|
Jan and Dean were a rock and roll duo, popular from the late 1950s through the mid 1960s, consisting of William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence. They were pioneers of the vocal "surf music" craze that was popularized by The Beach Boys. Among their most successful songs was "Surf City", which topped both the Billboard and Cashbox music charts in June 1963; "Drag City", which was a No. 10 hit on both the Billboard and Cashbox charts in 1963; and their song "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena", which peaked at No. 3. "Dead Man's Curve", which reached No. 8 on the Billboard charts in 1964, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
In 1972 Torrence won the Grammy Award for Best Album Cover for the psychedelic rock band Pollution's first eponymous 1971 album, and was nominated three other times in the same category for albums of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In 2013, Torrence's design contribution of the Surf City Allstars "In Concert" CD was named a Silver Award of Distinction at the Communicator Awards competition.
|
