Carnie Wilson is still singing Beach Boys songs with her father, Brian Wilson, amid his battle with dementia, she exclusively tells Us Weekly.
“Over Easter, we were singing some Beach Boy songs for him,” Carnie, 55, told Us of the holiday she spent with her father, 81, and daughter, 18. “He couldn’t get over [it]. He said, [Lola’s] great. She’s great. I mean, she’s got a beautiful voice and just carrying it on. And that’s what she wants to do.”
Brian’s wife, Melinda Wilson, died in January at age 77, and the family has since filed a request for a conservatorship over Brian. Representatives LeeAnn Hard and Jean Sievers will serve as co-conservators to “ensure that there will be no extreme changes” to Brian, his household or his family, according to the filing.
“He’s very well cared for,” Carnie said of her father. “He lost his wife. That wasn’t easy. But his family is around him. His kids are around him. And he went to the Laker game. We’re going to go see the Dodgers. He wants to go to plays. He wants to go to Musso and Frank’s on Hollywood Boulevard and eat their famous Thousand Island dressing.”
Carnie says her father likes when the family sings Beach Boys songs together, even shouting out some of his favorites.
“We love to sing ‘Surfer Girl’ and ‘In My Room.’ Sometimes a little ‘California Girls,’ his favorite, and sometimes we do ‘Be My Baby,’ his favorite song ever by the ‘Ronettes,’” she said. “And yeah, I like to sing his songs to him. I think they mean a lot to him.”
Carnie is a product of her upbringing, spending 35 years as a musician herself and as a member of the band Wilson Phillips. She’s also set to host Sounds Delicious with Carnie Wilson, a show that will feature her cooking her favorite dishes alongside other celebrities.
“Music is in our blood,” she said. “And my grandmother on my mom’s side, she was a really good cook. So I remember that’s where the food part comes in.”
She added, “I pray to her today to be with me when I do this. She’s always kind of with me in the kitchen.”
Sounds Delicious with Carnie Wilson premieres on Tuesday, April 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on AXS TV. Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath will be her first guest.
