Trivia

He is the Jan of Jan & Dean.

Suffered severe brain damage and paralysis in a car wreck in 1966 but recovered well enough to resume performing with partner Dean Torrence in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

The car wreck, in which Berry was injured severely, happened on April 12, 1966. Jan was on his way to the Beverly Hills Hilton to meet with Bud Dain about forming his own record company, "Jan and Dean Records", which would have been a subsidiary of producer Lou Adler's "Dunhill Records". Jan had just come from his final appeal with the draft board concerning his draft notice. As usual, he was driving fast and, at the intersection of Whittier Drive and Sunset Boulevard, he smashed his blue '66 Corvette Sting Ray into a parked truck at almost 80 mph. An analysis of the scene indicated that one of the knock-off wheels on Jan's car had come loose, causing the collision.

Fathered a son, Steve, with a girlfriend when he was a teenager but allowed his parents to adopt Steve and raise him as their own son. When Steve found out Jan was his father, he became infuriated by the deception and never reconciled with him. Steve died of AIDS in November 1995.

Studied medicine during his early musical career and considered music a hobby even though he and Dean had become successful.

Is the uncle of Playmate Brooke Berry.

Can be seen in the audience towards the end of the TV movie Deadman's Curve (1978) which was a biopic of the story of Jan & Dean. Originally aired on CBS in February, 1978. It was a ratings winner.

Graduated from UCLA in pre-medicine (1963)

In 1958, while Dean Torrence was in the military reserves, Jan recorded with Arnie Ginsberg (not the famous deejay), producing three singles as "Jan And Arnie", one of which was "Jennie Lee" a top 10 hit about a burlesque dancer.

He was the son of Clara Lorentze (Mustad) and William Ladew Berry. His mother was a Norwegian emigrant, from Bergen. His father was of English, Scottish, and one quarter German Jewish, descent.