By Jeffrey Jolson

Among them will be past adversary and singer/songwriter Mike Love who said “Wouldn’t It Be Nice to Do It Again?  Absolutely!”

The Beach Boys, one of the truly seminal bands in popular music history, will reunite for a global 50^th Anniversary Celebration: Beach Boys Wilson, Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks will come together for a new studio album and commemorative catalog releases with Capitol/EMI and a 50-date international tour to begin in April with a headlining performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (“Jazz Fest”) as well as other events to be announced.

Wilson and cousin Love appear to have kissed and made up, but for years they were in contentious lawsuits against each other.

Love sued Wilson in 1992 to gain credit for his co-authorship of a number of important Beach Boys songs, winning $13 million in 1994 for lost royalties. Both parties said in interviews that there was no malice between them; they simply couldn’t come up with an agreeable settlement by themselves. However in November 2005, Love filed yet another lawsuit against Wilson and his management and lost.

The familial animosity spilled over into this 50^th anni tour as well. Last year Love told the  Las Vegas Sun “At this time there are no plans for my cousin Brian to rejoin the tour…We have had some discussions of writing and possibly recording together, but nothing has been planned…I..felt the need to clarify that there are no current ‘reunion’ tour plans.”

They seem to have settled differences and came out slapping each other’s backs this morning.  Love says, “We got together at Capitol Records and re-recorded ‘Do It Again.’  Brian and I wrote that song which went to number 1 in Great Britain, Australia and elsewhere some 44 years ago.  Brian paid me a compliment saying, ‘How can a guy sound that great so many years later?’ Later on, while working out some harmonies on a new song Brian had written, I got a chance to return the compliment.  It was a thrill to be around a piano again with Brian, Alan and Bruce and experience firsthand the brilliance of Cousin Brian’s gift for vocal arrangements. I am very much looking forward to David Marks joining us and thrilling with his surf guitar licks. Music has been the unifying and harmonizing fact of life in our family since childhood. It has been a huge blessing that we have been able to share with the world.”

Al Jardine says, “The Beach Boys were recently inducted into the California Hall of Fame. From our humble beginnings as brothers, cousins and friends, we have been honored to sing the praises of California, and I’m really excited for our fans to be able to see us again in concert on the world stage, and to celebrate our 50th anniversary together with a new studio album.”

Bruce Johnston says, “I will be looking forward to singing Brian Wilson’s melodies and Mike Love’s lyrics once again in concert with many of the original band members, but imagine what we all could come up with vocally in a recording studio atmosphere under Brian’s musical direction.”

David Marks says, “I’m really looking forward to celebrating this important milestone in The Beach Boys’ history with the other guys, and with Capitol Records – where it all began 50 years ago. It means a lot to me that we can all reunite and pay tribute to the fans who have kept the music alive.”

The Beach Boys have already recorded several songs for their new album, to be released in 2012 by Capitol/EMI, with more tracks to be recorded before its completion. The as-yet-untitled album, the first to feature all of the band’s surviving original members in decades, is being produced by Brian Wilson and executive produced by Mike Love.

Roger Faxon, CEO of EMI Group commented: “It’s no exaggeration to say that The Beach Boys are one of the greatest and most loved bands that the world has ever produced, and true American icons. We are incredibly proud to take this next step with them as our partnership enters its fiftieth year, and I can’t wait to see the band back together doing what they do better than anyone else.”