Mike Love
| Mike Love | |
|---|---|
 Mike Love in concert, June 2006. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Edward Love |
| Born | March 15, 1941 |
| Origin | Los Angeles, CA, U.S. |
| Genres | Pop Rock Surf |
| Occupations | Vocalist |
| Instruments | Vocals Saxophone Electro-Theremin |
Michael Edward "Mike" Love (born March 15, 1941) is an American singer/songwriter and musician with The Beach Boys. He formed the band along with his cousins Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, and their friend Al Jardine.
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Role in The Beach Boys
Although Love played the saxophone in the early days, he was mainly the co-lead singer, along with Brian Wilson, of the Beach Boys. His r&b styled voice was heavily influenced by classmates at the predominantly black high school, Dorsey High, and the songs he listened to on two of Los Angeles's r&b radio stations. Love sang the lead vocal on many of the Beach Boys' biggest hits, mainly fast-paced rock'n'rollers (while Brian Wilson handled the early ballads), including "Surfin' Safari", "Surfin' USA", "Shut Down", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Be True to Your School", "Little Saint Nick", "Fun, Fun, Fun", "I Get Around", "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)", "Little Honda", "Dance, Dance, Dance" and "California Girls". His lead vocal roles later diminished as other members' voices began to be heard more, but he remained one of the most recognized voices in the group, due in part to his nasal sound, on songs such as "Do It Again". He is also known for his bass vocals, such as the vocal break in "I Can Hear Music" and the bass line in "Good Vibrations". Brian Wilson once stated that band members Mike and Carl had voices from heaven. Onstage, Love has always served as the Beach Boys' MC, introducing songs and band members.
Love also wrote or co-wrote lyrics to many of the Beach Boys songs, mostly with the themes of surfing, cars or love, but also memorable ballads such as "The Warmth of the Sun". In the 1990's he initiated and won a legal proceeding to gain co-authorship credit for many of the Beach Boys hits.
Love was one of the first pop musicians to become involved in the practice of Transcendental Meditation, through his meeting with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. As a result he accompanied The Beatles, Donovan, Prudence Farrow, and Mia Farrow on their famous trip to the guru's ashram at Rishikesh in India in early 1968. Love later received training in advanced techniques, including Yogic Flying, and became a "Governor of the Age of Enlightenment" at a reported cost of up to $1 million.[1]
In 1988 the Beach Boys had a US number-one hit with "Kokomo", the only number-one song the band had without Brian Wilson's involvement. Mike Love (along with "Kokomo" co-writers Scott McKenzie, Terry Melcher, and John Phillips) was nominated for a Golden Globe Award (1988) in the Original Song category, and was nominated for a Grammy Award as well.
As of 2009, Love continues to tour with The Beach Boys, along with Bruce Johnston and a supporting band of new musicians. He is the only original member in the current lineup.
Smile
Love is reported to have vehemently objected to Van Dyke Parks' oblique lyrics to Smile, reserving particular scorn for the song "Cabinessence." During a heated argument at a recording session, Love demanded that Parks explain the song's meaning; Parks demurred and walked out; some few weeks later he officially terminated his partnership with Wilson. Although Love allegedly had nothing personal against Parks, he apparently feared the lyrics were too abstract for a Beach Boys record.[2]
Love later stated that he was suspicious of the new friends with whom Brian was associating, and that his opposition to these people whom he regarded as hangers-on, who were exploiting Brian and supplying him with 'hard' drugs, was another major source of conflict. Love has suggested that some of those who have since been critical of him did so because he had told them to "take a hike".
Love denied disliking Pet Sounds, also claiming that he liked the Smile music and only disliked the lyrics. However, this is strongly disputed by several other participants, most notably Van Dyke Parks. Responding to Love's claims in a letter to the editor of UK music magazine Mojo, Parks was strongly critical of Love's comments—which he described as "revisionism" -- and he was unequivocal in citing Love's hostility to "Smile" as one of the major factors in Brian's decision to abandon the project. On the DVD that accompanied the 2004 Smile release, Brian himself also makes it clear that Love's antagonism was one of the major deciding factors in the cancellation of the album:
- "The reasons that I didn't release Smile: One, Mike didn't like it...".[3]
Love contributed lyrics to their famous 1966 single "Good Vibrations", although the song also has an earlier set of lyrics written by Wilson's main Pet Sounds collaborator, Tony Asher, which Wilson restored on the 2004 Smile version.
Writing for The Guardian in December 1999, Will Hodgkinson summarized the main reasons for the eventual demise of Wilson's ambitious project:
- "[A] combination of factors, including litigations against the record company and increasing animosity between Wilson and the rest of the band, meant that in May 1967 Wilson pulled the plug on the record... [Mike] Love had already dismissed Good Vibrations as "avant-garde shit" and objected to the way Wilson, Parks and a group of highly skilled session musicians were creating music way beyond his understanding... By March 1967, the bad feeling got too much for Parks and, having no desire to break up The Beach Boys, he walked out."
Legal controversies
In the late 1990s Brian Wilson went to court to regain his rights to the publishing company, Sea of Tunes, which owned the copyrights to most of the Beach Boys' hit songs. The suit stemmed from Wilson's forced decision to sign over his publishing rights to his father Murry Wilson in 1969, but when the suit came to court it was found that the contract Wilson had signed was not valid because of the mental problems he was suffering from at the time. (It was even suggested that Murry had signed his son's name on the document.) Wilson failed to regain the copyrights, but won a $25 million settlement.
Following Wilson's win, Love launched his own lawsuit, claiming that he had made significant writing contributions to many Beach Boys songs, including two titles on Pet Sounds and "California Girls", and never received due credit (or the accompanying royalties). Love won the case, due in no small part to Brian's statements that Mike's assertions were correct (although Tony Asher has unequivocally stated that Love had no input into at least one song involved, "Wouldn't It Be Nice"). As a result, he was granted $13 million of Wilson's award, and his name was retroactively added to the writing credits on all subsequent releases of those songs. (Love and Wilson reportedly had no malice toward each other in the lawsuit; unable to come to terms, they resorted to going to court to settle matters.)
Love has also initiated successful lawsuits against Al Jardine (mostly the Beach Boys' company, Brother Records, suing Jardine at Love's instigation, but also personal lawsuits) for Jardine's use of the band name Beach Boys Family And Friends in his solo work.
Most recently, Love initiated a lawsuit on November 3, 2005 against Brian Wilson and the Mail On Sunday newspaper, arguing that both misused the Beach Boys' name and Love's image in a promotional CD that was given with the paper to promote the 2004 Smile release, and also arguing that Wilson has misused the Beach Boys' name in other promotions relating to Smile, resulting in loss of income for the band. He sought several million dollars in damages plus a million dollars to cover costs of advertising to correct the perceived damage to the band's reputation.
The lawsuit was thrown out of court on May 16, 2007 on the grounds that it was meritless.[4]
Solo career
Love has attempted several times to have a career outside the Beach Boys. In the mid 1970s he recorded and released two albums with side band Celebration, including the top 30 hit single "Almost Summer" (co-written with Brian Wilson and Jardine), along with further songwriting contributions to the band's third (unreleased) album "Disco Celebration". In the late 1970s he also recorded two unreleased solo albums, First Love and Country Love. Some tracks from First Love were used on later Beach Boys releases.
In 1981 he released a solo album, Looking Back With Love. Consisting mostly of cover versions, the album was neither critically nor commercially successful.
After that point he confined himself to guest spots on recordings alongside artists such as Dean Torrence of Jan And Dean and The Association, contributing to the albums "Rock'n'Roll City", "Rock 'n Roll Again," "Winter Party On The Beach (aka "Scrooge's Rock'n'Roll Christmas")" and "New Memories". He also developed a penchant for re-recording old Beach Boys' hits, released on packages like "Catch a Wave" and "Salute Nascar" with Adrian Baker. He has also lent his vocal abilities to a 2003 Bruce Springsteen tribute CD (singing "Hungry Heart"), and a Bruce Johnston–produced album for the Kings Singers, amongst others.
Also, in 2003 he announced plans for a new solo album. This album, which has been announced under the working titles Unleash The Love and Mike Love, Not War (not to be confused with the Beach Boys bootleg of the same name), is still a work in progress (although bootleg recordings have appeared) and, to date, one new track from these sessions, "Cool Head, Warm Heart", has appeared on an official Beach Boys–related collection.
Discography
- Looking Back with Love (1981)
- Mike Love: Catch a Wave (Limited Edition CD 1996) MELECO - MEL CD 101 - 1996
- Mike Love, Bruce Johnston & David Marks: Salute NASCAR (Limited Edition)
- Mike Love & Bruce Johnston: Summertime Cruisin' (Limited Edition CD 2001)
- "Santa's Goin' To Kokomo" (single) (iTunes download 2006)
- "Hungry Heart" (single) (iTunes download 2007)
Family
Love was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Emily Glee (née Wilson) and Edwin Milton Love. In addition to being cousin to the Wilson brothers, Love is the brother of former NBA basketball player Stan Love and of Pink Martini harpist Maureen Love, and the uncle of Minnesota Timberwolves basketball player Kevin Love, who was named Naismith Male Prep Player of the Year in 2007. Love's son Christian Love tours with The Beach Boys in their backing band.
See also
- The Beach Boys
- List of songs by Mike Love
- Beach Boys Historic Landmark
References
- ↑ Hagan, Joe (March 6, 2008). "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi". Rolling Stone (1047): p. 16.
- ↑ The Beach Boys: Endless Harmony Documentary
- ↑ Brian Wilson, quoted in Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson & the story of Smile (Warner Vision/LSL Productions, 2005)
- ↑ Beach Boys lawsuit dismissed - Los Angeles Times
External links
- Mike Love Fan Club
- Beach Boys Band - Current Touring Band
- Jan & Dean Official Site (Mike & Dean era related)
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