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A news item involving Brian Wilson was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the In the news section on 11 June 2025.

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Section sizes

Section size for Brian Wilson (61 sections)
Section name	Byte count	Section total
(Top)	6,009	6,009
Early life and musical training	7,441	7,441
Career	12	93,762
1961–1962: Formation of the Beach Boys	1,818	1,818
1962–1963: Early productions and freelancing	6,433	6,433
1964–1965: International success and withdrawal from touring	5,641	5,641
1965–1966: Artistic growth and Pet Sounds	6,670	6,670
1966–1968: "Good Vibrations", Smile, and home studio transition	6,709	6,709
1968–1975: Reduced activity and professional decline	85	18,279
Diminished involvement with the Beach Boys and "Bedroom Tapes"	7,289	7,289
Unreleased album productions, Spring, and Mount Vernon and Fairway	4,273	4,273
Recluse period	6,632	6,632
1975–1982: First Landy intervention, "Brian's Back!", and regression	77	10,685
15 Big Ones and Love You	4,661	4,661
Hospitalizations and "cocaine sessions"	5,947	5,947
1982–1991: Second Landy intervention, Brian Wilson, and Sweet Insanity	6,660	6,660
1992–2011: Career resurgence and first solo tours	58	14,918
Lawsuits, documentary, and collaborative albums	3,116	3,116
Imagination and formation of the Brian Wilson Band	4,478	4,478
Live albums and Brian Wilson Presents Smile	4,515	4,515
Covers albums and That Lucky Old Sun	2,751	2,751
2011–2025: Continued touring and final years	53	15,937
Beach Boys reunion, No Pier Pressure, and biopic	7,363	7,363
Pet Sounds world tours, At My Piano, and UMPG sale	8,521	8,521
Death, tributes, and posthumous releases	8,526	8,526
Musical influences	23	15,533
Early influences	4,026	4,026
Spector and Bacharach	7,096	7,096
Others	4,388	4,388
Artistry	13	20,428
Compositional style	4,215	4,215
Lyrics	3,647	3,647
Studios and musicians	6,568	6,568
Production style	3,562	3,562
Singing	2,423	2,423
Mental health	18	9,320
Onset of illness	6,149	6,149
Post-Landy	3,153	3,153
Personal life	19	17,321
Deafness in right ear	1,875	1,875
Relationships and children	6,605	6,605
Spirituality	3,019	3,019
Public statements and memoirs	5,803	5,803
Cultural impact and influence	34	31,734
Sales achievements	1,435	1,435
Popular music, industry practices, and record production	7,398	7,398
Art pop, psychedelia, and progressive music	9,471	9,471
Naïve art, rock/pop division, and outsider music	5,436	5,436
Alternative music and continued cultural resonance	7,960	7,960
Authorized documentary films	2,265	2,265
Accolades	14	10,665
Awards and honors	7,272	7,272
Polls and critics' rankings	3,379	3,379
Discography	870	870
Filmography	4,938	4,938
See also	301	301
Notes	32	32
References	33	33
Bibliography	11,117	11,117
Further reading	2,542	2,542
External links	3,130	3,130
Total	245,967	245,967

This article has been viewed enough times in a single week to appear in the Top 25 Report. The week in which this happened:

June 8 to 14, 2025

Exact date of death

To get ahead of the inevitable edits to come, please note that Rolling Stone, AP and NYTimes obits, three higher-quality sources, state:

[1] "His family announced the death on Instagram but did not say where or when he died, or state a cause."
[2] "Wilson’s family posted news of his death to his website and social media accounts Wednesday. Further details weren’t immediately available."
[3] "has died at the age of 82...."

We should wait until we have an additional source explicitly stating the date of death before updating as such.

Connormah (talk) 17:15, 11 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed, and my edit is along those lines. MIDI (talk) 20:03, 11 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Guardian is stating that he died on June 11:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/11/brian-wilson-obituary 2601:18C:8102:86C0:61A3:1C57:23FB:13CA (talk) 00:29, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

My guess is they just assume it was June 11 since the death was announced on that date. The statement from the family did not give any date of death. It was the same with David Lynch. Many sources jumped to the conclusion that he died the same day the death became public even though the first statement did not give any date of death (even if it in the end was revealed that he did, although it does not mean it's the same thing here). We will probably find out for sure soon. TMZ use to be good at obtaining death certificates. DrKilleMoff (talk) 01:28, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Should it be changed back to death announced on this date, or be left at June 11? 2601:18C:8102:86C0:61A3:1C57:23FB:13CA (talk) 02:29, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Why is the article now suddenly going for June 11 as the date of death? The only source is the British newspaper The Guardian. There's still no official date of death in any of the American news outlets. Not even Wilson's own official website gives a DoD. Are we to believe that The Guardian would have better inside info than American media? We need to make up our minds, we can't keep changing the DoD all the time. First only "June", then "c:a 11 June" and now "11 June" based on one non-American source. 92.39.0.212 (talk) 09:41, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I noticed that the circa was removed from June 11. 2601:18C:8102:86C0:ED92:E2F6:E6:FCB9 (talk) 12:00, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Generally, whatever sources I have seen say he died on the 11th have mostly done so in very offhanded ways, none citing any new statements or reporting. For whatever it's worth, one of the other major UK papers (the Daily Telegraph), which styles their obituaries in much the same way as the others by adding in the birth and death date at the end, just says "Brian Wilson, born June 20 1942, death announced June 11 2025". Sunshineisles2 (talk) 15:26, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I would probably still err on the side of uncertainty with regard to the June 11 date, but fear it is a futile exercise at this point. No sources seem to include reporting beyond the statement of announcement of his death yet, as Sunshineisles2 notes. Conflating the date of an announcement with the actual date of death is a common issue which could lead to misinformation, especially if the announcement was delayed. Connormah (talk) 16:17, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. I would like additional caution on the matter but I agree that ship has long sailed, especially once said offhand remarks in additional articles, tributes, etc. will then be taken as confirmation. Sunshineisles2 (talk) 18:27, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wilson's bandmate Al Jardine has now confirmed to People magazine that Wilson passed away in the early morning of June 11.

https://people.com/brian-wilson-dead-82-beach-boys-singer-co-founder-8548234 92.39.0.212 (talk) 06:23, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Should the source from The Guardian be changed to People then? 2601:18C:8102:86C0:986:2BCA:3AE1:BA8D (talk) 20:07, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think so, and I have added it. Thanks to the editor above for pointing this out. Sunshineisles2 (talk) 21:08, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That People article might not be the most reliable source for anything, seeing it repeats tashy claims from the fake Brian Wilson autobiography as fact told to them direct by Brian, and claims his album At My Piano came out in 2012 when it's from 2021. 92.29.28.164 (talk) 18:23, 16 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

^ trashy 92.29.28.164 (talk) 18:23, 16 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

“Too long” ?

I say we pull the tag placed today. If anything, the article is too short. Jusdafax (talk) 17:55, 11 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Agree: Jusdafax, I definitely agree! GloryRoad66 (talk)

... any anyway it is a very poor time to be embarking on major changes. Thincat (talk) 18:19, 11 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I removed the tag! Microplastic Consumer (talk) 18:37, 11 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

We might consider forking List of awards and nominations received by Brian Wilson at some point. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 03:12, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wilson's death randomly mentioned at end of "Sea of Tunes sale and Reprise signing"

"In a post shared on Instagram on June 11, 2025, Wilson's family announced his death."

Why on earth is this brief mention of his death at the end of this subsection of the section on his music career? Totally out of place. 208.99.255.70 (talk) 18:29, 11 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

FYI: there is an error message right at the very bottom

I could edit this but I'm not particularly familiar with the error:

''Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{tl|reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{tl|notelist}} template (see the help page).''

It's just above the categories. Thanks. Tassedethe (talk) 21:21, 11 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

New section and subsection

To handle the growing volume of posthumous tributes, I’ve created a new section: “Death and posthumous reactions.” I grant you that this new section is possibly going to require an eventual new page of its own, but for now it will allow easy navigation for editors and readers. As someone working on this article for many years, I thank all those who have helped to improve it in the past, present and future. Jusdafax (talk) 01:15, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The new section title was just changed to “Death and tributes,” which I agree is an obvious improvement. Jusdafax (talk) 01:33, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The new section should probably be a subsection of "Personal life". That's where information about people's death usually goes. – Jonesey95 (talk) 05:03, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Roots

I find it odd that the Wilson brothers started their life in Hutchinson, Kansas. Their father is from Hutchinson as well as Mike Love's mom. But, that fact has conveniently been erased from every bio I have seen online. Everything says they were born in California. 2604:9D80:A200:4B4B:1477:60D7:7B0F:A4A7 (talk) 12:44, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe because he was born in California.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 20:44, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 13 June 2025

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Died in Beverly Hills, because he probably died at home and he and Melinda lived in Beverly Hills. 47.188.129.36 (talk) 01:05, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. 'Probably died at home' is jumping to conclusions. We don't include the place of death unless it is backed up by reliable sources, lest we crystal ball. Aydo h8^{[what have I done now?]} 01:08, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 13 June 2025 (2)

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Could you please add this source from People Magazine to the "Death and posthumous releases" section? In the article, Wilson's bandmember Al Jardine confirms the date of death as June 11. He also states that it happened "in the early morning". Could you please also incorporate this into the text of the "Death and posthumous releases" section?

https://people.com/brian-wilson-dead-82-beach-boys-singer-co-founder-8548234

92.39.0.212 (talk) 07:38, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: The date is already in the article, the "early morning" bit seems an unnecessary detail. It doesn't tell us anything important. DrOrinScrivello (talk) 18:36, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Death section

So, I have a question on the death and tributes section: how should we rewrite the tributes and fix the overcite tag?

Courtesy pinging regular contributors ILIL, The One I Left and Jusdafax for their thoughts on this. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 15:10, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure if it's encyclopedic to cover everybody that mentioned Brian on social media. I think it's enough for now to state that many artists and celebrities did, and perhaps limit the list. McCartney, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards, John Cale, Questlove are already mentioned elsewhere in the article as fans of Brian. ili (talk) 18:46, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Agree with ILIL. If needed or desired, a separate article page could be devoted to the posthumous tributes, but otherwise the section shouldn’t be subjected to tribute bloat. A couple short paragraphs, with selected outstanding short quotes, ought to do it. Perhaps a citation after each named tribute, instead of lumping the citations all together, would satisfy our article tagger. Jusdafax (talk) 02:46, 15 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah I think its absolutely worthy of mentioning the names of people like Dylan, Springsteen, etc as those who paid tribute after his death since they are truly notable names and giants in the field of music. Just listing their names doesn't isn't bloat. I would agree that it would be unnecessary if they each got a lengthy quote attributed to them, but just their names should suffice.The One I Left (talk) 13:42, 15 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

We are not a memorial, or a tribute page, this can all be summed up with "Many celebrities (including Elton John, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Keith Richards) paifd tribute to his work" Sourced (of course). Slatersteven (talk) 13:47, 15 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

For reference, the relevant policy can be found at WP:MEMORIAL. Also, in this case, which quotes should be remove? Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 02:14, 16 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Personally I think it makes way more encyclopedic sense to actually include what the people said in their tributes than to just list a massive blue blob of names.★Trekker (talk) 04:28, 16 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. Hearing how Wilson's music impacted people through personal quotes or stories is a lot better than listing every name imaginable. – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 15:50, 16 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've relocated the list of names to a footnote. Anybody who wants to read what each individual said can consult AP, Billboard, and the other sources directly. I don't feel it's encyclopedic or appropriate to highlight specific celebrities like Cusack, McCartney, and Elton John. Including McCartney's quip ("how we'll continue without Brian Wilson, god only knows") seemed in particularly bad taste. ili (talk) 00:32, 18 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 14 June 2025

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Change “ingenuous” to “ingenious.” (The adjective “ingenuous,” describing Wilson’s lyrics, appears to be a mistake, as “ingenious” would make more sense in context.) 57.138.137.60 (talk) 20:41, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: While Wilson's musical ability could be described as "ingenious", in the context of the themes of his lyrics, ingenuous (showing innocent or childlike simplicity and candidness according to Merriam-Webster, and I think the emphasis here should be on candidness) is the proper usage. DrOrinScrivello (talk) 20:54, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Current page claims "Al Jardine later reported that Wilson had been struggling with long-term effects of COVID-19 since his last tour" - source doesn't actually say that

actual quote from the cited article ( https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/al-jardine-brian-wilson-obituary-interview-78163/ ) is just "Jardine believes Wilson changed after contracting Covid: “That was the end of it. He never came back after that.” "

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/al-jardine-brian-wilson-obituary-interview-1235363571/ is a better source for that interview anyway as they published it first & the Austrailia Rolling stone site is just reposting/reprinting it. 92.29.28.164 (talk) 18:02, 16 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 17 June 2025

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Died in Los Angeles. ^[1] 47.188.129.36 (talk) 19:56, 17 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: According to the page's protection level you should be able to edit the page yourself. If you seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. meamemg (talk) 20:09, 19 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: The page's protection level has changed since this request was placed. You should now be able to edit the page yourself. If you still seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. meamemg (talk) 20:11, 19 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ "How Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson changed this Kansas journalist’s life." https://kansasreflector.com/2025/06/16/how-beach-boys-mastermind-brian-wilson-changed-this-kansas-journalists-life/#:~:text=Wilson%20died%20Wednesday%20in%20Los,little%20over%20a%20year%20ago.

Place of Death

The Kansas Reflector is saying he died in Los Angeles https://kansasreflector.com/2025/06/16/how-beach-boys-mastermind-brian-wilson-changed-this-kansas-journalists-life/#:~:text=Wilson%20died%20Wednesday%20in%20Los,little%20over%20a%20year%20ago. 47.188.129.36 (talk) 23:33, 17 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Instruments in infobox

I see that someone keeps adding "piano" to the instruments parameter of the infobox when it already lists "keyboards", given that the piano is a keyboard instrument, wouldn't listing both piano and keyboards in the same infobox be redundant? I thought maybe I'd discuss this on the talk page before making that same edit again to prevent an edit war.2601:153:881:3D60:BE4E:AAB6:FCD1:6738 (talk) 04:41, 5 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed that it's redundant.--Mr Serious Guy (talk) 18:51, 8 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Brian Wilson is a genius should be at the start

This is a very common way that people tend to describe Brian Wilson so it would make sense to mention it at the beginning of the page Bingerdude (talk) 20:41, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's already covered in the lead section. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 03:07, 22 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

[1] "How Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson changed this Kansas journalist’s life." https://kansasreflector.com/2025/06/16/how-beach-boys-mastermind-brian-wilson-changed-this-kansas-journalists-life/#:~:text=Wilson%20died%20Wednesday%20in%20Los,little%20over%20a%20year%20ago.

[1]