Mike Love

Mike Love is an American musician and singer from Los Angeles, born in 1941. He is known in two different strands of music: as a founding member and lead singer of the Beach Boys, and as a reggae artist from Hawai'i. He also performs with his band Mike Love and the Full Circle.

With the Beach Boys

Love is a founding member of the Beach Boys, alongside Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Al Jardine. He appears on every Beach Boys album and writes mainly with Brian Wilson, though he also works with Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine and producer Terry Melcher. He continues to perform with the group and, after Carl Wilson's death, tours as the Beach Boys with Bruce Johnston and a supporting band of newer musicians. He is the only original member in that lineup until the band's 50th Anniversary Reunion in 2012.

In 1988, the Beach Boys reach US number one with Kokomo, the band's only number-one single without Brian Wilson's involvement. The song is nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the Original Song category and also receives a Grammy nomination.

Solo work and Celebration

In the mid-1970s, Love records and releases two albums with Celebration, a side project that includes jazz musician Charles Lloyd, Ron Altback of King Harvest and Wells Kelly of Orleans. One of the recordings from that period, Almost Summer, becomes a top 30 hit and is co-written with Brian Wilson and Al Jardine.

He also records two unreleased solo albums in the late 1970s, First Love and Country Love. Material from those sessions later appears on Beach Boys releases, including Sumahama on L.A. (Light Album) and Daybreak Over the Ocean on That's Why God Made the Radio. In 1981 he releases the solo album Looking Back with Love, which includes a cover of Be My Baby produced by Brian Wilson.

Reggae recordings and touring

As a reggae musician, Love releases The Change I'm Seeking in 2012, followed by Jah Will Never Leave I Alone in 2014, Love Will Find A Way in 2015, and the Love Overflowing EP in 2016. His 2014 record reaches number 3 on Billboard's reggae chart. He describes his music as "revolutionary consciousness music".

Born in O'ahu, he grows up in Kalama Valley and attends Henry J. Kaiser High School. He tours internationally, including in the Philippines, New Zealand and Costa Rica, and headlines the Malasimbo music festival. In the United States he plays the Rise Up Music Festival, the Rhode Island Reggae Festival, Bhakti Fest and Think Bank Down By the Riverside in 2019, and is due to appear at the California Roots Music and Arts Festival before its cancellation.

Collaborations and independent releases

Love collaborates with Clinton Fearon on Fearon's album History Say and takes part in Playing for Change. He often appears with Mike Love and the Full Circle, a group featuring Sam Gonsalves, John Hawes, Keith Tsukamaki, Reggie Padilla and Arthur Davis. The band also plays a weekly show at Hawaiian Brian's on O'ahu.

All of Love's albums are released independently on his own label, Love Not War Records. His YouTube version of Permanent Holiday is a major part of his profile and has more than 20 million views by 2019.