John Stamos had to tell Mike Love a piece of tragic news.

The Full House star said that he was the first to tell the Beach Boys vocalist about the death of Brian Wilson, the band’s primary songwriter and Love’s cousin.

“I was with Mike, I got off the plane, and I got the text,” Stamos told the New York Post on the red carpet of the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Thursday. “I was like, ‘Oh boy, I guess I better [tell him].’ I said, ‘Mike, your cousin passed away,’ and his face went blank.”

Stamos said that he sat by Love’s side as he processed the news of Wilson’s death at age 82 on Wednesday. “We sat in the car for two and a half hours or so … He didn’t say one word,” the actor recalled. “And I didn’t ask him anything, ask him how he was feeling. I knew how he was feeling.”

Love and Wilson founded the band that would eventually become the Beach Boys in 1961 alongside Wilson’s brothers Carl and Dennis and their friend Al Jardine. Love served as the band’s lead vocalist and occasional saxophonist, while Wilson wrote and produced most of the group’s songs in addition to playing bass and providing additional vocals.

“You know, they had 80-plus years together,” Stamos told the Post. “They made beautiful music together.”

Wilson and Love were not always on good terms, however. The singer sued Wilson for defamation based on claims that the bassist made in his 1991 memoir Wouldn’t It Be Nice: My Own Story, which was ultimately settled out of court. Love then sued Wilson in 1992, alleging that he deserved songwriting credits on dozens of Beach Boys tracks that did not list him as a writer. Love ultimately won the suit and was awarded $13 million and retroactive songwriting credit on 35 songs, including “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “I Get Around.”

Love and Wilson later reunited for a 50th anniversary tour coinciding with the new Beach Boys album That’s Why God Made the Radio in 2012. However, the tour ended with Wilson departing the band under possibly contentious circumstances. Love continued performing under the Beach Boys’ name, while Wilson and Jardine proceeded to tour together several times.

Love shared a statement mourning Wilson shortly after the musician’s death was announced on Wednesday. 

“Brian Wilson wasn’t just the heart of The Beach Boys — he was the soul of our sound,” Love’s statement read. “From the first time we sang together as kids in my living room, I knew there was something otherworldly in him. His musical gifts were unmatched. The melodies he dreamed up, the emotions he poured into every note — Brian changed the course of music forever.”

The singer continued, “Our journey together was filled with moments of brilliance, heartbreak, laughter, complexity and most of all, LOVE. Like all families, we had our ups and downs. But through it all, we never stopped loving each other, and I never stopped being in awe of what he could do when he sat at a piano or his spontaneity in the studio.”

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A lifelong Beach Boys fan, Stamos befriended members of the group in the 1980s and performed live with them on several occasions, beginning with a Fourth of July show at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., in 1985. The Full House actor can be seen in the video for the group’s 1988 hit “Kokomo,” and recorded vocals for the 1992 version of their song “Forever.”

Stamos told PEOPLE about one of his fondest memories of Wilson at the Songwriters Hall of Fame event. “We were on tour in Canada, and Mike was gonna miss about five shows, so Brian came out, and he was in great shape,” the actor remembered. “We finished the show and he wanted to play piano. And there was a hotel — we were at the Four Seasons in Montreal, and we broke into a ballroom that had a piano. Got the key, opened the piano, and we sat there for about two hours. He sat at the piano and sang and wrote songs.”

The actor emphasized the band’s importance to him. “The Beach Boys are everything to me, and Brian’s passing yesterday was just such a blow,” he said. “Without Brian Wilson, life would be a mistake.”