The Smiley Smile Message Board

Awful news. From Brian’s Facebook:

Oh no! That is sad news. Jeff always seemed to me like one of the good guys, an important part as a musician as well as as an anchor for every Beach Boys related act he worked with. And what a crystal clear voice!
Rest in peace, Jeff!


Everything I Need

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4cmhFTHnZ8

I don’t think it would be a stretch, but Brian would not have had the solo touring career without Jeff at his side. RIP.


https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jeffrey-foskett-beach-boy-brian-wilson-dead-obituary-1234924498/

 :'(

I am broken-hearted. I've lost two good BB fan friends recently, this just compounds things.

Jeff was the guy who called to tell me Carl had passed, so I wouldn't have to hear it from the news channels first. He was such a great friend to the fans, and he did a lot for us, because he was a fan himself. Such a big-hearted guy, such a beautiful voice, such a loss for us. Surely he's jamming with Billy, Carl, and Dennis tonight.

I'm absolutely devastated. What an important figure in Beach Boys history.

RIP Jeff

So sad to hear this. RIP Jeff, thanks for so many wonderful concert memories.

My deepest condolences to his friends and family

Damn.  Along with all his other musical endeavors -  including playing with the Beach Boys - it's hard to imagine the wonderfulness of Brian's second act without him.  The crowning moment of which for me were the Smile album and shows - I still watch the video time to time.  He's there with that incredible band hitting the high notes, acting as emcee and cheerleader, and filling the room with Big Love.  Rave on, sir.

Gutted to hear this. Having only been lucky enough to see recent incarnations of Mike and Brian’s bands he’s felt absolutely essential to the narrative of this band.

Thanks for all the memories dude x

Oh no! :( RIP Jeff.

Put on the 2004 Smile album and Jeff’s voice is the first thing you hear, leading off “Our Prayer”. A powerful voice and such a joyful and enthusiastic stage presence. He will definitely be missed.

He was wonderful on that tour and on the album

ahhh man :( his voice and harmonies have brought a lot of joy to the fandom. I can see him singing harmonies with the angels right now. Thanks, Jeff, for all of your hard work over the years.

What sad sad news.

Adios JF

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WK6eQHD9_DQ

I'm sad to hear about this. You will be missed Jeff. Thank you for your voice and your talents.

It's not a stretch at all.

Rest in peace, Jeff.

The voice of an angel has returned home to be with the angels.

Godspeed, JF.

Such sad news. Jeff was such an amazing part of those wonderful touring years with BW. Must have seen him 10 times or more.

Re: the RS article https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jeffrey-foskett-beach-boy-brian-wilson-dead-obituary-1234924498/amp/ - I hadn't heard this part before "Foskett reached out to his buddies Darian Sahanaja and Nick Walusko in the L.A.-based band the Wondermints, lifelong Beach Boys fanatics who Foskett knew would be perfect for the job." - Thought it was Brian and Melinda who saw them at a BW/BB tribute show?

RIP

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Peculiar it should say that. The earlier interview JF did with Rolling Stone makes it clear that Brian and Melinda asked Jeff to meet with the 'Mints because they had seen the show.

Such a sad loss.  R.I.P.

His voice is more than essential on That's Why God Made the Radio. (also, he and Brian demoed all the vocals parts).

Such a shame.

Such sad news. Jeff was such a huge part of the touring band, and often as an uncredited singer on BB record releases in the 80s and 90s. But as a performer, singer, arranger and producer, I really love Jeff's solo CDs. I have every one of them from his first, Thru My Window(the most Beach Boy sounding cd ever) through his last one, Voices. They are all superb, one better than the next. He will be greatly missed.

Some of the obits have been garbling some details, especially years. It's to be expected from these outlets. I think there was a Variety obit that seemed to get almost every cited year incorrect.

Even many years back, I've often seen details about Jeff's tenures in the Beach Boys expand and contract based on who is reporting it. I guess we can't expect these outlets to contact nerd BB fans to find out Jeff's first BB gigs were late December 1981, and his last (first time around) July 4, 1990. I've seen a couple of articles that imply he was with the band all through the 90s prior to joining Brian's band, when the 90s was one era where he *wasn't* with any of the touring bands for most of the decade, doing his solo stuff and Papa Doo Run Run, etc.

Was surprised a bit to read a post from someone who had spoken to Jeff relatively recently, and they described that Jeff was bothered and seemed to have been bothered for some time that he felt his vocals on the 2012 TWGMTR reunion album had been criticized by fans.

I'm not sure of course precisely what his feelings were on this in detail, but I can pretty safely say that most of the criticisms about the heavy use of Jeff's voice on the album (on certain tracks more than others) wasn't about the quality of his singing, but rather simply that it sounded more like Jeff than the BB vocal stack on certain songs. I've never blamed Jeff for this. There's nothing wrong with the quality of his vocal work, and he was only singing what he was being instructed to sing (almost surely at the direction of Brian and/or Joe Thomas). I always guessed/assumed it was just a consequence of the logistics of recording the album. Brian cut a bunch of stuff prior to the rest of the BBs joining the project, and he used Jeff to stack a lot of those vocals. When it came time to record BB backing vocals, he kept a lot of the Jeff vocal tracks on some of the songs (most notably the title track), and/or had Jeff singing *with* the rest of the guys and still leaned a lot on Jeff's voice.

I know a lot of the touring band guys over the years signed NDAs, so I'm not sure what sort of written memories Jeff might have left behind, but he no doubt had a ton of interesting stories (some of which he did tell over the years). I always found one interesting where he described singing harmonies in the studio with Carl, and Carl giving him some of the "secret sauce" to recording BB backing vocals, and instructing everybody to *not* use *any* vibrato when stacking harmonies.

Jude, I think your spot of with your thoughts. There could never EVER be a problem with Jeff's vocals, frankly I can't think of anyone who had a better singing voice., high and low ranges. Many fans have often complained that there was just too much Jeff and not enough Boys on TWGMTR. Perhaps true, but at their ages at the time, most of them were past their prime singing abilities. Jeff on the other hand was in excellent voice as always. So glad I have all of his solo cds, they are all magnificent.

A really cool guy, got to speak with him briefly in 2011 (I believe) and he was great to his, and Brian's, fans. A piece of the legacy for sure. RIP :(

Anyone heard this https://www.discogs.com/release/27729141-The-Pranks-The-Warner-Demos-Collection

The Pranks were a band Jeff was in with Randall Hirsch among others. John Cowsill sometimes I think. Maybe there was a plan to try officially release some of this stuff?

Correction: Randell Kirsch

Since it's that time of year I was just listening to "What I really want for Christmas" and am still blown away by Brian and Jeff's vocals on "O holy Night". Perfection!