William Jan Berry

 William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 – March 26, 2004),

He was part of the music duo Jan and Dean. In the early 1960's, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf music styles popularized by the Beach Boys. Among their most successful songs was 1963's "Surf City", the first surf song to top the Hot 100. Their other charting top 10 singles were "Drag City" (1963), "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" (1964), and "Dead Man's Curve" (1964); the last was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008. Known for his remarkable intelligence (reportedly, his IQ was 180), Jan Berry handled his musical career while earning a degree in zoology at UCLA. Jan and Dean's meteoric career might have soared higher, but for the April 12, 1966, accident in which Berry's silver Corvette Sting Ray hit a parked truck at 90 mph in Beverly Hills after he came off Sunset Boulevard only a few blocks from the legendary "Dead Man's Curve" of their song. He was severely injured, and his three passengers were killed. Although the accident, which put him in a coma for 10 months, initially left him unable to talk and walk, through determination he regained the ability to walk and to speak slowly. Berry died at age 62, after suffering a seizure.