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Mike Love Fires Three Founding Members of the Beach Boys

Posted by on September 26th, 2012 at 1:01 PM
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Photo Credit: The Beach Boys

Three of the founding members of the Beach Boys have been fired midway through their UK tour by Mike Love.

Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks were informed of the news via a statement issued by bandmate, and Brian Wilson’s cousin, Mike Love that the band would be continuing the tour without them. Their places will be filled by a selection of session musicians.

The statement read: “The post-50th anniversary configuration will not include Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks. The 50th Reunion Tour was designed to be a set tour with a beginning and an end to mark a special 50-year milestone for the band.”

The shocking announcement follows the release of the bands first album of all original music in twenty years. Wilson, who many herald as the man behind the music of the group, explained to CNN his disbelief, “I’m disappointed and can’t understand why Love doesn’t want to tour with Al, David and me. We are out here having so much fun. After all, we are the real Beach Boys.”
In response, fans have started a petition to re-instate the jilted members. The petition reads, “The Beach Boys’ as a whole, and not as a ‘money saving, stripped down version’ that only contains 1 original member, and 1 member that joined in 1965, we ask you to re-instate the 3 other members to the touring group for your final years performing.”

The move by Love, who battled in court for the rights to the band name and will continue to tour as “Beach Boys”, only adds to the band’s long history of fall-outs and arguments amid the band’s membership. But the good vibes between the jilted founding members may continue, as the band’s manager Jay Jones notes, “the guys are still talking about various ways they can continue to do various things together.”

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