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The family of Brian Wilson, the musical architect whose genius helped power the Beach Boys, is seeking to place him under a conservatorship following the death of his wife, Melinda, last month.<\/p>\n
According to documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this week by lawyers representing the potential conservators, Mr. Wilson, 81, has \u201ca major neurocognitive disorder,\u201d and \u201cis unable to properly provide for his own personal needs for physical health.\u201d Melinda Wilson had previously provided care for her husband, but following her death on Jan. 30<\/a>, the appointment of a conservator has become necessary, according to the petition filed on Wednesday.<\/p>\n In a statement<\/a>. the family said that LeeAnn Hard, Mr. Wilson\u2019s business manager, and Jean Sievers, his publicist and manager, would serve as co-conservators.<\/p>\n \u201cThis decision was made to ensure that there will be no extreme changes to the household and Brian and the children living at home will be taken care of and remain in the home where they are cared for,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In an email to The New York Times, Ms. Sievers said Mr. Wilson has been \u201cdiagnosed with dementia.\u201d She said that as a co-conservator, she would \u201censure that all of Brian\u2019s daily living needs are satisfied and he continues to lead an active life.\u201d<\/p>\n A hearing on the petition has been scheduled for April 30.<\/p>\n Mr. Wilson, a revered founder of the Beach Boys, is widely credited as a musical visionary who channeled an idealized notion of California into a chart-topping sound.<\/p>\n But the mental health challenges he faced along the way have also been well documented.<\/p>\n After suffering a nervous breakdown on a flight to Houston with the band in 1964, he abandoned touring to focus on recording, tapping into a period of explosive creativity that would help reshape the pop landscape with hits like \u201cGood Vibrations.\u201d<\/a> At their height, the Beach Boys and their music flooded the Top 40 with melodies that captured the energy and culture of sunny, vibrant Southern California and music meticulously orchestrated in the studio. An American counterweight to the Beatles, the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988<\/a>.<\/p>\n But even as Mr. Wilson worked, his struggles with mental illness worsened. He became increasingly withdrawn after an ambitious album, \u201cSmile,\u201d fell apart in 1967. He battled depression and was eventually diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder<\/a>, which manifested itself in auditory hallucinations<\/a>, among other symptoms. He also experimented with LSD and other drugs and began overeating and abusing alcohol. He receded from the public eye and remained bedridden for extended periods during the 1970s.<\/p>\n In the years that followed, Mr. Wilson began dating Melinda Kae Ledbetter, who would become his second wife. The couple met in a Los Angeles Cadillac dealership, where she was a saleswoman, in a scene dramatized in the 2014 movie \u201cLove & Mercy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ms. Wilson has said her future husband was struggling at the time she met him. Mr. Wilson had begun working with a psychotherapist, Eugene Landy<\/a>, who is credited with helping yank his client from the depths of depression and substance abuse \u2014 and also blamed for inserting himself into many corners of Mr. Wilson\u2019s creative and financial life.<\/p>\n Mr. Wilson\u2019s family members eventually petitioned to create a previous conservatorship that extracted Mr. Wilson from Mr. Landy\u2019s control. He married Melinda Ledbetter in 1995. They adopted five children<\/a>, and Mr. Wilson credited her with helping to stabilize his life and career.<\/p>\n Toward the end of her life, Ms. Wilson also served as her husband\u2019s health care agent, according to court filings.<\/p>\n \u201cMrs. Wilson attended to Mr. Wilson\u2019s daily living needs,\u201d the document said, \u201cas Mr. Wilson is unable to properly provide for his own personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2021, the Beach Boys signed a blockbuster deal with Iconic Artists Group<\/a>, selling the majority of the band\u2019s intellectual property rights, including their trademarks and the rights to much of their music. Later that year, Wilson also sold his songwriting rights to Universal Music. The transaction was confidential, but was revealed the following year when his former wife, Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford, sued<\/a>, saying she was owed millions of dollars as a result of the terms of their divorce settlement.<\/p>\n Wilson was on the road performing shows as recently as 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n