lung cancer........February 6, 1998

                           The group's publicist Alyson Dutch said Wilson
                            had been diagnosed last year
                           with cancer of the lung but still insisted on touring with the
                           group while undergoing chemotherapy. A private funeral
                           is planned for this week, Dutch said.

                           Last year, The Beach Boys undertook their 36th
                           anniversary tour and at the time of Carl's death, the group
                           were lining up a 1998 US tour to be accompanied by a
                           symphony orchestra.

                           Carl Wilson was the youngest and initially the most
                           reluctant member of the Beach Boys. When he was 14,
                           he and his brothers Dennis (then 16) and Brian (19) were
                           asked to sing at the Hawthorne high school in California.
                           Legend has it that Carl was unwilling to perform. As
                           encouragement, older brother Brian christened the band
                           Carl And The Passions for their performance. The name
                           would eventually resurface as a Beach Boys album 20
                           years later.

                           Carl's influence on the band was felt in the quality of his
                           harmonies - like Brian, he had perfect pitch - more than
                           his songwriting which, in the band's early days, was the
                           preserve of brother Brian. He was instrumental in turning
                           the Gershwin obsessed Brian Wilson - whom he idolised
                           - on to Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Berry's influence
                           can be clearly heard in the guitar solo on The Beach Boys
                           'Surfin' USA'.

                           As Brian Wilson's mental health deteriorated from the
                           mid-'60s onwards, Carl's input into the band grew. He
                           contributed a number of songs to the 'Surf's Up' album
                           and produced the 1972 LP 'Holland'.

                           Carl continued to tour on and off with the band until 1981
                           when he left to record an eponymously titled solo album.
                           He returned to the band full time after Dennis Wilson's
                           drowning accident in 1983. The Beach Boys were
                           inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame in 1988 -
                           the year they enjoyed their last US Number One,
                           'Kokomo'.

                                Carl Wilson, guitarist, singer and founding
                                member of the Beach Boys, died Friday in Los
                                Angeles from lung cancer. Wilson, 51, had been
                                undergoing treatment for both lung and brain
                                cancer since being diagnosed in the spring of
                                1997. In spite of his health concerns, Wilson
                                continued to perform with the Beach Boys
                                throughout 1997. Wilson was surrounded by
                                family members at the time of his death, which
                                came just two months after the passing of
                                Wilson's mother Audree. Wilson is survived by
                                his wife, Gina and two sons, Jonah and Justyn.

                                Born in December of 1946 in Hawthorne,
                                California, Wilson formed a high school band with brothers Brian and
                                Dennis, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine, forming one of the
                                most influential and original groups of the rock era, the Beach Boys.
                                The Beach Boys' first album Surfin' Safari was released in 1962, two
                                months before Wilson's 16th birthday, and on the strength of the
                                double-sided hit single Surfin' Safari / 409, thrust the teenagers into
                                the sudden whirlwind of fame, while introducing America and the
                                world to a new sound, thick with harmonies and reverb, tangy with
                                Fender guitar twang and as far from the politics and drama of the day
                                as one could get.

                                Later albums and singles delved into a deep well of musical
                                landscapes, showcasing both the compositional genius of primary
                                songwriter Brain Wilson and an instrumental, vocal and production
                                acumen far beyond most groups of their day. Bands as diverse as
                                Queen, the Bangles, Jellyfish, Fleetwood Mac, the Beatles, Pink
                                Floyd and Tom Petty have ventured into acknowledged Beach Boys
                                sonic territory through the years.

                                Wilson, who left the group in 1981 to pursue a solo recording career,
                                rejoined in the years following the 1983 drowning death of brother and
                                fellow group founder Dennis Wilson. Wilson enjoyed a prolific singing
                                career outside the Beach Boys as well, appearing on albums by
                                Chicago, Elton John, Warren Zevon, David Lee Roth, Olivia
                                Newton-John, Joan Jett, Tom Petty and Collin Raye.

                                Billy Hinsche, friend and touring member of the Beach Boys, posted
                                the following message Saturday to a Beach Boys web site: "My best
                                friend, bandmate and mentor, Carl Wilson, passed away yesterday
                                Feb. 6, 1998. I told Carl how many of you had posted messages of
                                concern in the past few months. He was grateful for your positive
                                thoughts and prayers. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts
                                and in your hearts at this time."

                        LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Carl Wilson, a founding
                      member of The Beach Boys and lead guitarist for
                      the seminal surf band, has died from complications of
                      lung cancer, his family said Saturday.
 
                       He was 51.
 
                       Wilson, who also had brain cancer, died Friday
                      evening in Los Angeles with his family at his side.
 
                       "Even though he was diagnosed with cancer last
                      year and going through treatment for a year, he was
                      real fighter," said publicist Alyson Dutch.
 
                       "He participated in the entire summer tour this
                      year."
 
                       Dutch said family members, including brother and
                      fellow Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson, would not
                      be available for comment.
 
                       Carl Dean Wilson was born in Hawthorne, a Los
                      Angeles suburb about eight kilometres from the
                      Pacific. He learned to play guitar as a teenager and
                      -- with brothers Brian and Dennis, cousin Mike Love
                      and friend Alan Jardine -- founded The Beach Boys
                      in 1961.
 
                       Dennis Wilson, who was killed in a swimming
                      accident in 1983, came up with the idea of a surfing
                      theme for the music. Brian Wilson and Love started
                      writing lyrics, capitalizing on the surfing craze that
                      began in the mid-1950s.
 
                       The southern California quintet made its first public
                      appearance New Year's Eve 1961 at Long Beach's
                      Municipal Auditorium. Their stage fright was not
                      helped by the fact they could play only three songs.
 
                       Despite the limited repertoire, the audience
                      embraced the group. Throughout the 1960s and later,
                      the band defined the "surfing beat" with such songs
                      as I Get Around, Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda
                      and Surfin' U.S.A.
 
                       In the early 1980s, Carl Wilson said he was tired of
                      the Beach Boys' focus on nostalgia and lack of
                      musical growth. He left the quintet in 1981 to work
                      on a solo career and released an album that year.
 
                       But he later rejoined the group and had performed
                      with them ever since -- including the Beach Boys'
                      induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
                      1988.
 
                       In addition to his brother, survivors include his wife
                      Gina and sons Jonah and Justyn.