the same year she published the book “For Every Young Heart: Connie Francis Talks to Teenagers.” Too young to be an oldies act, Francis spent the remainder of the 1960s chasing a few trends — in 1968, she released “Connie & Clyde — Hit Songs of the ’30s,” a rushed attempt to cash in on the popularity of Arthur Penn’s controversial hit film “Bonnie and Clyde” — while busying herself on a showbiz circuit that encompassed Vegas, television variety shows and singing for troops in Vietnam.
A comeback attempt in the early 1970s was swiftly derailed by tragedy. After appearing at Long Island’s Westbury Music Fair on Nov. 8, 1974, she was sexually assaulted in her Howard Johnson’s hotel room; the culprit was never caught. Francis sued the hotel chain; she’d later win a $2.5-million settlement that helped reshape security practices in the hospitality industry. As she was recovering from her assault, she underwent a nasal surgery that went astray, leading her to lose her voice for years; it took three subsequent surgeries before she regained her ability to sing. Francis spent much of the remainder of the ’70s battling severe depression, but once her voice returned, recordings happened on occasion, including a disco version of “Where the Boys Are” in 1978.
Connie Francis.
(ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Francis returned to the public eye in the early 1980s, first as a victims rights activist, then as a live performer. Her comeback was marred by further tragedy — the murder of her brother George, a lawyer who became a government witness after pleading guilty to bank fraud; the police indicated the killing was related to organized crime.
Francis continued to work in the wake of his death, playing shows and writing her 1984 autobiography, “Who’s Sorry Now?,” but she continued to be plagued with personal problems. She told the Village Voice’s Michael Musto, “In the ’80s I was involuntarily committed to mental institutions 17 times in nine years in five different states. I was misdiagnosed as bipolar, ADD, ADHD, and a few other letters the scientific community had never heard of.” After receiving a diagnosis for post-traumatic stress disorder, Francis returned to live performances in the 1990s; one of her shows was documented on “The Return Concert Live at Trump’s Castle,” a 1996 album that was her last major-label release. When asked by the Las Vegas Sun in 2004 if life was still a struggle, she responded, “Not for the past 12 years.”
Francis regularly played casinos and theaters in the 2000s as she developed a biopic of her life with Gloria Estefan, who planned to play the former teen idol. The film never materialized. In 2010, Francis became the national spokesperson for Mental Health America’s trauma campaign. By the end of the 2010s, she retired to Parkland, Fla., and published her second memoir, “Among My Souvenirs: The Real Story, Vol. 1,” in 2017.
Connie Francis married four times. Her first marriage, to Dick Kanellis in 1964, ended after three months; her second, to Izzy Marion, lasted from 1971 to 1972. She adopted a child with her third husband, Joseph Garzilli, to whom she was wed from 1973 to 1978. Her fourth marriage, to Bob Parkinson, ended in 1986 after one year.
Love Island fans think the Casa boys have told Meg some truths about DejonCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
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Meg was left in tears as she reflected on her relationship with DejonCredit: Instagram
However, seeds doubting his intentions seemed to have been sown in Meg’s mind during a villa game shortly before Casa Amor when Billykiss brought up Dejon’s unwillingness to close things off with her.
Though Meg initially said there was no need to for them to do that and the other girls were just jealous, days later she was reduced to tears thinking about Dejon’s behaviour.
Now viewers think the new boys have told her how Dejon has really been acting, having seen some of the show before taking part themselves.
One person wrote in a fan forum: “It was a bit odd that it took casa for Meg to finally wake up and realize that Dejon has been playing with her since day 1? Like a lot of the girls warned her. I genuinely believe that the producers or the casa boys let her in on some info. And also, if Helena knew why didn’t she tell her? Lol.”
Another said: “The casa boys definitely got into her head. Ty was telling her that Dejon never tells her the full story or something like that and I’ll bet others have said things.”
A third wrote: “Probably some of the Casa boys said stuff to her about what’s been shown and people’s opinions of him on the outside.”
A fourth said: “I think she’s been told some stuff but she won’t stick to her opinion.”
Meg chose to couple up with Dejon at the very start of the series and they’ve been together ever since.
Though very flirtatious, he has remained loyal to “his Meg,” claiming the “tests” have only made them stronger as a couple.
Love Island girls in explosive clash after joke goes wrong
And Meg is also now doubting his intentions, telling Helena: “I just feel really upset today. I don’t know why.
“I was just talking about things with Em, and I don’t know, we just, like, certain things with me and D, like, it actually makes me realise he really doesn’t mean what he says sometimes.”
In Casa Amor, Dejon admitted he had a spark with new girl Andrada, telling her: “And I feel like the more time we spend with each other, the better things are getting.”
His eyes also lit up after Andrada made a steamy confession.
Clearly determined to turn his head for good, the newcomer opened up about her high sex drive.
When Dejon asked about her type, Andrada said: “I have to want them three times a day… I have to.”
Looking impressed, Dejon asked: “So you have a high sex drive?”
She said: “I do… It’s really bad.”
But Dejon remarked: “That’s not bad.”
However, he later backtracked by declining to share a bed with her out of “respect” for Meg.
Will they pick up where they left off in tonight’s recoupling?
Love Island continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2.
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Meg said Dejon might not ‘mean what he says’Credit: Instagram
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Dejon got cosy with Casa Amor bombshell AndradaCredit: Instagram
Love Island fans think they’ve cracked Dejon’s ‘petty’ Casa Amor strategy, claiming he’s deliberately stirring the pot and setting the other boys up to take the fall for drama he’s quietly orchestrating
Love Island fans work out Dejon’s ‘petty’ gameplan as he sets other boys up(Image: ITV/Love Island)
Love Island fans have worked out Dejon’s ‘petty’ gameplan in Casa Amor to make him look better than all of the other boys. Since the show kicked off at beginning of June, Dejon has been coupled-up with Meg as they remain the strongest couple in the villa.
Just days before Casa Amor kicked off, the smitten pair proved that they were stronger than ever after Dejon shot down Irish bombshell Billykiss after she confronted him for not exploring any other options in the villa and sticking with Meg the whole time.
Dejon told Billykiss that he had zero interest in getting to know her or anyone else for that matter because Meg was the only one for him. And it looks as though Dejon is sticking to his guns as he set the other boys up for failure within minutes of entering Casa Amor.
He wasted no time in suggesting that the islanders play a cheeky game of truth or dare before daring the other boys to kiss the girls they fancy the most. The game even brought about a confession from the sweetest boy in the villa, Tommy, who revealed that he was interested in getting to know the new girls – despite the fact that he had shared his devotion to Emily hours before.
Dejon’s tactics didn’t go unnoticed by eagle-eyed viewers who called out his ‘sneaky’ actions on X. One viewer penned: “Dejon we all know your PETTY plan to make you look better and more loyal than all the rest of boys, but it ain’t working mate.”
“Dejon just gives f**kboy energy to the core. I don’t believe for a second that he actually likes Meg! Nobody likes Meg,” another quipped. Someone else echoed: “I just do not trust Dejon one bit. I don’t think he really is who he’s making out to be on TV.”
After suggesting the game of Truth or Dare, things quickly heated up fast as Ben dived in with a bold three-way kiss, including Harry’s ex, Emma.
Harry then soon came face to face with his ex girlfriend Emma, who greeted him with a cheeky: “Surprise!” He later confirmed the ‘E’ tattoo on his wrist is, indeed, for her.
As the Islanders chatted about their types, Yaz said she needs emotional depth in a partner. Emma didn’t miss a beat, leaning toward Harry and saying: “Well that’s you out.”
After the shock of her entrance, Harry and his ex Emma finally caught up, and he said: “I don’t need you to come and tell me off.” But Emma has no plans to stay quiet as she called him out on his bad behaviour with Helena.
“It’s disgraceful though… like, how are you still doing the same thing?” she said. “The way you’ve been moving with Helena honestly… you two deserve each other… two snakes.”
Bhim Kohli, 80, died the day after he was attacked in the park
The sentence given to a 15-year-old boy who racially abused and killed an 80-year-old man in Leicestershire will be reviewed.
Bhim Kohli died in hospital a day after being attacked while walking his dog Rocky at Franklin Park in Braunstone Town, Leicestershire, in September.
The boy was sentenced to seven years in custody, while a 13-year-old girl who filmed and encouraged the attack was given a youth rehabilitation order of three years and made subject to a six-month curfew. Both were convicted of manslaughter.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has referred the case under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.
The AGO confirmed it had not asked to review the girl’s sentence.
During the sentencing hearing in June, prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC said Mr Kohli was subjected to a “seven-and-a-half minute period of continuing aggression” at the park.
The boy racially abused Mr Kohli, attacked him and slapped him in the face with a slider shoe, while the girl laughed as she filmed it on her phone.
The attack left Mr Kohli with three broken ribs and other fractures, but Mr Sandhu KC said the fatal injury was to his spinal cord, caused by a spine fracture.
Following sentencing, Mr Kohli’s daughter Susan Kohli said she felt angry and disappointed the punishments did not match the severity of the crime.
An AGO spokesperson said: “The Solicitor General, Lucy Rigby KC MP, was appalled by this violent, cowardly attack on an innocent man.
“She wishes to express her deepest sympathies to Bhim Kohli’s friends and family at this difficult time.
“After undertaking a detailed review of the case, the Solicitor General concluded the sentence of the 15-year-old boy could be referred to the Court of Appeal.
“The court will determine if the sentence is increased or not.”
Erin Moriarty, the outspoken and righteous Starlight of “The Boys,” is speaking out about her health, specifically her ongoing battle with an autoimmune disorder.
Moriarty, 30, revealed to her Instagram followers on Friday that she was diagnosed last month with Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder in which the thyroid becomes overactive. In the caption of her post, Moriarty expresses the positive effects of treatment but reveals the disorder could have been identified earlier “if I hadn’t chalked it all up to stress and fatigue.”
The “Jessica Jones” and “One Life to Live” actor shared a carousel of photos including text message exchanges with her parents. In one screenshot Moriarty tells her mother “I really need relief” as she details her discomfort. “I can’t live like this forever,” she writes.
“It’s not just fatigue — it’s an ineffable, system wide cry for help and I don’t know how long I can remain in this state,” Moriarty continues in her text to her mother.
Moriarty did not reveal too much about her symptoms, noting in her caption that “autoimmune disease manifests differently in everybody/every body.” According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of Graves’ disease can include “feeling nervous or irritable,” slight tremors of the hands or fingers, weight loss, menstrual changes and heart palpitations. Wendy Williams, Daisy Ridley and Missy Elliott have also spoken publicly about living with Graves’ disease.
“Within 24 hours of beginning treatment, I felt the light coming back on,” Moriarty said in her caption. “It’s been increasing in strength ever since.”
She did not reveal the details of her treatment, but Moriarty told her father in a text message, “I already feel a world of a difference” and that she has since been thinking, “‘Damn, this is how I’m supposed to feel? I’ve been missing out!’”
Since “The Boys” premiered on Prime Video in 2019, Moriarty has starred as superhero Annie January, a.k.a. Starlight, who possesses the power to fly and manipulate light. Without spoiling too much about the series, it now seems Moriarty knows what it’s like to lose her spark on- and off-screen — and how to get it back.
She concluded her post by urging followers to listen to their bodies and seek medical attention when something feels off. “If [your light] is dimming, even slightly, go get checked,” she said.
“Don’t ‘suck it up’ and transcend suffering; you deserve to be comfy. S—’s hard enough as is.”
Brian Wilson, the musical savant who scripted a defining Southern California soundtrack with the Beach Boys before being pulled down by despair and depression in full public view, has died. He was 82.
Wilson’s family announced his death Wednesday morning on Facebook. “We are at a loss for words right now,” the post said.
“Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize we are sharing our grief with the world,” said the statement, which was also shared on Instagram and the musician’s website.
The statement didn’t reveal a cause of death. Wilson died more than a year after it was revealed he was diagnosed with dementia and placed under a conservatorship in May 2024. For decades, Wilson battled mental health issues and drug addiction.
“The world mourns a genius today, and we grieve for the loss of our cousin, our friend, and our partner in a great musical adventure,” the Beach Boys said in a statement on Wednesday. “Brian Wilson wasn’t just the heart of The Beach Boys — he was the soul of our sound. The melodies he dreamed up and the emotions he poured into every note changed the course of music forever. “
The group added: “Together, we gave the world the American dream of optimism, joy, and a sense of freedom — music that made people feel good, made them believe in summer and endless possibilities. We are heartbroken by his passing.”
Elton John, the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, Mick Fleetwood and Nancy Sinatra were among the artists who remembered Wilson on social media. Universal Music Group chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge and California Gov. Gavin Newsom also paid tribute to Wilson and his contributions to music.
“Wilson fundamentally changed modern music, helping make the Beach Boys not only the defining American band of their era, but also the California band to this day,” Newsom said in a statement. “He captured the mystique and magic of California, carrying it around the world and across generations.”
Roundly regarded as a genius in the music studio, Wilson wrote more than three dozen Top 40 hits, bright summertime singalongs that were radio candy in the early 1960s, anthems to the surf, sun and souped-up cars.
In an era when rock groups were typically force-fed material written by established musicians and seasoned songwriters, Wilson broke the mold by writing, arranging and producing a stream of hits that seemed to flow effortlessly from the studio.
Riding the crest of peppy, radio-friendly songs like “Surfer Girl,” “California Girls” and “Don’t Worry Baby,” Capital Records gave Wilson almost unchecked control over the group’s output. The label came to hold Wilson in such high regard that it even allowed him to record where he wished rather than use the cavernous Capitol studios in Hollywood that the Beach Boy leader felt were suitable only for orchestras.
“There are points where he did 37 takes of the same song,” said William McKeen, who taught a rock ‘n’ roll history course at the University of Florida. “One track will be someone singing ‘doo, doo, doo’ and the next will be ‘da, da, da.’ Then you hear them all together and, my God, it’s a complex piece of music.
“And he heard it all along.”
In many ways, the studio became Wilson’s primary instrument, just as it had been Phil Spector’s. As his confidence grew, Wilson’s compositions became more majestic and complex as he pieced together a far-reaching catalog of music while his bandmates toured the world without him — just as he preferred.
When the group returned from a tour in Asia in 1966, they discovered that Wilson had created an entire album during their absence. He had written the songs — many with guest lyricist Tony Asher, used the highly regarded Wrecking Crew session musicians to record with him and regarded the product as essentially a solo album. All his bandmates needed to do, he explained, was add their voices.
Brian Wilson, second to right, performs with the Beach Boys in California circa 1964.
(Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)
The songs on “Pet Sounds” were achingly beautiful and introspective. Some were melancholy, wistful, and brimming with nostalgia. Gone were the waves, the sunshine and the blond-haired girls that populated his earlier work. They were replaced with interlocking songs that seemed to form a single piece of music.
His bandmates were dumbstruck. Mike Love, his cousin and lead singer of the group, told him the album would have been better had he had a bigger hand in its creation. “Stop f— with the formula,” he reportedly snapped. Other band members agreed that the songs seemed foreign compared with surefire crowd pleasers like “Surfin’ U.S.A” and “Dance, Dance, Dance.” But they relented, and the album was released.
Love, in a lengthy 2012 L.A. Times op-ed about his brittle relationship with Wilson, told the story far differently, however. He said he was an early champion of the album, wrote some of the songs, came up with the title and helped convince Capitol to get behind the record when the label dragged its feet.
Though “Pet Sounds” was the first Beach Boys recording not to go gold — at least not immediately — it was a virtual narcotic to critics and admirers. Paul McCartney said it was “the classic of the century” and, as the story goes, rallied the rest of the Beatles to record “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in response. Classical composer Leonard Bernstein declared Wilson a genius and one of America’s “most important musicians.”
As the years passed, the album became a treasured gem, saluted as one of the finest of the rock era and preserved in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. Fifty years after it was released, it was still ranked as the second-best album of all time by both Rolling Stone and Pitchfork, topped only by “Sgt. Pepper’s.”
“Part of Brian Wilson’s genius was his ability to express great complexity within the frame of great simplicity,” wrote Anthony DeCurtis, an author and former Rolling Stone editor.
Then things fell apart.
For months, Wilson tinkered in the studio on an album with the working title “Smile” as anticipation built for what it might be and in what direction it might take rock, already shifting quickly in the dawn of the psychedelic era — music, drugs, lifestyle and all. Wilson said the album would be a “teenage symphony to God,” a piece of music so audacious it would unlock the straitjacket he felt was keeping pop music bland and predictable.
The first window into the album was “Good Vibrations,” a 3-minute, 35-second song that featured dramatic shifts in tone and mood with Wilson’s distinctive falsetto soaring above it all. It was an immediate commercial and critical success.
But it was also a disturbing sign of the madcap world Wilson now inhabited. Recordings for “Good Vibrations” stretched over seven months, the sonic blips and beeps he was trying to stitch together consumed 90 hours of tape and costs soared to nearly $75,000 — roughly $740,000 in 2025 valuation. All the while, musicians — some bandmates, others hired guns — filed in and out of four different studios as he searched for perfection.
Not everyone thought it was worth the effort for a single song.
“You had to play it about 90 bloody times to even hear what they were singing about,” complained Pete Townshend, the guitarist and songwriter for the Who. Spector — Wilson’s idol — said it felt “overproduced.” McCartney said it lacked the magic of “Pet Sounds.”
Wilson felt otherwise. When he finished the final mix on “Good Vibrations,” he said it left him with a feeling he’d never experienced.
“It was a feeling of exaltation. Artistic beauty. It was everything.”
The band toured again as Wilson continued work on “Smile,” an increasingly troubled project. He ordered members of a studio orchestra to wear fire gear and reportedly built a fire in the studio during a recording of “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow,” which was to be the album’s opening number. He turned to veteran recording artist Van Dyke Parks for help with the lyrics rather than wait for his bandmates to return.
When Love listened to the still-under-construction album, he dismissed it as “a whole album of Brian’s madness,” according to the Guardian. Parks, an admired lyricist with his own career to worry about, eventually walked away from the project, spooked by Wilson’s erratic behavior and what he saw as Love’s uncomfortable tendency to bully his cousin.
David Marks, from left, Al Jardine, Brian Wilson, Blondie Chaplin, Mike Love and Bruce Johnston at the 2024 world premiere of the Disney+ documentary “The Beach Boys” in Hollywood.
(Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images)
Whether it was the hostile reaction from his bandmates or the hopelessness of navigating the maze of half-finished songs and sonic fragments he’d created, Wilson put the whole thing aside. It would be decades before he revisited it.
“When we didn’t finish the album, a part of me was unfinished also, you know?” Wilson wrote in his 2016 memoir “I am Brian Wilson.” “Can you imagine leaving your masterpiece locked up in a drawer for almost 40 years?”
Love, who sued Wilson repeatedly through the years to get songwriting credit for dozens of songs he claimed he helped write, bristled at the suggestion that he had upended his cousin’s masterwork.
“What did I do? Why am I the villain?” Love wondered aloud in a lengthy 2016 profile in Rolling Stone. “How did it get to this?
Wilson’s psyche had been fragile for years. He was reclusive at times, spending days alone in a bedroom at his Malibu mansion, where he had a baby grand piano installed in a sandbox and a teepee erected in the living room. He admitted that he suffered from auditory hallucinations, which caused him to hear voices.
And he took drugs by the bucketful.
He was public about his demons. He was mentally ill, he said, consumed with such depression that he couldn’t get out of bed for days at a time. He smoked pot, experimented with LSD and got through the day with a steady lineup of amphetamines, cocaine and sometimes heroin. A tall man, Wilson’s weight ballooned to more than 300 pounds, and when he did surface in public, he seemed withdrawn and distracted.
“I lost interest in writing songs,” he told The Times in a 1988 interview. “I lost the inspiration. I was too concerned with getting drugs to write songs.”
It all started in Hawthorne, where Wilson was born on June 20, 1942. The eldest of three boys, he grew up in suburban comfort not far from the beaches that would inspire so many of his early songs.
His father, Murry, was a musician and a machinist; his mother, Audree, a homemaker. Wilson went to Hawthorne High, where he played football and baseball. He earned an F for a composition he submitted in his music class, though decades later the school changed his grade to an A when administrators discovered the composition had become the Beach Boys’ first hit song, “Surfing.” School officials invited him to campus to accept their apology.
At home, he played the piano obsessively. He recalled hearing George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” when he was 4, lying on the floor of his grandmother’s house, mesmerized that the composer had captured both a city and an entire era in a single piece of music. He took accordion lessons but set the instrument aside after six weeks. His father, though, noticed his son had the ability to quickly repeat melodies on the piano.
“He was very clever and quick. I just fell in love with him,” Murry Wilson says in Peter Carlin’s “Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson.”
In 1961, with his parents on vacation, Wilson, his brothers, Love and their friend Al Jardine rented guitars, a bass, drums and an amplifier with the food money their parents had left behind and staged a concert for their friends. When Murry Wilson returned home, he was more pleased than angered and encouraged the fledgling musicians to continue. Armed with a handful of songs, the Pendletones — named for the then-popular flannel shirts — began to play at school dances and parties. When they went into the studio to record, a producer changed the group’s name to the Beach Boys and never bothered to tell them.
If it all sounded sunny and carefree, Wilson didn’t remember it that way. He said his father was abusive and seemed to delight in humiliating him, typically in public. It was possible, he said, that his hearing problems stemmed from one of the times his father smacked him in the head.
“I was constantly afraid,” he told The Times in 2002. “That’s what I remember most: being nervous and afraid.”
When the Beach Boys became successful, Murry took over as their manager and increasingly took charge of their business affairs. When money was needed, he overrode his sons’ objections and sold off the band’s publishing company, believing the group had peaked. When the group went on the road, he went with them and fined his sons if they broke his rules — no booze, no profanity, no fraternizing with women. Finally, in 1964, Wilson and his brothers essentially fired their father. Never fully reconciled with his sons, Murry died of a heart attack in 1973.
To some observers, the riddle of Brian Wilson could not be fully explained by the drugs he took, the voices he heard or the depression that smothered him like a blanket. It was more than that.
“My own theory is that he was never able, never quite allowed, to become an adult — and that this, more than anything else, has been the story of his life, and of his band,” wrote Andrew Romano in a lengthy 2012 Newsweek article.
An abusive father, a cousin he regarded as a bully and ultimately a psychologist who sought to control his every move, his every thought — all appeared to have a hand in making Wilson who he was.
For the record:
11:04 a.m. June 13, 2025An earlier version of this article referred to Eugene Landy as a psychiatrist. He was a psychologist.
And then there was Eugene Landy, a colorful character by any measurement. He wore orange sunglasses, drove a Maserati with a license plate reading “HEADDOC,” sported a Rod Stewart-style haircut and practiced a brand of pop psychology that was regarded by some as revolutionary. Others, though, saw Landy as a Svengali-like figure, a man who could make Wilson appear to be on the road to recovery while bleeding him of every resource he had.
Hired by Wilson’s first wife, Marilyn, in 1976, Landy had his first meeting with his new client in Wilson’s bedroom closet, the only place where the musician said he felt safe. Landy gradually won Wilson’s trust and, believing in 24-hour therapy, moved in with the musician.
The results were immediate. Wilson shed weight, quit taking street drugs and rejoined the Beach Boys on stage for the group’s 15th anniversary. For a man who was so paranoid that he reportedly refused to brush his teeth or shower for fear that blood would gush from the faucet, it was a night-and-day change.
But it was short-lived, and Landy was fired when the Beach Boys’ management balked at his fees, which hovered around $35,000 a month — around $345,000 in 2025 valuation.
Without Landy, Wilson quickly regressed — back on drugs, overeating, retreating to his bedroom. He separated from his wife and grew apart from his daughters, Carnie and Wendy. Then with a flourish, Landy returned and — armed with a full team of nutritionists, assistants and caregivers — doubled down on his around-the-clock therapy.
Landy concluded Wilson suffered from a schizoid personality with manic depressive features — introverted, painfully shy, unable to show emotion. Left untreated, Landy said, Wilson would inevitably swing freely between delusional highs and nearly suicidal lows. He loaded Wilson up on medications — lithium, Xanax, Halcion, among others.
So involved was Landy in Wilson’s every move that in 1988 when the musician released “Brian Wilson” — his first solo album and his best effort in years — Landy was listed as the executive producer and given co-writing credit on five of the 11 songs. Landy’s girlfriend was given co-writing credit on three other songs. Landy became Wilson’s manager, formed a business interest with the musician to share in any profits from recordings, films and books and tried to become executor of Wilson’s estate.
Landy was ousted for good when the state attorney general’s office opened an investigation into his relationship with Wilson, probing accusations that he had prescribed drugs without a medical license and had financially exploited his famous client.
Gary Usher, a songwriter who worked with Landy, told state investigators that Wilson was a virtual captive, manipulated by a man who frightened and intimidated him.
In 1989, Landy pleaded guilty to a single charge of unlawfully prescribing drugs, surrendered his license and moved to Hawaii, where he died of lung cancer in 2006.
Wilson, who rarely said anything negative about anyone, could find little kind to say about Landy in a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone. “I thought he was my friend, but he was a very f— up man.”
Despite the tumult, Wilson kept recording and performing, sometimes showing glimpses of his former self, yet always doomed to comparisons with his earlier work.
In 2017, Times rock critic Randy Lewis observed that Wilson seemed chipper and content during a leg of the “Pet Sounds Live” tour at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. His voice, once shriveled by years of smoking and other abuses, was “assertive and confident,” Lewis wrote.
Two years later, though, Wilson postponed a leg of his “Greatest Hits” tour to focus on his mental health.
“It is no secret that I have been living with mental illness for many decades,” he wrote in a tender apology to ticketholders. “I’ve been struggling with stuff in my head and saying things I don’t mean, and I don’t know why.”
Through it all, the unfinished concept album he had put aside hung like a cloud.
A few snippets of the album had been used on “Smiley Smile,” a hurry-up recording in 1967 that the Beach Boys recorded to meet contractual demands, and “Surf’s Up,” a 1971 album built around a song of the same name that Wilson wrote for “Smile.”
Nearly 30 years later, an L.A. musician named Darian Sahanaja asked Wilson whether he’d be interested in revisiting “Smile.” The two had come to know each other on the road when Wilson sat in with Sahanaja’s group, the Wondermints.
The master tapes were unlocked, and Sahanaja said he downloaded the tracks and unconnected song fragments, aware that he was handling the very material that had nearly driven its author mad.
As the two worked on a laptop, the harmonies and unwritten connective tissue seemed to return to Wilson, Sahanaja said. They smoothed out transitions, changed tempos to help connect songs and phoned Parks when they were unable to make out lyrics. If he couldn’t remember a passage, Parks came up with substitute language.
In February 2004, Wilson’s version of “Smile” finally premiered at London’s Royal Festival Hall. With Wilson on stage, seated at a piano, and Parks in the audience, the crowd roared thunderously as a song cycle that had become nearly mythical in its absence was finally unveiled.
“I’m at peace with it,” Wilson said later, smiling.
Wilson is survived by six children, including daughters Carnie and Wendy, who made up two-thirds of the Grammy-nominated pop vocal group Wilson Philips. He is preceded in death by his wife, Melinda, who died in January 2024. His brother Dennis drowned in 1983 while diving in Marina Del Rey, and Carl, his other brother, died of lung cancer in 1998.
Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
LOVE Island fans have hit out at the show for setting up a “scripted” scene between the boys on tonight’s show.
The lads headed off to enjoy an evening without the girls and the conversation quickly turned to their pairings.
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Love Island fans are convinced the boys conversation tonight was ‘scripted’Credit: Eroteme
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The boys were unaware that they were being watched on a big screen by the girlsCredit: Eroteme
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Harry was keen to stir up some troubleCredit: Eroteme
But the girls weren’t entirely thrilled with what they heard.
Each of the lads took it in turns to discuss their relationship.
Connor said he was “enjoying” Toni’s company despite not being each other’s natural types.
Ben said it was a “long time coming” with Shakira, while Dejon said he “wasn’t expecting to find something so rare so quick” with Meg.
Tommy admitted he and Megan were strong – saying she “ticks every single box” and added: “I’m new to the relationship stuff, but I’m putting in the energy.”
But Harry was keen to stir up some trouble and asked if any of the lads had any worries.
Harry asked Ben if there was anything he should be concerned about when it comes to Shakira.
“With the Blu situation, her not being honest if she’s not feeling it. If it was me and I wasn’t feeling the girl. I made it known, I don’t feel like Shakira does that, she can give mixed signals,” Ben explained.
Tommy admitted all of the girls could have their heads turned.
Helena admits she had a threesome as Love Island stars discuss sex
While Harry said he had concerns when it came to Helena after her threesome confession.
But viewers were quick to claim that the conversation looked like a “set-up” and appeared to be “scripted”.
One wrote: “Well this isn’t scripted at all is it(!).”
A second said: “Ohh the producers doing something different but still scripted a bit cause if you’re told to sit down and discuss the girls you know it’s going to be shown back.”
A third commented: “This show is becoming more and more scripted. Their mannerisms are not natural.”
Another added: “Idk this part seems scripted.”
And the surprises didn’t stop there, as all of a sudden the boys are greeted by not one, not two, but THREE brand new bombshells.
Emily, Malisha and Yasmin crashed the boys’ night and wasted no time in getting to know the group.
Megan spotted the bombshells and shouted “There’s three of them!”
A stunned Meg added: “You’re joking!”
Harry asksed the new bombshells: “Are you coming back with us?”
Malisha said: “Of course I am!”
Yasmin added to the boys: “Tell us what your situation is in the Villa at the moment?”
They fill them in on their current situations and how they’re feeling, but as they’re blissfully unaware that their every move is being watched, they don’t hold back with their answers.
Love Island 2025 full lineup
Harry Cooksley: A 30-year-old footballer with charm to spare.
Sophie Lee: A model and motivational speaker who has overcome adversity after suffering life-changing burns in an accident.
Shakira Khan: A 22-year-old Manchester-based model, ready to turn heads.
Blu Chegini: A boxer with striking model looks, seeking love in the villa.
Megan Moore: A payroll specialist from Southampton, looking for someone tall and stylish.
Alima Gagigo: International business graduate with brains and ambition.
The death of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson is an immeasurable loss for music and for California, both the place and the dream of it that Wilson conjured with his regal and tender compositions.
Wilson was the visionary of the defining American rock band, one who competed with the Beatles to move pop music into new realms of sophistication and invention, while writing songs capturing the longing of an ascendant youth culture.
His death leaves only two surviving members of the original lineup — Mike Love and Al Jardine, Wilson’s high school friend who sang lead on early hits like “Help Me Rhonda” and wrote songs for beloved later-period albums like “Surf’s Up” and “Sunflower.”
On the day the world learned of Wilson’s death, Jardine briefly spoke to The Times to remember his lifelong friend and bandmate. The guitarist, vocalist and songwriter — now on tour with his Pet Sounds Band playing Beach Boys hits with a focus on their 1970s output — looked back on six decades of writing and performing with one of the greatest minds of popular music.
Jardine’s conversation was edited for length and clarity.
I just lost my best friend and mentor. It’s not a good feeling, but I’m going to carry on and continue to play our music and perform with the Pet Sounds Band.
Brian was a great friend. We grew up together, we went to high school together. We were both dropouts, which is not a bad thing as long as you have a vision of the future. His and mine was to make music.
We were very good friends and very successful in part because of his great talent. He had an amazing ability to compose, very simple things and very complex things, all at the same time. He was a visionary.
We all grew up together musically, but he grew exponentially. He became a leader, and formed new ways of chord construction, things no one had heard before, and we rose to the challenge with him.
It’s been said that Brian invented the state of California, the state of mind. That’s a cute way of saying it, but he really invented a new form of music in the ’60s and ’70s. It was very sophisticated, but went way beyond that. He was a humble giant, a great American composer.
I don’t think anyone else could walk in his shoes, given all that he went through. I did write some songs he liked, and did help him get through treacherous times. It must be so frightening to be left in the wilderness by yourself and not know how to get home. He said one song I wrote helped him get through that, which is quite a compliment from the great Brian Wilson, who had his own demons to deal with.
Brian Wilson’s band was a reawakening of his professional life. He never enjoyed touring, so this band was a whole new life for him, to experience his own music and an adulation that he never had before.
The Beach Boys — Dennis Wilson, left, Al Jardine, Carl Wilson, Brian Wilson, Mike Love — perform circa 1964 in California.
(Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)
His legacy is of course in the music, and any interpreter of that legacy has to be sharp and devoted to it. We have the most devoted people that could be there to do that, so many original members of his band. My son Matthew, he’s Brian’s voice, and the DNA is there. With his arranger, Darian, arranging all vocals, we have all the muscle and genius to pull it off.
When Carl Wilson and I were singing those parts back then, we’d abbreviate things — you can’t do everything you did in the studio with only five of us. Now we’ve got 10 people onstage and I just heard some background parts yesterday that sounded just like we used to — you can hear Carl and Dennis in there.
When we take the band out, I have a little white piano onstage, like the one he played in the past. It’s a symbolic moment, the empty piano.
While the Beach Boys tour was a hit-based performance, with this iteration, we’re more introspective, deeper cuts, performing much of the 1970s catalog. There’s quite a few numbers the public hasn’t heard, exploring the heart and soul of those albums. I was hoping Brian would have been able to join us.
But it’s wonderful, we’re hoping this music should last forever, and be felt at the deep levels that Brian experienced it.
It sure is a great responsibility to play it, but it just feels natural to me. I’ve been doing it for so long, It doesn’t feel weighty. I’m confident, especially with this band being so remarkable. I’m still learning from Brian after all these years.
Interview from 2011: How music takes Brian Wilson back to the 1960s
Musicians have paid tribute to Brian Wilson, the legendary frontman and co-founder of The Beach Boys, who has died at the age of 82.
Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan said he had spent “years” admiring Wilson’s “genius” while Sir Elton John described him as a “true giant” who had the “biggest influence” on his songwriting.
Wilson’s family said they were “heartbroken” and “at a loss for words” to announce his death. Their statement did not give a cause.
The Beach Boys were one of America’s biggest bands, whose success rivalled the Beatles in the 1960s.
Born in 1942 and raised in Hawthorne, California, Wilson formed a group with his younger brothers Carl and Dennis, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine.
They went on to sellmore than 100 million records globally, according to the group’s website.
Music magazine Rolling Stone ranked them at 12 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”.
Wilson churned out dozens of hit singles, including the three number one songs I Get Around, Help Me, Rhonda and Good Vibrations.
He was known for using the recording studio to create unique sounds, especially on the album Pet Sounds, which contributed to his reputation as a music pioneer.
Frank Sinatra’s daughter, Nancy Sinatra, who enjoyed a high-profile music career around the time of The Beach Boys’ heyday, shared a picture with Wilson on Instagram.
“His cherished music will live forever as he travels through the Universe and beyond,” she wrote. “God bless you, sweet Brian.”
Getty Images
Brian Wilson was a music pioneer
Mick Fleetwood, of the band Fleetwood Mac, wrote: “Anyone with a musical bone in their body must be grateful for Brian Wilson’s genius magical touch !! And greatly saddened of this major worldly loss!!”
Sean Ono Lennon, son of Beatles frontman John Lennon and Yoko Ono, called Wilson the “American Mozart” and a “one of a kind genius from another world”.
“Anyone who really knows me knows how heartbroken I am about Brian Wilson passing,” he wrote on X.
“Not many people influenced me as much as he did. I feel very lucky that I was able to meet him and spend some time with him. He was always very kind and generous.”
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood said his “world is in mourning”, as he noted that Sly Stone and Wilson both died this week.
Universal Music Group’s chief executive Sir Lucian Grainge called Wilson “one of the most talented singer-songwriters in the history of recorded music”.
“If there was a human being who made art out of inexpressible sadness it was Brian Wilson,” the musician Questlove wrote in a long tribute on Instagram.
CAROLINE BREHMAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Fans laid flowers on the Beach Boys’ Hollywood Walk of Fame star in LA following news of Wilson’s death
Micky Dolenz, the last surviving member of the band the Monkees, wrote of Wilson’s passing: “His melodies shaped a generation, his harmonies changed the game, and his soul came through in every note.”
Wilson lost his wife Melinda in 2024. The couple had been married for 24 years, and adopted their children Dakota Rose, Daria Rose, Delanie Rose, Dylan and Dash together.
Wilson also had two daughters, Carnie and Wendy, from his first marriage.
The musician was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic in 1984, according to Forbes, when doctors found evidence that his use of psychedelic drugs had potentially damaged his brain.
