Biography
Born in Lima, Ohio, on September 3, 1942, Alan Jardine relocated with his family to Hawthorne, California, during his early years. He and Brian Wilson attended Hawthorne High together, where both suited up for the football squad. Jardine recounts how their friendship solidified after Wilson, serving as quarterback, signaled the incorrect play, sending the halfback Jardine into a punishing hit by a pair of defenders that fractured his leg. During a school assembly Jardine first encountered Brian performing alongside brother Carl Wilson and cousin Mike Love. Over the ensuing years Jardine periodically urged Brian to join voices with him; an early attempt at El Camino Junior College with additional classmates failed to coalesce, prompting Brian to propose adding Carl and Love instead. In that configuration the Beach Boys took shape, with Brian and Jardine arguably the initial pair.
Although the group’s formative period has been recounted extensively, Jardine’s place within the story has seldom received sustained attention. Certain accounts have labeled him the “lost Beach Boy,” the sole member neither a Wilson nor connected by blood. Jardine’s mother nonetheless underwrote the purchase of instruments for the recording of “Surfin’,” on which he also supplied the bass line; the single reached number 75 on the Billboard charts. Like a latter-day Stewart Sutcliff, Jardine departed after the first royalty payment fell short of one thousand dollars and spent the next year studying dentistry. The course of rock history shifted when he accepted Brian Wilson’s call to return. Legal disputes surfaced years afterward, perhaps because several hit albums and singles had been achieved in his absence, raising questions about band membership precisely when the Beach Boys had ceased to dominate the charts yet continued to draw large touring audiences.
Jardine’s contributions were neither marginal nor incidental. He delivered the lead vocal on the chart-topping “Help Me Rhonda” and appeared on “Then I Kissed Her,” “Vega-Tables,” “I Know There’s an Answer,” “Heroes and Villains,” and “Cotton Fields,” among other tracks. His first lead vocal on a Beach Boys album came with “Christmas Day” from the 1965 Christmas Album. He also shared writing duties on numerous songs, particularly during the post-Brian 1970s era represented by Holland, Carl and the Passions—So Tough, Surf’s Up, and Sunflower. Full arrangement credit for “Sloop John B” arrived only with the 1996 release of the Pet Sounds 30th Anniversary Box Set. In addition, he co-produced M.I.U.
While Brian Wilson’s psychological struggles and Dennis Wilson’s substance issues dominated much of the band’s Behind the Music narrative, Jardine maintained a steady professional presence in performance, business affairs, and family life. He served as president of Brother Records, the band’s label and studio. His final songwriting credit dates to 1985, yet he remained on tour with the group until Carl Wilson’s death in 1998.
After prolonged internal conflicts, Jardine exited over disagreements concerning the band’s future direction. Mike Love had secured controlling interest in the corporation following the early deaths of Dennis and Carl Wilson and Brian Wilson’s withdrawal. Legal measures barred Jardine from employing any name that evoked the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act he helped establish, particularly any use of the word “beach.” He therefore assembled Al Jardine’s Family & Friends, whose roster included sons Matt Jardine and Adam Jardine—both featured in the DVD Nashville Sounds—as well as Wendy Wilson and Carnie Wilson of Wilson Phillips and daughters of Brian Wilson.
Jardine shares membership in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a Lifetime Grammy Award in 2001 as part of the Beach Boys. That same year he issued the live recording Live in Las Vegas through www.Aljardine.com, featuring “Surfer Girl,” “Little Deuce Coupe,” “I Get Around,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “In My Room,” “Good Vibrations,” “Wild Honey,” and “Heroes & Villains.” In 2012 he released the guest-filled A Postcard from California, a loosely conceptual project that, at its strongest moments, comes closest to a new Beach Boys album in the twenty-first century.
Although the group’s formative period has been recounted extensively, Jardine’s place within the story has seldom received sustained attention. Certain accounts have labeled him the “lost Beach Boy,” the sole member neither a Wilson nor connected by blood. Jardine’s mother nonetheless underwrote the purchase of instruments for the recording of “Surfin’,” on which he also supplied the bass line; the single reached number 75 on the Billboard charts. Like a latter-day Stewart Sutcliff, Jardine departed after the first royalty payment fell short of one thousand dollars and spent the next year studying dentistry. The course of rock history shifted when he accepted Brian Wilson’s call to return. Legal disputes surfaced years afterward, perhaps because several hit albums and singles had been achieved in his absence, raising questions about band membership precisely when the Beach Boys had ceased to dominate the charts yet continued to draw large touring audiences.
Jardine’s contributions were neither marginal nor incidental. He delivered the lead vocal on the chart-topping “Help Me Rhonda” and appeared on “Then I Kissed Her,” “Vega-Tables,” “I Know There’s an Answer,” “Heroes and Villains,” and “Cotton Fields,” among other tracks. His first lead vocal on a Beach Boys album came with “Christmas Day” from the 1965 Christmas Album. He also shared writing duties on numerous songs, particularly during the post-Brian 1970s era represented by Holland, Carl and the Passions—So Tough, Surf’s Up, and Sunflower. Full arrangement credit for “Sloop John B” arrived only with the 1996 release of the Pet Sounds 30th Anniversary Box Set. In addition, he co-produced M.I.U.
While Brian Wilson’s psychological struggles and Dennis Wilson’s substance issues dominated much of the band’s Behind the Music narrative, Jardine maintained a steady professional presence in performance, business affairs, and family life. He served as president of Brother Records, the band’s label and studio. His final songwriting credit dates to 1985, yet he remained on tour with the group until Carl Wilson’s death in 1998.
After prolonged internal conflicts, Jardine exited over disagreements concerning the band’s future direction. Mike Love had secured controlling interest in the corporation following the early deaths of Dennis and Carl Wilson and Brian Wilson’s withdrawal. Legal measures barred Jardine from employing any name that evoked the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act he helped establish, particularly any use of the word “beach.” He therefore assembled Al Jardine’s Family & Friends, whose roster included sons Matt Jardine and Adam Jardine—both featured in the DVD Nashville Sounds—as well as Wendy Wilson and Carnie Wilson of Wilson Phillips and daughters of Brian Wilson.
Jardine shares membership in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a Lifetime Grammy Award in 2001 as part of the Beach Boys. That same year he issued the live recording Live in Las Vegas through www.Aljardine.com, featuring “Surfer Girl,” “Little Deuce Coupe,” “I Get Around,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “In My Room,” “Good Vibrations,” “Wild Honey,” and “Heroes & Villains.” In 2012 he released the guest-filled A Postcard from California, a loosely conceptual project that, at its strongest moments, comes closest to a new Beach Boys album in the twenty-first century.
Albums
Singles
