As Father and Manager of The Beach Boys
Wilson later founded a machining business, but maintained an active interest in music, which he passed along to his sons, encouraging them to learn to sing and play instruments, and becoming their business manager, co-producer, and publisher in the early part of their career as the Beach Boys. On the heels of the band's early success, Wilson devoted himself to music full-time, producing and managing groups, including The Sunrays in addition to the Beach Boys. Wilson also released one album of his own, The Many Moods of Murry Wilson, in 1967.
The Wilson brothers had a legendarily complicated relationship with their father. Many stories of abuse have surfaced, including a supposed incident where the elder Wilson hit Brian Wilson in the head with a 2x4, resulting in the permanent loss of hearing in his right ear. Known as a domineering and manipulative man, Wilson was a tough negotiator on behalf of the boys, earning them a contract with Capitol Records.
In 1964, his wife Audree left him and they separated. The marriage ended in divorce in 1966.
Read more about this topic: Murry Wilson
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—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)
“Nothing could his enemies do but it rebounded to his infinite advantage,—that is, to the advantage of his cause.... No theatrical manager could have arranged things so wisely to give effect to his behavior and words. And who, think you, was the manager? Who placed the slave-woman and her child, whom he stooped to kiss for a symbol, between his prison and the gallows?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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