Brian Wilson's former lawyer has said that he "felt really bad" about not working on The Beach Boys' track 'Kokomo' after his doctor prevented him from participating.
The late musician's lawyer John Mason said that Wilson's controversial psychologist Dr Eugene Landy had stopped him from participating in the project, with Mason claiming that Landy had exerted "undue influence" over his life, career and finances.
Brian Wilson who passed away from respiratory arrest aged 82 in June, was placed under a conservatorship in May last year, having been diagnosed with dementia, with his late wife Melinda placed as his primary carer.
In 1991, Brian Wilson was previously placed under a conservatorship after his family filed a suit to separate him from Landy.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, John Mason said that it was this "undue influence" which saw Landy managing to manipulate Wilson into abandoning the 'Kokomo' project.
“Mike [Love] and Carl [Wilson] came into my office and said to Brian, ‘Hey, we have the opportunity to write a song for this movie, Cocktail‘", Mason stated. “’It’s going to be starring Tom Cruise. It’s really great. We’d love you to join us. And Brian was really excited. He said, ‘Oh, I’d love to do that.’ But later in the evening, Brian called and said, ‘I shouldn’t do that. Dr. Landy said I shouldn’t do that".
“Well, that turned out to be ‘Kokomo,’ the biggest hit the Beach Boys had had probably forever. And Brian felt really badly about not working on ‘Kokomo".
“When he heard it, and when I heard it, we went, ‘Oh my gosh, was that a missed opportunity?’”.
Speaking further about Landy's influence over Wilson, John Mason said that the controversial doctor refused to let Wilson participate in a project, unless he was listed at the writer of the track. Other methods included Landy demanding total control over Wilson's affairs in order to rehabilitate him.
Landy had first started to work with Wilson between 1975 and 1976, after Wilson had started a huge 24 hour therapy program to improve his declining health from drug use. He then worked with Wilson again between 1982 and 1992.
In the end, the band ultimately refused to write 'Kokomo' with Wilson's input, something which Wilson has reportedly regretted.
“Brian is truly a giant teddy bear and genius who regrets bad decisions and lives for better ones", Mason said.
A conservatorship case was triggered by the redrafting of Wilson's will in 1989, which named Landy as chief beneficiary, standing to inherit 70% of his estate.
While admitting that “he motivated Brian to become a participant in his own life”, Mason did add: “The bad part was that, as time went by and years went by, Dr. Landy expected more and more to replace Brian in the Beach Boys… Brian wasn’t allowed to do anything without a Landy handler being with him".
“Brian was in a weak mental state,” he continued. “Brian often said to me, as sad as it sounds … ‘I fried my brain. I took too many drugs.’ Brian couldn’t get up in the morning without somebody getting him up. He couldn’t eat healthily without somebody giving him something healthy to eat".
Eventually in 1992, the Superior Court of Santa Monica ruled that Eugene Landy must cut all ties with Wilson, with an independent conservator later appointed with “specific and limited powers over the artist’s affairs”.
Tributes were paid to Wilson following his death, including Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong who shared a cover of classic Beach Boys track, 'I Get Around' in his honour. Check that out and Nova's report here.
