Earlier this year, Chris Cron — a Nashville-based singer who performs in the Beach Boys tribute band Pet Sounds Live — received a call from Beach Boys musical director Brian Eichenberger that left him nearly speechless. “He said, ‘Bruce is retiring,'” says Cron – meaning Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, who joined the group in 1965 and played over 6,000 shows with them in 61 years. “‘And we need someone to take his place. Are you interested?’ The offer didn’t make sense to me.”
For Eichenberger and the rest of the current Beach Boys touring band, led by founding member Mike Love, the offer made perfect sense. Cron’s Instagram feed is filled with viral videos of him recreating the Beach Boys’ harmonies from their heyday with uncanny precision and imitating each member’s unique vocal style. Pet Sounds Live brings that same commitment to historical perfection to concert stages across the country – and Cron proved his worth to the current Beach Boys lineup late last year when he stepped in for Christian Love on vocals and guitar at short notice.
But he never expected to be more than a temporary stopgap — let alone the permanent replacement for a classic-era member featured on “California Girls” and “Pet Sounds.” “People say, ‘You’re in the Beach Boys!'” Cron says. “And I think, ‘Well, I’m just a touring musician with what the band is today, so I kind of do.’ But it just feels strange… I don’t know what to think about it. It’s just fun. That was never on my bill.”
Grew up in Orange County
The road to this moment began four decades ago in Orange County, California, where Cron grew up in a household that adored the Beatles, Elton John and Steely Dan. “When Windows 95 came out, it came with a grainy music video for Weezer’s ‘Buddy Holly,'” he says. “And The Blue Album came out when I was twelve. This is the first album that I really felt was mine. Then I had a youth pastor who introduced me to British second wave ska. I really immersed myself in that stuff.”
In 2000, Cron founded the indie rock project Mêlée, which eventually signed a contract with Warner Bros. They toured extensively, including two summers on the Vans Warped Tour, and released three albums – first in the style of Something Corporate, then later “Elton John meets Keane,” as Cron describes it. But he never really found his footing in an industry that slowly died during their time together. The band’s last album wasn’t even released in America. “We withdrew it and tried to put it on other labels, but no one was interested,” he says. “I was just exhausted and burnt out. I told the guys I was quitting.”
Cron was a few months away from his 30th birthday, still living with his parents and deeply unsure of what his future would hold without the band. He found work at Cold Stone Creamery and a supermarket, got married and eventually decided to move to Nashville and start over. His wife worked in an office while he ran an after-school program at the Nashville YMCA and did occasional construction work.
Paramore, plumbing and new beginnings
At one point, he confronted Paramore’s Hayley Williams while doing work in her kitchen. Years earlier, Mêlée had gone on tour with Paramore as the opening act. “I’m in her kitchen now doing plumbing and stuff,” he says. “And I told her, ‘I don’t know if you remember this, but your band played for us once.’ She actually remembered and was really nice and warm. We talked about the good old Warped Tour days.”
Cron and his wife had a son, and a full-time music career seemed less important to him than a steady income for his family. However, he continued to give piano lessons as a side income and eventually found contract work with the Israeli software company Simply. Their apps Simply Sing and Simply Guitar help young musicians learn using AI feedback. “Instead of acquiring the licenses for all these classics, which would have cost a fortune, they decided to re-record everything,” says Cron. “So they hired me to sing a bunch of classics. One of them was ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’.”
Cron knew the Beach Boys’ big hits from his childhood, but hadn’t delved deeper into their catalog until 2003 – until he came across the “Pet Sounds Sessions” box set edition while recording Mêlée at Tiny Telephone Studios in San Francisco. “That was the time when we all had iPods – I would rip it onto my computer and then play it,” he says. “The set included all the instrumental versions and the a cappella vocal tracks. Our producer said, ‘You just have to go with it.'”
The viral video that changed everything
What he heard there took his breath away. “They went way beyond what two guitars, bass and drums, maybe a piano could do,” says Cron. “Clarinet, flute, glockenspiel and all of that in a pop rock production… It was just magical.”
Two decades later, after singing “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” for the Simply Sing app, an idea came to him. “I didn’t have any followers and I didn’t want to be an influencer or anything,” Cron says. “I just threw something at the wall to see what would stick. I thought, ‘I have all these tracks for ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’. Maybe I’ll just put a stupid video on how to sound like the Beach Boys.”
He posted it on April 13, 2023. “A few hours later, it had about 10,000 views – more than I’ve ever had,” Cron says. “When I checked back in, it was already 40,000. So I called my wife and half-jokingly told her, ‘I have a viral video.'”
John Stamos and the crucial contact
The video eventually got almost two million views, and he followed up with many more Beach Boys videos. A fan linked John Stamos in the comments, and he followed Cron. “I texted him, ‘Hey, thanks for following,'” Cron says. “He wrote back and we just talked back and forth. Then he introduced me to Brian Eichenberger, who lives about 20 minutes away. We drank coffee and hit it off right away.”
The video also caught the attention of Jeff Celentano, an occasional member of Al Jardine’s backing band who also fronts the Beach Boys tribute band Good Vibrations. He invited Cron to join him and fellow band member Jason Brewer for their new touring project, Pet Sounds Live. Their goal was to perform “Pet Sounds” true to the notes along with Beach Boys classics on the tribute band circuit.
“I met her through Instagram,” says Cron. “They said, ‘We need a bass player.’ So I bought a bass and learned to play. I had played bass on demos before, but that was basic punk stuff. Learning the Carol Kaye parts took me about a month, and the first few shows were a little rocky for me. At some point I had it all down and just memorized it.”
Irregular jobs, two children
But the appearances were sporadic, and Cron continued to take on random singing jobs – including Japanese commercials and parts for Swedish house DJs. He and his wife now had two children to support, and the irregular income meant that some months they were $3,000 in the red. Then the next month he earned enough for two.
He stayed in touch with Eichenberger, who had small children of the same age himself – the families became close friends. In spring 2024, Eichenberger invited Cron and his family to a Beach Boys concert in Kentucky. Cron was allowed on stage to sing along to “Kokomo,” and his children were waved in to dance to “Barbara Ann” – just like the fictional Tanner family did in 1988’s “Full House.”
Stamos, who has occasionally appeared at Beach Boys shows since 1985, also stayed in touch with Cron. “He loves bringing people together and helping,” Cron said. “At the very beginning, when we were talking, he asked me, ‘Did you get an invite to my birthday party?’ I thought, ‘What are you talking about?’ My wife and I then drove to his party in California. There were a few other guys, including drummers, who he had also met online. He just likes to give back.”
The call that changed everything
Cron had assumed that his contacts with the Beach Boys touring band would be limited to small guest appearances like the one in Kentucky – until November 2025, when they asked him to fill in for Christian Love on guitar and vocals at shows in Florida, including a series at the Epcot Center. “I took the family and we went to Disney World,” Cron says. “It was a surreal experience. Bruce was there and incredibly warm. He gave my son the advice: ‘You should go to college.'”
Johnston joined the Beach Boys 61 years ago when Brian Wilson’s original touring replacement, Glen Campbell, left after just a few months. With the exception of the years between 1972 and 1978, he remained in the band until the end of 2025. When he decided to retire, the baton was passed to Cron.
“You can’t replace Bruce Johnston,” Cron says. “I can’t even say I’m following in his footsteps because that doesn’t feel right. I’m just keeping his place warm until he gets back.”
Three weeks of preparation
Cron had just three weeks to mentally prepare before flying to Albuquerque in mid-February for two days of intensive rehearsals, running through the entire show over and over again. Tim Bonhomme handles most of the keyboard parts and helped Cron figure out where to come in.
“I essentially play supplementary parts on piano and organ,” says Cron. “On ‘Darlin’ I play the deep piano-bass figures doubling the bass guitar, along with the tambourine. And then I sing all of Bruce’s parts. So last year I had to learn Christian’s parts and then recreate the whole show – now with Bruce’s parts. And I’m still with Pet Sounds Live, so I have three different scores in my head.”
Mike Love and Eichenberger do the majority of lead vocals, while Christian Love and drummer Jon Bolton each have their own spotlight moments. Cron sings the bridge on “Surfer Girl” and takes lead on “Do You Wanna Dance,” as well as the “I wish they all could be California” hook on “California Girls.” And he’s part of the vocal blend throughout the night.
On tour with the family
The new job means Cron will be on the road for much of the year – especially as he remains active with Pet Sounds Live. But he rises to the challenge. “My wife’s eyes widened when I told her about the Beach Boys’ offer,” he says. “She said, ‘You have to do this. You can’t turn down this opportunity.’ I haven’t toured since my old band in 2010. At that time I was newly married and had no children. Now I’m really married [lacht] and have children. It’s a big step, but everyone is really happy.”
Amazingly, none of this would have happened without Instagram. “It’s just crazy,” he says. “For all the evil that comes with social media – and there is a lot of it – this is one of the bright spots. Besides, you couldn’t have planned it all. It’s just a happy accident, as Bob Ross would say.”
