DEAN TORRENCE OF JAN AND DEAN: BRIAN WILSON GAVE US "SURF CITY" – "TAKE IT, IT'S YOURS!"

Dean Torrence was the blond falsetto-singing half of Jan and Dean, who hit #1 in the summer of 1963 with "Surf City." The excerpt below is from Torrence's 2016 autobiography Surf City: The Story of Jan and Dean. At this point in the timeline, the pair had been on the music scene for four years—their 1959"Baby Talk" single had gone Top 10—but they were in a rut and looking for something new. Enter ...

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