Mike Love is looking back fondly on Brian Wilson, his cousin and Beach Boys collaborator who died Wednesday at 82.
“It’s a tough one,” Love told The Associated Press Thursday. “Life ends for all of us, but he had a wonderful life in terms of how creative he was, and I had a great time cocreating with him, so we have a lot to be, you know, we have a lot of blessings.”
Love is being inducted Thursday night into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, which welcomed Wilson in 2000. He will be introduced by actor and musician John Stamos, who has collaborated with the Beach Boys in recent years and is appearing at select dates on their tour, which resumes Friday in New York.
“I cut together a really beautiful video of Mike and Brian doing the song that Brian, Mike wrote called, ‘Brian’s Back.’ And I’d like to show that with his permission at the front of the show,” Stamos said. “I think it’ll start off, but it’s gonna be very difficult, I would think emotionally to get through it.”
He added of his admiration for Wilson and the band: “Without the Beach Boys, life would be a mistake. And that’s that.”
“It’s in the better late than never category, but I feel my cousin’s presence tonight very strongly,” Love told the AP of his inclusion in Songwriters Hall of Fame. “You know, we did it together, and so that part’s inseparable, and we always had a great love for each other. So it’s really nice to be honored, though, and recognized for my contribution to the Beach Boys music.”
Love and Wilson wrote the Beach Boys’ first hit, “Surfin’,” in 1961. The pair feuded over songwriting credits for Love, who successfully sued, contending he was deprived songwriting credits on dozens of songs.
“This is a songwriter’s songwriter,” Stamos said of Love before the ceremony: “He painted this cinematic view of California that made the whole world wanna be us because of him. Optimism, positivity, good vibes.”
Stamos added: “Brian was a genius, but Mike was a little bit underrated because of … you know, Brian’s big genius.”
Love said he enjoys witnessing the joy the Beach Boys music brings to fans on tour. “It’s wonderful because you see the audience response and people 60 years after we started are loving our music and that’s really a wonderful thing. You see how much joy, not only in America but around the world, that our songs have created with people. So it’s a fantastic thing,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.