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Jan & Dean's Beach Party to perform at the Bankhead Theater.

The familiar sounds of 1960s California surf music will fill the Bankhead Theater when “Jan and Dean’s Beach Party” arrives on Friday evening, April 3, 2015. Old favorites such as “Barbara Ann,” “Little Old Lady from Pasadena” and their iconic number one hit “Surf City” will be joined by a dose of hot rod classics from the same era.

Jan Berry and Dean Torrence became friends while playing on the football team at University High School in Los Angeles, where they also sang for an informal club. Just a few years later, they were appearing on American Bandstand as Jan & Dean. Their first hit, a doo wop single “Baby Talk,” made it into the Top 10 in 1959. The pair met the newly-formed Beach Boys in 1962 and the two groups began to perform together. They took the lead in promoting a new style of infectious pop music that idolized the Southern California lifestyle and was filled with talk of surfing, cars, girls and fun.

One of Jan & Dean’s 14 gold records, “Surf City’ became the first surf music record to hit number one on the American charts, turning listeners across the country into lifelong fans. Over the next couple years, Jan & Dean released several popular albums such as “Drag City,” which included another of their biggest hits, “Deadman’s Curve.”

By 1966, the pair were in the midst of a number of projects. Berry had also established a reputation as a talented music producer, when he sustained a near fatal car crash bringing their performing days to an abrupt halt.

Through the years, Berry and Torrence stayed close. In the 1980's, they returned to the stage as “Jan & Dean,” even appearing occasionally with the Beach Boys until Berry's death in 2004. Since then Torrence, together with a handpicked band of musicians, has carried on Jan & Dean’s musical legacy with shows that feature their greatest hits, as well as those of the Beach Boys, hot-rod songs and other favorite tunes from the era.

Coming up in the next two months at the Bankhead Theater are events honoring some of the greatest music of the 1970s. “Hotel California: A Salute to the Eagles” on April 18 brings back the classic rock sound that put the Eagles in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with songs such as “Take it Easy” and “Heartache Tonight.” Classic Albums Live returns on April 25 with their note-for-note, cut-for-cut recreation of Pink Floyd’s masterpiece “Dark Side of the Moon,” and on May 8 “Almost Elton John” delivers tribute to the living legend and his decade-spanning catalog of hits including “Crocodile Rock,” “Benny and the Jets,” and “Candle in the Wind.”

The Bankhead Theater is located at 2400 First Street in downtown Livermore. Tickets may be purchased at the box office, online at www.bankheadtheater.org or by calling 373-6800.