{"id":2447281,"date":"2019-08-07T19:54:43","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T01:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=868888"},"modified":"2019-08-07T19:54:43","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T01:54:43","slug":"nicky-wonder-brian-wilson-and-wondermints-guitarist-dead-at-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/nicky-wonder-brian-wilson-and-wondermints-guitarist-dead-at-59\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicky Wonder, Brian Wilson and Wondermints Guitarist, Dead at 59"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nicky Wonder, longtime guitarist for Brian Wilson<\/a> and cofounder of power pop band the Wondermints, has died. He was 59.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with my deepest regret to tell you that our beloved Nicky Wonder passed away last night in his sleep. We are in a state of shock as you can imagine,\u201d Brian Wilson said<\/a> in a statement on his official website. \u201cBut we are going to honor him with tonight\u2019s show. Nicky was my favorite guitar player ever. I always loved the way he used his fingers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born Nick Walusko on May 22, 1960, he formed the Wondermints with Darian Sahanaja in 1992. He and Sahanaja were both fans of Wilson\u2019s work, long before they met him. \u201cWhen I met Nick Walusko, who I formed the Wondermints with, one of the first things we bonded over was Smile<\/em> bootlegs,\u201d Sahanaja told Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a>. \u201cWe got to know [music historian] Domenic Priore and a small group of us became the Smile<\/em> intelligentsia of that period.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wondermints released their self-titled debut album in 1995, followed by a covers album, Wonderful World of the Wondermints<\/em>, in 1998, 1999\u2019s Bali<\/em> and 2002\u2019s Mind if We Make Love to You<\/em>.<\/p>\n