Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world’s most influential recording artists,

A hitmaker elevated and burdened by the label of genius, he transcended the breezy surf genre to create complex harmonies and intricate soundscapes in the studio.

Having gone from writing surf-rock to remarkably complex and intricate masterpieces in just a few years as the Beach Boys' principal songwriter and musical director, Wilson in many ways defined the de