Dead Man's Curve: The Rock 'n' Roll Life of Jan Berry

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Acknowledgments ix
Preface 1
Prologue: Tuesday, April 12, 1966 3
1. Some Genius or a Very Clever Criminal 7
2. If Ricky Nelson Can Do It... 21
3. The Real Musician in the Bunch 34
4. Kids Swarmed the Aisles and Screamed 44
5. Good Things Happened Quickly 54
6. Pandemonium 64
7. Nevins-Kirshner Associates and Aldon Music 77
8. More than Most People Can Do 89
9. Screen Gems and a Righteous Trip to Surf City 101
10. A Surf Scene with Music and Medicine 120
11. One of the Finer Arrangers in the Business 138
12. Big, Fat Frothy Records 161
13. Pop Symphony 183
14. Easy Come, Easy Go 196
15. Crazy Hours, On the Run 206
16. The Death Instinct 218
17. Dead Man's Curve 231
18. Some Very Ingenious Stuff 251
19. There Is Promise 263
20. Impulse Disorder 282
21. Life Can Have a Higher Meaning 297
22. In a Carnival of Sound 312
23. Hitch a Ride to Hollywood 325
24. Music Is Power 337
25. Sing Sang a Song 351
26. Rock Drama 365
27. Aloha, America 378
28. On the Run Again, with Papa & the Bandits 394
29. WJB, Inc. 407
30. Chapel of Love 420
31. Second Wave 431
32. Cleaning Up the Past 448
Epilogue: Friday, March 26, 2004 454
Appendix A: Jan Berry's Chart Singles and Chart Albums as an Artist, Songwriter, Arranger, and Record Producer, 1958-1966 465
Appendix B: Jan Berry's Work as an Artist, Songwriter, Arranger, and Record Producer Outside of Jan & Arnie and Jan & Dean, 1958-1966 469
Appendix C: Jan Berry's Music in Film, 1964-2020 472
Appendix D: Jan Berry Timeline, 1941-1966 474
Bibliography 477
Index 487

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Jan Berry, leader of the music duo Jan & Dean from the late 1950s to mid-1960s, was an intense character who experienced more in his first 25 years than many do in a lifetime. As an architect of the West Coast sound, he was one of rock 'n' roll's original rebels—brilliant, charismatic, reckless, and flawed. As a songwriter, music arranger, and record producer for Nevin-Kirshner Associates and Screen Gems-Columbia Music, Berry was one of the pioneering self-produced artists of his era in Hollywood. He lived a dual life, reaching the top of the charts with Jan & Dean while transitioning from college student to medical student, until an automobile accident ended his seemingly charmed existence in 1966. Suffering from brain damage and partial paralysis, Jan spent the rest of his life trying to come back from dead man's curve.

His story is told here in-depth for the first time, based on extensive primary source documentation and supplemented by the stories and memories of Jan's family members, friends, music industry colleagues, and contemporaries. From the birth of rock to the bitter end, Berry's life story is thrilling, humorous, unsettling, and disturbing, yet ultimately uplifting.

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