Some sad news to pass along from the music world, readers. Melinda Wilson, the wife of songwriting legend and Beach Boy, Brian Wilson, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 77:
Melinda Wilson, who rescued her future husband, the Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson, from psychological ruin when they were dating in the 1980s, died on Tuesday at her home in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was 77.[...]
The couple’s relationship was portrayed in the 2014 biopic “Love & Mercy.” The film shows Ms. Wilson (played by Elizabeth Banks) meeting Mr. Wilson (played by both John Cusack and Paul Dano) in a Cadillac showroom in Los Angeles, where she was a saleswoman.[...]
The film shows Ms. Wilson helping Mr. Wilson, her boyfriend at the time, navigate a bout of mental illness in the 1980s. That effort, and their courtship, is complicated by the presence of Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), a psychologist who had helped Mr. Wilson fight off depression and substance abuse to stage a professional comeback.
After word of her passing spread across the news wires, her husband Brian reached out in despair to fans on Twitter-X, writing that he and his children were "lost," adding that Melinda "was [his] savior," who for decades "gave [him] the emotional security" he needed to keep working on the music he loves:
My heart is broken. Melinda, my beloved wife of 28 years, passed away this morning.
— Brian Wilson (@BrianWilsonLive) January 30, 2024
Our five children and I are just in tears.
We are lost.
Melinda was more than my wife. She was my savior.
She gave me the emotional security I needed to have a career.
He continued:
She encouraged me to make the music that was closest to my heart. She was my anchor. She was everything for us. Please say a prayer for her.
Love and Mercy Brian
But there was more, as his kids chimed in with their own heartbreaking tribute:
It is with a heavy heart that we let everyone know that our mom, Melinda Kay Ledbetter Wilson passed away peacefully this morning at home. She was a force of nature and one of the strongest women you could come by.
— Brian Wilson (@BrianWilsonLive) January 30, 2024
She was not only a model, our fathers savior, and a mother, she was a woman empowered by her spirit with a mission to better everyone she touched. We will miss her but cherish everything she has taught us.
— Brian Wilson (@BrianWilsonLive) January 30, 2024
Their poignant remembrance included even more touching--verging on poetic--words, then some photos
How to take care of the person next to you with out expecting anything in return, how to find beauty in the darkest of places, and how to live life as your truest self with honesty and pride.
— Brian Wilson (@BrianWilsonLive) January 30, 2024
We love you mom. Give Grandma Rose and Pa our love. pic.twitter.com/XgkXuEfWXy
No cause of death was reported at the time of this writing.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Brian Wilson reached out in a personal way to music fans, too, by performing some of his best-loved songs with the Beach Boys on a piano in his home.
I shared this video once before with readers (in a piece about some new music he released), but it seems appropriate to share it again here. My guess is that music was something that the couple bonded over. And how beautiful for a Hollywood family to stay together like this. Music is a miraculous and healing thing, I believe
RIP, Melinda, and comfort (and love and mercy) to her loved ones at this time.
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