Beach Boy Wilson to Complete Gershwin Songs

Beach Boys songster Brian Wilson will put a gloss on unfinished tunes by revered Jazz Age composer George Gershwin. Gershwin’s estate tells the Los Angeles Times that dozens of fragments, from “a few bars to some almost finished songs and everything in between,” have been in limbo since Gershwin’s death more than 70 years ago. The estate had been casting about for artists to complete them, but the pick is a surprise.

Wilson says he's "thrilled to death” about the project, which he thinks will produce short pop songs, not the longer pieces Gershwin was known for, like Rhapsody in Blue. “I'm proud to be able to do it,” he says. “Hopefully I'll be able to do them justice.” The idea of a “Gershwin-Wilson” credit on a song it “a weird dream come true,” says an exec at Gershwin’s publisher. (More George Gershwin stories.)