Mike Love
Mike Love | |
---|---|
Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
Origin | Hawthorne, California, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Years active | 1961–present |
Labels | |
Member of | The Beach Boys |
Formerly of | Celebration |
Michael Edward Love (born March 15, 1941) is an American singer and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys with his cousins Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson and their friend Al Jardine. Characterized by his nasal tenor and occasional bass-baritone singing, Love has been one of the band's vocalists and lyricists for their entire career, contributing to each of their studio albums and serving as their frontman for live performances. During the mid-1960s, he was one of Brian's main collaborators, contributing lyrics to hit records such as "Fun, Fun, Fun" (1964), "I Get Around" (1964), "Help Me, Rhonda" (1965), "California Girls" (1965), and "Good Vibrations" (1966).
Drawing inspiration from
Love is often vilified by fans and critics due to his history of conflicts with his bandmates, a characterization he has disputed. Many of his contributions to the group's hits were not officially recognized until the 1990s, when he
Love's honors include an induction into the
Background
Michael Edward Love's mother, Emily "Glee" Wilson (1919–1979), was the sister of Mary and Murry Wilson, a resident of Los Angeles since the early 1920s. Glee married Edward Milton Love (1918–2013), the son of the founder of the Love Sheet Metal Company, in 1938. Mike Love, the first of their six children, was born in the Baldwin Hills district of Los Angeles on March 15, 1941. Thereafter the family moved to the upmarket View Park area. He attended Dorsey High School and graduated in 1959. Unsure of a career direction, Love pumped gas and briefly joined his father's company, whose fortunes dramatically declined in the late 1950s. Both Milt and Glee Love were active in sports, and Love's younger brother Stan Love later played in the National Basketball Association. Glee had a distinct interest in painting and the arts. Like her brother, Murry, however, she was also strong-willed and, according to her husband, a dominant personality. The family was close-knit and regularly socialized with Murry and his family. Murry was a part-time songwriter.[2]
Love often sang at family get-togethers at his cousins, the Wilsons', home in nearby Hawthorne, especially at Christmas. It was here, under the vocal harmony guidance of Brian Wilson, that the Beach Boys sound was established, predominantly influenced by Brian's devotion to the Four Freshmen's arrangements. Musical accompaniment during this formative phase was solely Brian's self-taught piano, but this was quickly expanded by the guitar contributions of Brian's college friend Al Jardine (whose fundamental interest was folk music) and Carl Wilson (whose idol was Chuck Berry).[3] With the failure of Love Sheet Metal, the family was forced to move to a modest two-bedroom house in Inglewood, closer to the Wilsons.[4]
Career
Formation of the Beach Boys
Love played rudimentary saxophone in the first years of the fledgling garage band that evolved from the Pendletones to the Beach Boys.
Carl Wilson commented that, "It's not widely known, but Michael had a hand in a lot of the arrangements. He would bring out the funkier approaches, whether to go shoo-boo-bop or bom-bom-did-di-did-did. It makes a big difference, because it can change the whole rhythm, the whole color and tone of it."[9] He also credited Love, an avid fan of doo-wop combos, with influencing Brian to listen to black R&B records. Writer Geoffrey Himes claimed that without "Mike's R&B influence ... Brian couldn't have possibly become 'Brian Wilson.'"[10]
Stylistic shifts and creative disputes
In early 1964, Brian Wilson shifted the Beach Boys away from beach-themed music.[11] That November, Love told a Melody Maker reporter that he and his bandmates wanted to look beyond surf music and avoid living in the past or resting on the band's laurels.[12] He is also credited with naming their album Pet Sounds (1966).[13] Asked for his favorite Beach Boys album in a 1994 interview, Love responded, "I guess Pet Sounds ... because of the orchestrations and arrangement. Because it's not just about cars or girls or school, but it's about feelings."[14]
Conversely, Love has also been reported as resisting the group's new direction. In the description of music journalist Erik Hedegaard, Love gathered a reputation as "one of the biggest assholes in the history of rock & roll" due to such accusations.[15] Love commented in a 2007 interview,
The people around Brian who do his PR have always perpetrated these myths about what I liked and didn't like. So, I'm perfectly happy to own up to what I said and what I didn't like, but it's a bunch of crap to say that I didn't like the Pet Sounds album. It's fantastically crafted. ... I just think that some people who lionise Brian try to build him up by thinking if they tear down anybody else, me in particular, that that's a way of building him up. It's quite unnecessary and unfortunate, but that whole thing about me not liking the album is absolute trash. It's completely false.[16]
Similarly, Love dismissed most of the reported claims about his reservations with the
Love stated in 1978 that the group's unhappiness with Capitol's promotional efforts had led them to change record companies in the late 1960s. "They promoted us very well for the first four or five years, then they failed ... in promoting the change, which would have been very commercially sensible on their part, but they didn't ever do it. In '68 or '69, they were still promoting us as the number one surfing group in the USA. How relevant was that after 'Good Vibrations', Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile or Vietnam and everything else?"[22] In his 2016 memoir, he wrote that, unlike Brian, he was never concerned about being taken seriously by critics, and felt that detractors of their early songs showed "elitism at its worst: because so many people loved our music, there must be something wrong with it."[23]
Rishikesh and Transcendental Meditation
In late 1967, Love became one of the many rock musicians who discovered the teachings of
While in Rishikesh, Love planned a U.S. concert tour that would feature the Beach Boys and the Maharishi as co-headliners.[29][30] The tour begun in May 1968 ended abruptly after five shows due to the disappointing audience numbers and the Maharishi's subsequent withdrawal to fulfill film contracts.[31] In his 2016 autobiography, Love wrote: "I take responsibility for an idea that didn't work. But I don't regret it. I thought I could do some good for people who were lost, confused, or troubled, particularly those who were young and idealistic but also vulnerable, and I thought that was true for a whole bunch of us."[32] Despite the ignominy of the tour, the Beach Boys remained ardent supporters of the Maharishi and TM.[33] Love became a TM initiator in 1972 and later progressed to more advanced levels such as the TM-Sidhi Course.[33]
Other work, "Kokomo", and credits lawsuit
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Love wrote the words and music of several Beach Boys songs, including "Big Sur" (1973), "Everyone's in Love with You" (1976) and "Sumahama" (1978).
In 1988, the Beach Boys had a U.S. number 1 hit with "
In 1992, Love, along with Jardine and several Wilson family members, sued Brian for
Later years
After the death of Carl Wilson in 1998, Love continued to tour with the Beach Boys, along with
In 2000, ABC premiered a two-part television miniseries, The Beach Boys: An American Family, that dramatized the Beach Boys' story. It was produced by Stamos and was criticized for historical inaccuracies. Love was an advisor to the film. Some critics accused him of having the film overstate his role in the group and portray negative depictions of Brian and Smile collaborator Van Dyke Parks.[19]
On November 3, 2005, Love sued Brian and the British newspaper
In 2011, Love reunited with Brian, Jardine, Johnston and
Love's autobiography,
On November 17, 2017, Love released his second solo album
Personal life
This section of a poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. )Find sources: "Mike Love" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2016) |
Marriages and family
Love has been married to Jacquelyne Piesen since 1994 and has eight children: two with Piesen and six from his four previous marriages.[
In addition to being a cousin of the Wilson brothers, Love is the brother of former NBA basketball player Stan Love, and Pink Martini harpist Maureen Love, and the uncle of Miami Heat basketball player Kevin Love.[53] Shawn Marie Love, a woman who was engaged to Dennis Wilson in his final days alleged to be Love's daughter, an accusation that Love denied.[54]
Political views
Love describes himself as a
In 2018, Love praised Donald Trump for his "support of music historically" and was present at the signing of the Music Modernization Act in October.[57] After Trump's election, the Beach Boys were asked to perform in the festivities for Trump's inauguration,[58] and Love initially responded positively, saying Trump had "been a friend for a long time. Does that mean I agree with everything he says? No. But... if we were asked [to play his inauguration], I'm sure that we would."[59] Instead, during the evening of Trump's inauguration day, Love's Beach Boys performed at the Texas State Society's "Black Tie & Boots" Inaugural Ball.[60]
In February 2020, Brian Wilson and Jardine's official social media pages encouraged fans to boycott the band's music on animal rights grounds, after it was announced that Love's Beach Boys would perform at a Safari Club International convention in Reno, Nevada. The concert proceeded despite online protests; Love issued a statement that his group has always supported "freedom of thought and expression as a fundamental tenet of our rights as Americans."[61] In October 2020, Love's Beach Boys agreed to play as the headliner at a high-dollar fundraiser for Trump's
Charity
Love has been a longtime supporter of environmental causes and was among speakers at the
In 2010, Love contributed to the
Awards and honors
- 2014: Society of Singers Lifetime Achievement Award.[68]
Discography
Studio albums
- 1981: Looking Back with Love
- 2017: Unleash the Love: Billboard Independent Albums – #37 [69]
- 2018: Reason for the Season: Billboard's Holiday Album Chart – #4 and Independent Albums Chart – #6
- 2019: 12 Sides of Summer
- 2023: Mike Love Not War
With Celebration
- 1978: Almost Summer: Music from the Original Motion Picture Score
- 1979: Celebration
- 1979: Disco Celebration
Other albums
- 1996: Catch a Wave (with Adrian Baker)
- 1998: Salute NASCAR (with David Marks, and Adrian Baker)
- 2001: Summertime Cruisin (with Bruce Johnston and Adrian Baker)
- Unreleased (studio album, recorded 1978): First Love
- Unreleased (studio album, recorded 1978): Country Love
Singles
- 1967: "Gettin' Hungry" b/w "Devoted to You" (both with Brian Wilson)
- 1978: "Almost Summer" b/w "Island Girl" (with Celebration) – #28 Billboard Hot 100
- 1978: "It's Ok" b/w "Lookin' Good" (with Celebration)
- 1979: "Starbaby" b/w "Getting Hungry" (with Celebration)
- 1981: "Looking Back with Love" b/w "One Good Reason"
- 1981: "Runnin' Around the World" b/w "One Good Reason"
- 1982: "Be My Baby" b/w "Teach Me Tonight"
- 1982: "Be True to Your Bud" b/w "Be True to Your Bud" (Instrumental) (with Dean Torrence; credited as Mike & Dean)
- 1982: "Da Doo Ron Ron" b/w "Baby Talk" (both with Dean Torrence; credited as Mike & Dean)
- 1983: "Jingle Bell Rock" b/w "Let's Party" (both with Dean Torrence; credited as Mike & Dean)
- 1983: "Jingle Bells" by Paul Revere & the Raiders b/w "Jingle Bell Rock" (with Dean Torrence; credited as Mike & Dean)
- 2006: "Santa's Goin' to Kokomo"
- 2007: "Hungry Heart"
- 2015: "(You'll Never Be) Alone on Christmas Day"
- 2017: "Do It Again" (with Mark McGrath & John Stamos)
- 2017: "Unleash the Love"
- 2017: "All the Love in Paris" (with Dave Koz)
- 2017: "AJR)
- 2018: "It's OK" (with Hanson)
- 2020: "This Too Shall Pass" (with John Stamos)
References
- ^ Hudak, Joseph (December 3, 2010). "The Beach Boys – 100 Greatest Artists". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ Love 2016, p. [page needed].
- ^ Badman 2004, pp. 10–11.
- ^ Love 2016, p. 53.
- ISBN 978-1-311-44154-6.
- ISBN 978-1-4584-6133-9.
- ISBN 978-1-4835-2148-0.
- ^ Sharp, Ken (September 9, 2015). "Mike Love of the Beach Boys: One-On-One (The Interview Part 1)". Rock Cellar. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
- ^ McKeen 2017, p. 131.
- ^ Himes, Geoffrey. "Surf Music" (PDF). teachrock.org. Rock and Roll: An American History. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 25, 2015.
- ^ Priore 2005, p. 28.
- ^ Welch, C (November 14, 1964). "Beach Boys Brought their own vegetables – so audiences beware!". Melody Maker. p. 18.
- ^ Gilstrap, Peter (June 16, 2016). "The epic tale of the Beach Boys and the 'Pet Sounds' goats". KCRW.
- ^ Dorst 1997, p. 215.
- ^ a b c d e f Hedegaard, Erik (February 17, 2016). "The Ballad of Mike Love". Rolling Stone.
- ^ Cohen, Elliot Stephen (September 12, 2007). "Mike Love: Anti-Hero Or Villain?". Record Collector Mag. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
- ^ Priore, Domenic (May 2015). "Brother, Where Art Thou?". Mojo. No. 258. pp. 62–73.
- ^ Love 2016, pp. 163–164.
- ^ a b Holdship, Bill (April 6, 2000). "Heroes and Villains". Los Angeles Times. Chicago. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ a b Love 2016, p. 164.
- ^ Love 2016, pp. 164–165.
- ^ Tobler 1978, p. 50.
- ^ Love 2016, p. 146.
- ^ Love 2016, p. 176.
- ^ Badman 2004, p. 208.
- ^ a b Badman 2004, p. 212.
- ^ Shumsky 2018, p. 225.
- ^ Love 2016, p. 186.
- ^ Gaines 1986, pp. 195–196.
- ^ Morgan 2015, p. 147.
- ^ Gaines 1986, pp. 195–197.
- ^ Love 2016, p. 199.
- ^ a b Shumsky 2018, pp. 161–62.
- ^ Love 2016, p. 283.
- ^ "Celebration". AllMusic. n.d.
- ^ Devoe, Keith (September 21, 2019). "Mike Love: First Love (Review)". Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
- ^ Searles, Malcolm (September 21, 2019). "Mike Love: Country Love (Review)". Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
- ^ Doe, Andrew G.; et al. "Unreleased: The Ones That Got Away..." Bellagio 10452. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
- ^ Brown, Scott (May 28, 2004). "The truth behind that annoying hit song Kokomo". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
- ^ "Artist Beach Boys". grammy.com. November 19, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
- ^ "Flashback: Mike Love Rages at the 1988 Rock Hall Ceremony". Rolling Stone. December 16, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
- ^ Love 2016, p. 373.
- ^ "Al Jardine Gets OK To Sue Mike Love". Billboard. November 12, 2003. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
- ^ "Beach Boys lawsuit settled". The Mercury News. March 23, 2008. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
- ^ Greene, Andy (May 14, 2007). "Beach Boys' Brian Wilson Finally Defeats One of Mike Love's Dubious Lawsuits". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
- ^ "Beach Boys lawsuit dismissed". Los Angeles Times. May 16, 2007. p. E.3. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
- ^ Doyle, Patrick (December 19, 2011). "Exclusive: Mike Love 'Looking Forward' to Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
- ^ Wilson, Brian (October 9, 2012). "'It kinda feels like getting fired' – Brian Wilson to Mike Love". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Gibula, Gary (October 11, 2016). "Beach Boy Mike Love brings 'good vibrations' to Naperville". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ a b Fessier, Bruce (November 17, 2016). "Beach Boys seek to overcome discord with new wave of Love". The Desert Sun.
- ^ Greenhaus, Mike https://relix.com/articles/detail/reflections_mike_love/ Relix
- ^ Fine, Jason (June 21, 2012). "The Beach Boys' Last Wave". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ Kevin Love: My uncle is a Beach Boy, retrieved May 22, 2023
- ^ Goldberg, Michael (June 7, 1984). "Dennis Wilson: The Beach Boy Who Went Overboard". Rolling Stone.
- ^ Steel, Gary (January 10, 2017). "Endless Summer: Brian Wilson vs Mike Love in the battle for the Beach Boys' soul". The Spinoff.
- ^ "Bush to lose Beach Boy vote". Las Vegas Review - Journal. Associated Press. September 27, 1992. p. 5.a.
- ^ Greene, Andy (October 11, 2018). "Mike Love to Trump: 'You Tried Your Best to Help Whitney Houston'". Rolling Stone.
- ^ "The Beach Boys consider playing at Trump inauguration". The Guardian. December 23, 2016.
- ^ Phull, Hardeep (September 10, 2016). "Beach Boy Mike Love is out to fix his bad reputation". New York Post.
- ^ Livingston, Abby. "Texans celebrate Trump at Black Tie and Boots Ball". Texas Tribune. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
- ^ Sodomsky, Sam (February 3, 2020). "Brian Wilson Opposes Mike Love's Beach Boys Show at Trophy Hunting Convention". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
- ^ Mehta, Seema; John, Arit (October 19, 2020). "The Beach Boys, tony Lido Isle, $150,000 tickets: A peek inside Trump's Orange County fundraiser". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
- ^ Willman, Chris (October 18, 2020). "Brian Wilson Disavows Trump's Beach Boys Benefit in California". Variety. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
- ^ Jackson, Jon (January 2021). "Vanilla Ice, Beach Boys' Appearances at NYE Mar-a-Lago Event Prompt Jokes and Criticism". Newsweek. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- ^ Chesler, Josh (January 2021). "Vanilla Ice and Mike Love of the Beach Boys Performed at Maskless Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve Party". Spin. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- ^ a b c "The Beach Boys' Mike Love "Red Jacketed" by City Year @ARTISTdirect". Artistdirect.com. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ "Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation". iTunes Store. November 9, 2010. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
- ^ "Ella Award Special Events". February 12, 2011. Archived from the original on May 14, 2015. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
- ^ "Independent Albums Chart". Billboard.
Bibliography
- Badman, Keith (2004). The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio. Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-818-6.
- ISBN 978-1-59486-320-2.
- Dorst, Melodye (1997) [1994]. "Up Close and Personal with Mike Love: An Interview by Melodye Dorst". In Abbott, Kingsley (ed.). Back to the Beach: A Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys Reader (1st ed.). London: Helter Skelter. pp. 213–217. ISBN 978-1-900924-02-3.
- ISBN 0-306-80647-9.
- Love, Mike (2016). Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-698-40886-9.
- McKeen, William (2017). Everybody Had an Ocean: Music and Mayhem in 1960s Los Angeles. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-61373-494-0.
- Morgan, Johnny (2015). The Beach Boys: America's Band. New York, NY: Sterling. ISBN 978-1-4549-1709-0.
- ISBN 1-86074-627-6.
- Shumsky, Susan (2018). Maharishi & Me: Seeking Enlightenment with the Beatles' Guru. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5107-2268-2.
- ISBN 0-89009-174-9.
External links
- Beach Boys Band – current touring band
- Mike Love interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
- Mike Love's website
- Mike Love Fan Club