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Author Topic: What do we really know about the late 60's- early 70's Murry Wilson?  (Read 7001 times)
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« on: May 02, 2020, 10:40:59 AM »

Hi!

Me and some other beach-boys fans were discussing Murry in a live-stream lately. It seems like we know a bit about his involvement in Sea of Tunes, his solo-album, and a bit about his death, but the other parts of his later life seemed to be a bit foggy for us.

Was he ever allowed to meet his grand-children? How was his latest years really? Traveled the boys home anything for the holidays?

Sorry in advance if this has been thoroughly discussed in a earlier thread, that I could find.
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« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2020, 11:21:41 AM »

I’ve often wondered about that as well, along with the fact that I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo of him during that time period either
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« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2020, 01:22:12 PM »

Mike Love's book talk a little bit about Murry during those years, as Murry's sale of Sea of Tunes during that period is one of Mike's big areas of interest/lamentation  (can't necessarily blame him considerng enormous long-term financial impact of that sale). 

One factoid in Mike's book is that Murry during that period took a vacation to Thailand and brought home a young woman who moved in with him.  According to Mike, Audree was living in a house in Whittier, with Murry (still married) living a mile away in a different house with the Thai woman.

Mike also mentions Murry having a serious operation in May '73 a month or so before his death just shy of his 56th birthday.  Another little fact that Mike mentions is that Murry was survived by his own father Buddy (1890-1981).

Elsewhere, it's been reported that Murry and Dennis were fairly close during those final years.

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« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2020, 01:35:52 PM »

Audree talked about Murry’s last days and death in an interview printed somewhere...Rolling Stone 1976? I forget. Despite them being separated, he ended being dependent on her, and she being Audree, that warm family matriarch she always was, couldn’t walk away from his suffering, I suppose.

As for Murry and Dennis becoming close toward the end, I remember reading somewhere (might’ve been from Audree in the same interview) that they would go fishing together.
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« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2020, 08:50:26 PM »

Mike Love's book talk a little bit about Murry during those years, as Murry's sale of Sea of Tunes during that period is one of Mike's big areas of interest/lamentation  (can't necessarily blame him considerng enormous long-term financial impact of that sale). 

One factoid in Mike's book is that Murry during that period took a vacation to Thailand and brought home a young woman who moved in with him.  According to Mike, Audree was living in a house in Whittier, with Murry (still married) living a mile away in a different house with the Thai woman.

Mike also mentions Murry having a serious operation in May '73 a month or so before his death just shy of his 56th birthday.  Another little fact that Mike mentions is that Murry was survived by his own father Buddy (1890-1981).

Elsewhere, it's been reported that Murry and Dennis were fairly close during those final years.


56 seems so young now - although two of his sons didn't make it to that number. And I wonder if any of them had contact with Buddy in later years? From what little I have read about him, he was no walk in the park, either.
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« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2020, 12:38:08 AM »

56 seems so young now - although two of his sons didn't make it to that number. And I wonder if any of them had contact with Buddy in later years? From what little I have read about him, he was no walk in the park, either.

That's a good question.  Mike does offer a partial answer: "Grandpa Wilson himself did not die until 1981, long after I or anyone in the Love family had anything to do with him."

William Coral "Buddy" Wilson was around, as he died in Los Angeles per information on findagrave:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62676509/william-coral-wilson

Did any of the Wilson boys maintain contact with Buddy in the '70s up until 1981?  Carl would probably have been the most reliable narrator on that question, but perhaps one of the ex-wives might remember.




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« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2020, 11:32:24 AM »

I know I remember reading that he gained a ton of weight, and looked very different compared to how he looked in any published photo from years prior.

One thing that I wondered about, is how much Murry Wilson and Joe Jackson knew about each other. I'm going to assume that during Murry's lifetime, Joe Jackson and the extent of his abuse towards his children was not public knowledge, but I don't really know. It's a remarkable what a similar trajectory both of those showbiz parents tragically took with their kids.
« Last Edit: May 03, 2020, 11:43:26 AM by CenturyDeprived » Logged
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« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2020, 10:14:54 AM »

It's been written Murry had diverticulitis just before his first heart attack, and IIRC that he and Dennis would watch the fights together, at times "virtually" via phone.
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« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2020, 10:44:41 AM »

It's been written Murry had diverticulitis just before his first heart attack, and IIRC that he and Dennis would watch the fights together, at times "virtually" via phone.

Has anyone ever tried to deduce which particular fights they may have watched? Maybe there are too many to choose from - even on the limited amount of networks available at the time - but it would be interesting if anyone ever attempted to figure it out.
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« Reply #9 on: May 05, 2020, 09:07:59 PM »

I have wondered what Murry thought of Carl becoming a conscientious objector during the war in Vietnam.
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« Reply #10 on: May 05, 2020, 10:18:38 PM »

It's been written Murry had diverticulitis just before his first heart attack, and IIRC that he and Dennis would watch the fights together, at times "virtually" via phone.

Yeah mike said he had several feet of his intestines removed right before he died.

I’d love to see some pics of him later in life. There’s hardly any pics of him online, in general. There’s that 1 pic of him that is everywhere and any pic besides that are rare and hard to find. I’m sure there’s lots of physical pictures in Wilson family picture albums, etc that Brian or whoever might have but hardly any online.
It’s almost surprising how few pics there are online of someone so important to musical history.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2020, 10:19:30 PM by Needleinthehay » Logged
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« Reply #11 on: May 06, 2020, 04:41:18 AM »

He released a record album in 1967 and traveled to Europe to promote it. He co-wrote breakaway with Brian in 1969. He attended  local bb shows. In one of his last public appearances he was at one of the BBs concerts in March 1973
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« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2020, 12:30:31 PM »

Not sure where to start...

Of the 50 or so songs Murry wrote or co-authored in his lifetime, very few were copywritten in the 70s. The bulk of his writing was in the 50s. The people working most frequently in music with Murry in the years near the end were Fred Vail and Rick Henn. Murry had cash, so he was cutting surprisingly well produced and performed demos (like The Snow one that came out recently). If he had songs he wanted to hawk, he paid for a good studio, good engineers, and good players to record them for him. He also wrote and cut more jingles than just the KFC one. Alan Boyd has indicated to me that the very last song Murry submitted for copyright (once in 1972, then again in 1973 for some reason) was a stab at a commercial jingle. I would love to get my hands on that for my upcoming Murry LP project.

All-in-all, what gets me most about Murry is he was writing songs off-and-on for 40 years. Only about 20 of the 50 compositions were ever recorded and released. Mostly he's remembered for The Many Moods instrumentals, but that was an anomaly. He wrote songs with lyrics mostly. 
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« Reply #13 on: May 06, 2020, 12:39:07 PM »

Not sure where to start...

Of the 50 or so songs Murry wrote or co-authored in his lifetime, very few were copywritten in the 70s. The bulk of his writing was in the 50s. The people working most frequently in music with Murry in the years near the end were Fred Vail and Rick Henn. Murry had cash, so he was cutting surprisingly well produced and performed demos (like The Snow one that came out recently). If he had songs he wanted to hawk, he paid for a good studio, good engineers, and good players to record them for him. He also wrote and cut more jingles than just the KFC one. Alan Boyd has indicated to me that the very last song Murry submitted for copyright (once in 1972, then again in 1973 for some reason) was a stab at a commercial jingle. I would love to get my hands on that for my upcoming Murry LP project.

All-in-all, what gets me most about Murry is he was writing songs off-and-on for 40 years. Only about 20 of the 50 compositions were ever recorded and released. Mostly he's remembered for The Many Moods instrumentals, but that was an anomaly. He wrote songs with lyrics mostly. 

What is your Murry LP project?  Do Tell!
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« Reply #14 on: May 06, 2020, 12:45:52 PM »

Would love to hear more about the writing of Breakaway.  It's a pretty damned great song, IMO.  Is it mostly Murry's? Mostly Brian's?  A true 50-50 collaboration?  Did they bang it out together in the same way that Brian had with, say, Tony Asher?

According to Mike Love's book, the song is hugely significant in BB history for another reason, as ML believes that the song's commercial failure was a contributing factor in what was according to him, a belief by Murry and Brian that the BBs were more or less washed up and thus paving the way for Murry's decision to sell Sea of Tunes.

 
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« Reply #15 on: May 06, 2020, 01:36:41 PM »

Not sure where to start...

Of the 50 or so songs Murry wrote or co-authored in his lifetime, very few were copywritten in the 70s. The bulk of his writing was in the 50s. The people working most frequently in music with Murry in the years near the end were Fred Vail and Rick Henn. Murry had cash, so he was cutting surprisingly well produced and performed demos (like The Snow one that came out recently). If he had songs he wanted to hawk, he paid for a good studio, good engineers, and good players to record them for him. He also wrote and cut more jingles than just the KFC one. Alan Boyd has indicated to me that the very last song Murry submitted for copyright (once in 1972, then again in 1973 for some reason) was a stab at a commercial jingle. I would love to get my hands on that for my upcoming Murry LP project.

All-in-all, what gets me most about Murry is he was writing songs off-and-on for 40 years. Only about 20 of the 50 compositions were ever recorded and released. Mostly he's remembered for The Many Moods instrumentals, but that was an anomaly. He wrote songs with lyrics mostly. 

What is your Murry LP project?  Do Tell!

I've recorded and am releasing new versions of 11 Murry penned tracks, mostly from the 50s, pre-Beach Boys. I've been researching this for years and with the help of some amazing fans, historians, archive personnel, former business associates of Murry's etc, I'm almost done. Of the 11 songs, super fans may be familiar with about 1/3 of them, although there are no Murry tracks that were popularized by The Beach Boys, Honeys, Sunrays, or from Many Moods. Some of the songs are so rare they were never copywritten or published (but I finally received all rights to release/licenses today). It will be out in a few months. Still have to master it and press. Will be a small run of 300 LPs. No digital sales or streaming (for a million reasons).

Like the Murry Christmas 7" I put out last December (https://boltrecords.net/2019/03/28/murrywilson/) the players are all pro, the producers too, and the cover art will be by Peter Bagge again. This LP will be my third and last Murry release. It's been fun, but I simply cannot find any more songs. Even with all the help, most of his work has been destroyed, lost, and forgotten. 
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« Reply #16 on: May 06, 2020, 02:10:51 PM »

That’s awesome!
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« Reply #17 on: May 07, 2020, 03:18:38 AM »

Not sure where to start...

Of the 50 or so songs Murry wrote or co-authored in his lifetime, very few were copywritten in the 70s. The bulk of his writing was in the 50s. The people working most frequently in music with Murry in the years near the end were Fred Vail and Rick Henn. Murry had cash, so he was cutting surprisingly well produced and performed demos (like The Snow one that came out recently). If he had songs he wanted to hawk, he paid for a good studio, good engineers, and good players to record them for him. He also wrote and cut more jingles than just the KFC one. Alan Boyd has indicated to me that the very last song Murry submitted for copyright (once in 1972, then again in 1973 for some reason) was a stab at a commercial jingle. I would love to get my hands on that for my upcoming Murry LP project.

All-in-all, what gets me most about Murry is he was writing songs off-and-on for 40 years. Only about 20 of the 50 compositions were ever recorded and released. Mostly he's remembered for The Many Moods instrumentals, but that was an anomaly. He wrote songs with lyrics mostly. 

What is your Murry LP project?  Do Tell!

I've recorded and am releasing new versions of 11 Murry penned tracks, mostly from the 50s, pre-Beach Boys. I've been researching this for years and with the help of some amazing fans, historians, archive personnel, former business associates of Murry's etc, I'm almost done. Of the 11 songs, super fans may be familiar with about 1/3 of them, although there are no Murry tracks that were popularized by The Beach Boys, Honeys, Sunrays, or from Many Moods. Some of the songs are so rare they were never copywritten or published (but I finally received all rights to release/licenses today). It will be out in a few months. Still have to master it and press. Will be a small run of 300 LPs. No digital sales or streaming (for a million reasons).

Like the Murry Christmas 7" I put out last December (https://boltrecords.net/2019/03/28/murrywilson/) the players are all pro, the producers too, and the cover art will be by Peter Bagge again. This LP will be my third and last Murry release. It's been fun, but I simply cannot find any more songs. Even with all the help, most of his work has been destroyed, lost, and forgotten. 
Please keep me (us) posted on whenever this is available. I would like to buy this release.
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« Reply #18 on: May 07, 2020, 05:48:11 AM »

Thanks. I will. I appreciate the interest. I got slammed for talking about it on another board, so I've been laying low.

After the LP (my priority), I hope my research is released someday. It was a ton of work. It is in capable hands now (I'm no writer) and sounds like it will get published in the coming years.
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« Reply #19 on: May 07, 2020, 08:06:30 PM »

Thanks. I will. I appreciate the interest. I got slammed for talking about it on another board, so I've been laying low.

After the LP (my priority), I hope my research is released someday. It was a ton of work. It is in capable hands now (I'm no writer) and sounds like it will get published in the coming years.

Good to see you around Mr. Junkstar -- I remember you from a few of the old boards and I do believe you started the notorious "Male Ego" board?  And I believe it was you that once shared a story about going to see the Mike and Bruce show with your buddies and being shirtless in the front row with fire hats on!  That seemed so funny to me that I still recall it -- not too many posts I can say that about.  Of course my brain may be confusing things -- it's not the latest model....

And very cool with the Murry stuff -- I would call that a true labor of love...with a bit of something thrown in....
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« Reply #20 on: May 08, 2020, 06:13:01 AM »

Yes, the Male Ego board. That had been the Gold board for a couple of years before I took over (I forget the name) and the guy running it wanted out. I took it over for 4 years or so (?) and learned a hell of a lot about branded social media, back before branded social media was a thing. I've said it before, but the thing about Male Ego was Bruce and others in the org and family reached out to me and encouraged I keep the board open - aliases allowed, no email for registration, and password-free. The only caveat was no attacks allowed on family members, friends, crew, or staff, just the band itself. I found that mind-blowing online brand management in the late 90s. Cutting edge. Brave. Correct. They wanted to know what gripes the super fans had, and wanted a chance to engage about it. Years as a moderator under those brand guidelines got me a job running social media for a huge corporation. Really incredible how life pans out sometimes.

My buddies and I def did some late 80s and/or early 90s shows with fire hats in the front rows. Shirtless very likely too. Not a Mike and Bruce show though, I don't think. Carl and Al would have been there too. Funny how deep and long Beach Boy obsession can run. I'm as guilty as the next guy.
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« Reply #21 on: May 08, 2020, 07:16:55 PM »

Yes, the Male Ego board. That had been the Gold board for a couple of years before I took over (I forget the name) and the guy running it wanted out. I took it over for 4 years or so (?) and learned a hell of a lot about branded social media, back before branded social media was a thing. I've said it before, but the thing about Male Ego was Bruce and others in the org and family reached out to me and encouraged I keep the board open - aliases allowed, no email for registration, and password-free. The only caveat was no attacks allowed on family members, friends, crew, or staff, just the band itself. I found that mind-blowing online brand management in the late 90s. Cutting edge. Brave. Correct. They wanted to know what gripes the super fans had, and wanted a chance to engage about it. Years as a moderator under those brand guidelines got me a job running social media for a huge corporation. Really incredible how life pans out sometimes.

My buddies and I def did some late 80s and/or early 90s shows with fire hats in the front rows. Shirtless very likely too. Not a Mike and Bruce show though, I don't think. Carl and Al would have been there too. Funny how deep and long Beach Boy obsession can run. I'm as guilty as the next guy.

Coulda sworn it was Mike and Bruce -- it makes for a better  story Wink
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« Reply #22 on: May 13, 2020, 01:19:28 AM »

It's been written Murry had diverticulitis just before his first heart attack, and IIRC that he and Dennis would watch the fights together, at times "virtually" via phone.

Yeah mike said he had several feet of his intestines removed right before he died.

I’d love to see some pics of him later in life. There’s hardly any pics of him online, in general. There’s that 1 pic of him that is everywhere and any pic besides that are rare and hard to find. I’m sure there’s lots of physical pictures in Wilson family picture albums, etc that Brian or whoever might have but hardly any online.
It’s almost surprising how few pics there are online of someone so important to musical history.





Jim Murphy's companion website to his book "Becoming The Beach Boys" features a "new" one of Murry, though from the late 50s/early 60s:


https://becomingthebeachboys.com/2015/09/19/murry-promotes-the-beach-boys-in-sweden-in-62-writes-the-morgans/

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« Reply #23 on: April 22, 2021, 09:42:55 PM »

Questions I have about Murry...
...Why the hell did Capitol fund an album for him in 1967? Especially with the collapse of Smile and the lawsuit; just weird timing.
...What was Murry's thoughts on stuff like Sunflower and Surf's Up?
...What did Murry think about the addition of Blondie and Ricky?
...What relationship did Murry and Carl have?
...What was Brian and Murry's relationship like post-Breakaway/SOT?
...Did Murry ever meet Van Dyke and if so, what would that conversation have sound like?
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« Reply #24 on: May 11, 2021, 11:07:02 AM »

What was Murry's thoughts on stuff like Sunflower and Surf's Up?
Not sure what Murry thought of those albums overall but apparently he was quite impressed with Dennis’ Forever. Murry was easily moved by a beautiful melody or chord and Dennis’ heartfelt ballad delivers the goods in that department.

What relationship did Murry and Carl have?
From what I’ve read it was not nearly as tense as Murry’s relationships with Brian and Dennis. Carl was likely not often the object of Murry’s wrath but who knows? Murry apparently referred to Carl as “A Traitor” for having a Beatles poster on his bedroom wall.
  
I recall the infamous Help Me Rhonda sessions where before leaving Murry can be heard saying “Carl, I’m so sorry.” or something along those lines, so Murry seemed warmer towards Carl, certainly compared to his altercations with Brian in the studio and elsewhere not to mention his violent temper towards Dennis. Brian and especially Dennis could be combative, confrontational and even aggressive (Sound familiar?) where Carl was known as a laid back, easy going personality which likely caused less conflict within the family, much like Audree.

There’s also some nice photos online of Murry and Audree with Carl and his newly wed wife. Carl being the baby of the family perhaps had a fairly less eventful or more civil relationship with his father.

On another note, it’s remarkable how much Carl looked like Murry.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2021, 11:36:07 AM by BananaLouie » Logged

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