Stars pay tribute to Beach Boys' Brian Wilson

Tributes have started pouring in far and wide as fans and fellow celebrities mourn the death of music legend Brian Wilson, whose passing was announced earlier today, aged 82.

Nancy Wilson shared a studio picture of the two of them, writing: "His cherished music will live forever as he travels through the Universe and beyond. God bless you, sweet Brian.

One of the biggest thrills of my life was singing “California Girls” with Brian."

Sir Elton John also shared a studio picture of him and Brian, writing: "Brian Wilson was always so kind to me from the day I met him. He sang ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight’ at a tribute concert in 2003, and it was an extraordinary moment for me. I played on his solo records, he sang on my album, The Union, and even performed for my AIDS Foundation.

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."

Other stars have also paid tribute to Brian. Rolling Stones legend Ronnie Wood confirmed his world is "in mourning" following the passing of Brian and fellow musician, Sly Stone earlier this week.

Ronnie wrote on X: "Oh no Brian Wilson and Sly Stone in one week ~ my world is in mourning. So sad x."

Fellow Rolling Stone Keith Richards posted an extract of his 2010 memoir, Life, about Wilson on Instagram with the caption "Rest in Peace!".

The extract reads: "When we first got to American and to LA, there was a lot of Beach Boys on the radio, which was pretty funny to us - it was before Pet Sounds - it was hot rod songs and surfing songs, pretty lousily played, familiar Chuck Berry licks going on...

"It was later on, listening to Pet Sounds, well, it's a little bit overproduced for me, but Brian Wilson had something.

"In My Room, Don't Worry Baby; I was more interested in their B-sides, the ones he slipped in.

"There was no particular correlation with what we were doing so I could just listen to it on another level. I thought these are very well-constructed songs. I took easily to the pop song idiom."

Sean Ono Lennon, the son of late Beatles legend John Lennon and his widow Yoko Ono, also noted that he was "heartbroken" at the loss and felt "lucky" that he got the chance to meet him.

He wrote: "Anyone who really knows me knows how heartbroken I am about Brian Wilson passing. Not many people influenced me as much as he did. I feel very lucky that I was able to meet him and spend some time with him. He was always very kind and generous. He was our American Mozart. A one of a kind genius from another world.."

Billy Idol wrote, "Sad 2 hear of Brian Wilson’s @brianwilsonlive passing … got to perform with the Brian Wilson band about four or five years ago @greek_theatre and at the sound check Brian told me how much he loved my song Eyes Without a Face, which was kind of incredible to me as I was such a fan of early Beach Boys and Per Sounds through to Surfs Up! -BFI"