Jeffrey Foskett (February 17, 1956 – December 11, 2023) was an American guitarist and singer, best known as a touring and studio musician for Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys since the 1980s. Foskett was described as the Beach Boys'"vice principal" by its touring members.
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| The Pranks |
Born and raised in San Jose, California, Foskett began his first band in the 1970s known as Cherry, after the Willow Glen area street on which he lived. Foskett played mostly surf music covers in the same market as Papa Doo Run Run, with whom Foskett would join forces later. In the late 1970s, Foskett formed two renowned bands: The Reverie Rhythm Rockers (aka Reverie) and The Pranks while attending UCSB in Santa Barbara, California, gigging throughout the area with fellow area bands like D. B. Cooper. The band held a house residency at The Troubadore Nightclub in Hollywood Mondays performing with The Mentors, The Cretones, The Police and 20/20.
Foskett became a fan of the Beach Boys after he heard "I Get Around" and became determined to meet Brian Wilson. In 1976, Foskett tracked down Wilson's house in Bel Air, which had a stained-glass window resembling the artwork of the 1967 album Wild Honey. After knocking on Wilson's door, he was greeted by a friendly Wilson and quickly invited into his house as a guest. The two then kept in contact over the years.
In late 1979, Wilson's cousin Mike Love stopped by the famous Santa Barbara restaurant "1129" where Reverie was the house band. Love listened to Foskett and hired Reverie as the original incarnation of The Endless Summer Beach Band. The band toured with Love through December 1981, when Foskett replaced Wilson's brother Carl Wilson who briefly left The Beach Boys to pursue a solo career. When Carl rejoined the Beach Boys in May 1982, Foskett was asked to stay to perform Wilson's falsetto parts, which he did until 1990.In 1996, Foskett debuted as a solo artist with the album Thru My Window.
When Brian Wilson returned to touring in the late 1990s, he asked Foskett to help him assemble his touring band. Foskett was the musical director, appearing at every solo show Wilson had performed, up until he departed from Wilson's band. In concerts, Foskett provided lead vocals on several of Wilson's songs, including "Don't Worry Baby", "The Warmth Of The Sun" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" as well as others. Foskett has appeared as guitarist/vocalist/arranger on a majority of Wilson's solo material, including the 2004 version of SMiLE.
In 2012, Foskett joined the Beach Boys' live band on their 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour, providing lead vocals on "Don't Worry Baby", "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" as well as singing all of the falsetto vocals. He subsequently recorded the studio album That's Why God Made the Radio alongside the band, performing all of the falsetto vocal parts as well as other vocals on the record.
Foskett left the touring band in late 2013, citing a sudden heavy workload on touring and recording the album. Foskett said “ I was completely stressed and burned out after a whole year, recording that album and that tour. I kind of snapped and just said, ‘I can’t do this anymore'. Foskett was replaced by Matt Jardine, who joined Wilson along with his father and founding member Al Jardine on his tours. On May 15, 2014, it was announced that Foskett would be re-joining the Beach Boys as a permanent member of the touring band. Foskett also performed on Love's solo albums Unleash the Love (2017) and Reason for the Season (2018).
In early 2019, Foskett took leave from the Beach Boys due to undergoing throat surgery. In late 2019, Foskett announced that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 anaplastic thyroid cancer in early 2018 and that his falsetto vocal range had heavily deteriorated as a result of several surgeries and treatments on his vocal cords. In addition, he said he would release his next album Voices, which he said may be his last album as a solo artist, on November 22, 2019, though added that he would also continue as a live musician and possibly explore doing record production work.
In addition to The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson, Foskett toured and recorded with other friends in the music industry such as Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers, Christopher Cross, Michael McDonald, Chicago, America, Heart, Roger McGuinn, Eric Carmen, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Ringo Starr. Jeff is one of a very few artists who has recorded and performed live with each of three guitar greats Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton. He also produced other artists including Harry Shearer of Spinal Tap and Micky Dolenz of The Monkees.
On
December 11, 2023, Foskett died from anaplastic thyroid cancer, at the age of
67.
(Edited from Wikipedia)