Murry Wilson

Murry Gage Wilson (July 2, 1917 – June 4, 1973) was an American songwriter and record producer who acted as the first manager of the Beach Boys, a rock band formed by his sons Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, his nephew Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. For most of the 1960s, Murry also worked as a music publisher for the band. He authored or co-authored at least 50 compositions in his lifetime. His most popular songs were "Two-Step, Side-Step", recorded by Johnnie Lee Wills and Bonnie Lou, and "Break Away", released as a Beach Boys single in 1969.

Murry Wilson
Wilson in the 1960s
Born
Murry Gage Wilson

(1917-07-02)July 2, 1917
Hutchinson, Kansas, U.S.
DiedJune 4, 1973(1973-06-04) (aged 55)
Whittier, California, U.S.
Resting placeInglewood Park Cemetery
OccupationPublisher, talent manager, machine business owner
OrganizationSea of Tunes (1962–1969)
Children
Musical career
GenresEasy listening
Occupation(s)Songwriter, record producer
InstrumentsPiano
Years active1952–1969
LabelsCapitol
Associated actsThe Beach Boys, the Sunrays

After the Beach Boys dismissed Murry as their manager in 1964, he produced the sound-alike group the Sunrays, and recorded a solo album, The Many Moods of Murry Wilson (1967). In 1969, Wilson sold off the Beach Boys' publishing company Sea of Tunes for $700,000 (equivalent to $4.88 million in 2019), then considered an undervalued sum. In 1973, he died aged 55 of a heart attack.

Early years

Murry Gage Wilson was born on July 2, 1917 in Hutchinson, Kansas,[1] the son of Edith Sophia (née Sthole) and William Coral "Buddy" Wilson.[2] His mother was of Swedish descent.[3] His family moved west to Los Angeles when he was five. The family was initially so impoverished that they camped in a tent on the beach when they arrived. He met his future wife, Audree Neva Korthof, while attending Washington High School; they were married on March 26, 1938.[4]

Wilson had a blue-collar background. As a young man, he worked at Southern California Gas Company until the birth of his first son Brian, after which he took a job as a foreman at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber factory, where he lost an eye in an industrial accident.[2] During this period he began writing songs. His biggest success came later with a dance song, "Two-Step Side-Step", which was featured by Lawrence Welk on his radio program in 1952[4] and covered on record by RCA Victor Western Swing artist Johnnie Lee Wills, as well as country music singer Bonnie Lou. He also wrote "I'll Hide My Tears", recorded in the early 1950s by doo-wop group the Jets, a reconfiguration of the Hollywood Flames.[5] Wilson later founded a machining business, but maintained an active interest in music, which he passed along to his sons, encouraging them to learn to sing and play instruments.

The Wilson brothers had a problematic relationship with their father. Many stories of abuse have surfaced, including a supposed incident where Murry hit Brian in the head with a 2×4, resulting in the permanent loss of hearing in his right ear.[6] Murry denied such reports when approached by Rolling Stone in 1971. According to biographer David Leaf, Murry later "telephoned Brian and angrily demanded that he retract the stories. Brian reportedly laughingly told his dad, 'I'll tell you what. Let's tell them that I shit in your ear, and you hit me in the head with a plate."[7] Brian's 2016 memoir states, "Lots of things have been written about my dad and the way he treated me and my brothers. Lots of them are true. Some of them are dirty lies. But even the things that are true aren’t always what they seem."[8] It also states that Brian's loss of hearing was actually caused by a boy who lived in their neighborhood.[9]

1961–1964: Managing the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys, 1964

After the Beach Boys' formation, Murry became the group's business manager, co-producer, and publisher in the early part of their career. Known as a domineering and manipulative man,[10] Murry was a tough negotiator on the band's behalf, organizing a contract signing with Capitol Records.[11] Around June 1962, Murry and Brian established the music publishing company Sea of Tunes to safeguard Brian's compositions.[12] The Beach Boys' first few records credited Capitol A&R director Nik Venet as producer. After April 1963, Capitol allowed Brian to produce their records himself, following Murry's insistence.[13] Murry also introduced Brian to Roger Christian, who became Brian's writing partner for the band's car songs.[14]

Murry accompanied the group on their first Australasian tour in January 1964, and required that the band not fraternize with women, use profanity, or drink alcoholic beverages. During his early years, Wilson charged the group $100 for breaking these requirements, but for this tour, he raised the fine to $1,000, which he would subtract from the touring proceeds. At the time, Wilson's influence on the Beach Boys ignited tensions within the group.[15]

In early April 1964, following incidents involving the recording sessions of the singles "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "I Get Around", Brian relieved his father of his managerial duties.[16] In 1966, Brian reflected, "We love the family thing – y'know: three brothers, a cousin and a friend is a really beautiful way to have a group – but the extra generation can become a hang-up."[17] In Carl's recollection, "I remember having a conversation with my dad in his bedroom at home. I said, 'They really don't want you to manage the group anymore.' When I think about it, that must have really crushed him. After all, he gave up his home and business for us. He was kind of crackers over us."[18]

1964–1966: Aftermath

Even after Murry's formal business relationship with the Beach Boys ended, he remained in close contact with the group, letting Brian know his thoughts about the band's decisions.[16] Brian also periodically sought advice from his father.[18] In 1964, Murry sold off his machinery business and separated from Audree.[19] On August 7, he wrote a last will and testament that stated, in part, "[Audree] told me on this date ... that she did not enjoy intercourse with me anymore ... I am a very unhappy and broken-heated [sic] man about my family."[20] Although their marriage ended in divorce in 1966,[21] they remained closely involved with each other until his death.[22] According to music historian Mark Dillon, it has been alleged that Wilson had one or more extramarital affairs, "but whether this was in the aftermath of his separation from Audree or was ultimately the cause is not known."[23] Biographer Peter Ames Carlin suggested that Brian's song "Let Him Run Wild" (1965) was inspired by Murry's affairs.[23]

After he was relieved as the Beach Boys' manager, Wilson produced and managed the Sunrays

In June 1964, Murry produced three tracks for David Marks' group the Marksmen: "Car Party", "Casanova", and "Leaves".[19] During the mid-1960s, Murry produced and managed the Sunrays,[24] a group comprising five students who attended Hollywood Professional High School. The Sunrays earned some media attention and a bit of airplay for their initial singles, but never broke into the national Top 40. Their two best-known singles, "I Live for the Sun" and "Andrea", were regional hits in California. Members of the Sunrays described Murry as "the [nicest] man ever" and denied seeing any abuse from him toward the Beach Boys.[25] Session drummer Hal Blaine remembered of the Sunrays sessions, "You could smell the liquor something terrible when he [Wilson] came near you. Everybody got a two-dollar bill as a tip before we started, and then he'd get down on one knee and say a prayer. It was very weird."[26]

In February 1965, Wilson visited a Beach Boys recording session for "Help Me, Rhonda" and, to the group's annoyance, attempted to resume his role as the band's producer. A tape of the session later circulated widely among bootleggers.[27] On May 8, Murry drafted an eight-page letter to Brian in which he correlated the Beach Boys' rise to fame with the disintegration of his family. He wrote that he felt he was "almost [in] a living hell" and "wanted to give up completely on two separate occasions."[23] Dillon wrote that the letter "provides a wealth of insight into his conflicted personality, and it made headlines in 2009 after being posted online."[28]

For their next album, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) (released July 1965), Brian wrote a novelty song inspired by his father: "I'm Bugged at My Ol' Man".[29] Murry later commented on the song, "He meant it as a put-on, but he meant it."[30] In July, he sent a letter to Brian requesting that he be officially granted sole ownership of Sea of Tunes, per a verbal agreement they had reached in 1962.[31] According to historian Keith Badman, "Brian allowed Murry to take total control to stop his father's continual hassling on the matter."[32]

In 1966, the Beach Boys released the album Pet Sounds. On the advice of his father, Brian sped up the track "Caroline, No" to make the vocal sound younger.[33] Murry later told Rolling Stone that he enjoyed the album and praised it as a "masterpiece of accomplishment for Brian", noting that it had become a ubiquitous influence on the music heard in product commercials.[34] Dennis echoed that his father "used to go to pieces when he heard stuff like 'Caroline, No.'"[35] Venet, who was not as effused with the album, told biographer Steven Gaines that he believed the record was Brian's attempt to "torment his father with songs his father couldn't relate to, and melody structures his father couldn't understand."[36]

1967–1969: Many Moods and Sea of Tunes sale

In October 1967, Capitol released Murry's The Many Moods of Murry Wilson,[37] an easy listening LP that included a rendition of "The Warmth of the Sun".[30] While promoting the album in Britain, he told Disc & Music Echo that "after 'Good Vibrations' Brian lost a lot of confidence. He didn't think he could ever write anything as good as that again ... With [my] LP I'm going to nudge my boys' competitive spirit."[38]

In 1968, Wilson appeared on the Beach Boys' Friends album, singing the low note in "Be Here in the Mornin'".[39] In early 1969, he co-wrote the Beach Boys' song "Break Away" with Brian, and was credited under the pseudonym "Reggie Dunbar" on the record, which was released without much commercial success.[40] In October, he returned to the studio to work on various productions, including a song titled "Gonna Be Alright".[41]

In late 1969, Wilson sold Sea of Tunes, over the band's objections, for the undervalued amount of $700,000 (equivalent to $4.88 million in 2019).[21][42][32] In the early 1990s, the catalog was estimated to be worth between $20 million ($37.5 million in 2019)[43] and $40 million ($69 million in 2019).[44] Brian later suggested that his signature was forged by his father on several related business documents, making the sale illegal.[43][45]

1970–1973: Final years and death

In April 1970, Wilson assembled a tape comprising songs that he had recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders called "So Much in Love" and "Love to Be Your Lover". The tape begins with a spoken interlude in which Wilson suggests the Beach Boys should record these songs, as he "doesn't have long to live".[46] In August 1971, Wilson cut a song he wrote called "Won't You Tell Me".[47] The Sunrays released their version of the song on the 1996 compilation For Collectors Only: Vintage Rays.[48] A version featuring Brian and Carl on lead vocals remains unreleased.[49] On September 11, Disc & Music Echo reported that Dennis had permanently left the Beach Boys was in the process of "setting up a production and publication company with his father".[50] In 1972, Murry worked on various songs, including one called "Take Back the Time".[51] In October, he recorded a commercial jingle that he intended to offer to the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain.[52]

During his final years, Murry regularly socialized with Dennis. Audree recalled, "They were buddies. It's the most amazing thing ... Dennis called his father on Mother's Day and Murry told him, 'I'm just going to live about a month.' Dennis didn't tell me this, thank God! I didn't need to know that, but he could tell Dennis that."[53] Three weeks later, on June 4, 1973, Murry died at his home in Whittier, California after suffering a heart attack at the age of 55.[54][22] Brian and Dennis did not attend the funeral, but Dennis visited Murry's body in the morgue.[22] Brian later said, "I didn’t go to his funeral. I went to New York with Diane, my sister-in-law. I wasn’t staying away out of anger or anything. It was just too many things all at once, and I was not in the mood to go to my dad’s funeral."[55]

Murry was buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.[56] Shortly after Murry's death, Brian told an interviewer that he was planning to record Murry's song "Lazaloo". It was also reported that Brian wrote a song, "Just an Imitation", as a tribute to his father.[22] As of 2014, a tape of the song had yet to surface.[57] Wilson later described it as "a beautiful ballad and kind of a tribute to my dad."[58]

Legacy

Recognition

In a 2004 interview, Brian recalled of his father, "He was the one who got us going. He didn't make us better artists or musicians, but he gave us ambition. I'm pleased he pushed us, because it was such a relief to know there was someone as strong as my dad to keep things going. He used to spank us, and it hurt too, but I loved him because he was a great musician." Furthermore, in 2005, he said that although people often mislabel Murry as an untalented songwriter, "[he] had talent, he sure did. He was a talented man. He had some music in him ... My favorite song of his was one called 'His Little Darling and You'. It was a ballad."[59] In 2008, Brian included his own reworked version of the song, retitled "Just Like Me And You", as a bonus track on his album That Lucky Old Sun.[60]

Engineer Chuck Britz said of Murry: "I was one of the few people who liked Murry. I always did. I admired him for the way he got the kids mad at him; that made them also conscious of what they were trying to achieve. I realize that maybe he did it the wrong way, but at the same time, he did make them work as a team which was the way it should be."[61] Band promoter and co-manager Fred Vail said,

I used to describe Murry as an Army drill sergeant. He was very firm, but he was a good and honest man. The role he played in the group was one of the key reasons for their success. ... Murry wasn't in it for the money. Murry was in it to help his sons, to help make his sons a hit band. He wasn't greedy like a lot of other managers. With Murry, it was love, it was family. ... I never saw him attack the boys physically. I saw him fine the boys for cussing or for doing some childish pranks. But his important role in the boys' career was overlooked.[18]

Conversely, in his 2016 memoir, Mike Love wrote that Murry was "a driving force in the Beach Boys’ early success, but his greed and vindictiveness deny him any tribute. The most forgiving thing I can say about him is that he was simply an inheritor of his own father’s cruelty."[54]

In 2020, musician George Faulkner released a tribute album, George Faulkner Sings Murry Wilson, containing 11 Wilson songs. It was the first vinyl LP collection of vocal songs composed by Wilson ever released. David Marks contributed liner notes to the album.[62]

Fictional portrayals

Wilson was portrayed in two television movies: in 1990's Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys, by Arlen Dean Snyder, and in 2000's The Beach Boys: An American Family, by Kevin Dunn.[63] The latter program inspired illustrator Peter Bagge and comedian Dana Gould to create a web cartoon based on Wilson, titled Rock and Roll Dad.[64] In the 2014 biopic Love & Mercy, Wilson is portrayed by Bill Camp.[65]

Discography

Compositions

Wilson wrote at least 50 compositions in his lifetime, with over 25 recorded by other artists. Listed below are released compositions, authored or co-authored by Wilson, that were recorded by himself or other artists.[66]

  • "Two-Step, Side-Step"
  • "Tabor-Inn" / "Tabarin"
  • "Break Away"
  • "I'll Hide My Tears"
  • "Heartbreak Lane"
  • "Painting with Teardrops of Blue" / "Painting with Teardrops"
  • "Young Love Is Everywhere" / "Leaves"
  • "Come to Me"
  • "Happy, Happy Holiday"
  • "Te-e-e-e-exas"
  • "Love Won't Wait"
  • "Betty's Waltz"
  • "Won't You Tell Me"
  • "Outta Gas"
  • "Car Party"
  • "Bye Baby Bye"
  • "The Colonel's Song"

References

Citations

  1. Dillon 2012, p. xiii.
  2. "Ancestry of Gov. Bill Richardson". Wargs.com. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
  3. "American Ancestors – No. 71 Royal Descents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources: The Immediate New England and Royal Ancestry of the Beach Boys". Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. Badman 2004, p. 10.
  5. Murphy 2015, p. 43.
  6. Carlin 2006, pp. 11–14.
  7. Leaf 1978, p. 15.
  8. Wilson & Greenman 2016, p. 136.
  9. Wilson & Greenman 2016, p. 138.
  10. Gaines 1986, p. 37.
  11. Gaines 1986, pp. 78–81.
  12. Badman 2004, p. 23.
  13. Badman 2004, p. 35.
  14. Dillon 2012, p. 9.
  15. Gaines 1986, pp. 111–112.
  16. Gaines 1986, pp. 112–113.
  17. Taylor, Derek (October 5, 1966). "The Beach Boy Empire". Hit Parader. p. 13. Archived from the original (JPG) on May 25, 2017. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  18. Badman 2004, p. 54.
  19. Badman 2004, p. 57.
  20. Dillon 2012, pp. 54–55.
  21. Eidem, Steve (2008). "Murry Wilson Biography". AlbumLinerNotes.com.
  22. Badman 2004, p. 329.
  23. Dillon 2012, p. 56.
  24. Badman 2004, p. 257.
  25. "The Sunrays Facts". sunrays718.tripod.com.
  26. Dillon 2012, p. 26.
  27. Dillon 2012, pp. 49–50.
  28. Dillon 2012, p. 57.
  29. Carlin 2006, pp. 73–74.
  30. Dillon 2012, p. 60.
  31. Badman 2004, p. 95.
  32. Badman 2004, p. 258.
  33. Dillon 2012, p. 99.
  34. Nolan, Tom (November 11, 1971). "Beach Boys: A California Saga, Part II". Rolling Stone.
  35. White, Timothy (October 12, 1996). "The Passion of Pet Sounds". Billboard. pp. 45–46.
  36. Gaines 1986, p. 128.
  37. Badman 2004, p. 202.
  38. Gaines 1986, p. 195.
  39. Wilson & Greenman 2016, p. 153.
  40. Gaines 1986, p. 192.
  41. Badman 2004, p. 256.
  42. Carlin 2006, p. 145.
  43. Heller, Karen (October 23, 1991). "A Beach Boy's Blues For Brian Wilson, The Days Of "Fun, Fun, Fun" Have Ebbed. Although He Has A New Book, He's Also Involved in Several Lawsuits. "drugs," He Says, "put A Gash in My Mind."". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  44. "Beach Boys' Mike Love Wins His Case, Stands to Collect Millions". Los Angeles Times. December 13, 1994. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  45. Letovski, Irv (September 19, 1989). "Brian Wilson Sues Music Publisher". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  46. Badman 2004, p. 268.
  47. Badman 2004, p. 297.
  48. "For Collectors Only: Vintage Rays - The Sunrays | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  49. Doe, Andrew G. "From The Vaults..." Bellagio 10452. Endless Summer Quarterly. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  50. Badman 2004, p. 298.
  51. Badman 2004, pp. 304, 322.
  52. Badman 2004, p. 322.
  53. Badman 2004, p. 326.
  54. Love 2016, p. .
  55. Wilson & Greenman 2016, p. 160.
  56. Wilson, Scott (August 19, 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. ISBN 9781476625997 – via Google Books.
  57. Chidester, Brian (March 7, 2014). "Busy Doin' Somethin': Uncovering Brian Wilson's Lost Bedroom Tapes". Paste. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  58. Wilson & Greenman 2016, p. 161.
  59. Sharp, Ken (January 2006). "Christmas with Brian Wilson". Record Collector. United Kingdom: 72–76.
  60. Wilson & Greenman 2016, p. 135, 227.
  61. Leaf, David (1990). Surfin Safari / Surfin U.S.A. (CD Liner). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records.
  62. Milano, Brett (November 22, 2020). "Beach Boys fan tracks down elusive songs by Wilson dad". Boston Herald.
  63. Dillon 2012, p. 58.
  64. Dillon 2012, pp. 57–58.
  65. Rosenberg, Alyssa (November 14, 2014). "In movies this fall, all parents are bad parents". The Washington Post.
  66. "Sings Murry Wilson". Bolt Records. Retrieved October 31, 2020.

Bibliography

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