Jan and Dean - Surf City (Live 1963)

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Jan and Dean were a rock and roll duo, popular from the late 1950s through the mid 1960s, consisting of William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 -- March 26, 2004) and Dean Ormsby Torrence (born March 10, 1940). They became associated with the vocal "surf music" craze that was later popularised by The Beach Boys.

Jan Berry and Dean Torrence, both born in Los Angeles, California, began singing together as a duo after football practice at University High School. Primitive recording sessions followed soon after, in a makeshift studio in Berry's garage. They first performed onstage as "The Barons" at a high school dance. With the Barons, Jan Berry was experimenting with multi-part vocal arrangements five years before he started working professionally with Brian Wilson.

Their first commercial success was "Jennie Lee" (1958), an ode to a local, Hollywood burlesque performer, that Jan Berry recorded with fellow Baron Arnie Ginsburg and which reached #8 on the charts. "Jan & Arnie" released three singles in all. After Dean Torrence returned from a stint in the army reserves, Berry and Torrence began to make music as "Jan and Dean."

With the help of record producers Herb Alpert and Lou Adler, Jan and Dean scored a #10 hit with "Baby Talk" (1959), and then scored a series of hits over the next couple of years. Playing local venues, they met and performed with the Beach Boys, and discovered the appeal of the latter's "surf sound". By this time, Berry was co-writing, arranging, and producing all of Jan and Dean's original material. Berry signed a series of contracts with Screen Gems to write and produce music for Jan and Dean, as well as other artists such as Judy & Jill (which included Berry's girlfriend Jill Gibson and Dean Torrence's girlfriend Judy Lovejoy), The Matadors, and Pixie (a young female solo singer).

During this time, Berry co-wrote and/or arranged and produced songs for artists outside of Jan and Dean, including The Angels ("I Adore Him", Top 30), the Gents, the Matadors (Sinners), Judy & Jill, Pixie (unreleased), Jill Gibson, Shelley Fabares, Deane Hawley, The Rip Chords ("Three Window Coupe", Top 30), and Johnny Crawford, among others.

Unlike most other rock 'n roll acts of the period, Jan and Dean did not give music their full-time attention. Jan and Dean were college students, maintaining their studies while writing and recording music and making public appearances on the side.

Torrence majored in advertising design in the school of architecture at USC. Berry took science and music classes at UCLA, and entered the California College of Medicine (now the UC Irvine School of Medicine) in 1963. By the time of his 1966 auto accident, Berry had completed two years of medical school.

Jan and Dean reached their commercial peak in 1963 and 1964. The duo scored an impressive sixteen Top 40 hits on the Billboard and Cash Box magazine charts, with a total of twenty-six chart hits over an eight-year period (1958--1966). Jan and Brian Wilson collaborated on roughly a dozen hits and album cuts for Jan and Dean, including the number one national hit "Surf City" in 1963. [4] Subsequent top 10 hits included "Drag City" (#10, 1963), "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" (#3, 1964), and the eerily portentous "Dead Man's Curve" (#8, 1964).

In 1964, at the height of their fame, Jan and Dean hosted and performed at The T.A.M.I. Show, a historic concert film directed by Steve Binder. The film also featured such acts as The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Gerry & the Pacemakers, James Brown, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Lesley Gore, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and The Beach Boys (whose sequence was later cut from the film, due to contract issues). Also in 1964, the duo performed the title track for the Columbia Pictures film Ride the Wild Surf, starring Fabian, Tab Hunter, Peter Brown, Shelley Fabares, and Barbara Eden. The song, penned by Jan Berry, Brian Wilson, and Roger Christian, was a Top 20 national hit.

SOURCE: Wikipedia

Category:

Education

Tags:

• pop
• rock
• surf
• california
• hotrod

[arcamadeus]

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has become a sick joke!

[John1948SIxC]

@arcamadeus It has never been much of anything. It is just a group of Detroit people who wanted to start a tourist attraction. There is no rhyme nor reason to any of their decisions.

[GeorgeVreelandHill]

Jan & Dean belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

They had many hits, fans and helped to create sounds that were legendary.

J&D and the Beach Boys created the California surf sound that helped to define the 1960's.

I shake my head at some of the acts already in the Hall.

Many did not do half of what Jan & Dean did.

George Vreeland Hill

[Dantallus9000]

Well there is a reason AC/DC joked about with regard to their own induction..calling it the "hall of lame"

[pmoyer50]

@John1948SIxC : I always thought the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was based in Cleveland, OH.

[slave4bbw]

I agree with both arcamadeus and GeorgeVreelandhill, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a joke! One example, the Flamingos had to wait for induction when other less than deserving were admitted. J&D should without a doubt be there.

[brahud]

Love these guys but even for the scene back then they were soooo cheesy. I've seen them live and really enjoyed their concerts..... but, come on, two guys and a microphone and layers of harmony parts without a band... clearly lip synch, and all about aesthetics. Tony Dow would have made a neat addition to the band!

[rolex452]

Uh Oh..."and when I get to Surf City, I'll be shootin' the curl, and all you got to do is just wink your eye...." THIS IS a live recording, all right. Great to see these guys again though!

[rockinrobintweets]

@John1948SIxC jAN was a musicail genious to the day he died, still worked on his craft, it just took him longer to conplete due to his disabilities, but speed dosent make you a genious, the final product tells the story. Jan isnt just a favorite singer to me, he is my heroe and role model, he never gave up. I was born with multi disabilities and when I have a hard day I know I can make it thru vecause Jan did. Greene makes it sound like Jan DIED iApr. 12, 1966 not March 26, 2004. POOH ON HIM

[rockinrobintweets]

@John1948SIxC So far as I know there is no in deph biography on Jan or Dean. Jan was working on an autobiograpthy , with the help of a writter when he died. I havent heard if the project was ever conpleted or published, last I heard they were tracking down documentation. There is a book called DEAD MAN S CURVE AND BACK by MARK PASSMORE. There is a lot the writter misses the mark on, IMO

[John1948SIxC]

@rockinrobintweets @OnTheWatch Good discussion guys. It does make me want to read the Greene book. rockinrobin do you know of any biographies that you can recommend. I think we can agree that Jan and Dean led way for the California sound and were a huge influence on the Beach Boys. There was some real genius there!

[rockinrobintweets]

@OnTheWatch Did Bob Greene play with the band in Ca. and what would be loccail areas to where Jan lived. If so, he should have SEEN Gertie , Jan s wife as she was there LOTS of times, to many pictures to dispute it. I didnt say Jan was perfact I saied he wasnt the broken sad lonely man with no life, other then the stage and I still say it. And Greene made it almost all pre accident verus post accident Jan, he didnt see JAN as a person or man so I cant like Greene or the book

[OnTheWatch]

@rockinrobintweets Thanks for your reply, your opinion is noted. However, I respectfully disagree with your premise. Greene is a veteran reporter, let's assume he’s one without an axe to grind with Jan Berry. What he wrote in Surf City is what he observed on the tours. I didn't get any sense the book was a hatchet job. Jan's determination re-learning lyrics again and again+Jan being difficult - we're all like that, it's human. Was Jan a good guy? No doubt. Was he a pain sometimes? Probably.