Career
He was the manager of the Beach Boys during the early 1970s, and is credited with guiding them back to acclaim. He would also sometimes act as a co-songwriter with the rest of the band, usually penning lyrics. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was described by New Statesman as "a radio DJ turned career mentor." Although there are many books and articles about the Beach Boys, Rieley was rarely interviewed before November 2007 when he was interviewed by Flasher.com in relation to the documentary Dennis Wilson Forever.
The first seems to have been in summer 1982, for the United Kingdom fanzine Beach Boys Stomp. met Rieley, while promoting their album Sunflower, and hired him as their manager.
He wrote and co-wrote lyrics to several of the Beach Boys songs including "Long Promised Road", "Feel Flows", "Sail On, Sailor", and "Funky Pretty". He sang lead vocal on "A Day in the Life of a Tree".
He also narrated the bonus disc for the Holland album: "Mountain. Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale)".
According to Mark Holbcom, Rieley convinced the band to move their families and studio to Amsterdam for eight months in 1972 to record their album Holland, costing Warner and the Beach Boys a small fortune to produce.
Rieley quit his job as manager of the group after their return to the United States. Rieley died on April 17, 2015 while residing in Berlin, Germany.
