Sir Elton John, Bob Dylan, and Sir Ringo Starr are among the musicians to pay tribute to the late Brian Wilson.
Musicians have paid tribute to Brian Wilson
The Beach Boys co-founder passed away on Wednesday (11.06.25) at the age of 82 and Tiny Dancer hitmaker Elton praised his friend as the “biggest influence” on his work.
Sharing a photo of them together, Elton wrote on Instagram: “Brian Wilson was always so kind to me from the day I met him.
“He sang ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight’ at a tribute concert in 2003, and it was an extraordinary moment for me. played on his solo records, he sang on my album, The Union, and even performed for my AIDS Foundation.
“I grew to love him as a person, and for me, he was the biggest influence on my songwriting ever; he was a musical genius and revolutionary. He changed the goalposts when it came to writing songs and shaped music forever. A true giant.”
Meanwhile, Bob had long admired Brian’s “genius”.
He wrote: “Heard the sad news about Brian today and thought about all the years I’ve been listening to him and admiring his genius. Rest in peace dear Brian”.
Ringo shared a photo of himself with Brian from the 1980s.
He wrote: “God bless Brian Wilson. Peace and love to all his family.”
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards simply wrote “Rest in Peace!” but he also shared a page from his 2011 memoir Life, in which he discussed his first impressions of the Beach Boys’ iconic album Pet Sounds.
It read in part: “Listening to Pet Sounds, well, it’s all a little bit overproduced for me, but Brian Wilson had something. … There was no particular correlation with what we were doing, so I could just listen to it on another level. I thought these are very well-constructed songs.”
Kiss rockers Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons remembered Brian as a “genius” and a “visionary”.
Paul wrote on X: “Sadly, Brian Wilson has passed away. Songwriter, visionary. Thank you for a lifetime of wonderful melodies that spanned decades. I’m going to spend the day listening to the Beach Boys and reminiscing.”
And Gene shared: “Sadly, Brian Wilson has passed away. Songwriter, visionary. Thank you for a lifetime of wonderful melodies that spanned decades. I’m going to spend the day listening to the Beach Boys and reminiscing.”
The Velvet Underground’s John Cale also remembered the God Only Knows singer as a “genius”.
He said: “To me, Brian Wilson was not merely about surf music, rather a true musical genius toiling away at melding POP into startling sophistication. He will he be missed mightily.”
Carole King remembered Brian as her “friend and brother in songwriting”.
She wrote on Facebook: “Brian Wilson was my friend and my brother in songwriting. We shared a similar sensibility, as evidenced by his 4 over 5 chord under ‘Aaaah!’ in ‘Good Vibrations’ and mine under ‘I’m Into Something Good.’ We once discussed who used it first, and in the end we decided it didn’t matter. The world will miss Brian, but we are so lucky to have his music.”
Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood touched on Brian’s influence throughout the world of music.
He 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!! My thoughts go out to his family and friends.”
