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Wilson's family posted news of his death to his website and social media accounts Wednesday. Further details weren't immediately available.

The eldest and last surviving of three musical brothers 鈥� Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums 鈥� he and his fellow Beach Boys rose in the 1960s from local California band to national hitmakers to international ambassadors of surf and sun. Wilson himself was celebrated for his gifts and pitied for his demons. He was one of rock鈥檚 great romantics, a tormented man who in his peak years embarked on an ever-steeper path to aural perfection, the one true sound.

The Beach Boys rank among the most popular groups of the rock era, with more than 30 singles in the Top 40 and worldwide sales of more than 100 million. The 1966 album 鈥淧et Sounds鈥� was voted No. 2 in a 2003 Rolling Stone list of the best 500 albums, losing out, as Wilson had done before, to the Beatles鈥� 鈥淪gt. Pepper鈥檚 Lonely Hearts Club Band.鈥� The Beach Boys, who also featured Wilson cousin Mike Love and childhood friend Al Jardine, were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Wilson feuded with Love over songwriting credits, but peers otherwise adored him beyond envy, from Elton John and Bruce Springsteen to Smokey Robinson and Carole King. The Who鈥檚 drummer, Keith Moon, fantasized about joining the Beach Boys. Paul McCartney cited 鈥淧et Sounds鈥� as a direct inspiration on the Beatles and the ballad 鈥淕od Only Knows鈥� as among his favorite songs, often bringing him to tears.

Wilson moved and fascinated fans and musicians long after he stopped having hits. In his later years, Wilson and a devoted entourage of younger musicians performed 鈥淧et Sounds鈥� and his restored opus, 鈥淪mile,鈥� before worshipful crowds in concert halls. Meanwhile, The Go-Go鈥檚, Lindsey Buckingham, Animal Collective and Janelle Mon谩e were among a wide range of artists who emulated him, whether as a master of crafting pop music or as a pioneer of pulling it apart.

An endless summer

The Beach Boys鈥� music was like an ongoing party, with Wilson as host and wallflower. He was a tall, shy man, partially deaf (allegedly because of beatings by his father, Murry Wilson), with a sweet, crooked grin, and he rarely touched a surfboard unless a photographer was around. But out of the lifestyle that he observed and such musical influences as Chuck Berry and the Four Freshmen, he conjured a golden soundscape 鈥� sweet melodies, shining harmonies, vignettes of beaches, cars and girls 鈥� that resonated across time and climates.

Decades after its first release, a Beach Boys song can still conjure instant summer 鈥� the wake-up guitar riff that opens 鈥淪urfin鈥� USA鈥�; the melting vocals of 鈥淒on鈥檛 Worry Baby鈥�; the chants of 鈥渇un, fun, fun鈥� or 鈥済ood, good, GOOD, good vibrations鈥�; the behind-the-wheel chorus 鈥溾�橰ound, 鈥檙ound, get around, I get around.鈥� Beach Boys songs have endured from turntables and transistor radios to boom boxes and iPhones, or any device that could lay on a beach towel or be placed upright in the sand.

The band鈥檚 innocent appeal survived the group鈥檚 increasingly troubled back story, whether Brian鈥檚 many personal trials, the feuds and lawsuits among band members or the alcoholism of Dennis Wilson, who drowned in 1983. Brian Wilson鈥檚 ambition raised the Beach Boys beyond the pleasures of their early hits and into a world transcendent, eccentric and destructive. They seemed to live out every fantasy, and many nightmares, of the California myth they helped create.

From the suburbs to the national stage

Brian Wilson was born June 20, 1942, two days after McCartney. His musical gifts were soon obvious, and as a boy he was playing piano and teaching his brothers to sing harmony. The Beach Boys started as a neighborhood act, rehearsing in Brian鈥檚 bedroom and in the garage of their house in suburban Hawthorne, California. Surf music, mostly instrumental in its early years, was catching on locally: Dennis Wilson, the group鈥檚 only real surfer, suggested they cash in. Brian and Love hastily wrote up their first single, 鈥淪urfin,鈥欌�� a minor hit released in 1961.

They wanted to call themselves the Pendletones, in honor of a popular flannel shirt they wore in early publicity photos. But when they first saw the pressings for 鈥淪urfin,鈥欌�� they discovered the record label had tagged them 鈥淭he Beach Boys.鈥� Other decisions were handled by their father, a musician of some frustration who hired himself as manager and holy terror. By mid-decade, Murry Wilson had been displaced and Brian, who had been running the band鈥檚 recording sessions almost from the start, was in charge, making the Beach Boys the rare group of the time to work without an outside producer.

Their breakthrough came in early 1963 with 鈥淪urfin鈥� USA,鈥� so closely modeled on Berry鈥檚 鈥淪weet Little Sixteen鈥� that Berry successfully sued to get a songwriting credit. It was their first Top 10 hit and a boast to the nation: 鈥淚f everybody had an ocean / across the USA / then everybody鈥檇 be surfin,鈥� / like Cali-for-nye-ay.鈥� From 1963-66, they were rarely off the charts, hitting No. 1 with 鈥淚 Get Around鈥� and 鈥淗elp Me, Rhonda鈥� and narrowly missing with 鈥淐alifornia Girls鈥� and 鈥淔un, Fun, Fun.鈥� For television appearances, they wore candy-striped shirts and grinned as they mimed their latest hit, with a hot rod or surfboard nearby.

Their music echoed private differences. Wilson often contrasted his own bright falsetto with Love鈥檚 nasal, deadpan tenor. The extroverted Love was out front on the fast songs, but when it was time for a slow one, Brian took over. 鈥淭he Warmth of the Sun鈥� was a song of despair and consolation that Wilson alleged 鈥� to some skepticism 鈥� he wrote the morning after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. 鈥淒on鈥檛 Worry Baby,鈥� a ballad equally intoxicating and heartbreaking, was a leading man鈥檚 confession of doubt and dependence, an early sign of Brian鈥檚 crippling anxieties.

Stress and exhaustion led to a breakdown in 1964 and his retirement from touring, his place soon filled by Bruce Johnston, who remained with the group for decades. Wilson was an admirer of Phil Spector鈥檚 鈥淲all of Sound鈥� productions and emulated him on Beach Boys tracks, adding sleigh bells to 鈥淒ance, Dance, Dance鈥� or arranging a mini-theme park of guitar, horns, percussion and organ as the overture to 鈥淐alifornia Girls.鈥�

By the mid-1960s, the Beach Boys were being held up as the country鈥檚 answer to the Beatles, a friendly game embraced by each group, transporting pop music to the level of 鈥渁rt鈥� and leaving Wilson a broken man.