How many of the original Beach Boys are still alive? List of members explored amid release of new documentary

A new documentary based on the rock band Beach Boys is scheduled to premiere on May 24, 2024, on Disney+. The upcoming series is supposed to go deeper into the history of the band along with the problems they had to face throughout their career.

The original members of the band included Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, who were brothers. The group was then joined by their cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine. Among the initial lineup, Brian, Mike, and Al are the ones who are still alive. Dennis died after drowning in 1983 and Carl passed away from lung cancer in 1998.

Despite losing a few members, the band never discontinued performing and they already have several shows happening this year. The trailer for the new documentary was released last month and featured glimpses of the group preparing and recording their music at different places.

According to the official synopsis of The Beach Boys, it will be a celebration of the group's contributions to pop music and their impact on the upcoming generations. It also states:

"The documentary traces the band from humble family beginnings and features never-before-seen footage and all-new interviews with The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks, Bruce Johnston, plus other luminaries in the music business, including Lindsey Buckingham, Janelle Monae, Ryan Tedder, and Don Was."

The Hawthorne, California-based group became popular among the public during the 60s. The reason was the music they included in their projects and this helped them to work under record labels such as Capitol, Reprise, and many others.

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The Beach Boys originally featured five members in the lineup

While The Beach Boys was pursuing a successful career, they even lost a few members over the years. Dennis Wilson, one of the original members, was an expert in piano from a very young age and while his skills contributed to the group's popularity, his addiction to drugs and alcohol slowly started bringing a negative atmosphere.

People magazine states that Dennis was eventually removed from the group at one point and during his solo career, he released an album titled Pacific Ocean Blue. His addiction problem also left a bad impact on his personal life where his five marriages could not last long.

In 1983, he spent his entire day on a friend's boat following which he died after drowning at Marina Del Rey.

Another member, Carl, started undergoing training in guitar at the age of 12 and contributed to a lot of singles released by the group. Notably, he did not develop any addiction issues compared to Dennis and pursued a brief career as a solo artist. In 1998, he died of lung cancer in Los Angeles at was 51 years old.

Coming to the rest of The Beach Boys members, Brian Wilson was a vocalist for the group and even played the keyboard. He also battled mental illness for many years and the same has been featured in a biopic titled Love & Mercy in 2015. He even released an autobiography titled I Am Brian Wilson the following year.

The second member, Mike Love, developed an interest in music while growing up at Baldwin Hills. He was only 21 when The Beach Boys finalized a record deal in 1962 and penned the lyrics for a few songs. He has five solo albums in his credits starting with Looking Back with Love in 1981.

The third member, Al Jardine, also known as Alan Charles Jardine, contributed to several projects of the group until he left in 1998. Furthermore, his solo career has turned out to be successful and he even wrote a book titled Sloop John B: A Pirate's Tale.