Keener13.com - Jan Berry

Jan Berry - Surfin, Cars, Skateboards and Courage
By Scott Westerman

It began in the shower. One fall afternoon after football practice a group of University High Warriors discovered that the locker room acoustics were just right for doo wop harmonizing. The year was 1957 and it was at that apocryphal moment that Jan Berry and Dean Torrence first made music together.

Each had their gifts. Jan was the songwriter and studio magician. Music and lyrics flowed from his creative mind with an intensity that paralleled his soon-to-be writing partner Brian Wilson. Dean had the falsetto and an artists eye for color and structure that would lead to a legendary career as a graphic artist. But that was in the future when Jan, Dean and a group of California football buddies banded together as The Barons and performed at the University High talent show.

When I interviewed Dean in 1978, he told me that "cars and chicks" broke up the Barons after their one-night-stand, leaving Jan and Dean to play with the dual Ampex tape machines in Jan's Bel Air garage. Ironically, it was their friend Arnie Ginsberg who inspired the first Jan Berry produced record. It was "Jennie Lee", an ode to a stripper that was appearing at the local Follies Burlesk. When Jan went to a recording studio to press a one-off 45, an Arwin records exec heard the tape and promised to make Jan and Dean "bigger than the Everly Brothers". But it was Jan and Arnie who appeared with Dick Clark on American Bandstand. When the record was ready for release, Dean was on 6 months active duty in the United States Army. Jennie Lee went top-ten and Dean told me, "I was sure I had blown my one chance at stardom." Little did he know.

Show business, it turned out, was not Arnie's passion, and when Dean returned from the service, he and Jan went back to the garage in search of another hit. Every tale has it's turning points and for Jan and Dean the point people were Herb Alpert and Lou Adler. They were believers and put their creative muscle behind "Baby Talk". The record went number one in L.A. and soon Dick Clark was on the phone with an invitation for Jan and Dean to come to Philly for another Bandstand appearance.

Dean has always maintained that, "Jan was the business brain of the outfit. He signed us to Liberty records which was unique because it was run by a bunch of guys who grew up with Rock and Roll." Liberty would be the label that released the records forever connected with Jan and Dean. And it was in the wake of their first Liberty hit that Jan and Dean met the Beach Boys.

Dean picks up the story. "Since there were just two of us, whenever we played a concert, we had to hire a back-up band. We got connected with this Hawthorn group who was just getting hot on Capitol records We first met the Beach Boys in a classroom before the show and it was the beginning of a lifelong friendship."

Jan and Brian collaborated on "Surf City" and "Deadman's Curve". And that's Dean's tenor rising above the crowd on the Beach Boy hit 'Barbara Ann". But the relationship went deeper. While Brian is universally recognized as the studio genius behind the Beach Boys, he often credits Jan Berry as an influence who was right there with him at the cutting edge. Together, the two groups created the California surf sound that mixed Four Freshman harmonies with the rock solid studio musicianship associated with Hal Blaine's Wrecking Crew.

But Jan also continued his education, melding college courses in music theory with a science major that lead to his admission to medical school. In a piece that Jan wrote for Larry King Live shortly before his death, he said, "Recording studios and lab specimens, Dick Clark and bright classrooms. I couldn't get enough. I wanted to do it all...And through it all, it was my way, or the highway. Take it, or leave it. I'll admit that. Have I mentioned that I'm an Aries? "

As befit the legend, it was at the height of their fame that Jan and Dean literally crashed to a standstill. On April 12, 1966 Jan drove his Corvette into the back of a flower truck. Jan was placed in intensive care and eventually emerged from coma with irreparable brain damage. One of the more famous urban legends claimed that the crash happened on the same Deadman's Curve that was the inspiration for Jan and Dean's biggest hit. In fact, Neither Jan, nor Roger Christian, who also collaborated on the record had any particular spot in mind, although fans usually point to a tight corner near the Drake University campus that was the site of a number of fatal accidents.

It was then that Dean spread his artistic wings, founding Kitty Hawk, a graphic design firm that created some of the most dynamic album art of the 1970s, including the Chicago logo and LP covers for Steve Martin, Harry Nilsson, Linda Ronstadt, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the Eagles.

But Jan was a fighter. He began years of intensive physical therapy, regaining some mobility and tenaciously reconstructing his ability to speak, write and sing. In 1977, the TV movie "Deadmans Curve" chronicled Jan and Dean's life and times. And it was only fitting that the Beach Boys instigated the duo's return to the stage during the Boys 1978 Deja Vu tour.

There's a wall in my studio that is still lined with about 300 pounds of vinyl that constitutes my record collection. While the CD age has enhanced the technical quality of audio recording, I miss those huge LP jackets. One of my most cherished is the 1972 double Jan and Dean Anthology album. It's a true J&D collaboration featuring Dean's inimitable graphics, a treasure trove of live performances and some of the studio outtakes that give a tantalizing peak behind Jan Berry's creative curtain.

"The same tragedies can befall anyone, no matter who you are or where you come from—but the road home is a common highway. We can all share it." - Jan Berry, March 2004

A common quote from the rock era's greatest writers is that, "The music doesn't come from me, it comes through me." John Lennon said it, Brian Wilson said it, Billy Joel said it and Jan Berry said it. Close your eyes and listen to the chorus from Dead Man's Curve, the carefree comedy of Popsicle, and the towering production of Ride the Wild Surf, and perhaps you'll get a small glimpse of Jan's genius.

Even as he leaves us, we're again grateful for the eternal gifts he leaves behind.

Link: JanAndDean.com
Link: Jan Berry's Website
Link: Remember Me When I'm Gone - By Jan Berry

Scott Westerman is curator and co-founder of keener13.com a website that celebrates legendary Detroit radio station WKNR.