He was the embodiment of the sun-drenched California dream, a sandy-haired sex symbol that sparked a cultural tidal wave—surfer, lover, drummer, Beach Boy. His life was a short, brilliant, intoxicating ride that inevitably curled into a torturous spiral of addiction and despair. Profoundly gifted but destructively wild, Dennis Wilson was dead at age 39, drowning quietly while his influence made millions for others. Volumes have been written about the troubled past of Dennis’s older brother, Brian Wilson, and his amazing impact on the history of popular music, but this book tells for the first time the staggering tale of the freewheeling brother who fired Brian’s imagination and permanently influenced the Beach Boys’ sound, style, and attitude. While Brian stayed in his room, brother Dennis hurled himself at life with an unquenchable lust for action. From surfing teenager to drag-racing daredevil, from his legendary sexual appetite to his chilling friendship with mass murderer Charles Manson, this biography follows the hair-raising trail blazed by the real Beach Boy.
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Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
The staggering tale of the freewheeling brother who fired Brian Wilson's imagination and influenced the Beach Boys' sound, style, and attitude He was the embodiment of the sun-drenched California dream, a sandy-haired sex symbol that sparked a cultural tidal wave. Surfer, lover, drummer, Beach Boy. His life was a short, brilliant, intoxicating ride that inevitably curled into a torturous spiral of addiction and despair. Profoundly gifted but destructively wild, Dennis Wilson was dead at age 39, drowning quietly while his influence made millions for others. Volumes have been written about the troubled past of Dennis's older brother Brian Wilson and his amazing impact on the history of popular music. But Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy tells for the first time the staggering tale of the freewheeling brother who fired Brian's imagination and permanently influenced the Beach Boys' sound, style, and attitude. While Brian stayed in his room, brother Dennis hurled himself at life with an unquenchable lust for action. From surfing teenager to drag-racing daredevil, from his legendary sexual appetite to his chilling friendship with mass murderer Charles Manson, this biography follows the hair-raising trail blazed by the real Beach Boy. Author Jon Stebbins candidly and passionately offers the first in-depth look at one of rock and roll's most compelling figures in a book packed with rare, never-before-published photos and previously unknown facts.
From the Author
Jon Stebbins is a fourth-generation Californian who has spent most of his life composing, performing, collecting, studying, and writing about popular music and has contributed to numerous collectors' guides and music-related publications. He is currently working on a screenplay about Buddy Holly's last tour.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Endless Summer Quarterly Review (excerpt),
This review is from: Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy (Paperback)
John Stebbins has captured the essence of both Dennis Wilson the musician and Dennis the human being in Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy. Stebbins relied on his personal interviews with Dennis, as well as the first-hand accounts of friends (such as Ed Roach, Fred Vail, and Stephen Kalinich), lovers (including Barbara Wilson and Karen Lamm), and other acquaintances to craft this biography. The author achieves the delicate balance of portraying Dennis honestly - warts and all - without resorting to tabloid style oversensationalization. There's something for every Beach Boys fan in this book. For the younger fans - the ones who may have come to know the band long after Dennis passed away - the book is educational, and serves to remind us just who was the real "Beach Boy" of the group. However, there are enough new revelations and interesting trivia to maintain the attention of even the most hard-core of fans. The book also contains a fine assortment of previously unpublished black and white and color photos - many courtesy of Dennis' close friend Ed Roach. The Real Beach Boy is advertised as a Dennis Wilson biography, but it really tells a broader story about America's band. There are at least two sides to every story, and Stebbins' book tells yet another fascinating side of the Beach Boys' multi-faceted saga. Lee Dempsey, Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Real Beach Boy,
This review is from: Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy (Paperback)
Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy is an honest view of a man who, for most of his life, was unappreciated and extremely underrated both in his personal and professional lives. It is not just a chronology of his life or a list of his exploits. Other books and magazines did that years ago. This book is an insight into the man himself and the music within him. Jon Stebbins's style of writing drew me into the story, sent me back to my youth and reminded me why Dennis Wilson and his music meant so much to me. Dennis has been gone for over 16 years. It's about time everyone knew who he really was. Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy has the blessings of those who knew Denny best and loved him most, his friends, his family and his fans. It is a "must read" if you think you knew the Beach Boys. Especially if you think Dennis was just the drummer.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy,
By Jersey Joe (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy (Paperback)
This is a worthwhile read for both hardcore and casual Beach Boy fans. Most Beach Boys literature has focused on the travails of oldest brother Brian Wilson, however this book details the rise and fall of the charismatic, popular but consistently underrated Wilson brother, Dennis. I had known that Dennis was a big womanizer, but I never realized that he was in the same league as Wilt Chamberlain.(F-Troop's "Wrangler Jane" is mentioned as a dating partner. Was no actress untouched?) I also thoroughly enjoyed the author's description of long-lost Beach Boy appearances on such shows as Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin etc. Ultimately, the book is a very sad tale of unrealized talent and extreme self-destructive behavior.
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