RIP Melinda Kay Ledbetter Wilson (1946-2024)

[Rocky Raccoon]

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

[Emdeeh]

Good to see them both recognized.

[Shady]

That was a lovely tribute

[Robbie Mac]

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.

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

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

[Tony S]

Yea, thats very clearly Melinda

[marcusb]

Melinda worked for Landy?

[Wirestone]

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.

[guitarfool2002]

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.

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

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

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.

[Lonely Summer]

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.

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

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

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.

[HeyJude]

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.

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.

[NOLA BB Fan]

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.

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.

[juggler]

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.

[Cabinessenceking]

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

[Rocker]

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

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.

[Bedroom Tapes]

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

[Wirestone]

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

[HeyJude]

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.

[Sam_BFC]

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

[HeyJude]

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.

[Sam_BFC]

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

[Needleinthehay]

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

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

[Peadar 'Big Dinner' O'Driscoll]

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

[juggler]

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.