By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
WORCESTER – For some, the recent death of Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson brought back forgotten memories of the band’s wild 1960s concert days in Worcester. There was also a reminder of song collaborations with former Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank teller Gary Lee Usher. The musician and co-founder of the 1960s famed California band died nine days shy of 83 on June 11, 2025, and received an outpouring of tributes and stories following the announcement of his death.
Photo/Wikimedia Commons
Fans stormed stage
One such story began on October 30, 1964, after a Beach Boys show to a sold-out crowd of 3,500 was abruptly called off after an estimated 500 youngsters stormed the stage of the Worcester Memorial Auditorium. They managed to perform for a total of 14 minutes, playing three songs: “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “Shut Down,” and “409,” the latter which was co-written by Gary Usher.
Reportedly, the audience consisted of mostly screaming (some fainting) girls from ages 9 to 19. According to a Worcester Telegram article written by Jack Tubert in 1964, “After only two bars of “Fun, Fun, Fun,” two girls seated in the $3.50 front-row seats (about $36 each in today’s dollars) started the rush to the stage, followed by six, eight and finally a wave of girls.”
The article further states, “Hundreds of youngsters without tickets to the Worcester debut of America’s No. 1 recording group appeared to be responsible for most of the trouble and for what officials termed ‘the most damage done at the Auditorium in 31 years.’”
Eleven off-duty cops and three Youth Aid Division officers ended the ruckus as 23-year-old bandmate Mike Love made his way to a young blind girl for a five-minute chat. Some vividly recalled their albeit short-lived experience on Facebook.
Jean Morton Johnson wrote:
“I was there. You too, Kathy.”
Kathy Bombard McCormick replied, “And my uncle took my cousin and I backstage and Denny Wilson kissed us.”
The Beach Boys returned to the auditorium four months later to an enthusiastic yet more controlled crowd. The Telegram reported, “There were screams, screams and more screams, supplied mostly by adoring and excited young females, but there was no repetition of last October’s near riot. The closest thing to an incident came after the show was over, as the five singers clad in short-sleeved shirts and tight chino pants, sprinted through a side exit to escape the crowd. A swarm of frantic teenagers tried to follow their idols, but a police line, bulwarked by two long aisle-blocking tables held firm and the crisis passed.”
Massachusetts native wrote hit song
Prior to both concerts, Brian Wilson teamed up with Gary Lee Usher to write the hot-rod classic “409.” Although he was born in Los Angeles, Usher attended grade school in Grafton and graduated from Westborough High School in 1957. After military service in Korea, he returned to Massachusetts and worked as a bank teller for six months. He then moved to the West Coast where he played in several bands before becoming a major figure in the 1960s California rock music scene, publishing over 150 songs, about a hundred of which were subsequently recorded and released.
While the Beach Boys were more about sun, fun, and girls, it was Usher who was more in tuned with the car culture for which many of the band’s songs centered around. He and Brian Wilson also collaborated on early classics like “Lonely Sea,” and “In My Room.”
In Mike Love’s 2016 memoir “Good Vibrations,” he wrote about Usher’s immense talent, how he helped Brian transform his feelings of melancholy and despair into stirring ballads and of his love for the 409 Chevrolet. He added that Brian Wilson recorded the sound of the car’s powerful engine as Usher peeled out down the street in his Chevy and used it to lead off the track.
Gary Lee Usher died of lung cancer in 1990 at the age of 51 in Los Angeles.
