Jan and Dean

The group continued to tour until Berry's death in March, 2004, with 1960s nostalgia providing them with a ready audience. On July 29, 2004, she made a short speech and sang at the Democratic National Convention, about two hours before Kerry made his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for President. As a result, the group did not perform again until 1973, and made an official comeback in 1978 on tour with the Beach Boys. In 2003 she began campaigning for John Kerry, first in the Democratic primaries and then, after he won those, in the general election. Early in 1966 Jan was involved in a serious motor vehicle accident, resulting in severe head injuries. King is very politically active in the United States Democratic Party. Subsequent hits included "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" (1964) and the eerily portentous "Dead Man's Curve" (1964). She returned to music in 1989, recording City Streets, followed by Color of Your Dreams (1993), with a guest appearance by Slash of Guns n' Roses.

Playing local venues, they met and performed with the Beach Boys, and discovered the appeal of the latter's "surf sound".With considerable help from Brian Wilson, they eventually scored a number one national hit with "Surf City" (1963). Retiring to Idaho, King became an environmental activist after releasing a collection called Speeding Time in 1983. With the help of friend Herb Alpert and producer Lou Adler, they scored a modest hit with Baby Talk (1959), and then entered a long dry spell. She married another songwriting partner, Rick Evers, after releasing Simple Things (1977); he died of a heroin overdose one year later. After Dean returned from an army stint and Arnie went off to other pursuits (by 1962, he was a hugely successful rock and roll deejay in Boston), the two began to make music again as Jan and Dean. Goffin and King reunited to write Thoroughbred (1975) with David Crosby, Graham Nash and James Taylor, a long-time friend of King's. Their first commercial success was Jennie Lee (1958), an ode to a local burlesque performer which they recorded along with pal Arnie Ginsberg. Music (1971), Rhymes and Reasons (1972) and Wrap Around Joy (1974) followed, each selling respectably.

They first performed on stage as The Barons at a high school dance. One of the critical albums of the singer-songwriter genre of the early 1970s, Tapestry remains her most popular album among fans and critics, and has sold over 10 million copies. Primitive recording sessions followed soon after, in a makeshift studio in Jan's garage. King then released Writer (1970), another disastrous failure, followed by Tapestry (1971), her best known and most well-received album. They began singing together after football practice at University High School in Los Angeles. Moving to the West Coast, Larkey, King and Danny Kortchmar formed a group called the City, which released one album, Now That Everything's Been Said but the album was a commercial failure. Jan Berry (April 3, 1941, Los Angeles -- March 26, 2004) and Dean Torrence (born March 10, 1940, Los Angeles) were a rock and roll duo briefly popular in the early 1960s as part of the "surf music" craze inspired by The Beach Boys. After failing several times at beginning a solo career, King eventually helped found a record label, Tomorrow Records, divorced Goffin and married Charles Larkey (of the Myddle Class).

She had a modest hit singing one of her own songs in 1962 with "It Might As Well Rain Until September." The pair had a daughter, Louise Goffin, who is also a singer. Future hits written by the pair include: "Take Good Care of My Baby" (Bobby Vee), "The Loco-motion" (Little Eva), "One Fine Day" (The Chiffons), "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (The Monkees), "Up on the Roof" (The Drifters and later James Taylor), "Chains" (The Cookies and later The Beatles), "(You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman" (Aretha Franklin) and "He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss)" (The Crystals). The Goffin-King partnership first hit it big with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", which topped the charts when released by the Shirelles in 1961. Goffin and King soon formed a songwriting partnership, eventually marrying, working in the famous Brill Building, where chart-topping hits were churned out during the 1950s and early 1960s.

Born in 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, Carol Klein (as she was then known) started out playing the piano and then moved on to singing, forming a vocal quartet called the Co-Sines in high school. While attending Queens College, King befriended Paul Simon, Neil Sedaka and Gerry Goffin. Carole King (born February 9, 1942) is an American singer and songwriter, most active as a singer during the early to mid 1970s, but a successful songwriter for considerably longer both before and after this period. 1970 - Writer. 1971 - Tapestry.

1971 - Music. 1972 - Rhymes and Reasons. 1973 - Fantasy. 1974 - Wrap Around Joy.

1975 - Really Rosie. 1976 - Thoroughbred. 1977 - Simple Things. 1978 - Welcome Home.

1979 - Touch the Sky. 1980 - Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King. 1982 - One to One. 1983 - Speeding Time.

1989 - City Streets. 1993 - Color of Your Dreams. 1994 - In Concert. 1994 - Time Gone By.

1996 - Carnegie Hall Concert: June 18, 1971. 1997 - Time Heals All Wounds. 1998 - Goin' Back. 2000 - Super Hits.

2001 - Love Makes the World.