Mike Love is a songwriter and a father, even naming one son Brian Love. This is a nod to another member of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, even though the two don’t share a close relationship today. Here’s what Love wrote in the memoir Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy.
Mike Love and Brian Wilson sometimes wrote ‘beautiful songs together’
Although his later years with the Beach Boys were marked by drug use, Brian Wilson earned his place in the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. In Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy, Love shared his perspective on Wilson’s road to recovery.
“I thought I had seen a new Brian — someone who was recovering physically and mentally, someone who would reconnect with the group, and someone who would sit at the piano, like he and I did in the old days, when the magic occurred,” Love wrote. “Maybe it was a miracle.”
As of 2023, Brian Wilson and Love are credited as songwriters for “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “I Get Around,” “Good Vibrations.” and other hits. There’s even a personal connection between Brian Wilson and one of Love’s children.
Mike Love of the Beach Boys named his son Brian
Aside from his work as a songwriter, Love appeared as a husband and father, even naming one son — Brian Edward Alan Love — after the fellow Beach Boys member.
“Around others, we called our son ‘Baby Brian’ or ‘Little Brian,’ hopeful that he would acquire the best personal traits of his famous second cousin and believing that Brian Wilson would once again be part of all of our lives,” Love noted in the same memoir.
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Love is a father of eight — Shawn Marie Love, Ambha Love, Brian Edward Alan Love, Hayleigh Love, Summer Love, Melinda Love, Christian Love, and Teresa Love.
Are Mike Love and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys friends?
It’s unclear just how friendly Love and Wilson are today. In 1992, Love sued Brian Wilson, claiming songwriting credits on 48 songs — including ″I Get Around″ and ″409.” This wouldn’t be the first time Love took legal action against his cousin. However, the subsequent win caused tension among the performers.
“Sometimes we wrote beautiful songs together in the middle of the night,” Love said during an interview with OnMilwaukee. “Brian and I were best friends long before the band came along, but that didn’t last.”
Now, Mike Love is the artist with exclusive rights to perform under the Beach Boys’ name, sometimes performing with John Stamos. (In 2022, Brian Wilson toured under his legal name alongside the Beach Boys’ Al Jardine.)
When the Beach Boys took a break, Jardine said during an interview with Catalyst that he “chose to help Brian out because he needs the help. That’s pretty much the way it is right now, although after this tour I have a feeling I’ll be doing more of my own shows.”
