There’s an old saying that it’s better to be a ‘kingmaker’ than the ‘king,’ as kings come and go, but king makers enjoy both anonymity and wealth. In rock and roll, there stands three kingmakers, the men behind 3 legendary bands. Their names are Robert Stigwood, George Martin, and Murray Wilson. Let’s spend a little time getting to know the man that shaped the early 60s beach sound with his family band, the Beach Boys.
Murray Wilson was the father, producer, and manager of the Beach Boys. Although Murray died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1973 at the age of 53, Murray molded the sound of the Beach Boys in a way no other band had done so far. Murray was a keen businessman with a great ear for what kids wanted to hear, driving his sons to create rich harmonies and catchy songs.
Murray was (like many a genius) a perfectionist, moody and difficult to be with at times. The high point for this Svengali has to be the impact the Beach Boys had on popular music in the early 60s, his low point clearly was his secretly selling off the family publishing company for $700,000; a move that blew up the family dynamic beyond repair. Without Murray, there would be no ‘Pet Sounds,’ which inspired ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club,’ (Paul McCartney’s own admission) and we might have suffered through more years of Mitch Miller or Doris Day.
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