Wendy Wilson

Lore & Background

Wendy Wilson is the second daughter of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson and his first wife Marilyn. She co-founded Wilson Phillips with her older sister, Carnie, and childhood friend Chynna Phillips in 1989. Wilson Phillips released two albums in 1990 and 1992 before splitting up. Wendy and Carnie released a Christmas album together in 1993, and an album called The Wilsons in 1997, with their formerly estranged father, Brian. In 2004, Wendy reunited with Carnie and Phillips for a third Wilson Phillips album, California. In 2012, the reunited Wilson Phillips released the album Dedicated, which comprised covers of songs by The Beach Boys and The Mamas & the Papas. In June 2012, Wendy joined her sister Carnie and other members of the Beach Boys' families to form the vocal group, California Saga, which performed at the intermission during the homecoming Hollywood Bowl show of the Beach Boys' 50th anniversary tour.

In Their Own Story

The stage lights at the arena were still warming up, casting everything in a deep violet glow. Wendy sat at her keyboard, fingers resting lightly on the keys, listening to the hum of the amp stack behind her. Somewhere offstage, Prince was already talking—fast, urgent, sketching a new arrangement on a napkin. Lisa was tuning her drums with a metronomic click. The air smelled of rosin and electricity.

Wendy closed her eyes and ran a mental map of the setlist: the big ballad, the funk number, the one where the keys had to carry the whole chorus. She could feel the groove already forming in her wrists, the way the chord changes would land. When the house lights dropped and the first downbeat hit, she wasn't just playing notes. She was holding the sky up for everyone else to sing under.

Reader's Guide

Wendy Wilson married record producer/sound engineer Daniel Knutson on May 24, 2002, in the rose garden of the Ritz-Carlton in Marina Del Rey. They have four sons: Leo (born September 14, 2003), Beau (born September 23, 2004), and twins Will and Jesse (born August 17, 2007).

Did You Know?

• Wendy Wilson appeared in an episode of Supernanny in February 2008.
• She appeared on The Newlywed Game on January 7, 2010, with her sister, their mother Marilyn, and their husbands.
• Wilson Phillips created a reality television show called Wilson Phillips: Still Holding On, which premiered on TV Guide Network in 2011.