section_path: 1942–1961: Background and musical training/Childhood and education
section_name: Childhood and education
paragraph_text: Childhood and education
  
  Brian Douglas Wilson was born on June 20, 1942, at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, California, the first child of Audree Neva (née Korthof) and Murry Wilson, a machinist who later pursued songwriting part-time. Wilson's two younger brothers, Dennis and Carl, were born in 1944 and 1946. Shortly after Dennis's birth, the family moved from Inglewood to 3701 West 119th Street in nearby Hawthorne, California. Wilson, along with his siblings, suffered psychological and sporadic physical maltreatment from their father. His 2016 memoir characterizes his father as "violent" and "cruel"; however, it also suggests that certain narratives about the mistreatment had been overstated or unfounded.
  
  I got so into The Four Freshmen. I could identify with Bob Flanigan 's high voice. He taught me how to sing high. I worked for a year on The Four Freshmen with my hi-fi set. I eventually learned every song they did.
  
  From an early age, Wilson exhibited an aptitude for learning by ear. His father remembered how, after hearing only a few verses of " When the Caissons Go Rolling Along ", the infant Wilson was able to reproduce its melody. Murry was a driving force in cultivating his children's musical talents. Wilson undertook six weeks of accordion lessons, and by ages seven and eight, he performed choir solos at church. His choir director declared him to have perfect pitch. Wilson owned an educational record titled The Instruments of the Orchestra and was a regular listener of KFWB, his favorite radio station at the time. Carl introduced him to R&B, and their uncle Charlie taught him boogie-woogie piano. Both brothers would frequently stay up listening to Johnny Otis 's KFOX radio show, incorporating its R&B tracks into their musical lexicon.
  
  One of Wilson's first forays into songwriting, penned when he was nine, was a reinterpretation of the lyrics to Stephen Foster 's " Oh! Susannah ". When he was 12, his family acquired an upright piano, and he began teaching himself to play piano by spending hours mastering his favorite songs. He learned how to write manuscript music through a friend of his father. Wilson sang with peers at school functions, as well as with family and friends at home, and guided his two brothers in learning harmony parts, which they would rehearse together. He also played piano obsessively after school, deconstructing the harmonies of the Four Freshmen by listening to short segments of their songs on a phonograph, then working to recreate the blended sounds note by note on the keyboard.
  
  In high school, Wilson played quarterback for Hawthorne High 's football team, played American Legion Baseball,, and ran cross-country in his senior year. At 15, he briefly worked part-time sweeping at a jewelry store, his only paid employment before his success in music. He also cleaned for his father's machining company, ABLE, on weekends. Wilson auditioned to sing for the Original Sound Record Company's inaugural record release, but was deemed too young. For his 16th birthday, he received a portable two-track Wollensak tape recorder, allowing him to experiment with recording songs, group vocals, and rudimentary production techniques. Wilson involved his friends around the piano and would most frequently harmonize with those from his senior class in these recordings.
  
  For his Senior Problems course in October 1959, Wilson submitted an essay, "My Philosophy", in which he stated that his ambitions were to "make a name for myself in music". One of Wilson's earliest public performances was at a fall arts program at his high school. He enlisted his cousin and frequent singing partner Mike Love and, to entice Carl into the group, named the newly formed membership "Carl and the Passions". They performed songs by Dion and the Belmonts and the Four Freshmen, impressing classmate and musician, Al Jardine. Fred Morgan, Wilson's high school music teacher, recalled his aptitude for learning Bach and Beethoven at 17.
  
  In September 1960, Wilson enrolled as a psychology major at El Camino College in Los Angeles, also pursuing music. Disappointed by his teachers' disdain for pop music, he withdrew from college after about 18 months. By his account, he crafted his first entirely original melody, " Surfer Girl ", in 1961, inspired by a Dion and the Belmonts rendition of " When You Wish Upon a Star ". However, his close high school friends disputed his claim, recalling earlier original compositions.
  
  Brian Douglas Wilson was born on June 20, 1942, at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, California, the first child of Audree Neva (née Korthof) and Murry Wilson, a machinist who later pursued songwriting part-time. Wilson's two younger brothers, Dennis and Carl, were born in 1944 and 1946. Shortly after Dennis's birth, the family moved from Inglewood to 3701 West 119th Street in nearby Hawthorne, California. Wilson, along with his siblings, suffered psychological and sporadic physical maltreatment from their father. His 2016 memoir characterizes his father as "violent" and "cruel"; however, it also suggests that certain narratives about the mistreatment had been overstated or unfounded.
  
  I got so into The Four Freshmen. I could identify with Bob Flanigan 's high voice. He taught me how to sing high. I worked for a year on The Four Freshmen with my hi-fi set. I eventually learned every song they did.
  
  From an early age, Wilson exhibited an aptitude for learning by ear. His father remembered how, after hearing only a few verses of " When the Caissons Go Rolling Along ", the infant Wilson was able to reproduce its melody. Murry was a driving force in cultivating his children's musical talents. Wilson undertook six weeks of accordion lessons, and by ages seven and eight, he performed choir solos at church. His choir director declared him to have perfect pitch. Wilson owned an educational record titled The Instruments of the Orchestra and was a regular listener of KFWB, his favorite radio station at the time. Carl introduced him to R&B, and their uncle Charlie taught him boogie-woogie piano. Both brothers would frequently stay up listening to Johnny Otis 's KFOX radio show, incorporating its R&B tracks into their musical lexicon.
  
  One of Wilson's first forays into songwriting, penned when he was nine, was a reinterpretation of the lyrics to Stephen Foster 's " Oh! Susannah ". When he was 12, his family acquired an upright piano, and he began teaching himself to play piano by spending hours mastering his favorite songs. He learned how to write manuscript music through a friend of his father. Wilson sang with peers at school functions, as well as with family and friends at home, and guided his two brothers in learning harmony parts, which they would rehearse together. He also played piano obsessively after school, deconstructing the harmonies of the Four Freshmen by listening to short segments of their songs on a phonograph, then working to recreate the blended sounds note by note on the keyboard.
  
  In high school, Wilson played quarterback for Hawthorne High 's football team, played American Legion Baseball,, and ran cross-country in his senior year. At 15, he briefly worked part-time sweeping at a jewelry store, his only paid employment before his success in music. He also cleaned for his father's machining company, ABLE, on weekends. Wilson auditioned to sing for the Original Sound Record Company's inaugural record release, but was deemed too young. For his 16th birthday, he received a portable two-track Wollensak tape recorder, allowing him to experiment with recording songs, group vocals, and rudimentary production techniques. Wilson involved his friends around the piano and would most frequently harmonize with those from his senior class in these recordings.
  
  For his Senior Problems course in October 1959, Wilson submitted an essay, "My Philosophy", in which he stated that his ambitions were to "make a name for myself in music". One of Wilson's earliest public performances was at a fall arts program at his high school. He enlisted his cousin and frequent singing partner Mike Love and, to entice Carl into the group, named the newly formed membership "Carl and the Passions". They performed songs by Dion and the Belmonts and the Four Freshmen, impressing classmate and musician, Al Jardine. Fred Morgan, Wilson's high school music teacher, recalled his aptitude for learning Bach and Beethoven at 17.
  
  In September 1960, Wilson enrolled as a psychology major at El Camino College in Los Angeles, also pursuing music. Disappointed by his teachers' disdain for pop music, he withdrew from college after about 18 months. By his account, he crafted his first entirely original melody, " Surfer Girl ", in 1961, inspired by a Dion and the Belmonts rendition of " When You Wish Upon a Star ". However, his close high school friends disputed his claim, recalling earlier original compositions.