The Smiley Smile Message Board

Sad news. I am genuinely shocked. :'(

Not sure we would have had Brian around for as long as we have were it not for her.

I haven't seen any news pages pick this up yet. I learned it from Brian's Facebook page.

This is so very sad.

Never thought Brian would outlive her.

My heart goes out to Brian and of course,  their children.

Strength at this sad time.

Oh, my. Love to the entire Wilson family at this difficult time.

Melinda was one tough cookie, and I’m glad that she was able to help Brian accomplish all he has and build a family together. I thought she would live forever.

My God, this is shocking! Don't know what to say. Condolences to Brian, the children and all the family. Just speechless

This is so sad. Brian has lost so many of his closest loved ones over the years.

I am at a loss for words …. My deepest condolences to Brian and his family

I'm at a loss. Completely devastating news

Wow, I'm genuinely shocked. Prayers to Brian and his family. Don't even know what to say.... By all accounts she was a huge part of Brian's recovery and maintained happiness, and for that I will always be grateful for the love she put into the world.

Shocked and saddened by this as well.  Got to meet her once and she was very gracious.  RIP  😪🙏

Stunned. I pray that Brian has good support around him going forward and wish him blessings in this time of sorrow. My condolences to him and their children.

Shocked. That's all I can say.

Oh and the person on Facebook who's using his name to try and friend his associates who are giving condolences can go to hell.

That is horrible.  My condolences.

Oh no! :-(

What a sad loss.  Once again, Brian is thrust into the role of "survivor."   Praying for him that he has the support, care and love he needs now and going forward. 

RIP Melinda. What a sad time.

I got to say hello to Melinda at the last Carl Wilson foundation show at the Roxy, and I thanked her for all she's done to help Brian. I hope many people got to tell her similar words of thanks over the years.

So sad for Brian and the whole family. Actually quite stunned and wondering if it’s somehow why she has had a pretty low profile since 2012.
Love And Mercy to all.
Edit: Actually she was very present during the L&M movie release of course, but I don’t remember her much after, if any public appearances.

Oh man :'(. As Brian asked us, I will definitely say a prayer for her, and I'll be praying for Brian and his family.

I can't begin to express my appreciation for her efforts in Brian's life over the years - through the good and the bad, Brian was able to create some very incredible and high quality records. More astonishingly, he was able to bring his music to so many cities/venues over the last 2+ decades. That Brian has been able to live a life free of drugs/alcohol/abuse for the last 3 decades is wonderful. And I really hope that Melinda was happy during that time.

This is heartbreaking news

She was very kind to my son and I following Brian's Smile performance in Portland many years ago. We were hanging out by the tour buses, talking to the band when she suddenly appeared from the back entrance. I introduced her to my son, told her about my lifelong love of Brian's music, and thanked her for all she had done. It couldn't have been more that five minutes but it meant a lot us. We even got a hug before she left.   

Shocking said news. Prayers for her for Brian and their entire family. Hard to imagine where Brian would have been without Melinda or where he goes from here.

Shocking news. And very sad so recently after Jeffrey Foskett's passing. I must admit I never had considered that Brian would outlive Melinda. My deepest respects to her and the whole family. I sincerely hope Brian has a lot of his friends and family to help him get through this difficult time.

Like all of you my heart goes out to Brian and family. Incredibly sad news.

Shocking for sure. Did not expect that and my heart goes out to Brian so very much..she was his world I'm sure. Prayers for her and Brian and the family. I hope he's doing okay right now.

Same here, in 2005, and she was gracious to me as well. I knew also she was the ideal support and partner for Brian. And I now also wonder if Brian's problems on his last tour were partially a result of him worrying about her.

Oh no, what a bolt out of the blue.  Gutted, for Brian and his kids and friends and family.

I just looked up the lyrics for the upcoming Glen Campbell / BW Duet Song “Strong.”   After reading lyrics, don’t think will be able to listen without tearing up, maybe would have before even with the Glen connection.  Now with this news, the song and lyrics seems very personal to Brian and fans and will even have extra layers and meaning and emotion than ever could’ve imagined.  All my condolences for Brian, kids, family and friends.


“As I look into these eyes I've known for all these years
I see for the first time in my life, fear
This is not the road I wanted for us, but now that's it's here
I want to make one thing perfectly clear

All I want to be for you is strong
I am going to be the one you can count on
I'll always be for you strong

I am a broken prize all neatly wrapped but cracked inside
All the king's horses and all his men, they lie
As I look at you and at my life, what do I see?
The person that I wish that I could be

All I want to be for you is strong

I am going to be the one you can count on
I'll always be for you strong

So strong
It's strong, so strong
Don't you know it can't go wrong?
Strong”

Well said by so many as we come to grips with some very unexpected (heart)breaking news. We all wish and hope and pray that Brian has many loved ones and close friends at hand right now, as he comes to grips with what is possibly his most difficult loss.

Melinda was a true heroine who gave him the love & mercy and the total support that he needed to pick up the pieces after his hellish years with Landy and his "surf nazis," making it possible for him to forge a triumphant solo career.

Fans of Brian will always be indebted to her; perhaps David Leaf will envision a fitting institutional tribute for her at UCLA. Her life and legacy deserves a public place of honor. RIP Mrs. Wilson...

This is just gut-wrenching news.  I was shocked when I saw it on Brian's Facebook.  As others have said, I honestly never considered the possibility that Brian would outlive Melinda.

My heart goes out to Brian and his family.  The poor guy has been through hell and back so many times, and survived the loss of so many loved ones in his life.  The thought of him having to suffer through this, even with all the love and support he has, is so terribly sad.

Also shocked and saddened. We got to see Brian and Melissa at the Love and Mercy panel presentation in Westwood years ago.  It was wonderful, and their story was so moving.  I didn't become a BB (Brian Wilson) fan until 2005, and had a lot of catching up to do. My heart and prayers go out to Brian and his family in a million different ways. Love and Mercy for them all.

How horrible. My heart goes out to Brian and their children.

I’m very saddened to hear of Melinda’s passing. My favorite memory of her was at a Brian show in 2001 where I was seated a few rows behind Melinda.  She had a guest with her and they were both laughing, dancing, singing along, and just generally enjoying themselves. After Brian’s set, when he was signing at the merch stand, I saw Melinda and commented “you looked you were having a blast.” She responded “of course! This music makes you feel young!”  Her role in Brian’s comeback can not be overstated. But for that summer night in 2001, she was one of us.

Godspeed, Melinda

Love & Mercy :'(

I was shocked to read this last night on Brian's official facebook page. And have logged in here for the first time in years as a result.

I think Brian's personal message sums it up....Melinda gave Brian the loving support and emotional stability he needed to have a career again. And he must feel bereft without her.

I sincerely wish Brian, the kids, all the extended family and friends my heartfelt condolences. I hope Brian in particular has the support he needs. It really is heartbreaking.

Heartfelt post on FB by Mike. Very moving.

Stunned at the news.  Condolences to Brian and his family. 

Both Al and Mike have posted on the various social media outlets. Al referred to it as "unexpected".

Possibly strangely, in another forum, someone mentioned that a New York Times article had a quote from Jean Sievers that she "had died suddenly", yet at some point that verbiage was removed from the article.

To be clear, I'm not one of those people inclined to fixate on needing to know all those details in the immediate aftermath. On so many levels, it doesn't matter.

But I think fans (and I'd say Al and Mike as well) are justifiably concerned for Brian, and knowing how sudden or expected this was might help at least a tiny bit to understand how Brian might be coping.

 
Waited a day so I could collect thoughts about this sad time for Brian. I hope he finds the strength to deal with Melinda's passing in a positive way. I'm sure Brian does have a strong network of friends who will be at his side and willing to do anything for him. He also has his fans who together can provide their support. We all need to lend ourselves and feelings for Brian. Melinda was a warm wonderful woman who I had the pleasure of meeting. She was very gracious and I walked away feeling that this was a very genuine person indeed. Try to keep your spirits as high as you can, Brian. We're all here for you!  :bw


Oldsurferdude

Hi. Not sure if it was my or another post you saw. This LA Times article still states: A spokesperson for Wilson, Jean Sievers, said the cause of death was unknown.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2024-01-30/melinda-wilson-wife-and-emotional-savior-of-musician-brian-wilson-dies-at-77

You are right we should not fixate too much on such details.

To paraphrase what I wrote at Endless Harmony, this is profoundly sad and quite shocking news. Melinda truly did impact us all. From a fan's perspective, it certainly feels like we are in a totally new era. I wasn't around for the loss of Dennis nor Carl, and things really seemed more or less the same for so many years until the pandemic era. Now so many familiar and key figures are leaving us. Knowing what we know about Brian's story I think we all empathize with the sadness and can only hope that he draws strength from the love that is undoubtedly immediately surrounding him and beyond.

On another board someone mentioned that Mike's statement, while very kind, is written almost entirely through the prism of Brian. And well, yeah I think that's true. And yes, that does stick out a bit for this attuned to such things. There will be plenty of time to parse all these words later.

But I think one has to be realistic about things. That statement from Mike, who always posts very eloquent statements in these situations, is really the most kind, compassionate thing I think we could ever expect from him concerning anything to do with Melinda. And I don't mean that as any sort of back-handed compliment. I think Mike obviously had a very complicated relationship with Melinda, and he cares about Brian obviously, so he leaned mainly on compassion for Brian in his statement. I'm not sure what else he could have done. I don't begrudge him skipping any sort of "While Melinda and I didn't always see eye to eye...." stuff in the moment.

I have to think Mike and Al are in a very similar position as fans in that I think a lot of us haven't been this worried for Brian since the 1991/92 Landy era. But even that is a difficult topic to lean too heavily on, because it can tend to take away the strength that Brian has also exhibited over all these years. I honestly don't know what someone in his position thinks. Do these things make him feel life is more fragile, or does he feel like's destined (or doomed a cynical person might say) to outlive *everybody* at this point?

I apologize in advance for a long post, but I have some thoughts I'd like to share.

Most of us really don’t know anything about Melinda as an actual, real-life person. I certainly don’t; what I know is what I’ve observed through looking at and studying Brian’s life, and through that you can infer what she provided. When I heard the news, a few things immediately entered into my mind:

-   Brian’s lyrics on “One Kind of Love” – especially the verse with about “sometimes, from out of the blue /an angel comes to you / but you’ve got to have an open heart.” (I assume on this song Brian did the words and Scott Bennett was more involved in the music – the words sound like Brian).  This is Brian basically describing what happened for him, on both her side of it, and his side of it. Not only that she provided love, but that Brian realized that he had to be willing to trust another human being—a woman—and accept love, or grace. This can and does happen for people, if they’re lucky, and Brian was fortunate to have crossed paths with Melinda, but also he should credit himself for not pushing her away (and in a way, he does, on “One Kind of Love”) Anyway, that’s how it looks to me from a distance. The song is both about Brian and Melinda, but it’s also about everybody.

-   On the same issue, another thing that I immediately came to mind is one of the most memorable scenes in the 2015 movie, when the Brian-character tells Melinda to leave his house in Malibu because Landy is coming, and he’s saying “leave… leave… but don’t leave me.” (yes I know that’s only movie, but I do believe that the events in the movie occurred as Melinda and Brian remembered them.) It’s what that scene represents which is really significant. It’s the part of the movie which communicates that Brian wants to do the right thing and knows that it’s the right thing, but he’s in a situation in which he’s trapped. This is the story of his life.

-   It was only after seeing that scene in the movie and how the movie was trying to communicate this problem that you start thinking back to the Gershwin album and Brian’s cover of “I Loves You Porgy.” In that story, that’s Bess singing to Porgy; the meaning of the song in the context of Porgy & Bess is that Bess’s life is basically out of control, she has a lot of problems (in her case it's drugs, prostitution, her attachment to an abusive, exploitative man she can't break free from) and she’s telling Porgy she hasn’t the strength to do the right thing for herself, but if Porgy can “keep her” she wants to stay with him. I have to assume Brian knew what he was singing when he covered that, and I think he covered it well because he understood the song and had lived it.

-   The last thing that popped into my mind was again from the 2015 movie: the image of Melinda standing in the doorway of her office, staring down Landy. This was the climactic moment in the film, the end of the movie basically, and that image sums up what the movie was about. I think we have to understand, whether we like it or not, that this is what Brian had been missing in his life since early childhood. And the movie is saying, that finally, the abuse and exploitation stops here, at this symbolic moment.

That scene is my favorite in the movie. The way Melinda takes the verbal abuse from Landy and then flips the tables on him by opening her office door and staring daggers at him, it’s so brilliant. And then when he leaves, she takes a second to collect herself, dusts herself off, and says “OK, let’s sell some cars.”  I adored that character ever since.  And, I have to say, I also admired and respect the actual woman.

Same… I was thinking about that scene earlier today, and it hit me all over again. I can’t believe she’s gone… I’ve been praying for Brian and the family since learning the terrible news. My heart goes out to them

I'm probably not alone among BW fans to have just rewatched "Love & Mercy" in memory of Melinda.  As super fans, we can nitpick details but in the grand scheme of things L&M was a great, great film that very much seems to have gotten "the big picture" right.

The aforementioned car-dealership scene in which Paul Giamatti's Gene Landy beats on Melinda's office door spewing insults is indeed one of the most powerful moments in the film.  It was the ultimate cinematic depiction of standing up to a bully.  And credit where credit is due to Giamatti for playing his part so well... shifting gears in the scene from unhinged maniac screaming "slut!"... to deflated coward slinking away.

On a total side note, Melinda's mid 80s Cadillac Allante was pretty damned nice looking ride.

Is it true that fans were worried about Brian in 1991/92? I was a fan, but an outsider. I had no insight into what fans were feeling at that time. I was concerned, for sure.  I was worried that without Landy, Brian would fall back into his old habits - smoking, drinking, drugging, hiding away from the world. I had no idea what was happening with him throughout 1992/93/94. There was a spate of publicity surrounding his book in 1991, and then nothing after that. When he started turning up in media again in 1995 (Time Life's History of Rock and Roll, Entertainment Tonight with Mike, IJWMFTT), it was obviously he'd gained a lot of weight, and he still had kind of a spacey-ness about him, but there were also times when he spoke very eloquently, and when I heard the new music he was part of, I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't know the whole back story at the time, other than Carl and Audree had taken the legat steps to have Landy removed. Didn't know how he had met Melinda or any of that. It's amazing that he is still with us.

This was all before the internet of course, but my memory initially ‘Great!’, Landy is back on the case and will get Brian on track. Of course (I can’t remember the timeline), stories started to appear about him taking advantage. The one that I remember was Landy moving into Brian’s house and Brian living in a rental. That was before reports of the drugs Landy was giving him. Mike also appeared on A Current Affair breaking down over the situation. https://youtu.be/XGY9TV6N3RI?si=MEtn3qW5HStJ-wn-
 It is so long ago now but they are some of the basics I remember.

If you want to know how thing were in 1991, this Diane Sawyer report offers probably the single best insight into that period:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVP7pNjJd30&t=64

I remember watching that when it aired, I also remember a verbal back and forth between Timothy White and Bill Holdship in the pages of Billboard.

I remember seeing that prior to becoming a fan a few years later and being quite disturbed. I was a kid of 13 but something seemed off as hell to me

This address was posted for those who wish to send cards to the family.

The Wilson Family c/o
Beachwood Entertainment
2271 Cheremoya Ave
Los Angeles CA  90068

Thank you for posting that!

Billy C - You're most welcome. Someone posted on Brian's MB - I think David Leaf helped.

Bill Holdship, to this day, is a massive Landy apologist even when confronted with the facts.

Was a nice surprise to see the Grammys included both Melinda and Jeff Foskett in their In Memoriam.

Good to see them both recognized.

That was a lovely tribute

Melinda (heavily disguised, but that is clearly her voice) can be spotted at 10:05 spilling the beans on Landy.

Yea, thats very clearly Melinda

Melinda worked for Landy?

Pretty sure that identification was made to ensure it would be more difficult for folks to identify Melinda. Calling her Brian Wilson’s ex girlfriend would be a little on the nose. No, it’s not great journalistic practice, but the circumstances were pretty tangled.

Yes she did, and Landy on camera then proceeds to blatantly lie about it. Everyone trying to contact Brian at that time was "screened", whether by phone or in person. And if you talk to people who were involved, it went far beyond screening calls with Landy's attempts to shut off outside contact with Brian unless it was strictly monitored and controlled. That's fact, and it was not a good scene. Anyone who defends Landy in this later phase of his involvement is delusional.

It was easy for fans to be fooled by Landy, because he worked such wonders with Brian in the early days of his return. Brian goes from looking like a beached whale in 1982 to looking handsome and slimmed down in 1983. Mentally, he still seemed shaky, but I guess we all assumed that would be part two of the therapy program.

It obviously doesn't matter a thousand years later, but I'm curious why they didn't just name her as a source "close to the situation" or something like that. Like industry trades will often name "a person with knowledge of the situation", etc.

As it is, they probably recognized her voice anyway, and thankfully it was all moot before too long.

One of the worst instances of this was mentioned in Mike’s autobiography. Gary Usher was trying to contact Brian to let him know about his terminal illness and Landy told everyone not to let Brian know. Fortunately someone with a conscience did let Brian know, and the two of them met for a couple of times (mentioned in The Wilson Project) before Usher passed away.

Between when I first saw Diane Sawyer's report when it originally aired in 1991 and when I just rewatched it on youtube a week ago, one of the bits in the report that stuck with me all those years was Dean Torrence saying that he had tried to call Brian 10 or 15 times... followed by the clip of Brian totally unaware of Dean's calls and dismissive of the very idea.  It was heartbreaking to see so plainly that Brian's decades-long friendships had been so badly undermined by Landy.

I didn't see it posted here yet, but it may delight some members of the forum. Here's the recording of "What A Wonderful World" that Brian did together with Van Dyke Parks (arrangement) for his wedding with Melinda, which they danced to that night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L5PmtMezdA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L5PmtMezdA)

Yeah, it was released on the "Orange Crate Art" re-release:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQoWOcw_Pl8


I didn't know he did this for Melinda. Always thought it was an OCA outtake. A very nice recording with quite an intimate atmosphere.

Did we ever find out Melinda's cause of death?

Oddly, the version of What a Wonderful World released on the OCA deluxe edition was different than the previously booted one. No orchestra.

Which may explain how the story developed that he recorded it for Melinda. Perhaps he took the OCA version (same vocals), and removed the electric keyboards and added the orchestration.

I prefer the orchestrated version; the VDP keyboards (or whomever is playing them) on the OCA version are very fake-90s-keyboard sounding, almost a bit like 80s Bruce Johnston keyboard arrangements, one of the few dated elements of the OCA album as a whole despite otherwise being mostly quite timelessly-orchestrated/arranged.

But the OCA version on the deluxe set from a few years ago obviously has much, much better sound quality than the murky orchestrated version that has circulated for years.

I dug the deluxe set with the bonus backing tracks, but I've always wondered why they didn't go with vocals-only rather than instrumental-only, as I think Brian fans would much prefer the vocals. Perhaps VDP wanted to showcase his part in the album more.

Does anyone know if Orange Crate Art 25th Reissue is available to buy or stream digitally?

I think it's still available at all the usual places. I see it on CD (with free "autorip" download) on Amazon, and it's also available simply to download, and it's also on Spotify to stream.

Thanks. It seems for my region of Spotify (Canada), only the original 12-track version is available.

Yeah the full 25th anniversary version is on Apple Music to stream I Just looked

David Leafs eulogy from Tuesday March 5th is towards the bottom of the page here https://www.brianwilson.com/melinda

Beautiful and clearly heartfelt words from DL.  The fellow is a mensch.