dennis wilson yacht harmony

Privacy Guaranteed - your email is never shared with anyone, opt out any time.

Bad Vibrations: Dennis Wilson & The Manson Family

In March 1967, the Beach Boys’ masterpiece smash song “Good Vibrations” hit a wall. Heralded as the group’s most ambitious and sonically-superior tune, the number one-charting single did not pick up the expected Grammy for Best Contemporary Rock Recording that month. The feel-good, harmonic melodies that had soothed a nation’s nerves in the first part of the decade were now considered not so daring or relevant to the shifting musical landscape. For the members of the famous surf band, they began to explore other outlets for enlightenment and creative rejuvenation. Brian Wilson had sunk into a world of psychedelics, teetering towards the brink of madness. Drummer Dennis Wilson, the brother who was born between older Brian and younger Carl, sought eastern methods of mind expansion. He introduced the boys to the merits of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whom the band was to meet while touring in Paris later that year in December. Dennis was always the most fearless, the most eager to experiment of the quintet. Having been the only Beach Boy to actually surf, he’d parlayed his thrills into fast cars. Several automobile crashes later, he was undeterred in his pursuit to push the limits. Restless, searching, and open-minded, Dennis Wilson was about to come into contact with a guide to the wild side of life unlike any he had ever met before.

March 1967 was also the month in which a wiry inmate, standing barely over five feet tall, with a penetrating gaze and gift of gab, was released from Terminal Island prison in southern California. When Charles Miles Manson ambled out of the walled enclave on March 21, 1967, he was a thirty-two year old drifter with thirty-five dollars in his pocket and nowhere in particular to go. The son of a prostitute who never knew his real father, Charlie Manson had spent the majority of his life in the care of armed state and federal officials. His rap sheet and convictions centered primarily around car theft, burglary and forging federal checks. Somewhere deep inside his troubled, festering mind, Manson harbored dreams of making it big in the music business. Fellow con, Alvin Karpis, one of Ma Barker’s notorious gang members in the ‘30s, had taught Charlie to play guitar while he was incarcerated for a spell in Washington State. Flamboyant road manager Phil Kaufman, who later worked for renowned artists like The Rolling Stones and Emmylou Harris, first met Manson strumming a guitar, while Kaufman was serving time for marijuana trafficking at Terminal Island. “He sounded like a young Frankie Laine and was really quite good,” Kaufman later recalled in his autobiography. “A guard went up to him and said, ‘Manson, you’ll never get out of here.’ Charlie replied, ‘Get out of where, man?’ and just kept playing his guitar.” This kind of free-thinking, nonchalant view of the world and its authority would soon draw despondent and shiftless converts alike to the feet of this makeshift mangy messiah.

Around mid-1967, Dennis Wilson and his wife of two years, Carol, were no longer blissfully in love. When Wilson had met Carol Freedman in 1965, she was a 16-year old mom with a son named Scott. Dennis loved the boy so much, he chose to adopt him as his own. The young couple moved into a comfortable home in Los Angeles’ fashionable Benedict Canyon area. Just a mile or two up the road from their abode sat a home on Cielo Drive that would soon be the site of one of the century’s most horrifying crime scenes. Carol finally became fed up with Dennis by the end of 1967. Immersed in transcendental meditation, and yet still abandoning his wife for play time with female groupies, Dennis had also fallen prey to numerous narcotics. “For me it was the drugs,” Carol later told author Steven Gaines. “I was not into drugs, and with two little children (their daughter Jennifer had been born in 1967), that was really hard for me. The drugs started right after Jennifer was born, maybe while I was pregnant.” Dennis was allegedly so disrespectful of his wife that he was said to have boasted to friends that he’d made love to another woman on his front lawn the night his daughter was born.

The latter part of 1967 for Charles Manson, meanwhile, was eye-opening and eventful for the freed jailbird basking in the hedonistic Summer of Love. He hooked up with devotees Lynn “Squeaky” Fromme and Mary Brunner and headed north to the haven of hippie happiness, Haight-Ashbury, in San Francisco. While in prison, Manson had delved into the teachings of Scientology, a pseudo-religion that professed the merits of ‘auditing’ one’s own personality. Charlie had honed in on the mind control aspects inherent in the teachings and stretched the information gleaned to manipulate the will of others to him. His credo became, ‘All action is positive. Everything is right – nothing is wrong.’ Mixing in lessons learned from the Church of the Final Judgment (better known as The Process), a borderline cult that worshipped both Christ and Satan, Manson began to present his image as a kind of spiritual master, akin to a god. As Phil Kaufman later observed, “Charlie was the kind of guy that would just drop a hint and everybody would think that they had made it up. He’d say, ‘I know what we’ll do. Let’s do this.’ And they’d think that they had thought of it, but Charlie had already planted the seed.”

Dennis Wilson started branching out from his niche as drummer in his band around late 1967. His fellow Beach Boys began to tire of Dennis’ willingness to experiment with the latest fad and his seemingly lack of self-control. Life itself was a high, but that didn’t stop Dennis from sailing to the clouds sniffing nitrous oxide from whipped cream cans. He conveyed his “love everyone” philosophy in two songs he co-wrote, “Little Bird” and “Be Still.” Dabbling more in the studio, Dennis became chums with people in the industry who could help him with his music. Already pals with Gregg Jakobson, an occasional actor and talent scout, the twosome would sit around, scribbling potential tunes for upcoming Beach Boy albums. A friend of older brother Brian Wilson, Terry Melcher, soon became a best buddy of Dennis’. Melcher had produced acts like The Byrds and Paul Revere & The Raiders. His father had recently passed away leaving an inheritance filled with homes, cars, and assets in the millions. His mom, singer/actress Doris Day, relied on her son to whip her new CBS-TV program into shape. Terry, Dennis and Gregg formed a tight-knit club called “The Golden Penetrators,” whose mission statement was to keep track of the number of groupies and starlets each member could bed over a period of time. At the turn of 1968, Terry was living in a rented home in Benedict Canyon with his actress/girlfriend Candice Bergen. The address was 10050 Cielo Drive.

On the other side of the world, in London, on January 20, 1968, a renowned filmmaker, Roman Polanski, director of the recently-released “Rosemary’s Baby,” married a promising new actress named Sharon Tate. The two had met a year and a half earlier while filming his horror comedy, “The Fearless Vampire Killers.” Sharon had moved to Hollywood as a teenager seeking fame in the movie world. In 1963, she moved in with the town’s leading hair stylist, Jay Sebring. With clients like Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, and Steve McQueen, Sebring was a well-connected playboy who became enamored of the astonishingly beautiful starlet and subsequently proposed marriage to her. He may have been shaken when she instead fell for Polanski a few years later, but he never outwardly showed his dejection to the Hollywood community. Sebring remained pals with the Polanskis until the end of the decade.

Life in the Haight-Ashbury district turned cold and ugly that winter of 1968. Charlie Manson began to make a biased distinction that the area, especially the Fillmore district, was becoming overrun with African-Americans and crime. Whatever racial hatred he had before towards blacks was magnified to the extreme now that he and his band of hangers-on were forced to move out. Stolen credit cards and counterfeit money bought them meals, gas and eventually a yellow school bus they painted black. Dropout teenage runaways, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Atkins soon joined the entourage. Krenwinkel came from a nice, stable home back east, and Atkins was a cocktail waitress who danced topless on the side for Anton LaVey’s satanic church. The Family, as Manson dubbed them, traveled up and down the California coastline and as far east as Texas during this period. Another girl, Ruth Ann Morehouse, a 14-year old runaway hopped aboard the love bus and was pursued by her preacher dad, Dean Morehouse. Charlie slipped some LSD to Dean and soon the onetime Methodist minister became a devout proselytizer for Charlie. Former jail friend, Phil Kaufman, hooked Manson up with a record executive at Universal Studios, trying to forge an album deal. Charlie finally settled in the suburb of Topanga Canyon near Los Angeles in a two-story home. Teenager Bobby Beausoleil showed up one evening for a party and joined up immediately as one of Charlie’s right hand men. Beausoleil had been living nearby in the canyon at the home of Gary Hinman, a music teacher who was pursuing a degree in Sociology from UCLA. Within the next year and a half, Hinman would be the Manson family’s first documented victim.

Meanwhile, Dennis Wilson had moved out of the house in Benedict Canyon and settled into a rented home at 14400 Sunset Boulevard. Will Rogers once owned the hunting lodge abode that came complete with a log cabin exterior and a pool shaped like the State of California. It was the Spring of 1968. Charles Manson and his followers headed to an old movie set location in the northwest corner of the San Fernando Valley. The Spahn Ranch in Chatsworth was dilapidated and desolate, the perfect resting spot for The Family to disappear to. Its owner, 81-year old ex-stuntman George Spahn could barely say ‘no’ to the wanton girls and ‘feel-good’ guru vibe that Charlie could charmingly present. And it was one day in late May that found Dennis Wilson driving away from Malibu Beach when he happened upon two of Charlie’s girls, Ella Jo Bailey and Patricia Krenwinkel. They’d spent the afternoon in the sun and were hitching for a ride back to the ranch. Wilson instead offered to take them to his home in the swanky Beverly Hills area on Sunset Boulevard. The three made love that afternoon, and then Dennis headed off for a recording session, promising to see them later that night.

Upon his return to the house at 3:00am the next morning, Dennis noticed the place was hopping with music and girls. Manson came out from the backdoor and immediately dropped to his knees, kissing Dennis’ shoes. “Who are you?” Dennis asked. “I’m a friend,” Manson benevolently replied. Ella Jo and Patricia came out to greet Dennis, saying, “This is the guy we were telling you about. This is Charlie Manson.” Flabbergasted at first, Dennis was soon swept up in the fervor of the evening. Manson’s girls were smoking pot, laughing, and some were wandering about topless. Charlie made it clear that the girls were there to serve Dennis. Captivated by the sway Manson had over these people and lacking in the necessary self-esteem to realize he was being used, Wilson welcomed this new Family with open arms. Charlie immediately set up an orgy, under his direction, of course, that sealed the deal with the fun-seeking Beach Boy.

For the next three months, Dennis Wilson’s home life was filled with sex, drugs, and the philosophical musings of one Charles Manson. The girls cooked, cleaned, and catered to Dennis’ every whim. While they lived most of the time at his house, the Family still retreated to the Spahn ranch from time to time, in order to relax in the wilderness and subject themselves to more stringent, loopy teachings from their master. Hanging with Dennis, Charlie was introduced to the Hollywood lifestyle. Gregg Jakobson was suitably impressed by the squirrelly satyr who spewed morsels of intellect. “He could discuss almost any subject,” Jakobson later recalled. “…He had a 1,000 hats and he could put on any hat at any time. In another situation, he would have been capable of being president of a university.” Gregg would later relate that he’d spent countless hours over the year debating Charlie on the philosophies of life.

One afternoon, a few weeks after Manson had become chums with Dennis, the Wilson brother crossed paths with another man who would play a pivotal role in the horrific crimes that lay ahead. When 22-year old Charles Watson was driving his pickup truck along Sunset Boulevard and stopped to take on a hitchhiking Dennis Wilson, the fellow everyone referred to as ‘Tex’ was a wig salesman dealing a little marijuana on the side. Tex Watson had been a star athlete at his Lone Star State high school before he dropped out to head west for a new identity. Wilson invited Watson back to his home that afternoon to meet Charlie. “There he was surrounded by five or six girls – on the floor next to the huge coffee table with a guitar in his hands,” Tex later wrote. “He looked up, and the first thing I felt was a sort of gentleness, an embarrassing kind of acceptance and love. ‘This is Charlie,’ Dean (Morehouse) said, ‘Charles Manson.’ There was a large ashtray full of Lebanese hash sitting in the middle of the coffee table, and pretty soon, Charlie and Dean and Dennis and I were lounging back on the oversize sofas, smoking. Nobody said much. As we got stoned, Charlie started playing his music softly, almost to himself. Here I was, accepted in a world I’d never even dreamed about, mellow and at my ease…Late that night, at my truck, as I was leaving, Dennis smiled and told me to come by anytime, take a swim in the pool, whatever I wanted.”

Wilson apparently welcomed everyone to meet his new-found, intellectual friend. “People came and went, a peculiar mix of young drop-outs like me, drug dealers, and people in the entertainment business,” Tex later related. “It was a strange time in Hollywood. It had become chic to play the hippie game, and the children of the big stars partied with gurus like Charlie Manson and listened to them and bought drugs from them and took hippie kids to be and let them drive their expensive cars and crash in their Bel Air mansions. Everybody felt aware and free.” The swinging Hollywood community seemed to be particularly tolerant of the eccentric nutcase known as Manson. “…Charlie always managed to show up for their parties,” Tex observed. “And he did it well, playing the free, spontaneous child, the holy-fool, turning his self-effacing charm on a pretty young celebrity’s daughter…” Charlie tried to recruit Dean Martin’s kid unsuccessfully, but he’d been able to snare actress Angela Lansbury’s 13-year old child, Didi, as one of his devoted zombies.

Dennis allowed Charlie to use anything. His Ferrari, his Rolls-Royce, even his Mercedes Benz, which Manson’s group proceeded to crash. While the scraggly nomads had access to all the grub they needed at Wilson’s house, Charlie still would send some of the girls out in Dennis’ Rolls Royce at night to scrounge through supermarket dumpsters looking for discarded food. When there wasn’t a party to attend or one to be held at the house, Dennis and Gregg would take Charlie along to a hot Hollywood nightspot. One night while they were at the famous Whisky-A-Go-Go, “Charlie started dancing,” Jakobson later recalled, “and I swear to God, within a matter of minutes the dance floor would be empty, and Charlie would be dancing by himself. It was almost as if sparks were flying off the guy.”

Someone who definitely was not fooled by Charlie’s charm was Dennis’ girlfriend at the time, 16-year old Croxey Adams. She had moved into Wilson’s Sunset house shortly before the Family had made it their headquarters. “I would try to stop (the orgies),” she told author Steven Gaines. “I would start cracking up. I would get out of those things and say this is not for me…I said, ‘I’m here because I like Dennis,’ and Charlie would say, ‘You’re not allowed to have crushes. Everybody is supposed to love everybody.” Croxey never fell for that line of reasoning.

The Family splintered and came together while Charlie established himself in the Tinseltown parade. Bobby Beausoleil recruited 18-year old Leslie Van Houten in June 1968 while travelling around northern California. Meanwhile, Dennis and Gregg introduced Terry Melcher to Charlie. Dennis thought that Melcher and his friend Rudi Altobelli, a show-biz representative who looked after clients like Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, could hawk Manson’s musical genius for a record deal. But while Melcher wasn’t dismissive outright, Altobelli saw no potential in Charlie’s crooning abilities. One evening, after Melcher went to Dennis’ home to hear Charlie play, the Beach Boy and Gregg Jakobson drove Terry back to his rented house at 10050 Cielo Drive. The home was owned by Rudi Altobelli, who lived in the back guesthouse. Charles Manson rode along in the backseat, calmly strumming his guitar, as he first came in contact with the notorious abode.

When fellow inmate, Phil Kaufman, was finally released from Terminal Island in March 1968, he had gone to visit Charlie and the Family while they were still living in Topanga Canyon. Kaufman subsequently spent the majority of his time crashing at the pad of his friend, Harold True. Harold soon met Manson through Kaufman and liked the setup because of the abundance of girls Charlie would have hanging around him. Throughout the summer of 1968, Manson and his devoted females would stop in to party occasionally at Harold’s home in the quaint Hollywood suburb of Los Feliz. Charlie even stayed there for a week. Harold lived in a house at 3267 Waverly Drive with music biz friends Al Swerdloff and Ernie Baltzell. In the house next door to Harold lived an unassuming couple at 3301 Waverly Drive. The husband, Leno LaBianca, was chairman of the Gateway Supermarket chain. Along with his wife Rosemary, the LaBiancas were still living in this house a year later when the Manson Family made a fateful stop outside.

Dennis Wilson just had to get Charlie the chance to record. He decided to try to bring Charlie under the Beach Boys’ new record label, Brother Records. He was now referring to his philosophical guru as the Wizard and spouting much of his rhetoric to anyone who would listen. “Fear is nothing but awareness,” Dennis asserted to Rave Magazine in August 1968. “I was only frightened as a child because I did not understand fear – the dark, being lost, what was under the bed! It came from within. Sometimes the Wizard frightens me. The Wizard is Charlie Manson, who is another friend of mine who says he is God and the Devil! He sings, plays and writes poetry, and may be another artist for Brother Records.”

Dennis’ fellow Beach Boys weren’t so sure the manic Manson was exactly the right guy to put on their personal label. The hot-wired maverick frightened the secretaries in the office, and they referred to him as ‘Pig Pen’ behind his back. As for the other Beach Boys, they weren’t very scared of their fellow bandmate’s loopy friend. “No, it was just irritating,” Beach Boy Al Jardine later related to Goldmine magazine, “’cause they were always around, and it was ‘Charlie this, Charlie that.’ And then he had this little thing that he (Dennis) and Charlie worked out. It was just a melody, a melody in ‘Never Learn Not to Love.’ Not the melody, but there was a mantra behind that. Then Dennis wanted to put it in everything. I thought, ‘Oh boy, this is getting to be too much.” The song “Never Learn Not to Love” was originally a Manson composition called “Cease To Exist.” Dennis would subsequently overstep his license with Charlie when it came time for the Beach Boys to record the song.

Meanwhile, working a deal with his own label, Dennis was able to get Charlie some recording time at his brother Brian’s home studio. After hours, Manson showed up with his girls, high on dope, trying to lay down tracks of his original compositions. Dennis rarely showed up for the sessions and left it to 24-year old Stephen Despar to produce a good sound for his protégé. “What struck me odd was the stare he gave you,” Despar later recalled to Steven Gaines. “It was scary. We were in there two or three nights, and then he got pretty weird. (He) pulled a knife on me, just for no reason really, just pulled a knife out and would flash it around while he was talking.” Despar wrapped up the sessions as quick as he could, and the recordings were locked away in the Brother Records vaults.

That August and September, the Beach Boys toured heavily to support their latest album “Friends,” which rose to a dismal number 126 on the Billboard charts. With his household becoming more hectic and his divorce finally having been finalized, Dennis was wanting to withdraw. He moved out of the house on Sunset and into a small place in the Pacific Palisades. The lease on the Sunset house eventually ran out three weeks later, and the landlord had Manson and his brood tossed to the streets. The Family relocated back to the dirt-poor surroundings of the Spahn Ranch. Over the course of their stay with Wilson, the Family had cost him roughly $100,000. The Benz had been totaled, clothes were stolen, the grocery tab was enormous, Beach Boy gold disc records had been pawned, and the bill for penicillin treatments for the numerous outbreaks of gonorrhea had reached into the thousands.

In September, the Beach Boys had a few days to record some new songs. Dennis introduced the composition he and Charlie had written, “Cease To Exist.” Dennis felt the title could be construed as too negative, so he changed it to “Never Learn Not To Love,” and altered the refrain ‘Cease to exist’ to ‘Cease to resist.’ Nevertheless, it was quintessential Charlie. “Submission is a game given to another/Love and understanding is for one another/I’m your kind, I’m your kind, and I see.” Lyrics like these, which suggested the surrender of ego to another was what made Charlie so strong. Manson later said to Rolling Stone magazine, “Paranoia is the other side of love. Once you give in to paranoia, it ceases to exist. That’s why I say submission is a gift, just give into it, don’t resist.” The Beach Boys recorded the track on September 11th, and when Manson heard of the alterations, he was furious. “Charlie had a big thing about the meaning of words that came out of your mouth,” Gregg Jakobson later related. “That is to say, to him all that a man is, is what he says he is; so those words better be true.” Charlie himself was heard to say on more than one occasion, “I don’t care what you do with the music. Just don’t let anybody change any of the lyrics.”

Sometime in that month of September 1968, Wojiciech “Voytek” Frykowski and Abigail Folger drove across the country to Los Angeles. The two had met in January at a party in New York. Abigail came from an extremely rich family, whose father was chairman of the A.J. Folger Coffee Company. Frykowski was a Polish émigré who had been pals with Roman Polanski in their native Poland. He and Abigail had fallen in love and shared a long trip both on the road and in their heads. They used drugs frequently and made a point to stop and score narcotics cross-country. In early October, they moved into a temporary home off of L.A.’s Mullholland Drive and proceeded to hold many a drug party for their new Hollywood friends. Their paths invariably crossed with Jay Sebring, the famous hair stylist, who was unofficially known in drug parlance as “The Candyman” around town.

Manson, meanwhile, was becoming increasingly unstable. What was once an espousal of free love and serving each other for the good of the Family became twisted into his statements of death and anarchy. His temper was more volatile. He still would stop by Wilson’s home in the Palisades to help himself to food and clothing. On one of these visits, Charlie encountered Croxey and demanded sex with her. “I said, ‘Get out of here and leave me alone,” Croxey recalled to Steven Gaines. “He pulled out a knife and said, ‘You know I could cut you up in little pieces…” The frightened girl ran from the premises, but after a few minutes’ reflection, returned to the house and defiantly barked at Manson to go ahead and attack her. This action suitably cowed the sniveling madman, and he beat a retreat back to Spahn Ranch.

On December 8, 1968, The Beach Boys released the single “Bluebirds Over the Mountain.” On the flip side was the tune “Never Learn Not To Love.” Manson’s name was not credited anywhere in the liner notes. At this same time, The Beatles released their double LP masterpiece, the so-called “White Album.” Manson and Tex Watson were at a friend’s house in Topanga Canyon when they first heard it. “His interpretation of the album took off,” Watson later wrote. “I had already made up my mind to run away from him while in town, so I called a friend to come and pick me up. I sneaked away and stayed gone for at least 3 months, then something drew me back. It’s a long story, but while I was away, he came up with the Helter Skelter philosophy.” Increasingly agitated over his fizzled attempt at recording stardom, and clouded with racial bigotry, Manson became a veritable drill sergeant, badgering his unswerving recruits about an upcoming race war between blacks and whites. Some of these visions may have been based upon the upsurge of race riots taking place across the country in 1968. Manson saw the Beatles as the messengers, the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, inciting African-Americans to rise up, and only he and his Family would survive the Armageddon. His followers were told they would need to live in the desert, to subsist on the barest of necessities. He set about having members steal Volkswagens to use their engines and parts in makeshift dune buggies.

Beatle George Harrison later said, “It was mentioned as if we were sending him messages. It’s just sick. It just shows that everyone is on their own trip, but they can attribute their actions to someone else.” The pivotal song on the album through which Manson derived the basis of his chaotic outlook was “Helter Skelter.” The opening lyrics started out, “When I get to the bottom, I go back to the top of the slide…” If Manson lived in England, this might’ve been a misconstrued tip-off to the fact that in Britain, a ‘helter-skelter’ is an amusement park slide. Charlie saw it as a calling of war, whereby a bottomless pit would open up. All of the doom and gloom imagery he spewed was derived from a mixture of Scientology, the Process Church and his readings of works like Robert Heinlein’s “Stranger In A Strange Land.” The Family moved into a Canoga Park two-story house on Gresham Street in the San Fernando Valley and listened to the “White Album” incessantly.

Terry Melcher, meanwhile, had moved out of 10050 Cielo Drive, and he and Candice Bergen holed up in one of his mother’s homes in Malibu. On February 12, 1969, the Polanskis signed a lease for $1,200 a month on the Cielo home and moved in three days later. By the first of March, Roman Polanski had gone back to Europe to work on movie projects, such as a possible film about the Donner Pass tragedy, and on scripts like “The Day of the Dolphin.” On March 23, 1969, Charles Manson knocked on the front door at 10050 Cielo Drive. A photographer taking pictures of Sharon Tate answered the door. Manson asked for the whereabouts of Terry Melcher. Voytek Frykowski and Abigail Folger were also there that night and inquired as to whom was at the door. The photographer told Charlie to try the guesthouse around back. Rudi Altobelli found Manson outside his guesthouse front door, and even though he knew Melcher had moved on to Malibu, told Manson he hadn’t a clue where the record producer had relocated. Charlie left quietly. When Tate flew to Rome the next day with Altobelli, she intimated how creeped-out she’d been by the strange man on their doorstep the night before.

Dennis Wilson had grown tired of seeing Charlie show up on his front porch in the Palisades. His friend Stanley Shapiro, a member of the Beach Boys’ management team, said, “Most of the time, Dennis avoided (Charlie) because he never passed up a chance to shake him down for money.” Wilson ejected most of his belongings, including Croxey, and moved into a basement room at Gregg Jakobson’s house. Later in the year, he revealed to New Musical Express his cleansing mindset. “I live there out of desire. I’m living where I want. I look at the room as my mind. There’s a piano in there. There’s a bed in there, and that’s all I need. What do you need in a home?…I’ve lived in a beautiful home in Beverly Hills, in harems, in the mountains, with a family, but where I like best is where I am now. I want to achieve happiness.”

When it came to Manson’s overt malevolent nature, Wilson didn’t appear intimidated at first. His personality makeup was just as headstrong as the crazed cult figure. “Ultimately, Dennis and Charlie went head-on, because they both had the same energy,” Gregg Jakobson observed to Steven Gaines. “Only, Dennis was more heart-cultured. They attracted each other immediately and then immediately repelled.” Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks revealed to interviewer Bill Holdship that Dennis could definitely hold his own against Manson. “One day, Charles Manson brought out a bullet and showed it to Dennis, who asked, ‘What’s this?’ And Manson replied, ‘It’s a bullet. Every time you look at it, I want you to think how nice it is your kids are still safe.’ Well, Dennis grabbed Manson by the head and threw him to the ground and began pummeling him until Charlie said, ‘Ouch!’ He beat the living s*** out of him. ‘How dare you!’ was Dennis’ reaction. Charlie Manson was weeping openly in front of a lot of hip people. I heard about it, but I wasn’t there. The point is, though, Dennis Wilson wasn’t afraid of anybody!”

Voytek Frykowski and Abigail Folger moved into the Polanski house in April 1969. Jay Sebring was a constant visitor at the estate as well. Meanwhile, Dennis Wilson tried one last time to get Manson the shot at recording success he thought he deserved. In early May, he and Gregg Jakobson arranged for Charlie to lay down some tracks at George Wilder’s studio in Santa Monica. Manson showed up barely prepared and would not take direction from Dennis in the control booth. Wilder learned that Charlie was an ex-con and cut short the session. Manson later related to Rolling Stone magazine, “I never really dug recording, you know, all those things pointed at you. Gregg would say, ‘Come down to the studio, and we’ll tape some things,’ so I went. You get into the studio, you know, and it’s hard to sing into microphones. Giant phallic symbol’s pointing at you. All my latent tendencies…”

Dennis pretty much gave up on Charlie at this point. Gregg Jakobson was still convinced he could capture the magic and spontaneity his mad friend exuded. He asked Terry Melcher to go out to Spahn Ranch to hear Charlie play in his natural environment in mid-May. Manson sat on a giant rock, strumming his guitar, while his girls swayed adoringly at his feet. Melcher saw the potential of filming Charlie for a possible documentary. On June 3rd, he and Jakobson returned to Spahn with Mike Deasy, an engineer who had his own mobile recording van. The day ended with Charlie arguing angrily with Melcher. Manson and his Family members contend that Melcher had all but made a deal with them to produce a record and manage their career. What occurred two months later could easily be construed as either a direct or indirect result of Manson’s fallout with Melcher.

On July 1st, Manson got into an altercation whereby he apparently shot a dope dealer in the stomach. The man did not die from his injuries. A friend of Dennis Wilson’s was at the house the shooting occurred in and phoned the rock star to tell him about the incident that afternoon. Upon learning of the attempted murder, Terry Melcher told his friends that the documentary about Manson was off. Soon thereafter, a telescope that sat on Melcher’s Malibu porch was repositioned to the far end of the deck. On another day, when Terry awoke, he found the telescope missing. Manson joked to Gregg Jakobson about the errant stargazing device. Melcher was suitably shaken by the incident. Manson sent Leslie Van Houten and another girl to Melcher’s home to talk to him about the music deal, but Terry would only speak with them through the outside intercom.

On July 20, 1969, Sharon Tate arrived back from Europe in time to watch the first Apollo moon landing on television with her friends, Folger, Frykowski, and Sebring. Roman Polanski wasn’t due back until August 12th, so Sharon encouraged her pals to stay on with her in the house until then. Rudi Altobelli remained in Rome and had hired a caretaker, William Garretson, to move into the guesthouse, overseeing maintenance on the property and to look after his dogs.

Meanwhile, Manson was on the move. He’d already established an outpost at Barker Ranch, a deserted ghost town outside Death Valley, Nevada, and was amassing an arsenal of guns and knives for the big race war on the horizon. The Family was running short of money to get their weapons. Bobby Beausoleil had mentioned that his old pal in Topanga Canyon, Gary Hinman, was rumored to have inherited $20,000 and kept the loot stashed in his home. Hinman had provided the Family with synthetic mescaline but rejected Charlie’s repeated offers to join their cause. Manson saw Hinman as expendable. Bobby, Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins invaded Gary’s home on July 25th, tying up the bewildered musician and threatening death if he didn’t tell them of the money location. When he didn’t talk, Manson himself appeared and hacked at Gary’s ear with a sword. By early morning of the 27th, Hinman got into a struggle with Bobby, and Beausoleil fatally stabbed Gary twice in the chest and smothered him. Trying to tie the murder in with something radical African-Americans might have perpetrated, Bobby drew the words “Political Piggy” with Hinman’s blood on the wall. On Tuesday the 30th, Bobby went back to Hinman’s home to wipe the place clean of fingerprints and inadvertently left a clean print of his own on a door frame. Police later pulled over Bobby driving Hinman’s car, and subsequently, he was sentenced to San Quentin for the murder.

Also, on July 30th, someone in the Tate household phoned a “growth center” named the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. The facility catered to new-age ideas from all kinds of zealots, and was open to rich people who wanted to get in touch with their innermost selves. Abigail Folger had visited the center on previous occasions. It is not known if she made a quick detour there again in the early days of August. The institute would never reveal their client logs. But Charlie showed up at Esalen on August 5th. He was apparently given a cold reception and turned away. He recruited a 17-year old girl named Stephanie to his fold and returned to southern California. When he got to Spahn Ranch on the 8th, he learned of not only Bobby’s arrest but also the capture of Mary Brunner and another Manson girl, Sandy Pugh, while the two had tried to pull a credit card scam at a local Sears. Fuming with all of the botched dealings he had tried to put in motion, Manson pulled aside young Tex Watson and explained what he must do for the Family’s cause.

That night, on August 9, 1969, Sharon Tate, Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski, and Jay Sebring all had a late dinner at a Mexican restaurant called El Coyote located across the street from the Paramount Studios lot. They returned home to the 10050 Cielo Drive residence after 11:00. Folger and Frykowski were using a new drug they’d gotten from Canada called MDA (Methlenedioxyl-amphetimine). Jay Sebring helped himself to his stash of marijuana. Sharon Tate, over 8 months pregnant, abstained. Sometime after 12:30am on the morning of August 10th, Tex pulled up outside the gates of the Tate household in a yellow and white Ford. With him were Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Linda Kasabian. It was alleged that the reason the girls went barefoot that night was because their feet were swollen with so many sores from gonorrhea that it hurt to put on shoes. Linda would not participate in the massacre and would later testify against her co-horts.

A friend of caretaker William Garretson’s, an 18-year old named Steven Parent, was heading up the driveway in his Dodge Rambler when he was fatally shot four times in the chest and head. The four occupants within the house were subsequently tied up in the living room and taunted by Tex. Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski managed to break free and were pursued out of the house onto the lawn. 25-year old Folger was stabbed 28 times. 32-year old Frykowski bravely fought his assailants for a long period of time, stumbling about the property, but in the end he was shot twice, struck on the head 13 times with the gun, and was left with 51 stab wounds. Inside the house in the living room, 35-year old Jay Sebring had been shot once and stabbed 7 times. A rope was wrapped around his neck. The other end of the rope was tied to 26-year old Sharon Tate’s neck, who lay four feet away beside him. Her end of the rope was strung across an overhead ceiling beam. Sharon had been hanged before she died from 16 stab wounds. Her unborn baby boy perished in the melee.

The slaughter was unimaginable. The word “Pig” was written in Tate’s blood on the front door. Incredibly, Garretson the caretaker had been spared. He supposedly had slept through the entire bloodshed in the guesthouse. He was immediately booked as a suspect. Back at Spahn Ranch, Charlie chastised the group for having made the scene look more like a rampage than an execution. That Saturday night, he drove the bunch himself to another location. The house next to Harold True’s place on Waverly Drive. True and his friends had moved out of 3297 Waverly sometime ago, but Charlie was more aware of what lay next door. Rosemary LaBianca had mentioned to friends that it appeared their house had been broken into a few times while she and her husband had gone out of town. On the night of Saturday, August 10th, the LaBiancas were returning home from a brief vacation to a lake. Charlie entered their home after 1:00am and tied them up. He then sent his crew in to do the dirty work. 38-year old Rosemary was found in her bedroom with a lamp cord tied around her neck and a pillowcase over her head. She was stabbed 41 times. 44-year old Leno was also bound with a lamp cord around his neck and a pillowcase over his head. The word “War” was carved on his flesh. Lying in the living room, Leno suffered 26 stab wounds, 14 of which were from a double-tined carving fork that stuck protruding from his stomach. The words “Death to Pigs” and a misspelled “Healter Skelter” were written in their blood on the walls.

Los Angeles immediately became enshrouded in fear overnight. Thousands of guns and security alarms were sold to jittery citizens over the next few days. Police were reluctant to link the two sets of killings to the same band of murderers. Warren Beatty, Yul Brynner, Peter Sellers and other prominent citizens in the Hollywood community set up a $25,000 reward for the capture of the killers. Manson, meanwhile, was trying to dig up last minute funds to move his Family permanently out to Death Valley. Conflicting reports suggest that he appeared on more than one occasion at Dennis Wilson’s house. He tried to finagle $1,500 out of the Beach Boy, but Dennis refused. Manson apparently threatened to kill his son Scott. Other reports have Manson talking with manager Stanley Shapiro at Gregg Jakobson’s house. Shapiro told author Steven Gaines, “He had a .45-caliber automatic pistol stuck in his waistband and he said, ‘Where’s Dennis?’ When told he wasn’t there, Manson replied, ‘Oh yeah?’ he raged. ‘Well you tell Dennis I’ve got something for him.’ Then Manson pulled the .45 out of his waistband and took out the magazine. He popped a bullet out of it and threw it on the floor. ‘When you see Dennis, tell him this is for him. And I’ve got one for Scott, too.” This tale mirrors the earlier scenario that Van Dyke Parks had spoken of, and it is hard to sort out the truth. Gregg Jakobson claimed to prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi that Manson had also visited him the week following the murders. “The electricity was almost pouring out of him,” Jakobson related. “His hair was on end. His eyes were wild. The only thing I can compare it to…is that he was just like an animal in a cage.”

On August 16th, police raided the Spahn Ranch and rounded up Manson and his Family members. The charge, however, was not homicide, but instead, theft of Volkswagens. A misdated warrant unfortunately caused a loophole in the arrest, and the gang was freed shortly thereafter. On August 26th, the entire Family participated in the killing of Donald “Shorty” Shea, a Spahn ranch hand, who’d been rounded up in the raid. Some members alleged his death was attributable to his snitching in jail on the Family. Others claimed Manson was appalled that Shorty was married to a black dancer. All the same, Shea was unmercifully tortured over a great stretch of time, then dispatched and buried in a faraway canyon. Family member Steve “Clem” Grogan, who had participated in the LaBianca assault, later told authorities where Shorty’s body could be found in 1979. Clem was the only Family member to be paroled when he was released for serving time in 1986.

Manson was finally arrested for good on October 12, 1969. He was captured at the Barker Ranch outside Death Valley. Dennis Wilson had received death threats. Around this time, Charlie’s minion, Lynn “Squeaky” Fromme appeared at Dennis’ place, demanding the Beach Boy return the music tapes that Charlie had recorded for the Brothers Record label. Wilson simply told her that he’d turn the music over to the State of California for evidence. In fact, the music was never turned in for exhibit purposes and remained locked up at Brian’s studio. Dennis was questioned by the District Attorney but was never asked to testify. Gregg Jakobson, Terry Melcher, and Rudi Altobelli wound up being key witnesses for the prosecution. Phil Kaufman and Al Swerdloff, with an investment by Harold True, found some old Manson music and released it in 1971 on Awareness Records. The team took a cover photo shot of a manic Charlie pose from Life Magazine, erased the ‘F’ from the Life logo, calling the album “Lie.” The record contained such eerie Manson ditties as “I’ll Never Say Never To Always,” “Garbage Dump,” and “Look At Your Game, Girl” which was later covered by Guns N’ Roses.

Manson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Leslie Van Houten were sentenced to die in California’s gas chamber. However, in February 1972, the state Supreme Court suspended the death penalty, and Manson and his followers received life sentences. Dennis Wilson attempted to purge himself of Manson’s influence on his life. He turned away from some of the creepy kind of music he’d been pursuing in the late ‘60s and focused more on a positive outlook in his songs. He remarried in 1971. But Wilson was driven by excess, and he spent much of the ‘70s tanked on booze, high on drugs, and spending money he no longer had. His writing partner at the time, Daryl Dragon, later the “Captain” of singing duo Captain and Tennille, told author Adam Webb, “Very few people know that the reason Dennis drove himself to destruction was the fear of Charles Manson returning into his life…should he get out of jail, or maybe hire someone to ‘rub Dennis out.’ It was really that bad.”

In 1980, Wilson was forced to sell his beloved 62-foot boat “Harmony” to pay off loans and bills. Before losing the craft, he’d tossed many personal items overboard, into the waters of the boat slip in Marina Del Rey, enraged about his misfortune and losing his new wife to divorce. Three years later, just after Christmas on December 28, 1983, Wilson was onboard a friend’s yacht that happened to be parked in the old “Harmony” slip. Dennis drank all day long, starting at 9:00am. By 3:00 he was diving overboard and retrieving some of the items he’d tossed to the muddy bottom long ago. His friends watched him go down and then resurface with handfuls of mementos. The last time he was seen was around 4:15. His pals thought he might’ve swum to a nearby dock, pulling a trick on them, and was seated at the Marina bar having a laugh at their expense. A harbor patrol boat proved otherwise, when scuba divers brought up Dennis’ body from the marina bottom around 5:30 that afternoon.

In the end, Charles Manson, sitting in his 6’ x 11’ cell, felt the final chapter of Dennis’ life had left him vindicated. He was quoted as saying, “Dennis Wilson’s brotherhood took my songs and changed the words. His own devils grabbed his legs and pulled and held him under water.” In reality, Wilson had been on the road to self-destruction for many years. Whatever personal demons he had that led him on the path to ruin had been in his life long before his association with Manson. What made Dennis Wilson unique to the Charles Manson legacy was the fact that he may have blindly linked Charlie to a set of individuals who otherwise might’ve stayed out of harm’s way. It was through his connection with Dennis that Manson met Terry Melcher. Melcher resided at 10050 Cielo Drive. Susan Atkins later admitted they picked 10050 Cielo Drive to instill fear in Melcher who had supposedly reneged on a recording deal. That was more than likely only part of the reason. The Family needed money, and it was probably assumed that Folger, along with sometime-drug dealers Frykowski and Sebring, might have had access to a lot of cash for them. Dennis was also instrumental in introducing Manson to his soon-to-be number-one butcher, Charles “Tex” Watson. Of course, it was another set of music friends, Phil Kaufman and Harold True, who probably directed Manson’s attention to the supermarket chain-owning victims, the LaBiancas, on Waverly Drive.

To lay the blame for five individuals’ deaths on Dennis Wilson would be absurd. In essence, Dennis’ one main offense, in regards to his association with Charlie, was one shared by several others. He was gullible – easily swayed by the morally-bankrupt tempest that entered their midst. They were all conned by this mad, shiftless, drifter who left prison with $35 dollars to his name. Perhaps Tex Watson, serving life for his role in the heinous murders, summed up the Charlie experience for Dennis and all the Manson devotees alike. “In reality, we empowered him by giving him our lives,” Tex wrote. “We were young, rebellious, and even angry inside. I was looking for love, identity, direction, acceptance, and at the same time, I was very naïve, a ‘people-pleaser,’ in fear of failure with no sound belief system.” Charlie Manson fed on that insecurity, thrived on ambivalence, and his evil doings shocked the world with images of brutal and immoral savagery, a legacy that reverberates to this day with bad vibrations.

© 2001 Ned Truslow

Buffett, Blackwell, and Bono: Bullet the Blue Sky

Angels & Abominations: The Altamont Tragedy

• In: Uncategorized

Comments are now closed.

Dennis Wilson: We should rethink the legacy of the lost Beach Boy

Topic: Music (Arts and Entertainment)

The Beach Boys in 1979: From left, Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, Mike Love, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson. ( www.listal.com )

It was late afternoon on a winter's day in 1983 when Dennis Wilson, drummer in the Beach Boys pop band, dived into the water in Marina del Rey harbour, searching for gear that had fallen off his boat.

A short time later, his lifeless body was pulled from the water. How he drowned, with so many people nearby, has never been quite clear.

Wilson left behind him five wives, four children and a share in the ongoing royalties from the Beach Boys song catalogue. He left behind one more memento of his time on earth: an album called Pacific Ocean Blue.

The cover of Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue. ( Supplied )

In so many ways it's the great lost Beach Boys album. It's the record the band should have made in the 1970s but could never quite deliver. It is soulful and scarifying at the same time. Wilson was blunt when asked about it: "Everything that I am or will ever be is the music. If you want to know me, just listen."

Released 40 years ago on August 22, 1977, at the time when the music world was reeling from the shock of the punk revolution, the album drew attention from the critics, but barely registered on the music charts.

Pacific Ocean Blue though is testimony to Wilson's status as a composer, an instinctive musician and a singular talent in a remarkable group.

How should we remember Dennis Wilson?

Better known in many circles for his hellraising lifestyle than his music, Wilson's mother had to intercede to get him a place in the Beach Boys. As the band progressed he didn't play on many of its biggest hits, his drum parts being played by session musicians. But according to those who knew him Wilson had hidden depths and real talents.

On Pacific Ocean Blue they are given full voice. And 40 years on you can only wonder how the brother, often ignored, sometimes musically derided, could make an album so deeply soulful.

The album begins with the River Song:

"River moves so free, mighty river endlessly, Oh mighty river I would love to be like you."

Respected music writer Ben Edmonds called it "white California gospel" music.

It follows this with a series of songs that reflect on ecology, love and the pitfalls of fame and celebrity. But it is the title track, addressed to the ocean that he loved, that both shocks and inspires: "We live on the edge of a body of water, warmed by the blood of cold hearted slaughter."

It gets your attention doesn't it? It got brother Brian Wilson's attention too. He was stunned by what he heard, simply saying, "He'll be remembered as a great singer."

Rethink the man behind the songs

Forty years on Wilson's legacy is ripe for reappraisal. He was, after all, the only Beach Boy who surfed. He was the one who sat down with his older brother Brian — who in 1962 had great tunes but nothing distinctive to write lyrics about — and said "write about surfing that's what everybody wants to do". How right he was.

He was the brother who turned the band on to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and meditation.

Wilson did not play it safe, either musically or personally.

With a stream of royalties from the band's hit records he indulged in surfing, motorcycling and sailing. Anything with a hint of danger, according those that knew him.

It was this nose for danger and a generous streak that saw Charles Manson and his family move into Wilson's Sunset Boulevarde home in 1968.

He was determined to get Manson a record deal.

Ultimately it was a deal he couldn't swing. Sensing Manson's displeasure Wilson fled his own home but not before "the family" had spent $100,000 of his money.

The lost track

Throughout the 1970s, it was Dennis Wilson who tried to make the Beach Boys more relevant musically. Each time his efforts would be undermined by the other band members.

The final straw came in 1976 when they ran up the white flag and released a greatest hits album, 15 Big Ones. Dismayed he got down to serious work on his own album. Pacific Ocean Blue was the result.

As good as the album is, it's tantalising to know that he was never able to complete one key track. Holy Man begun its life in 1968 when Wilson met the Maharishi Yogi. The track remained an instrumental take with no added lyrics.

In 2008 John Hanlon, the engineer who'd worked with Wilson, took the track and recalled the lyrics he'd heard. Then he asked Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, whose voice he felt sounded like Wilson's, to record a vocal.

Included on Pacific Ocean Blues' re-release, it reinforces his talent. And just to make this even more tantalising there is another version with a contribution from members of Queen that's never seen an official release due to contractual issues.

Regrets and excess

There is no doubt Wilson had regrets.

His life was one filled with excess. Alcohol, illicit drugs, broken relationships and intra-family bitterness.

Just a few months before he died his bandmates had delivered him an ultimatum. Get sober or get off the team. No touring, no income, no brotherly love.

He had, it seems, made one last desperate attempt to stay on the road playing the music he loved by admitting himself to rehab.

It didn't work. Just days after being released he was indulging again. Worse, he had picked a fight with his girlfriend's former husband and been beaten up.

Back at the boat harbour, he spent that last afternoon of his life socialising and drinking with friends.

It was there, late in the day, when he slipped into that Pacific Ocean Blue that he'd written about so eloquently. It was there too that same ocean closed its arms around him one last time.

2 minute read

ENDLESS HARMONY

“sail on, sailor”.

After the triumph of Pacific Ocean Blue , Dennis's life went downhill fast. He and Barbara had long since divorced, and he began a long and stormy relationship with a beautiful actress named Karen Lamm; they were married in 1976. Karen's fiery temperament was a good match for Dennis's, and the two shared a love for partying. But while Karen knew her limits and eventually stopped abusing drugs, Dennis never lost his taste for them and began using heroin. When he became abusive, Karen left him and they divorced in 1980. He then began an affair with Christine McVie of the band Fleetwood Mac.

His true love throughout these troubled years, however, was his boat the Harmony. He loved to sail it up and down the Pacific coast, or just hang out on it at Marina Del Rey where it was moored. But the boat was repossessed by a bank in 1981, and Dennis—whose income was absorbed by drugs and alcohol—was unable to buy it back. He was heartbroken.

Dennis was urged by the concerned Beach Boys to seek professional help for his addictions, but he resisted. He considered approaching Eugene Landy, Brian's one-time savior, but never followed through. His downward spiral continued, and in 1983 he married for the final time. He and his young wife, Shawn, soon had a son named Gage, whom Dennis adored. Still, the couple soon separated. Dennis began spending a lot of time on the boat of a friend, across from the slip in which the Harmony had once been docked. On the afternoon of December 28, 1983, Dennis Wilson drowned while swimming in the frigid waters of Marina Del Rey. He was only thirty-nine years old.

Dennis Wilson, Dreamer

Despite Brian's celebrated musical genius, it was the middle Wilson brother who provided the Beach Boys with their inspiration. “I remember Brian would drill Dennis on what was going on, really pump him for the [surfing] terminology and the newest thing,” their brother Carl recalled in a 1983 interview. “Dennis was the embodiment of the group; he lived what we were singing about … I mean, we could have gotten it from magazines like everyone else did. Dennis was out there doing it.'

Dennis was also the only Beach Boy to try his hand at acting. He starred opposite folk rocker James Taylor in director Monte Hellman's 1971 Two-Lane Blacktop, playing a character known only as “the Mechanic.” Even though the film became a critical favorite and cult classic, it wasn't a satisfying experience for Dennis, and he never made another feature film.

He turned his attention instead to solo work. Dennis wrote and recorded Pacific Ocean Blue throughout 1976 and early 1977, and began an abandoned follow-up, Bamboo , late in 1977. Pacific Ocean Blue was a hit with critics and record buyers alike, and it is generally considered the era's best Beach Boys-related release. A review in Rolling Stone magazine said that Dennis's songs “have a way of taking hold of your emotions”—or, as Carl put it, he “made it true.”

Additional topics

• ENDLESS HARMONY - Dennis Wilson, Dreamer

Musician Biographies The Beach Boys ENDLESS HARMONY - “sail On, Sailor”, Dennis Wilson, Dreamer, Brian Gets Back On Track, Picking Up The Pieces

KamerTunesBlog

Revisiting my extensive music collection, one artist at a time

• About KamerTunesBlog
• Artists I’ve Revisited

THE BEACH BOYS Part 8 – Cruisin’, Country and Endless Harmony

Bruce Johnston wrote “She Believes In Love Again,” which he sings with Carl. It’s a by-the-numbers ballad that could’ve been a hit for a singer like John Waite or Corey Hart, as the catchy verses and choruses make it somewhat worthwhile. Ringo Starr played drums on “California Calling,” a catchy but derivative song with lyrical, vocal and musical references to older hits like “Surfin’ U.S.A.” “Passing Friend” was written by Boy George and Roy Hay of Culture Club, with a cool Caribbean feel programmed and mostly performed by Hay. Once again Carl sounds great here, but the song is lightweight and goes on way too long. Brian Wilson wrote and sang “I’m So Lonely,” which features a slightly propulsive midtempo groove, and Brian’s voice sounds at least as good as it did in the mid- to late-‘70s (and is a clear precursor to his 1988 solo debut). Fantastic group vocals elevate “It’s Just A Matter Of Time” from minor song into a solid one. As a Stevie Wonder fan, I couldn’t help but love “I Do Love You,” a great romantic song which was written and mostly performed by Stevie (he plays drums, bass, organ and harmonica). I absolutely love Carl’s soulful lead vocal. I don’t think I’ll be playing this album too often in the future, but a couple of the songs are keepers and there’s nothing terrible here (which wouldn’t always be the case going forward).

When the song “Kokomo” was released in the summer of 1988, my interest in The Beach Boys had waned, and its inclusion in the Tom Cruise movie Cocktail (with a subsequent video featuring clips from the film) didn’t pique my interest. I was definitely in the minority, though, as the song became a #1 hit in the U.S. and many other countries. I never hated it but rarely paid much attention to it either, although in recent years I’ve developed a soft spot for it based solely on Carl’s delivery of the lines, “Ooh, I wanna take you down to Kokomo, we’ll get there fast and then we’ll take it slow. That’s where we wanna go…way down in Kokomo.” If you’re a fan of his voice but never enjoyed this song, I urge you to give it a listen without the accompanying video. You may find yourself, like me, singing along.

The rest of the album is filled with retreads of ideas previously done better ( “Island Fever” tries to catch “Kokomo” fever; “Summer Of Love” has Mike talking/rapping and includes “I Get Around”-style backing vocals), and most of them overstay their welcome beyond the 3-minute mark. Possibly the worst inclusion is the re-recording of Dennis’ excellent “Forever” with vocals by actor (and occasional Beach Boys percussionist) John Stamos. The whole album sounds like they’re trying to perpetuate The Beach Boys as a “brand” (surf, summer, islands, sand, etc) instead of being a band. After listening to it a handful of times this past week, I’m pretty sure I won’t be playing it again.

“Surfer Girl (Binarual Mix)” gave me the opportunity to hear the instruments in one speaker and vocals in the other, which was quite a treat (but not recommended for headphone listening). Most of the live versions are songs that weren’t included on their live albums. “Wonderful/Don’t Worry, Bill” was recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1972 with the Blondie Chaplin/Ricky Fataar lineup; the former (a gorgeous SMiLE / Smiley Smile track) bookends the latter (a song by Blondie & Ricky’s previous band, The Flame). “Long Promised Road” is a song that I enjoy more and more with each listen, and the version here (also from the 1972 Carnegie Hall show) is a great performance. It’s nice to hear such an enthusiastic crowd response to this lesser-known track. “God Only Knows,” recorded live in a studio with all 6 members, features a typically tender lead vocal by Carl, very subtle instrumentation, and Brian mimicking the french horn melody in the intro. Of the remaining songs, it’s nice to hear Brian’s demo of “Do It Again (Early Version),” which is basically the same track used for the single release, with Brian singing everything, and “’Til I Die (Alternate Mix)” has a stark extended instrumental intro before the stunning vocals enter past the 2-minute mark. It doesn’t have the same impact as the Surf’s Up version, but it’s an interesting alternative. Typically with this type of release, it’s a bit of a hodge-podge, but an excellent one that I’ll happily revisit in the future.

I’ll be wrapping up my exploration of The Beach Boys’ catalog in the next week by revisiting their 1993 career-spanning box set, another collection of rarities, and the completely unexpected reunion album released earlier this year. I’ll share my thoughts on those as soon as I’ve given them the attention they deserve. For now, though, I’d love to know what you think of the mostly underwhelming albums discussed in this post. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks.

12 comments on “ THE BEACH BOYS Part 8 – Cruisin’, Country and Endless Harmony ”

Thank you so much for these reviews of the BB’s albums. I am discovering songs I might never have heard. I especially like, Soulful Old Man Sunshine.

I appreciate that, Joan, and I thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. My main reasons for writing this blog are (a) to really get to know a lot of music that’s been gathering dust on my shelves and (b) to start conversations with fellow music lovers. On both counts I can happily say that I’ve succeeded.

Thanks again. Rich

Yes, you certainly have & I truly appreciate the time you are taking to do it. Looking forward to your next reviews. 🙂

One more thing, Rich. I’m becoming a BIG fan of, Maybe I Don’t know. Love the music & of course, Carl’s voice. His voice was perfection.

Hi Joan. I’m happy to hear I’m not the only one who likes “Maybe I Don’t Know.” I compared it to Toto, which many music fans would consider a bad thing, but I’ve always liked that band. Also, it’s hard not to like a song when it’s sung by, as you said, a perfect voice. It may not sound like a typical Beach Boys song, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

Re your first sentence. It wasn’t Denny’s yacht that he dove off of when he drowned. Denny’s yacht HARMONY had been repossessed by the creditor years before. Enjoyed this article anyway!

Hi Diane. Thanks for clarifying that. I seem to remember reading at the time of his death that he was on his yacht, but either my memory isn’t what it used to be or the news report was incorrect. I appreciate you stopping by, and I’m glad you enjoyed this post.

The Endless Harmony Soundtrack sounds intriguing and fun; I’ve never even heard of it. Thanks Rich! I’ve added that to my mental list of BB albums to check out.

Yeah, this period (early 80s-end of 90s) appears a pretty trying stretch to have been a BBs fan, at least in terms of their studio output. From the bits and pieces I’ve heard, the production was generally pretty heavy-handed and the material ‘uneven’ (to be kind) at best.

I’m genuinely on the fence about Getcha Back… part of me can appreciate it as a cheerful little ditty with nice harmonies on the chorus, but at the same time I find it somewhat cheesy and lightweight compared to the material from their heyday. With that said, and certainly these things are subjective, Kokomo (reviled by many a BB fan) has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. I quite agree, Carl’s voice on the chorus really makes it shine, and the steel drums are a nice touch. In general, there’s a sweetness and warmth to the song that I find appealing. (Of course, a mark against the song would have to be the way Mike Love has waved it like a bloody flag for the past 24 years, since it was a major hit song made without Brian’s involvement.)

I’m going to have to give Summer In Paradise a try, at least on YouTube. It sounds like a fascinating train wreck. 🙂

Hi Jon. In addition to the Endless Harmony Soundtrack , there’s a 2-CD rarities compilation called Hawthorne, CA that I’ll be writing about in my next (and final) Beach Boys post. I haven’t revisited it yet, but I’ll probably listen to it tomorrow. Not sure how it compares to Endless Harmony, but I’m hoping there are some nice surprises like “Soulful Old Man Sunshine.”

I can understand your feelings about “Getcha Back.” I guess objectively it’s not a great song, but since it came out right before the summer of ’85 (when I turned 19, had my second record store job, bought my first CD player and vividly recall Live Aid) I have a special connection with this song. I’m pleased to know you also enjoy “Kokomo,” since I rarely hear any positive comments about it. It shouldn’t be compared to any of their classic recordings of course, but for an ’80s pop song it’s really good. Your point about Mike using it as a “bloody flag” (nicely put) is a great one. He co-wrote it with three real songwriters (Scott McKenzie, Terry Melcher and John Phillips), so I’m guessing he had very little to do with what made the song work, other than a few lyrical ideas.

You’ll have to let me know what you think of Summer In Paradise if you do, in fact, listen to it. It’s certainly a train wreck, but I don’t know how fascinating it’ll be to you (unless you like a bunch of songs with cold, clinical instrumentation that mostly sound the same). Not sure if you gave their version of “Under The Boardwalk” a listen yet, but I’d love to know what you think. Whoever arranged that gets a gold star for being one of the only positive things on that album.

As always, thanks for sharing your thoughts here.

I really hated “Kokomo” for years but I’m okay with it now. For people of a certain age it’s the first song they think of if you mention The Beach Boys, and that used to drive me crazy. Likewise, I avoided the Still Crusin’ collection for a long time but picked up a used copy for a couple of bucks a few years ago. I liked it more than I expected, especially “Somewhere Near Japan” and “In My Car.” I also must confess a certain fondness for that goofy Fat Boys collaboration, maybe just because of the sheer audacity of it.

Stars and Stripes is another one I picked up cheap, and I think your assessment is spot on. Yes, it does feel more like a various artists tribute than a real Beach Boys album. I’ve never heard Vince Gill’s version of “Warmth of The Sun” that you mentioned but I think Willie Nelson’s take on it is the highlight here.

Endless Harmony is a nice compilation. It came out around the time I got my first car CD player and I remember spinning it often as I drove around town. I normally don’t like collections that jump around chronologically but this one is put together well so I give it a pass. By the way, if anyone here is looking for it, keep in mind that at some point they apparently changed the cover. The one pictured above is the original.

(No comments about the other albums you mentioned as I’ve never heard them. At this point my Beach Boys collection was very much “catch as catch can” but I’ll have to check these out … someday … when I’m feeling brave…)

Hi Glenn. That’s very true about many people thinking of “Kokomo” when you mention The Beach Boys, but I guess that never bothered me. Any artist who’s around long enough, especially if they span generations, will have songs like that. I’m just glad their song isn’t the Fat Boys collaboration.

Thanks for pointing out to other readers about the newer cover for Endless Harmony . I have the original pressing which is why I chose that cover here, but I would hate for someone to miss out on that music because they’re not sure about the artwork.

You will definitely have to be brave to sit through Summer In Paradis e. If you ever do, please let me know your thoughts. As I mentioned, it’s nice to hear Carl’s voice, but that one’s mostly a Mike Love album.

For your listening (and viewing) pleasure, here’s Vince Gill’s version of “The Warmth Of The Sun.” It begins at around the 1:00 mark, after David Crosby’s introduction. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X57zvtaOlvE

Pingback: THE BEACH BOYS Part 9 – Summer’s Gone / In Conclusion | KamerTunesBlog

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Information, recent posts.

• KamerTunes On the1002ndalbum Podcast Again – LED ZEPPELIN “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN”
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – THE SINGLES (PART 2) / IN CONCLUSION
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – THE SINGLES (PART 1)
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – BIG COUNTRY “THE CROSSING”
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS “PUNCH THE CLOCK”
• "B-Sides The Point"
• "Compilation Or Catalog?"
• "Forty Year Friday (1983)"
• "Forty Year Friday"
• "Great Out Of The Gate"
• "No Guilt Just Pleasure"
• "One And Done"
• "Satur-debut"
• "Thirty Year Thursday"
• "Two And Through"
• "You Rip You Shred – My Favorite Drummers"
• ALICE COOPER
• BLACK SABBATH
• DAVID BOWIE
• ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
• FOO FIGHTERS
• HALL & OATES
• JIMMY BUFFETT
• JONI MITCHELL
• Miscellaneous Thoughts
• STEVIE WONDER
• SYD BARRETT
• TALKING HEADS
• THE BEACH BOYS
• THE BLUES BROTHERS
• THE COMMODORES
• THE JAYHAWKS
• THE POSITIVE SPIN
• THE STOOGES
• Uncategorized
• UNCLE TUPELO
• VAN MORRISON
• Year In Review
• Entries feed
• Comments feed
• WordPress.com

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to KamerTunesBlog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address:

Sign me up!

• 1001 Albums In 10 Years
• 500 Reasons Why The 80's Didn't Suck
• 80s Metal Man
• Aphoristic Album Reviews
• B'Dog's Music Blog
• Boppin's Blog
• ChudbeaglemusicBlog
• Every Record Tells A Story
• Everybody's Dummy
• Heavy Metal Overload
• KeepsMeAlive
• Living A Beautiful Life
• Mike Ladano (aka LeBrain)
• Reselect.com
• Resurrection Songs
• Stick It In Your Ear
• TimeWeLeftThisWorldToday
• Vinyl Connection
• What's It All About?
• Yeah Another Blogger
• KamerTunes On the1002ndalbum Podcast Again – LED ZEPPELIN “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN”
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – THE SINGLES (PART 2) / IN CONCLUSION
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – THE SINGLES (PART 1)
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – BIG COUNTRY “THE CROSSING”
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS “PUNCH THE CLOCK”
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – GRAHAM PARKER “THE REAL MACAW”
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – JACKSON BROWNE “LAWYERS IN LOVE”
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – MADNESS “MADNESS”
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – DIO “HOLY DIVER”
• Forty Year Friday (1983) – IRON MAIDEN “PIECE OF MIND”

Blog at WordPress.com.

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

• Celebrity Deaths

How Did Dennis Wilson Die? What to Know About the Beach Boy's Untimely Death and Burial at Sea

The Beach Boy died of an “accidental drowning” in 1983

Nicole Briese is a contributing writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. Her work has previously appeared in Us Weekly, Brides and MTV News.

Michael Putland/Getty

Dennis Wilson ’s last day on Earth was spent in and around the water he loved.

The Beach Boy , who checked into two separate detox and hospital facilities and promptly left both in the days leading up to his death, had been aboard a 52-foot yawl named the Emerald before he drowned near the marina slip it was stationed in.

According to boat owner Bill Oster and yacht manager Skip Lahti, who spoke to PEOPLE in 1984, Wilson had been drinking heavily prior to jumping into the water to dive for unearthed treasures. “He was just being Dennis, entertaining everybody, being his lovable self, goofing around,” Oster said.

When Wilson didn’t come up from one of his dives, a harbor patrol boat was flagged down. Tragically, divers recovered his body from the water shortly after.

Wilson’s bandmates, brothers Brian and Carl Wilson, cousin Mike Love and pal Al Jardine, released a statement at the time of Dennis’ drowning, saying, “We know Dennis would have wanted to continue in the tradition of the Beach Boys. His spirit will remain in our music.”

Love also spoke to PEOPLE about the loss of his cousin, saying, “We were all so much a part of each other that I'm sure we'll miss him every single day the rest of our lives,” he said. “There's no way we'll not miss him."

In the decades after his death, Wilson's legacy has lived on through the Beach Boys' famed music. The iconic band is now the subject of a new Disney+ documentary, The Beach Boys , which began streaming on May 24.

Keep reading to find out more about Dennis Wilson’s death, including details from his coroner’s report, burial and more.

How did Dennis Wilson die?

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty 

According to Wilson’s coroner’s report, the Beach Boy died of an “accidental drowning.”

Prior to the incident, Wilson had been aboard a 52-foot yawl named the Emerald with friends Oster and Colleen McGovern.

Oster told PEOPLE that his friend began drinking early that morning before going rowing and eating a lunch of sandwiches on the boat. After a nap, Wilson began diving into the water, despite its chilly 58-degree temp.

As Lahti explained, Wilson was exploring the waters of the neighboring slip where he had docked his own 62-foot boat, the Harmony, years earlier and thrown items overboard. (Wilson sold the Harmony in 1980 to pay for bills and loans.)

"He was in and out of the water, getting a kick out of all the stuff he was finding," Lahti told PEOPLE.

After a quick break, Wilson returned to the water around 4 p.m. Roughly 25 minutes later, he took his last dive, never to resurface.

Rolling Stone later reported that the musician’s blood alcohol level was .26 at the time of his death, according to his toxicological tests — more than twice the legal limit to drive in the state of California.

When did Dennis Wilson die?

Wilson died on Dec. 28, 1983. While the exact time of his death is unknown, The New York Times reported that he last dove into the water around 4:25 p.m.

When Wilson did not surface, Oster flagged down a harbor patrol boat. Four divers recovered the songwriter’s body at approximately 5:45 p.m.

Where did Dennis Wilson die?

Wilson died in the Marina del Rey marina. A diving team of four recovered his body from directly under the empty boat slip he had been exploring, 12 feet below the water’s surface.

How old was Dennis Wilson when he died?

Wilson was 39 years old at the time of his death. He celebrated his 39th birthday just three weeks earlier on Dec. 4.

What were Dennis Wilson’s last words?

Fin Costello/Redferns

While Wilson’s last words are unknown, Oster remembered the last sighting he had of his friend just ahead of his disappearance. "He didn't indicate any problem," he told PEOPLE in 1984.

According to Oster, Wilson, who was swimming at the end of the harbor slip, “blew a few bubbles and swam to the dinghy very quietly. It was like he was trying to hide,” he said.

Oster initially thought it was a joke when Wilson didn’t come back up. “I thought he was clowning,” he said. “I jumped on the dock to flush him out and then we would all laugh."

Where was Dennis Wilson buried?

Wilson was laid to rest in the Pacific Ocean just after sunset on Jan. 4, 1984, with a burial-at-sea directed by the Coast Guard. “That's what Dennis wanted done,” his wife Shawn Wilson reportedly said at the time, according to the United Press International archives .

She added: “Wherever he is, I know he'll be glad that we're doing it."

According to the outlet, President Reagan granted the ceremony, which is an honor typically reserved for members of the military and requires approval from a vice admiral or higher for civilians.

How did the Beach Boys react to Dennis Wilson’s death?

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Following the drummer’s funeral, the Beach Boys came together at the home of band co-manager Tom Hulett and toasted their fallen member with the most expensive champagne Love could find. “We were sort of having a wake," Love told PEOPLE, adding, "Dennis would have wanted it this way.”

The group also discussed honoring their friend and family member through music. "I told Brian I thought the best thing we could do was write a song for Dennis,” Love said.

Different members of the group had mixed reactions to Dennis’ sea burial, however. The ceremony reportedly went against the wishes of his brother Carl, who had made plans to have Dennis buried near their father Murray in Inglewood Cemetery in Inglewood, Calif. In 2002, Brian told The Guardian that Dennis’ burial “seemed wrong” to him.

Jardine had a different viewpoint, telling the outlet in 2019, “The entire career of the Beach Boys is engulfed by Dennis’ love of the ocean ... It was only fitting that he return to the ocean.”

What legacy did Dennis Wilson leave behind?

Rich Pilling/Getty

Wilson is perhaps best remembered for the musical legacy he left behind, both as a member of the Beach Boys and as a solo artist.

A founding member of the band, Wilson remained a part of it until the late ’70s.

During his time with the group, the Beach Boys released some of their biggest hits, including “I Get Around,” “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and “Little Bird,” which Wilson co-wrote.

He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of the Beach Boys in 1988.

Wilson, who was reportedly an uncredited songwriter on Joe Cocker’s 1974 hit “You Are So Beautiful,” according to the Chicago Tribune , also wrote his own music. His 1977 solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue , sold roughly 200,000 copies upon its release, per Rolling Stone .

One of the album’s tracks, an instrumental called “Holy Man,” was later rerecorded by Foo Fighters ’ drummer Taylor Hawkins and Queen ’s Brian May and Roger Taylor.

The musician tried his hand at acting, too: In 1971, he starred as a mechanic alongside James Taylor in Two-Lane Blacktop .

In addition to his creative pursuits, Wilson left behind a family. He was a father to five children, including daughter Jennifer and son Scott, whom he shared with ex-wife Carole Freedman; sons Carl and Michael, whom he shared with ex-wife Barbara Charren; and son Gage Dennis, whom he shared with wife Shawn.

Related Articles

The Eye of Faith Vintage

Est. xi. xi. xi., e.o.f. style idol: dennis wilson {the bad beach boy}.

“They say I live a fast life. Maybe I just like a fast life. I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world. It won’t last forever, either. But the memories will.” -Dennis Wilson

Since the summer started we’ve been excited to write a piece on Dennis Wilson , the infamous bad boy and drummer of The Beach Boys; the band that brought the beach lifestyle to the forefront of popular culture in the 1960s – a romantic notion that still resides in the populous today.

It’s hard to think of that era without the The Beach Boys and their iconic sound, a mix of harmony, rhythm, soul, and blues all dedicated to Southern California youth culture of surfing, cars, and girls.

Hits such as Surfin USA , California Girls , and Good Vibrations , encapsulated the image we still associate with the notion of surf and beach living to this day.

Their music certainly came to define the dreams and musings of many who longed for the coasts and beaches of California, and the utopian recluse this magical land of surf and sun could provide (Don’t tell me it’s just us!)

Though his eldest brother Brian Wilson is accredited with much of the band’s creative and technical genius, it was the rebel bad boy drummer Dennis who lived and breathed the California that inspired the band in the first place.

+ + + + “I don’t do much surfin’, no I don’t. Actually, I don’t even know how to surf, but one guy in the group is a real good surfer, he’s a lot better than any of us, actually, all of us put together. His name is Dennis Wilson, of course, he’s our drummer, and he’s actually the inspiration behind this whole sort of surfing image for the Beach Boys. He encouraged me to write a surfing song a couple, 2, 3 years ago which started the whole thing moving.” Brian Wilson, St. Louis 1964

Perhaps you noticed, but Dennis certainly had a different presence and a certain swag,  as they say, compared to the rest of the band.  Even his eldest brother Brian, who created most of the music during The Beach Boys’ hit making days, knew that Dennis and his SoCal rebel lifestyle was the clue to the puzzle of making a name for themselves.

Dennis always seems a mystery, a part of his embodiment of the surfing rock n’ roll image, you could say. Definitely an archetype of rebellion, desire, and thirst for danger. Behind his eyes there are stories and thoughts completely untold.

There are not many rock stars today who truly live the fantasies they suggest in their music. Dennis was not only a surfer, but also a pro drag racer, sailor, movie star, and notorious womanizer. These are the stories and tales written into almost every hit breaking, chart smashing song produced by the band.

+ + + + + ++”I wrest the waters, fight Neptune’s waters, sail through the sorrows of life’s marauders. Unrelenting, often empty, sail on, sail on, sailor.”++ -Sail on Sailors by The Beach Boys from “Holland” + + + + +

As much a piece of the puzzle to The Beach Boys’ success, Dennis never seemed to be able to stay far from trouble. As early back as childhood, Dennis was known for getting in fights, and failing classes.  He married four times, and had developed a heavy habit for drugs and alcohol.

Most can definitely agree he had some demons .

Free-spirited Dennis would hit the ultimate heights of his notoriety when it was found out that he had housed Charles Manson and his cult for a time. Viewing the group as just a bunch of cosmically inclined free loving spirits with a itching for music, Dennis welcomed the “family” into his home, and housed them for several months.

During this time Charles Manson and his groupies were hoping to become the next great music act with the help of Dennis. Dennis would indeed get some of their songs out there, but reworked for The Beach Boys, and in 1968 they would release the single “Never Learn Not To Love” written by Dennis, a reworking of a Charles Manson original.

Morbid, considering the message, and later the acts committed by the Manson Family in the Hollywood Hills…This attachment to the Manson family would always stain Dennis’ reputation, and only further instill his bad boy image in the public mind.

His 1977 solo debut album “Pacific Ocean Blue” was a huge critical hit for the artist, which allowed him to demonstrate his very own unique and progressive point-of-view. Many fans and critics agree it is Dennis’ fearlessness, drama, and deep soul that almost eclipse The Beach Boys altogether.

These are the traits we admire in the man. The adventurer in all aspects. His music. His life. His soul. And the whole time, he wasn’t even trying. He just simply was the most pure form of himself at all times. He just was.

His style is almost the same. It is not pent up in being cool, it just is…sounds silly, but most of the time Dennis Wilson was just chucking clothes on. His wardrobe is simple, always comfortable, and fitted just right. Classic, but he shakes it up with his rough and messy sort of way about him.

Aaron Eckhart is set to star in a film entitled “The Drummer” documenting the last six tragic years of Dennis Wilson’s life that included losing his yacht “Harmony” , the loss of The Beach Boys recording studios, being kicked out of The Beach Boys, and the subsequent abuse of alcohol and drugs to the bitter end.

Wilson’s body was found curled up in a fetal position at the corner of the dock that once harbored his yacht, Harmony – one of his greatest joys, as well as the scene for many dramas in his life. He had spent the afternoon drinking and diving into the waters finding objects he had thrown over his boat and into the water.

After nearly an hour of searching, they were able to drag his body out of the 13 feet of bone chilling water at the Marina Del Rey boat slip just three days after Christmas, 1983 .

At 39, Dennis Wilson was already a legend in every right. He had inspired his band to create an entire persona around him, and with that they became America’s most famous and beloved band in history.

His devilish grin, and candid charm kept him a favorite of the group, and with a wicked ability to adapt and change, Dennis kept the band going during the band’s hardest times. Sadly, no one would be able to help carry him through his own .

Dennis Wilson was given a burial to sea, his favorite place on Earth, and an honor reserved only to members of the military. The perfect resting place for a restless, wandering, and beautiful  soul.

We love you Pacific Ocean blue Yeah we love you Pacific Ocean Blue Oh we love you Pacific Ocean Blue Oh I we love you Pacific Ocean Blue It’s no wonder the Pacific Ocean is blue -Dennis Wilson, “Pacific Ocean Blue”. +

Similar Stories:

13 comments

Reblogged this on Defending Axl Rose .

Thank you, this was a fantastic post. PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE is overlooked today, which is a shame because I’d an amazing collection of songs.

Thanks for the Reblog! I’ve been overdosing on the album lately…so good!

You’re welcome, that was a fantastic post. I actually got to read it at the beach…it was pretty awesome.

Anyway, keep the awesome posts coming!

Beach Boys at the beach! Nothing better than that!!!

I dunno about overlooked…it hit the top twenty in quite a few countries when reissued in 2009.

Great article

I’ve always loved the Beach Boys music. I never knew about the Manson connection. Wow! A stain for sure.

Two Lane Blacktop… aaaaahhhhhhh

GREAT post and GREAT blog!

An amazing post, I appreciated all the things brought to life and the efforts it took for you to share this. Thank you!

Fabulous piece and the accompanying photos and videos are amazing! Thanks so much for bringing Dennis’ memory back into focus. I think great artists like Dennis Wilson, Janis Joplin….we could go on an on…were spirits just overflowing with so much passion and creativity that it could not be contained, managed nor always expressed in a positive way. We refer to these great souls as their having demons but I think it is more that they were a rare expression of unlimited expansiveness that was, unfortunately, vulnerable to the dark side of this world. Great post!

Definitely! They just couldn’t contain all that energy – whether “good” or “bad”.

Perhaps they even were able to tap into a part of us that very few of us are able to tap into…They have that will to be completely beyond other people’s criticisms or conformity, and stretch their passion as far as it takes!

After all, the word demon is derived from the Ancient Greek word “daemon”, which essentially means GENIUS. Apropo, don’t you think?

We all have them…..but do you choose to listen? And if you do, what are the consequences?

” Apropo” Yes! Many of us so connected with them on a level that went way beyond their given artistic talents. Underneath all the drugs, pain and controversy we saw through to their beautiful souls because, I think, we yearn to connect to own song. Amazing!

[…] type of guy, and if you checked out our E.O.F. STYLE IDOLS & DIVINITIES, you will have noticed The Bad Beach Boy sitting pretty near the top of the […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

Remembering The Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson

Today (December 4th) marks what would've been the 76th birthday of Beach Boys co-founder and drummer Dennis Wilson . For most of his life, Dennis was overshadowed by his older brother Brian , who wrote most of the group's hits, and by his younger brother Carl , who sang lead on songs such as “God Only Knows” and “Good Vibrations.” As a youngster, Dennis was considered the least musical of the Wilson brothers, but it was his idea for Brian and cousin Mike Love to first write about surfing which resulted in their 1961 debut single “Surfin'.” It was the Wilson's mother Audree who urged the group to include Dennis, who was then forced to play drums because, according to legend, he couldn't play anything else.

Dennis' good looks and powerful live drumming provided the group with a much-needed boost in the wake of the “British Invasion.” Brian Wilson often used direct instances from Dennis' life as the foundation for Beach Boys songs, including “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “Let Him Run Wild,” and “Surfin' U.S.A.” Dennis sang lead on the group's 1965 remake of Bobby Freeman 's “Do You Wanna Dance.” He began contributing songs to Beach Boys albums beginning with their 1968 album Friends , and everyone in the group was surprised at the spiritual quality of his work.

In the late-1960's, while older brother Brian Wilson slowly retreated from the group in a haze of mental illness and drug abuse, it was Dennis' songs on albums such as Friends , 20/20 , Sunflower , Carl & The Passions – So Tough , and Holland that kept the band's artistic vision advancing. Songs such as “Little Bird,” “Be Still,” “Celebrate The News,” “Be With Me,” “Forever,” “Cuddle Up” “Only With You,” and “Baby Blue,” rank among the most revered of the band's catalogue.

His personal life was less successful, including five failed marriages and a year-long friendship with the infamous Charles Manson . Sadly the mainstream press has always gravitated toward his brief time knowing Manson and turbulent personal life than his 15 years as a working songwriter.

In 1977, he became the first active Beach Boy to release a solo album, called Pacific Ocean Blue .

In recent years, it's come to light that Dennis' greatest success was in co-writing the Joe Cocker hit “You Are So Beautiful” with Billy Preston in 1974, for which he did not receive a credit. Friends who were there the night the song was written have gone on record claiming that Dennis contributed integral portions to the song, but that he refused to be credited, explaining that he was “just helping a friend out.” Dennis went on to perform the song at nearly every Beach Boys show, starting in 1975, and told numerous people that he indeed did co-write the song.

On December 28th, 1983 Dennis drowned in Marina Del Rey, California just weeks after his 39th birthday.

Only days before, Wilson, who was homeless at the time, had checked himself out of a Los Angeles detox unit in an effort to kick his crippling drug and alcohol addictions. Wilson was visiting a friend whose boat was berthed next to where his own boat, the Harmony, had been docked for years. The Harmony had been repossessed in the summer of 1981 due to lack of mortgage payments, and at the time of his death, Wilson was diving into the 50 degree waters to retrieve various possessions he had thrown off the boat in the past.

Although burials at sea are normally reserved only for naval personnel, then-President Ronald Reagan gave the Wilson family special permission to allow a sea burial for Dennis. He was laid to rest in early 1984.

A feature film based on Dennis' final years, called The Drummer , was recently scrapped after several years of pre-production.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY REMEMBER DENNIS WILSON

Brian Wilson revealed that it was none other than his brother Dennis who contributed the church-like organ during the slower portion of the group's 1966 Number One hit “Good Vibrations.” Brian explained how Dennis ended up with such a high profile spot on his debut as the Beach Boys' keyboardist: “He was sitting at the organ, and I said, 'I wanna play the organ,' and he says, 'Well, let me play.' So I said, 'Alright,' and I taught him his part.”

Al Jardine told us that he's still amazed at the depth and beauty of Dennis' songs: “Oh, he was the most underrated member of the band in those terms. His compositions, I think, were stronger, and they got stronger and stronger as we went along — as he went along — until obviously he couldn't go any further. And I just think that given time, y'know, he would've been the. . . probably the best composer in the band, outside of Brian, of course. Yeah, he just had that natural, intuitive instinct about music and lyrics. He always. . . he was the kind of guy who could get to the point without beating around the bush and, y'know, could just nail it.”

Beach Boys co-founder David Marks , who grew up across the street from the Wilsons in Hawthorne, California, recalled that even as a child Dennis was never predictable: “Y'know, he charmed the adults and some of the kids that he beat up on were afraid of him. And I was one of them, actually. But he mostly protected me because he regarded me as a brother. But if I was the only one around, then I would be the target. Not maliciously or in anger, but (he'd) hold you down and rub grapes in your face and punch you in the stomach, or slap you around ( laughs ), or whatever, But it was out of love.”

Carnie Wilson, who is Brian Wilson's daughter and Dennis' niece, says that she thinks about her uncle regularly: “I had a crush on Dennis, he made my stomach feel funny. And my memories of Dennis was, like, him getting on the ground like he was proposing to me, kneeling down in front of me whenever he saw me and he would kiss my hand in like 20 places. That was his thing. And he was wild and sexy. Y'know, wild. Just out there.”

Carl Wilson's son Justyn Wilson was asked what he remembered most about his Uncle Dennis: “Just fun stuff, y'know sitting in his little, like, lounge area behind his drum set. Like a little seating thing for people to hang out. He would have just like ( laughs ) a little spot to hang out ( laughs ) or like chill, maybe some pillows or y'know. . . ( laughs ). He was just like a fun guy as much as I can remember. And I remember there was that other side where you're kind of not so sure, (and) it can maybe be a little scary or frightening, 'cause he was like on the edge, y'know? But in just a very real way.”

The late, great Glen Campbell toured briefly as the band's bassist in 1964 and 1965 played on dozens of Beach Boys studio tracks. A while back, he recalled to us Dennis' insatiable love of the outdoors: “Ah, he was incredible ( laughs ). First thing he wanted to do — I think it was in Miami — we'd go out and go fishin'! Or fish off the pier. I don't know why he liked to fish, 'cause I don't like really just sitting there holding a pole. If you're going out on a boat — that's cool, at least it's a little recreation. But he just liked to do that.”

By the time of Dennis' death his relationship with his cousin and Beach Boys frontman Mike Love was virtually non-existent. Having married Love's alleged illegitimate daughter Shawn Love , and fathering a son with her, Dennis had finally pushed his relationship with Love beyond repair. Photographer Ed Roach , Dennis' longtime confidante, was friendly with the entire band and shed some light on Dennis' relationship with Mike Love and Al Jardine: “The bad blood was really starting intensely between Dennis and Mike over women. Dennis was named in Mike's first divorce — as, y'know, 'alienation of affection.' You needed a reason to divorce in those days, and he named Dennis as the 'despondent' ( laughs ), I think they called it, or something. So their bad blood started there and then it escalated when Mike got so wrapped up in TM and sobriety. But Al was never — he wasn't disrespectful to Dennis back in those days. And Dennis still had a lot of clout in those days with them on the road, and stuff.”

Jon Stebbins , who wrote the definitive biography on Dennis called The Real Beach Boy , explained one of the many reasons why Dennis abandoned his 1977 symphonic tour in support of Pacific Ocean Blue : “I think he wanted 23 pieces — at least 18, he wanted. It was going to be all of his boys. I think he was going to play some piano and come up front and sing some. It was going to be a whole deal, y'know? They were rehearsing 'What's Wrong,' 'Rainbows,' 'Pacific Ocean Blue,' 'The End Of The Show' — they were probably going to do that as the last song, and he'd do 'You Are So Beautiful' for the encore, I'm sure. But he wanted strings, he wanted bass flutes, y'know? ( Laughs ) He wanted all that stuff and they wouldn't give him the budget for it.”

Dennis' primary songwriting partner and producer Gregg Jakobson says that Murry Wilson , the Wilson brothers' abusive father and original Beach Boys manager always weighed heavy on Dennis' psyche: “I think he probably channeled Murry into a lot of things. There was a lot of pathos there, there was a lot of conflict , and I think that was part of Dennis' make up — how could it not be, since he was a little boy? And there was a lot of adversarial-ness there and a lot of conflict there. And this was a very spiritual cat — I mean, there was a very, very spiritual side to Dennis. And a lot of that came from family — (it) came from his dad and his mom, y'know? That's one of the things that made Dennis such a soulful person; It's real, and that's what people are pickin' up on.”

Lindsey Buckingham became friendly with Dennis Wilson when Wilson began dating Fleetwood Mac 's Christine McVie . Wilson was a frequent visitor to the band's recording sessions for Tusk , which coincided with Wilson abandoning his own album Bambu : “He was kind of a lost guy. He was a very talented guy — way more talented than he had the structure to be able to exhibit. Y'know, he had a lot going on without the tools to sort of get there — that's my opinion anyway. He was a real sweetheart. He was also a rogue. Y'know, he was that rogue element.”

Carl Wilson's brother-in-law and longtime Beach Boys sideman Billy Hinsche says that despite Dennis' long and public decline, his death was still a shock to him: “I never thought that Dennis would die that way, that young. He had done his Pacific Ocean Blue and it had done very well, and it was critically acclaimed, and it sold well. It had outsold the Beach Boys album at the time, so I'm told. Y'know, he never could sit still, he had to be doing something. So yeah, I was worried about him and I knew he wasn't healthy, but I didn't think it was gonna happen as soon as it did, or in the way that it did. I don't think anybody could've predicted the way it happened, y'know?”

Dennis' son, Carl B. Wilson , who's also a drummer, is hopeful that even more of his father's unreleased works will be issued sooner rather than later: “Anything that would be able to could come out and let people hear what work my dad has done. . . Y'know, I'd love to be able to go somewhere and buy one of his records. So whichever way any of his work can come out, just so long as it's through the right avenue and can really be done right, then yeah, all that stuff. Ultimately, what I'd really like is for people to be able to understand and appreciate what he did. Y'know, what it comes down to is, is it worth it for it to come out? And y'know, I've always thought that it was.”

2008 proved to be the biggest year in Dennis Wilson 's solo career, with the deluxe reissue of his solo album Pacific Ocean Blue and its unreleased 1978 follow-up, Bambu , which was released in June to unanimous critical acclaim — and earning the nod for “Best Reissue” from Rolling Stone , Mojo and Uncut magazines.

One of the highlights on the set is “Holy Man” which is featured twice: once in Wilson's original 1975 instrumental version, and again with newly-written lyrics by Wilson's main collaborator, Gregg Jakobson . Jakobson enlisted the help of close family friend and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins to sing the new words to Wilson's melody.

In 2010 the BBC aired Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy , the first major documentary ever produced on Dennis. Aside from previously unseen footage, the doc features exclusive interviews with Beach Boys Brian Wilson , David Marks , Al Jardine , and Blondie Chaplin , Dennis' sons Michael and Carl B. Wilson , Jeff Foskett , engineers John Hanlon and Tom Murphy , Ed Roach , Gregg Jakobson , Jon Stebbins , Jo Ann Marks , Ron Swallow , and others.

In 2017, noted rock writer Ken Sharp has published Dreamer – The Making Of Dennis Wilson's 'Pacific Ocean Blue.' Over the course of five years, Sharp — who's best known for his works on the Raspberries , Elvis Presley , David Cassidy , John Lennon , Cheap Trick , Kiss , and the “Wrecking Crew,” among many others — has interviewed nearly everyone involved in the late-Beach Boy's 1977 masterpiece, which marked the first solo album released by an active member of the group.

Through Sharp's interviews — mainly new, but also featuring archival bytes from Wilson and others — the story of Pacific Ocean Blue comes to life with countless in-depth tales of the music's composition, recording, Wilson's personal life, the promotional of the album, its aborted tour, and his relationship with the key people — the Beach Boys, his then-current and former wives, bandmates, assistants, record label reps, fans, and collaborators — that all aided in delivering the album. Dreamer not only features a multitude of never-before-seen photos, but Sharp provides insight into nearly every song Dennis Wilson ever wrote. The book also features an exhaustive sessionography.

In 2016, Beach Boys fans were in for a thrill during the final scene and end credits of Sarah Jessica Parker 's HBO drama Divorce , when Dennis Wilson's melancholy voice brought the episode to a close. The song, “You And I,” has long been beloved by fans of Wilson's breathtaking 1977 solo debut, Pacific Ocean Blue , which features the chorus of “no more lonely nights” — a song that undoubtedly inspired none other than Paul McCartney seven years later for his 1984 Top 10 hit using those same four words.

On April 13th, 2017, a decade after it was completed, the unlikely collaboration between Wilson, Taylor Hawkins, and Queen 's Brian May and Roger Taylor on a new version of “Holy Man” finally saw the light of day as a Record Store Day exclusive release.

Stories You May Have Missed

Listen Live

Dream Makers & Yacht Brokers

Helping turn your dreams into reality since 1984.

Preferred Yachts Display Center

Visit us at the harborage marina in charming downtown saint petersburg.

Get Results, List With Us

Since 1984, preferred yachts has earned a stellar reputation, one client at a time.

A Yacht Show Every Day

Explore in person 7 days a week or virtual tours online, 24 hours a day.

Take a 3D Virtual Tour of Our Listings

View our listings from the safety and comfort of your home.

Power or Sail - Big or Small

Explore one of florida's largest displays of brokerage yachts.

3D Virtual Tours, Display Center.

5 Reasons to list with us.

Our Team is Awesome!

Office Hours

OPEN MONDAY – SATURDAY, 9am – 5pm Sunday, by appointment

Information

Call (727) 527-2800 Put our Awesome Team to work for you

The Preferred Yachts Difference

We are full time professional yacht brokers, with a real office, in a real marina with real listings and a sincere passion to help our clients realize their boating dreams. Preferred Yachts is committed to the highest level of ethical, professional and knowledgeable representation for our clients.

Our Team is Awesome at Listings and Sales

Our membership in The IYBA is your assurance of professional and ethical representation as well as fair and standardized Listing and Selling Agreements. Through IYBA, We have a cooperative relationship with the best brokers in the business in order to find a buyer for your yacht or to find your next one.

Connect with Preferred Yachts

Call Us Today 1 (844) 410-SAIL (7245)

Provisioned Charters for Discriminating Guests

Tell Us Where You Want To Go – We Will Plan The Rest.

Sailing Yacht Charters

Celebrate life with a journey on the water. We help you find a boat & Captain to fit your budget and needs. Plan a getaway.

Yacht Sales

We are licensed and bonded Yacht brokers specializing in the in catamarans by Bali. While our home port is Florida our boats travel From Florida to New England and Back each year to offer qualified buyers the “try before you buy” experience through a variety of charter programs

Captain Services

Buying or selling a boat? Let us help you coordinate your sea trial, survey, and delivery. Tell us what you need. We are here to help. 

About Sailicity Yacht Sales & Charter

Let your journey begin with Sailicity with all-inclusive sailing experiences. We foster the spirit of sailing and craft personalized and unique voyages tailored to discriminating guests. Tell us where you want to go, and we will plan the rest. We partner with an array of dynamic fleets designed to combine luxury lifestyle and the travel freedom of a memorable sailing experience. We have the privilege to provide guests with alternative social gatherings by hosting socially distant events on the sea, making all feel safe and exclusive.

Our Charter Concierge will craft private charters from half-day, weekend, or up to 14-day voyages. We have multiple types of charters; that sail anywhere in Florida along the Atlantic coast in the spring and fall with our Summer base in New England and our Winter Home in the Caribbean. Sailicity’s concierge service removes the headaches of planning and will take care of all the small details with industry-leading experts.

Our mission is to provide you the sailing experience of your dream. Make an appointment to speak to a Charter Concierge at no cost.

Contact a Charter Concierge to Learn More

Your Charter Concierge will help you create an experience you and your family will never forget. Celebrating a special occasion? Take the family on vacation? Explore incredible sights you can only see by water? We are here to help!

Celebrate Life with us on the Water

We amplified the concept of micro weddings with the creation of Weddings on the Water. Our venue focuses on personalized details for a brief ceremony at anchor for the bride and groom and up to 10 additional guests. 

We will provide wedding planning services, coordinating Florist, Videographer, Photographer, and Caterers to create a memorable experience. The Ceremony can be followed by cruises to resort destinations around Florida’s Gulf.

It took years of planning and effort to get to this point in your life.  There is no better way to celebrate and say thank you to the people who helped you get here. Your day has come, and we strive to meet all your expectations when planning your retirement holiday. 

Your celebration may be a catered dinner and sunset sail or a weeklong excursion, combining sailing, golf, dining, and tennis as we traverse Florida’s Gulf coast and visit some of our finest resorts.

Birthdays & more

Celebrate the time of your life with the people you love aboard a well-appointed crew yacht. Whether it is a milestone or not, let our special event planner help you celebrate in style. 

We will suggest menu options and provision for day cruises for up to 12 guests or overnight retreats for up to three couples. It can be the most memorable celebration of life.   Birthday yacht charters originate from the Vinoy Marina in St. Petersburg, FL, or Key Bight in Key West.

Why Sailicity Charters & Yacht Sales?

We remove the headaches of planning and will take care of the small details with industry-leading experts. We pride ourselves on taking the time to listen to your needs because WE CARE & have a passion for sailing.

We offer the chance to climb aboard the best boats from world-class manufacturers. Our boats combine maximum comfort blended with high performance.

It takes years of experience to know the different types of sailing vessels and how to determine which one is best for you. We are here to guide you to ensure you receive the best value on the type of boat you want.

We’re sailors. We are here to give you a sailing charter experience you will never forget. Start planning your sail today.

The possibilities are endless! Our beautiful Bali Catamarans are always based at ports during high season in the region. Our Concierge Service will help you plan your sailing adventure and build itineraries that are all about you.

A bareboat charter or demise charter is an arrangement for the chartering or hiring of a ship or boat, whereby no crew or provisions are included as part of the agreement; instead, the people who rent the vessel from the owner are responsible for taking care of such things. We are happy to arrange bareboat charters for qualified sailors who choose to go it alone. However, our specialty is to help you connect with knowledgeable captains and competent crew members to enhance your sailing experience by organizing your provisioning, planning your sailing itineraries, helping you manage meals and the galley and keeping you safe during your sailing adventure. Learn More .

Learn more about yacht ownership here . 

• Frank Magazine
• Denison History
• Virtual Tours
• Alaskan Yachts
• Azimut Yachts
• Back Cove Yachts
• Beneteau Yachts
• Benetti Superyachts
• Bertram Yachts
• Boston Whaler
• Broward Yachts
• Buddy Davis Sportfish
• Burger Yachts
• Cabo Yachts
• Carver Motoryachts
• Center Console
• Chris-Craft Yachts
• Cruisers Yachts
• DeFever Trawlers
• Dufour Sailboats
• Fairline Yachts
• Feadship Yachts
• Ferretti Yachts
• Formula Yachts
• Fountaine Pajot Cats
• Grady-White
• Grand Banks Trawlers
• Hargrave Yachts
• Hatteras Yachts
• Hinckley Picnic Boats
• Horizon Yachts
• Hydra-Sports
• Intrepid Boats
• Jarrett Bay Sportfish
• Jeanneau Yachts
• Kadey-Krogen Trawlers
• Lazzara Yachts
• Luhrs Sportfish
• Marlow Yachts
• Maritimo Yachts
• Marquis Yachts
• McKinna Motoryachts
• Meridian Yachts
• Midnight Express
• Mochi Craft
• Neptunus Motoryachts
• Nordhavn Trawlers
• Nordic Tugs
• Ocean Alexander Yachts
• Offshore Yachts
• Oyster Sailing Yachts
• Pacific Mariner Yachts
• Palmer Johnson Yachts
• Pershing Yachts
• Prestige Yachts
• Princess Yachts
• Pursuit Yachts
• Riva Yachts
• Riviera Yachts
• Sabre Downeast
• San Lorenzo Yachts
• Sea Ray Boats
• SeaVee Central Consoles
• Selene Trawlers
• Scout Yachts
• Sunseeker Yachts
• Tiara Yachts
• Trinity Superyachts
• Viking Yachts
• Westport Yachts

YACHTS FOR SALE

Browse through a large selection of any brand of yacht for sale. Use the search field below to find your yacht.

• Aage Nielsen 1
• Abd Aluminum 1
• Abeking & Rasmussen 7
• Absolute 85
• Ada Yacht 3
• ADA YACHT WORKS 2
• Adrenaline 3
• AEGEAN YACHT 9
• African Cats 1
• Al Rubban Marine 2
• Al Shaali 1
• Albemarle 12
• Alfamarine 6
• Alfastreet 7
• Alfastreet Marine 3
• All Ocean 11
• Altamarea 1
• Aluminum Boats Inc 1
• American Tug 9
• ANASTASSIADES & TSORTANIDES 1
• ANTON DU TOIT 1
• Apollonian 2
• Apreamare 19
• AQUA BAY BOAT WORKS 1
• Aqua Cruiser 1
• Archipelago 1
• Arno Leopard 15
• ARREDOMAR 1
• Astilleros 1
• Astilleros Celaya 1
• Astilleros De Mallorca 1
• Astondoa 47
• Atlantic Marine 1
• Atlantis 11
• Austin Parker 6
• B & D BOATWORKS 1
• Back Cove 47
• Baglietto 10
• BAHAMA BOAT WORKS 2
• Barcos Deportivos 1
• Barker Boatworks 6
• Barquentine 1
• Barracuda 1
• Bayliner 21
• Beneteau 433
• Beneteau America 35
• Benetti Sail Division 6
• Bennington 4
• Bering Marine 4
• Black Pepper 1
• Black Thunder 2
• Black Watch 1
• Blackfin 32
• Blackwater 8
• Blackwell 4
• Blackwood 2
• Bladerunner 1
• Blu Martin 1
• Blubay Argo Boats 2
• Blue Jacket 1
• Blue Wave 1
• Bluegame 16
• Bluewater 11
• Bluewater Sportfishing 2
• BODRUM OGUZ MARIN 2
• Bord a Bord 1
• Boston Boatworks 1
• Boston Whaler 349
• Bracewell 2
• Bray Yacht Design 1
• Breaux Bay Craft 1
• Breaux Brothers 4
• Bristol Channel Cutter 1
• Brix Marine 1
• Broadblue 1
• BRODOSPLIT CROATIA 1
• Brooke Marine 2
• Brooklin Boat Yard 2
• Bruce Roberts 5
• Bruno & Stillman 1
• BRUNO ABBATE 3
• Buddy Cannady 1
• Buddy Davis 24
• BUNKER & ELLIS CRUISER 1
• C & L 1
• C.W. Hood 2
• Cabo Rico 5
• Cabriolet Royale 1
• Calafuria 2
• Californian 11
• Camper & Nicholsons 5
• Canoe Cove 2
• Cantiere Delle Marche 4
• Cantiere Navale Arno 1
• Cantiere Navale Di Pesaro 1
• Cantiere Navale Rondolini G & Figli 1
• CANTIERE NAVALI DI PESARO 1
• Cantieri Di Pisa 9
• Cantieri Di Sarnico 6
• Cantieri Estensi 4
• Cantieri Navali Del Mediterraneo 3
• CANTIERI NAVALI DI TERMOLI 1
• CANTIERI RIVA SPA 2
• Canyon Bay 3
• Cape Fear 1
• Cape George 4
• Cape Horn 8
• Cape Island Cruisers 1
• CAPE POWER CAT 1
• Cape Powercat 2
• Capoforte 2
• Carnevali 2
• Carolina Classic 10
• Carroll Marine 1
• Castagnola 3
• CASTOLDI JET TENDER 1
• Catalina 30
• Catamaran 4
• Catamaran Cruisers 1
• CAVUSOGLU 1
• CD HOLMES 1
• Cdk Technologies 3
• Center Console 2
• Centurion 1
• Cerri Cantieri Navali 9
• CG Boat Works 1
• Ch Marine 3
• Chantier De L'esterel 1
• CHANTIERS YACHTING 1
• Chaparral 20
• Cheoy Lee 26
• Cherubini 5
• Chesapeake 3
• Chris-craft 118
• Christensen 6
• Cigarette 58
• Cigarette Racing - Don Aronow 1
• Cim Shipyard 1
• Claasen Jachtbouw 1
• Classic Coaster 1
• Classic Craft 1
• CLASSIC YACHT 1
• Classic-Yachten 1
• Cnm - Cantieri Navali Del Mediterraneo 2
• Cnt Castagnola 2
• Coastal Craft 7
• Cobra Ribs 2
• Colin Archer 4
• COLVIC CRAFTS 1
• Commercial 4
• Composite Yacht 2
• Concordia 3
• Conrad N.v. Kalp Holland 1
• Conrad Shipyard 1
• Contender 59
• Cooper Marine 7
• Cooper Queenship 1
• CORSAIR MARINE 1
• Covey Island 2
• Crownline 29
• Cruise Ship 3
• Cruisers 144
• Cruisers Sport Series 2
• Custom Built 25
• Custom Carolina 36
• CUSTOM CAROLINA BOBBY SULLIVAN 1
• Custom Line 35
• Custom Made 1
• Custom Motor Yacht 2
• CUSTOM STEEL MOTORYACHT 1
• Custom Work Barge 1
• Custom Yacht 1
• Cutwater 27
• D'este 1
• Dalla Pieta 10
• Damen Yachting 1
• De Antonio 31
• De Cesari 2
• De Haas Shipyard 1
• DE RUITER 1
• De Vries Lentsch 4
• DE VRIES LENTSCH (DUTCH BUILT) 1
• Deep Impact 8
• Dellapasqua 3
• Delta Marine 6
• Delta Powerboats 15
• Destination 2
• Devonport 1
• Diesel Duck 1
• Dix Harvey 1
• Doggersbank 2
• Dominator 14
• Don Smith 2
• DONZI MARINE 3
• Dovercraft 1
• Dreamline 3
• DRETTMANN 1
• Dubbel & Jesse 1
• Duckworth 1
• Dudley Dix 1
• Dufour Catamarans 1
• Dutch Barge 1
• DutchCraft 1
• Dynamique 1
• EAST ASIA COMPOSITES 1
• Edgewater 31
• Egg Harbor 8
• Elan Power 4
• ELEGAN GROUP 1
• Emirates Boats 1
• Endeavour 2
• Endeavour Catamaran 3
• ENGELAER SHIPYARD 1
• Enterprise Marine 2
• EUROCRAFT 1
• Euromarine 1
• Everglades 66
• Evolution 3
• EXCESS CATAMARANS 2
• Expedition 1
• Explorer Motor 1
• Explosion Marine 2
• Extreme Boats 7
• F&S BOATWORKS 1
• FABIO BUZZI 1
• Factoria Naval De Marin 1
• Fairline 165
• FARR YACHT DESIGN 1
• Fb Design 2
• Feadship 27
• Ferretti 184
• Ferretti Custom Line 6
• FERRONAVALE 1
• FIART MARE 2
• Filippetti 1
• Filippetti Yacht 1
• FITTIPALDI 1
• FLAGSHIP SUPER 1
• Floe Craft 1
• Florida Bay 1
• Forbes Cooper 1
• Formula 156
• FORZA YACHT 1
• Fountain 104
• Fountaine Pajot 123
• Four Winns 27
• Franchini 6
• Fratelli Aprea 2
• FRATELLI ROSSI-CLEMMA 1
• Frauscher 12
• Fred Shepherd 1
• Front Runner 18
• G-WIND MARINE 1
• Gagliotta 2
• Gamefisherman 10
• Garlington 5
• GDANSK / FILIPIAK 1
• GEMINI CATAMARANS 1
• GEORGE S LAWLEY & SONS 1
• Glacier Bay 2
• GlassTech 1
• Glasstream 7
• Global Boatworks 1
• Gold Coast 1
• Grady-white 175
• Grand Alaskan 3
• Grand Banks 82
• Grand Craft 3
• Grand Harbour 2
• Grand Soleil 7
• Grandezza 2
• Granocean 4
• Great Harbour 2
• Green Marine 1
• Greenline 19
• Gulf Craft 13
• Gulf Craft Inc 3
• Gulf Crosser 1
• Gulf Stream 1
• Gunderson Marine 1
• Guy Couach 7
• H&h Marine 1
• Hacker-craft 3
• HAKES MARINE 1
• HALL RUSSELL 2
• Hallberg-rassy 23
• Halvorsen 1
• Hans Christian 6
• Harbor Guard 1
• Harbor Master 3
• Hargrave 31
• Harris FloteBote 2
• Hatteras 229
• Hayaari Marine 1
• Hell's Bay 1
• Henriques 3
• Heritage East 1
• Herreshoff 2
• Hinckley 90
• Hinckley Sport Boats 4
• Hines-farley 4
• Holland Jachtbouw 4
• Houseboat 2
• Husumer Schiffswerft 1
• Hydra-sports 32
• Hydrolift 4
• Innovazione E Progetti 2
• Integrity 3
• Intermare 3
• Intermarine 1
• International 1
• Intrepid 130
• INTREPID POWERBOATS INC. 20
• Introductory 1
• Invictus 18
• Invincible 76
• Island Hopper 1
• Island Packet 27
• Island Pilot 3
• Island Spirit 4
• Italboats 1
• Italcraft 3
• Italyachts 2
• Jarrett Bay 8
• Jarvis Newman 4
• Jeanneau 351
• Jefferson 7
• Jersey Cape 1
• Jespersen 1
• Jim Smith 4
• JOHN WILLIAMS BOAT COMPANY 1
• Joker Boat 3
• JONES GOODELL 1
• Jones-Goodell 1
• Joubert-Nivelt 2
• Judel and Vrolijk 1
• KADEY KROGEN 2
• Kadey-krogen 4
• KEITH MARINE 1
• Kelly Peterson 1
• Kha Shing 3
• King Marine 1
• Kingfisher Cruisers 1
• Km Yachtbuilders 1
• Knight & Carver 5
• Knight Brothers 1
• Kong & Halvorsen 3
• Kuipers Woudsend 1
• KUIPERS WOUDSEND BV 1
• Ladenstein 6
• Laminated MY 100' 1
• Latitude 46 2
• Laurent Giles 1
• Lazy Days 2
• LAZY DAYS MANUFACTURING CO 1
• Le Breton 1
• Leopard 108
• Lifestyle 1
• Liquid Metal Marine 1
• Little Harbor 14
• Little Hoquiam 1
• Long Island 8
• Longline Fishing Vessel 1
• Lord Nelson 1
• LOUISBOURG 1
• Luxe Clipper 1
• LYMAN MORSE BOAT CO. 2
• Lyman-morse 4
• Magna Marine 2
• Magnum Marine 3
• Maine Cat 1
• Mainship 23
• Malcolm Tennant 1
• Mangusta 50
• Mano Marine 1
• Marc Lombard 1
• Marcelo Penna 1
• MARINE MAGIC 1
• Marine Trader 6
• Maritimo 21
• Marlineer 1
• MARLOW HUNTER 1
• Marlow-hunter 2
• Marsaudon Composites 1
• Mast & Mallet 1
• Mastercraft 29
• Mastro D'Ascia 1
• MATHEW BROTHERS 1
• Mathews Brothers 4
• Maxi Dolphin 4
• Mays Craft 2
• MC CONAGHY 3
• MC MILLAN 1
• Mcconaghy 13
• Mediterranean 1
• Mengi Yay 8
• Menorquin 10
• Meridian 65
• Metal Shark 1
• Metalships 1
• Midnight Express 38
• MIDNIGHT EXPRESS POWERBOATS 4
• Midnight Lace 1
• Midship Marine 2
• Miller Marine 1
• MINNEFORD YACHT YARD 1
• Miss Tor Yacht 1
• Mochi Craft 7
• MONACHUS ISSA 1
• Mondo Marine 1
• Mondomarine 5
• MONK MCQUEEN 1
• Monte Carlo 32
• Monte Carlo Marine 1
• Monte Fino 2
• Monterey 56
• Monticello 1
• Morrelli & Melvin 1
• Motor Yacht 11
• Motorsailer 6
• Mv Marine 3
• Mystic Powerboats 5
• Nassima Yacht 1
• NAUMANN AND DUNBAR 1
• Nauta-Line 1
• Nauticstar 3
• Nautitech 24
• Nautor Swan 38
• Nautor's Swan 7
• Navigator 16
• Nelson Marek 1
• Neptunus 15
• NEW BUILD 1
• New Ocean 2
• New Zealand 2
• Nigel Irens 1
• Nishii Zosen-Sterling 1
• Nobiskrug 1
• Nor-tech 41
• Nord Star 4
• Nordhavn 11
• Nordic Tug 14
• NORIDA VAN DAM 1
• North American 2
• North Pacific 3
• North Wind 4
• Northcoast 1
• Northern Bay 4
• Northern Marine 1
• Nova Luxe 1
• NOVA MARINE 1
• Novamarine 7
• Novurania 3
• NOVURANIA OF AMERICA 1
• Numarine 31
• Nuova Jolly 4
• Ocean Alexander 79
• Ocean Craft Marine 1
• OCEAN EXPRESS CATAMARANS 1
• Ocean Master 6
• Ocean Sport 3
• Ocean Voyager 2
• Oceanfast 4
• Offshore 10
• Olivier Van Meer 2
• One Design 3
• Onslow Bay 2
• Out Island 2
• Outer Reef 8
• Outer Reef Trident 1
• Outerlimits 8
• Overmarine Group 11
• OY NAUTOR AB 1
• OYSTER MARINE LTD 1
• Pacemaker 1
• Pacific Allure 1
• Pacific Mariner 9
• Pacific Seacraft 7
• Pacific Trawler 1
• Packet Craft 1
• Palm Beach Motor 8
• Palmer Johnson 14
• Panamera Yacht 3
• Parker Poland 1
• Pathfinder 2
• Paul Luke 1
• Paul Mann 1
• Pedigree Cat 3
• Pendennis 4
• Performance 3
• Perini Navi 6
• Pershing 141
• Picchiotti 2
• Pluckebaum 1
• Poole Chaffee 1
• Portofino 2
• Posillipo 11
• Powerplay Powerboats 1
• Powerquest 1
• Precision 1
• President 15
• Prestige 164
• PRIDE MEGA 1
• Primatist 2
• Princess 381
• PRINCESS VIKING 4
• Privateer 1
• Privilege 6
• Promarine 1
• Pronautica 2
• Protector 10
• Proteksan 1
• Proteksan-turquoise 1
• Prout International 1
• Pursuit 155
• Queenship 3
• Quicksilver 1
• RADEŽ D.D. 1
• Raffaelli 3
• Ranger Tugs 35
• Real Ships 2
• Regulator 82
• Reichel/pugh 2
• REINA BOATS 1
• RELEASE BOAT WORKS 1
• Release Boatworks 1
• RICKY SCARBOROUGH 1
• Riva Trigoso 1
• Riviera Cruiser 1
• Rizzardi 12
• Rmk Marine 1
• Robert Perry 1
• Robertson 1
• Rockharbour 1
• Rodriquez 3
• Rosetti Superyachts 1
• ROSSI NAVI 3
• Rossinavi 2
• Royal Cape Catamarans 1
• Royal Denship 2
• Royal Huisman 4
• Sabreline 1
• SACS MARINE 5
• Safe Boats 1
• Sailfish 43
• Salt Shaker 1
• Salthouse 1
• Sangermani 5
• Sanlorenzo 112
• Santa Cruz 5
• SAY CARBON 2
• Schaefer 16
• Schionning 1
• Sciallino 1
• Scopinich 1
• SCOUT BOATS 20
• SCULLEY BOAT BUILDERS 1
• Sea Blade 2
• Sea Force Ix 4
• Sea Hunt 21
• Sea Ranger 3
• Sea Ray 810
• Sea Sport 2
• Sea Water 3
• SEAHORSE MARINE 1
• Seahunter 30
• Seanfinity 12
• Seaworthy 1
• Sensation 1
• Sessa Marine 44
• SHAW BOAT BUILDERS 1
• Shearline 1
• Shearwater 4
• SHIPMAN SHIPYARD 3
• Siar Moschini 1
• Silver Ships 2
• Silvercraft 1
• Silverton 42
• SIRENA MARINE 2
• Skipper-BSK 16
• Skipperliner 3
• Skorgenes 1
• Smoky Mountain 4
• Snug Harbor 1
• SOLACE BOATS 1
• Solaris Power 16
• Southerly 3
• Southern Cross 1
• Southern Marine 2
• Southern Ocean 1
• Southern Wind 5
• SOUTHERN WIND SHIPYARDS 2
• Southport 25
• Sparkman & Stephens 8
• SPERTINI ALALUNGA 1
• Sportsman 15
• St Francis 1
• St. Francis 1
• Stabicraft 1
• Stancraft 1
• Stapleton 1
• Stardust Cruisers 4
• Statement 8
• STATEMENT MARINE 16
• Steiger Craft 5
• Streamline 14
• STREAMLINE BOATS 6
• Su Marine 2
• Sun Hing Shing 1
• Sunny Briggs 1
• Sunseeker 415
• Supercraft 1
• Superyacht 3
• Swiftships 5
• SWISS SUSTAINABLE 1
• Swordsman 2
• TA YANG YACHT BLDG. 1
• Tactical Custom 1
• Tahoe Pontoon 2
• Technohull 16
• TECHNOHULL RIB 5
• Technologie Marine 1
• Technomar 1
• Tecnomarine 1
• Tecnorib 13
• Terra Nauta 1
• Terranova 5
• THETIS WARE 1
• Thoroughbred 1
• Tiara Sport 17
• Tidewater 13
• TITAN MARINE 1
• Tollycraft 17
• TOMCAT BOATS 1
• Traditional 1
• TRANS WORLD 1
• Transpacific Marine 1
• TRANSPACIFIC MARINE CO LTD 1
• Transworld 2
• Trident Shipworks 1
• Trintella 2
• True North 17
• Tullio Abbate 2
• TURKISH GULET 1
• Twin Vee 10
• Two Oceans 3
• VALENA YACHTING 2
• Valentino 1
• Valhalla Boatworks 34
• VALLICELLI 1
• Van De Stadt 8
• Van Den Akker 2
• Van Der Heijden 3
• Van Der Valk 13
• Vanderbilt 1
• Vandutch 25
• Vanquish 20
• VAUDREY MILLER 1
• VECTORWORKS 1
• VENTURE BOAT 1
• VENTURE MARINE 1
• Versilcraft 6
• Vic Franck 1
• Viking Boats 1
• Viking Princess 10
• Viking Sport Cruisers 8
• Vincenzo Catarsi 1
• Vintage Classic 1
• Virgo Custom Made 1
• Vizianello 1
• WAJER WATERSPORTS 1
• Waterdream 1
• Waterline 2
• WEAVER BOATS 1
• Webbers Cove 2
• Weldcraft 1
• Wellcraft 31
• Wellington 1
• West Bay 14
• Westcoast 2
• Westport 26
• Whangarei Engineering 1
• White Shark 1
• Willard Marine 1
• William Fife 1
• William Garden 1
• WILLIAMS BOAT WORKS 1
• Williams Jet Tenders 1
• WINDY BOATS 1
• Winter Custom 4
• WITSEN & VIS 1
• WOODNUTT AND CO 1
• World Cat 33
• Wright Performance 1
• X-yachts 13
• Xcelerator Boatworks 1
• XL Marine 1
• Xo Boats 11
• Yachting Developments 1
• YACHTING DEVELOPMENTS, NZ 1
• Yamaha Boats 2
• Yellowfin 78
• YOUNG BROTHERS 1
• Yuka Yacht 1
• Zar Formenti 2
• Zeelander 6
• ZIMMERMAN 1

NEW + USED YACHT SALES

Denison Yachting is a yacht brokerage firm specializing in yacht sales (as well as super yacht + charter sales) that has helped boat buyers find superyachts , motor yachts , catamarans , sailboats , and trawlers .

Prospective yacht owners interested in buying a new luxury yacht can search for yachts on the market worldwide by brand, make, type, length, price, location, year, and more. You can even search for yachts in Bitcoin, as we offer the option to purchase with Cryptocurrency. Our yacht selection includes megayachts of all sizes and from all over the world.

YACHT BROKERS WITH EXPERIENCE

Our team of licensed + bonded yacht brokers offer our clients three generations of yachting expertise. With over 100 brokers worldwide, their knowledge and experience in the yachting industry with both new and used yachts is one of the biggest factors in our success. With a large inventory of yachts for sale combined with our industry leading level of service & expertise, our brokers are guaranteed to find the perfect boat for your yachting needs, be it a luxury superyacht, a used catamaran, a large sailboat, or just about any yacht of your dreams.

353' Benetti 2022 Luminosity

Tivat, montenegro, €135,000,000, 345' oceanco 2024 h3, monaco, monaco, €295,000,000, 282' devonport 1998 chakra, portisco, italy, 262' benetti 2026 simon fraser, genova, italy.

14569 views

262' Isa 2025

Ancona, it-an, italy, 262' admiral 2024 galileo 80, carrara, italy.

11984 views

251' Custom 2015 Yersin

Marseille, 13, france, €59,000,000, 249' custom 1972 lady sarya, 243' lurssen 2007 global, la ciotat, france, €79,000,000, 240' delta marine 2006 laurel, naples, it-na, italy, $69,500,000.

11809 views

230' Admiral 2024 Galileo 70

221' icon 2010 loon, monaco, france, $47,500,000, 213' marina boats 2024 porto mirabello, la spezia, italy, 213' admiral 2024 admiral 65m u force, 207' delta 2027 project metaverse, seattle, wa, us, $95,000,000, 203' sarp yachts 2025 project nacre, antalya, turkey, €45,000,000, 203' vsy 2009 sealion, antibes, france, 200' leapher 2025 horizon, tolkamer, netherlands, 197' custom 2025 mimer, €65,000,000, 196' custom 2026 perennial, 187' riva 2009, frejus, 83, france, 186' crn 2008 richar, gocek, turkey, €26,500,000, 186' custom 1992 bad girl, cap cana, dominican republic.

13453 views

185' Oceanfast 2004 4 Roses

Fort lauderdale, fl, us, $19,500,000, 185' alloy yachts 2014 salvaje, palma de mallorca, spain, €29,500,000, 184' perini navi 2009 asahi, €30,900,000, 183' isa 2025, 177' baglietto 2009, dubai, cyprus, €18,750,000, 176' custom 1982 sanssouci star, flensburg, germany, compare yachts.

2378 Results

YACHT CATEGORY

Login or register, hi, welcome back.

Login and pick up from where you left off.

Creating an account allows you to save and compare your favorite yachts.

By creating an account you agree to the terms of use and our privacy policy.