(NEXSTAR) — A cause of death has been revealed for Brian Wilson, the musician who co-founded the Beach Boys, according to multiple reports.
“We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away,” the family wrote on Instagram and Wilson’s official website on June 11. Wilson was 82 years old.
Wilson’s death follows a dementia diagnosis, which was announced last year when his wife died and his children moved to place him under a conservatorship.
According to People and TMZ, the latter of which obtained Wilson’s death certificate, the musical legend died of “respiratory arrest.” Sepsis and cystitis were also listed on the death certificate, as well as associated factors of neurodegenerative disorder, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic respiratory failure and chronic kidney disease.
Respiratory arrest occurs when a person has stopped breathing for a prolonged period of time but their heart remains active, MedlinePlus explains. In adults, cardiac arrest — when a person has stopped breathing and their heart is no longer active — “most often leads to respiratory arrest.” The reverse occurs among infants and children, according to MedlinePlus.
Trouble breathing can be brought on by a multitude of factors, including obstructive sleep apnea, neurological disorders, and issues within the respiratory system, MedlinePlus stated.
“We are at a loss for words right now,” Wilson’s family said earlier this month before asking for privacy, “as our family is grieving.” “We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world.”
Wilson was known as the Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and other summertime anthems.
The eldest and last surviving of three musical Wilson brothers — Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums — he and his fellow Beach Boys rose in the 1960s from local California band to national hitmakers to international ambassadors of surf and sun. Wilson himself was celebrated for his gifts and pitied for his demons. He was one of rock’s great romantics, a tormented man who in his peak years embarked on an ever-steeper path to aural perfection, the one true sound.
The Beach Boys rank among the most popular groups of the rock era, with over 30 singles in the Top 40 and worldwide sales of over 100 million.
The 1966 album “Pet Sounds” was voted No. 2 in a 2003 Rolling Stone list of the best 500 albums, losing out, as Wilson had done before, to the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
The Beach Boys, who also featured Wilson’s cousin Mike Love and childhood friend Al Jardine, were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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