NEED TO KNOW
Beach Boy Al Jardine remembers the last time he spoke with Brian Wilson
Jardine says he believes that Wilson found peace before he died
Wilson died on June 11 at age 82
More than 60 years after they first joined forces to form the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine’s final meeting was a poignant full-circle moment.
Jardine, 82, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue that he last saw his longtime bandmate about a month before he died on June 11 at age 82. The musician was on his way up to Carmel, Calif. with his wife Mary Ann when they dropped in to see Wilson on the way.
“The first thing he did is he looked at me, right in my eyes. He said, ‘You started the band,’” Jardine says. “I said, Okay, well Brian, thank you, but you had a little bit to do with it too.’”
The star fondly recalls being in school with the “Don’t Worry Baby” singer at El Camino Junior College, where he bumped into him on the way to class one day. Jardine explains he was the one who “ignited in [Wilson] to act on his music.”
Courtesy of Mary Ann Jardine
Al Jardine and Brian Wilson
“I said, ‘Brian, we’ve got to start a band together.’ And it just started. It just happened right then,” he says. “And we searched desperately for people to be in our band, but no one on campus could quite cut it. So he said, ‘You know what? My little brother Carl plays a guitar, and my older cousin has a really great baritone. Come over to my place and I’ll introduce you.’ And that’s how it started.”
Though Wilson’s tenure with the Beach Boys was on and off throughout his life, he and Jardine remained friendly, and in his later years, Jardine says he’d swing by Wilson’s home every few months to say hello, often bringing the Brian Wilson Band with him to put on a show for its namesake founder.
“The band would get together and sing for him. He wouldn’t participate, but the idea was to keep him involved,” says Jardine. “It was really cool…. He was having difficulties, but he seemed to be recovering from it. So [his death] has been quite a shock.”
Wilson led something of a tumultuous life, bogged down for years by substance abuse issues and mental health struggles. But he ultimately found happiness with his second wife Melinda, who died in 2024, and his seven children. Upon Melinda’s death, he was placed under a conservatorship due to an unspecified neurocognitive disorder that made it impossible for him to care for himself. When asked if he believes if Wilson found peace in his later years, Jardine is quick to answer.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Al Jardine, Mike Love, Dennis Wilson, Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson ca. 1964
“Yep, I sure do. His family surrounded him right to the end,” he says. “I think he was content. His kids love him. We all loved him.”
“Anyone who came in contact with Brian was highly influenced by him because he took the same notes that everybody else has and made a new musical language out of them,” he adds. “He was funny, savvy — and very humble.”
Jardine released the EP Islands of the Sun in May, his first new collection of songs in 15 years. The EP features lead vocals from Jardine and his son Matt, plus guest vocals from Beach Boy Bruce Johnston.
The star is hitting the road later this summer on the Love You Tour with Wilson’s former band, now called The Pet Sounds Band, playing “deep cuts” from the ‘70s. Jardine kicks things off in Minnesota on July 4, and will play through early September.
For more on Brian Wilson, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.
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