TORONTO — When Steven Page penned an ode to musical visionary Brian Wilson, he never expected to share a stage with the Beach Boy, perform alongside him nor hear him sing "Brian Wilson" to a roaring Toronto audience.
But in the summer of 2000, Page says he felt an "absolute dream come true" when all that happened during Wilson's tour stop with Paul Simon at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre.
Page says he knew Wilson had performed the song at previous concerts and expected to hear it, but not as the opening number.
As news of Wilson's death broke Wednesday, Page looked back fondly at the memory of being in the audience while a musical hero sang Barenaked Ladies' 1992 hit "Brian Wilson."
"Every musician in Toronto was sitting around us, and they all kind of turned their head to look at me," said Page, who later joined Wilson and Simon for the encore to sing Wilson's "Love and Mercy" and the Beach Boys' "Fun, Fun, Fun."
"And I thought, like, do I stand up and wave, or do I hide, or what do I do? I mean, just absolute dream come true."
Wilson's family posted news of his death to his website Wednesday. He was 82.
"Obviously, (I was) sad to hear that Brian had passed. It's been a tough couple years for him, I think, with his declining health and the loss of his wife, Melinda," Page said.
Page wrote the song "Brian Wilson" when he was a 19-year-old student at Toronto's York University, drawing inspiration from his own struggles and eager to see more empathy in discourse about mental health in the music industry.
Even though he named it after the much-lauded musician who faced highly publicized mental health struggles, Page says he was actually not a great fan of the Beach Boys before then, considering them "lightweight and not as musically evolved." He changed his tune after a classmate made him a mixtape.
Page said he always felt Wilson was depicted in the press as a "rock 'n' roll casualty" and wanted to bring more empathy and nuance to discussions of mental health in rock music.
"Even then, as a teenager I could hear in the music this kind of struggle between light and dark and that really appealed to me," said Page, who split with Barenaked Ladies in 2009.
The tune became a hit for the band and a staple in their live set.
Eight years after it appeared on their debut album "Gordon," Barenaked Ladies recorded an album at the same L.A. studio used to make the Beach Boys' classic 1966 album "Pet Sounds."
Page says their producer at the time, Don Was, said he had a surprise for the band and introduced them to Wilson and his wife, Melinda.
Page says during that meeting, Wilson played them a recording of his rendition of "Brian Wilson," which appeared on his 2000 live album, "Live at the Roxy Theatre."
"It was amazing to hear this song that I wrote in my parents' basement when I was a teenager being sung by one of the most important composers in the history of mankind. Even if it was a joke, it was mind-blowing," Page said.
"At one point where I sing: 'If you want to find me / I'll be out in the sandbox wondering where the hell all the love has gone / Playing my guitar and singing and building castles in the sun,' he changed it to 'playing my piano.' He just turned to me and said 'I don't play guitar.'"
Page also recalls performing "Brian Wilson" with the Barenaked Ladies at a pre-Grammy tribute celebration honouring Wilson in 2005, when he was selected as the MusiCares Person of the Year. The group performed an a capella-style version of the song and was the only act that played a song not written by Wilson.
Page said the Beach Boys' harmonies were "hugely" influential on the Barenaked Ladies, which also boasted a five-man lineup. The Beach Boys, he said, gave the group "a palette to choose from that didn't really exist in music without them."
"On top of that, Brian's adventurousness in the studio — as far as choices of instruments, the way the songs can flow in and out of each other — those are the kinds of things that, as we matured as musicians, continued to excite. And still continue for me to excite and inspire me."
"He really is one of the greats. He is like Beethoven and Paul McCartney all mixed together," Page said.
Randy Bachman, former Guess Who guitarist and Bachman-Turner Overdrive frontman, also played tribute to Wilson in a social media post where he referred to the Beach Boys as being "like family" after playing several shows with the group in the '60s.
"They were the American answer to the Beatles. They wowed everyone with the songs, structures, vocals harmonies … We lost one of the greatest composers and messengers who took jazz harmony, put it to a Chuck Berry beat and made a new genre of music," Bachman wrote.
According to a post on his Facebook page, Wilson became an honorary citizen of Calgary in the city's famed white hat ceremony in 2011.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.
Cassidy McMackon, The Canadian Press
