If you listened to radio during the 1960s, chances are you heard a Jan Berry song or two. Jan was half of the '60s pop-music duo Jan & Dean. They were the other Beach Boys.
Jan Berry, 62, recently died after suffering a seizure at his Southern California home. His health had been precarious since he suffered brain damage and partial paralysis resulting from an automobile accident in 1966.
Throughout his difficult journey toward recovery as well as the day-by-day effort of coping with his injuries, Berry remained an inspiration to survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Along with his teen friend Dean Torrence, Berry placed several hits in the Top 10, including 1959's "Baby Talk" as well as five between the years of 1963 and '64: "Surf City," "Honolulu Lulu," "Drag City," "Dead Man's Curve" and "Little Old Lady from Pasadena."
The duo sold more than 10 million records, and when you go to their Web site, you'll find page after page of listings of groups that have covered their songs.
Steeped in the mythical surf, sun and sand culture of Southern California youth in the late '50s and early '60s, Berry delighted in spinning lyrics about a street-racing grandma driving a sleeper Super/Stock Dodge, or driving a "woody" to Surf City, where he envisioned "two girls for every boy."
In the California cultural explosion of that era, Jan & Dean were second only to the Beach Boys in critical and commercial success. Berry joined Brian Wilson in 1963 to co-write lyrics for several Jan & Dean hits, including "Dead Man's Curve" and "New Girl in School"; the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean even performed on each other's records until their respective record companies objected.
Berry's connection with Wilson inspired both artists to blossom into formidable writers, arrangers and producers. Each was a major influence on the other.
Jan Berry and Brian Wilson - working together and with their separate acts - were the founding fathers of the West Coast sound.
Berry's arranging and producing talents progressed rapidly, and as the surf-and-drag era faded, he took the act in new directions. Berry used the finest studio musicians in Hollywood to craft the stellar instrumental tracks that served as the foundation for his productions.
Onto this framework he added lush vocal harmonies. To fully appreciate the vocal complexity of Jan & Dean, one must listen to their album cuts as well as their hit singles.
Jan & Dean's meteoric career might have soared even higher but for the April 12, 1966, accident in which Berry's silver Corvette Sting Ray hit a parked truck in Beverly Hills. He car was travelling 90 mph. The collision occurred after Berry came off Sunset Boulevard, only a few blocks from the legendary Dead Man's Curve of their song. Berry was severely injured; his three passengers were killed.
Long before actor Christopher Reeve brought the plight of spinal-injury patients into the national consciousness, Berry was a high-profile example of the rewards of perseverance in the face of physical disability.
Although the accident, which put Berry into a coma for 10 weeks, initially left him unable to talk and walk, he regained - through determination and more therapy than any "undisabled normies" can ever imagine - the ability to walk and speak slowly.
Dr. Robert Waters, chief medical officer at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, worked extensively with Berry, beginning in 1969. "Rancho kept me focused on reaching my dream [of recovery]," Berry said. "Without Rancho and Dr. Waters, I never could have done it."
Berry's right hand and arm remained paralyzed, reducing his former instrumental repertoire from ukulele, guitar and many other instruments to one-handed piano. He had difficulty remembering lyrics he himself had written, and would go over them repeatedly backstage while listening to a Walkman.
But he was able to resume performing with Torrence in the late '70s, after a 1978 made-for-TV movie, "Dead Man's Curve," renewed interest in Jan & Dean. The film helped bring the pair a whole new generation of fans as well as paving the way for them to return to the road for live performances.
Jan & Dean returned to touring in earnest in the 1980s. They released a live album in 1982 and the "Port to Paradise" album in 1986. That same year, they became the first American rock act to tour China. In 1998, Berry recorded a solo CD, "Second Wave."
In the mid-'80s Southern California Rehabilitation Services launched the Jan Berry Center for the Brain Injured. It was established to offer a progressive alternative to traditional outpatient rehab for TBI survivors. With an unstructured fine-arts approach focusing on art, dance, music and drama, the Berry Center provides cognitive retraining in a sensory-stimulating environment.
Through the years I was fortunate to meet up with Jan Berry on three different occasions. The first was at a Thom McAn shoe store in the early '60s, when Jan & Dean were promoting a record called "White Tennis Sneakers That Are Black." The second was at a 1964 car show, when Dodge hired Jan & Dean - along with a "little ol' lady" - to promote their Dodge Dart convertible.
The third time was behind the Paramount Theatre here in Seattle sometime in the late 1980s. We'd both been through our accidents and, as we feebly shook hands, each of us understood what the other had been through.
Godspeed, Jan Berry. You don't come back from Dead Man's Curve.
Gary McDaniel is a writer living in Magnolia.[[In-content Ad]]
