Mike Love

Mike Love (born March 15, 1941 in Los Angeles, California) is an American singer and songwriter who was one of the lead singers and lyrical composers of The Beach Boys, along with Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and a school friend Al Jardine. Mike Love is first cousin to the Wilson brothers.

Role in The Beach Boys

Love was the lead vocalist for many of the early Beach Boys hits, including "Surfin'", "409", "Surfin' Safari", "Surfin' USA", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Fun Fun Fun", "Be True To Your School", "Little Saint Nick", "When I Grow Up To Be A Man", "I Get Around", and "California Girls". His role as lead vocalist subsequently diminished, but included sections of Pet Sounds (including the bridge of "Wouldn't It Be Nice") and the hit "Do It Again". Onstage, Love has always served as the Beach Boys' "MC".

Related Topics:
California Girls - Pet Sounds - MC

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Love also wrote or co-wrote many of the Beach Boys hit lyrics, mostly for songs with the themes of surfing and love; the band's early car song lyrics were generally by Gary Usher or Roger Christian, although a lawsuit established Mike's composing credits on many of the (those?) hits.

Related Topics:
Gary Usher - Roger Christian

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In the late Sixties, as founder Brian Wilson was sidelined by mental illness and drug problems, Love played an increasingly contentious role in the Beach Boys career, and rightly or wrongly, he has often been identified as one of the "villains" in the band's story.

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Partly in response to the band's concerns, articulated by Mike, Brian began writing songs that were easier to perform live, which turned up on the late 1967 album Wild Honey, which would be the last Beach Boys album with Brian dominating the songwriting until the mid-1970s.

Related Topics:
Wild Honey - 1970s

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Despite his conservatism in other areas, Love was one of the first pop musicians to become involved in the practice of Transcendental Meditation, through his meeting with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and as a result he accompanied The Beatles and Donovan on their famous trip to the self-styled guru's ashram at Rishikesh in India in early 1968. Love has been a lifelong advocate of the benefits of TM and contributed a song on the subject to the Beach Boys' 1968 album Friends.

Related Topics:
Transcendental Meditation - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - The Beatles - Donovan - Rishikesh - India

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In the late sixties, with Brian no longer touring, Carl Wilson took over leadership of the band (with contracts reading that venues hired "Carl Wilson plus four other musicians"), but by the early 80s, Love grew to increasingly dominate the band, who fell in line with his desire to play the early 60s hits and record new material dealing with similar lyrical subjects.

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While Love has sometimes been perceived as a negative force in the Beach Boys creatively, there is no doubt that he has on occasion exhibited sound commercial instincts, as for example on his co-writing and singing lead on the 1988 US number one hit "Kokomo", the only number one the band had that wasn't co-written by Wilson.

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After the death of Carl Wilson in 1998 the Beach Boys split up, and Love took over the name, touring with no other original members but with longtime member Bruce Johnston and various musicians formerly of tribute bands.

Related Topics:
Bruce Johnston - Tribute bands

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The Beach Boys were the introductory act in the televised 2005 Fourth of July celebration on the grounds in front of the United States Capitol. The Beach Boys performance featured five hits originally sung by Love and was their first Fourth of July appearance there since 1985. While detractors criticize Love for carrying on The Beach Boys name, supporters point to shows such as this as evidence of Mike Love's dedication to the millions of people who love the hit music of The Beach Boys.

Related Topics:
Fourth of July - United States Capitol

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