Brian Wilson was a musician.
Brian Douglas Wilson ( born June 20 , 1942 ) is an American musician , singer , songwriter , and record producer best known for being the multi-tasking leader and co-founder of the rock band the Beach Boys . Because of his unorthodox approaches to song composition and arrangement and mastery of recording techniques , he is widely acknowledged , by critics and musicians alike , as one of the most innovative and influential creative forces in popular music . In the mid-1960s , Wilson composed , arranged and produced Pet Sounds ( 1966 ) , considered one of the greatest albums ever made . Wilson is considered a major innovator in the field of music production , the principal originator of the California Sound , one of the first music producer auteurs , and one of the most famous examples of the outsider musician .