The Beach Boys was a rock band.
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 . The Beach Boys are an American rock band , formed in Hawthorne , California in 1961 . The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne , California , in 1961 . Distinguished by their vocal harmonies and early surf songs , they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era . The group had over eighty songs chart worldwide , thirty-six of them US Top 40 hits ( the most by an American rock band ) , four reaching number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart .