Jan and Dean
Jan Berry (born April 3, 1941 in Los Angeles , California ; † March 26, 2004 ) and Dean Torrence (born March 10, 1940 in Los Angeles, California) were a popular American surf music duo from the late 1950s .
history
As students, the two began performing with friends under the name The Barons . Jan Berry had a hit with Arnie Ginsburg in 1958 as "Jan & Arnie" with Jennie Lee , while Dean Torrence was doing his military service.
In 1959, Jan and Dean had their first hit with Baby Talk - and several more were to follow. Berry wrote and produced numerous songs for both Jan and Dean and other performers. The duo had their greatest successes when Jan Berry worked with Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys . This resulted in songs such as the No. 1 hit Surf City, composed by Jan Berry and Brian Wilson , but also a variety of other chart listings ( Dead Man's Curve, Sidewalk Surfin ' and others) and numerous albums for Liberty Records .
In 1964 Jan and Dean performed with 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 at one Concert in Santa Monica that was recorded on film.
On April 12, 1966 Jan Berry had a car accident in which he suffered severe head injuries; In a way, reality caught up with him from their 1964 hit Dead Man's Curve . In the meantime, Dean Torrence had recorded the concept album Save for a Rainy Day and had kept above water with other work, such as a studio musician and a graphic designer for record sleeves. The album first came out on Jan & Dean's own record label and was to appear on Columbia Records in 1966 . The international production started, small numbers of the Columbia LP have so far been booked for Japan and Great Britain. In the USA, the album with the already assigned order number Columbia 9461 was withdrawn before it was released. Columbia ultimately only decided to release the single Yellow Balloon . The album was only released again as a double LP in an expanded form by the Californian record label Sundazed at the end of the 1990s with numerous bonus material. After his recovery, Jan Berry worked with Dean Torrence on an interesting, to date not officially released, further concept album Carnival of Sound for Warner Bros. , but only one single Only A Boy and two other promotional singles were released by the company in 1967 were. It wasn't until 1978 that Jan and Dean performed together again. Here, too, there was a collaboration with Jan & Dean's "big brothers", the Beach Boys, who integrated the duo into their tour as a support act.
In 1991 Berry married Gertie Filip in Las Vegas , with Torrence as his best man. Jan and Dean's joint career ended with Berry's death in March 2004.
Discography
year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|---|
UK | US | |||
1963 | Jan & Dean Take Linda Surfin ' | - |
US71 (2 weeks) US |
|
Surf City (and Other Swingin 'Cities) | - |
US32 (20 weeks) US |
||
Drag City | - |
US22 (14 weeks) US |
||
1964 | Dead Man's Curve / The New Girl In School | - |
US80 (21 weeks) US |
|
Ride the Wild Surf | - |
US66 (19 weeks) US |
||
The Little Old Lady from Pasadena | - |
US40 (20 weeks) US |
||
1965 | Command performance / live in person | - |
US33 (16 weeks) US |
|
Jan & Dean Golden Hits Volume 2 | - |
US107 (6 weeks) US |
||
Folk 'N Roll | - |
US145 (3 weeks) US |
||
1966 | Filet of Soul: A "Live" One | - |
US127 (5 weeks) US |
|
1980 | The Jan and Dean Story |
UK67 (2 weeks) UK |
- |
More albums
- 1960: The Jan & Dean Sound
- 1962: Jan & Dean's Golden Hits
- 1965: Jan & Dean's Pop Symphony No. 1 (in 12 Hit Movements)
- 1966: Jan & Dean Meet Batman
- 1966: Popsicle
- 1966: Jan & Dean Golden Hits, Volume Three
- 1971: Jan & Dean Anthology Album
- 1974: Gotta Take That One Last Ride
- 1982: One Summer Night / Live
- 1985: Silver Summer
- 1986: Port to Paradise
- 1996: Save for a Rainy Day
- 2001: Live In Concert: Surf City
- 2010: Carnival of Sound
- 2017: Filet Of Soul Redux: The Rejected Master Recordings
Singles
year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | UK | US | |||
1959 | Baby Talk Jan & Dean |
- | - |
US10 (12 weeks) US |
|
There's a girl |
- | - |
US97 (3 weeks) US |
||
1960 | Clementine Jan & Dean |
- | - |
US65 (6 weeks) US |
|
We Go Together Jan & Dean's Golden Hits |
- | - |
US53 (7 weeks) US |
||
Gee |
- | - |
US81 (5 weeks) US |
||
1961 | Heart and Soul Jan & Dean's Golden Hits |
- |
UK24 (8 weeks) UK |
US25 (7 weeks) US |
|
1962 | A Sunday Kind Of Love Jan & Dean's Golden Hits |
- | - |
US95 (1 week) US |
|
Tennessee Jan & Dean's Golden Hits |
- | - |
US69 (7 weeks) US |
||
1963 | Linda Jan & Dean Take Linda Surfin ' |
- | - |
US28 (13 weeks) US |
|
Surf City Surf City and Other Swingin 'Cities |
DE45 (12 weeks) DE |
UK26 (10 weeks) UK |
US1 (13 weeks) US |
||
Honolulu Lulu Surf City and Other Swingin 'Cities |
- | - |
US11 (10 weeks) US |
||
Drag City Drag City |
- | - |
US10 (11 weeks) US |
||
1964 | Dead Man's Curve Dead Man's Curve / The New Girl In School |
- | - |
US8 (14 weeks) US |
|
The New Girl In School Dead Man's Curve / The New Girl In School |
- | - |
US37 (8 weeks) US |
||
The Little Old Lady (From Pasadena) The Little Old Lady From Pasadena |
- | - |
US3 (11 weeks) US |
||
Ride The Wild Surf Ride The Wild Surf |
- | - |
US16 (8 weeks) US |
||
The Anaheim, Azusa & Cucamonga Sewing Circle, Book Review And Timing Association Ride The Wild Surf |
- | - |
US77 (3 weeks) US |
||
Sidewalk Surfin ' Ride The Wild Surf |
- | - |
US25 (8 weeks) US |
||
1965 | (Here They Come) From All Over The World Command Performance / Live In Person |
- | - |
US56 (5 weeks) US |
|
You Really Know How To Hurt A Guy Jan & Dean Golden Hits, Volume 2 |
- | - |
US27 (9 weeks) US |
||
I Found A Girl Folk 'N Roll |
- | - |
US30 (7 weeks) US |
||
1966 | Batman Jan & Dean Meet Batman |
- | - |
US66 (5 weeks) US |
|
Popsicle Popsicle |
- | - |
US21 (9 weeks) US |
||
Fiddle around |
- | - |
US93 (4 weeks) US |
literature
- Mark Thomas Passmore: Dead Man's Curve and Back: the Jan & Dean Story. Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse Inc. 2003. ISBN 978-1-4107-5647-3
Web links
- Official Jan-and-Dean fan page (English)
- Official Jan-and-Dean website (English)
- Official January Berry website (English)
- Jan and Dean on History-of-rock.com (English)
- Jan and Dean at Allmusic.com (English)