Al Jardine was born in the summer of 1942 in Lima, Ohio. His parents moved the family to San Francisco, California then to Hawthorne, where they eventually settled permanently. He attended Hawthorne High School where he graduated in 1960 and then later went on to attend El Camino College, where he met former high school acquaintance, Brian Wilson. At the time, Brian and his two brothers, Carl and Dennis were harmonizing and forming a musical group and Brian was quick to recruit Al to join. The group would go on to become The Beach Boys. Al briefly left the group in 1962 after becoming disenchanted with the direction the band was taking. During his separation from the group, he dabbled with a career in the air industry but found it wasn't much to his liking. He returned to the group permanently in 1963. He was often regarded as the shy, quiet member of the group with "elf-like" qualities. He currently resides in Big Sur, California with his wife Mary Ann and continues to work in the music industry, recording and touring extensively with The Beach Boys.