Bad Vibrations: Brian Wilson Sues Collaborator
After canning his iron-fisted father Murry Wilson as the Beach Boys
manager in 1964 and getting a separation order from his
psychiatrist/manager Eugene Landy in 1991, Brian Wilson again wants
out of a business/personal relationship.
Yesterday, in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, Wilson
filed a suit against collaborator Joe Thomas seeking damages and a
breakage of their 1997 joint venture. As part of the suit, Wilson
seeks a declaration freeing him to work on his next album without
Thomas, who helped produce and arrange Wilson’s 1998 album,
Imagination.
Wilson and Thomas began working together in 1996, when the pair
co-produced the Beach Boys tribute album Stars and
Stripes. The pair got on so well that they built homes next
door to each other outside of Chicago. After Imagination
was released, Thomas played piano on U.S. dates with Wilson’s band
earlier this year, but did not accompany Wilson on his Japanese
tour.
Wilson may be announcing more West Coast dates on Friday.