Billie Joe Armstrong shares The Beach Boys cover in tribute to Brian Wilson
Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has released an old cover of The Beach Boys’ classic “I Get Around” to honour Brian Wilson.
Currently, no cause of death has been revealed for Wilson, who was put into a conservatorship last year due to his battle with dementia. His children announced his passing on social media, writing: “We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now.”
Taking to social media to react to the monumental loss, the Green Day frontman posted the audio of the cover on Instagram. With it, he wrote, “Thank you, Brian Wilson. I recorded a cover of “I get around” a few years ago… never got to share it. One of my all-time favourite songs ever,” he finished, with a red heart emoji.
Wilson and Armstrong have previously shared the stage. In February 2005, they performed together alongside Stevie Wonder, Bono, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Steven Tyler, Tim McGraw, Alison Krauss and Velvet Revolver to pay tribute to the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Many other music legends and friends of Wilson have paid tribute to the star. In a moving tribute, Bob Dylan mentioned how he has spent years “admiring his genius,” while Beach Boys co-founder Al Jardine wrote that he “will always feel blessed that you were in our lives for as long as you were.”
Elton John also shared an emotional post that read in part: “I grew to love him as a person, and for me, he was the biggest influence on my songwriting ever; he was a musical genius and revolutionary. He changed the goalposts when it came to writing songs and shaped music forever. A true giant.”
Wilson is survived by his two children, Carnie and Wendy, whom he shared with his first wife, Marilyn Rovell. He also adopted five children with his late second wife, Melinda Ledbetter, whom he married in 1995.
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