Jan and Dean

The group continued to tour until Berry's death in March, 2004, with 1960s nostalgia providing them with a ready audience. Making no apparent effort to deflect attention from the dispute, the newly-dubbed Katrina and the Nameless failed to qualify directly from the fourth semi-final of the competition, and were eventually eliminated in a 'second-chance semi'. As a result, the group did not perform again until 1973, and made an official comeback in 1978 on tour with the Beach Boys. The group originally planned to claim the mantle of what had gone before by calling themselves Katrina and the New Wave, but the apparent displeasure of the original 'Waves' led to an abrupt name-change. Early in 1966 Jan was involved in a serious motor vehicle accident, resulting in severe head injuries. Years after the original band split up, Katrina formed a new group in an attempt to repeat her Eurovision triumph for an entirely different country - they were participants in the 2005 Melodifestivalen, the competition to select Sweden's entry for the song contest. Subsequent hits included "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" (1964) and the eerily portentous "Dead Man's Curve" (1964). In the United States, they had a hit single called Walking on Sunshine which is still played on most '80s radio stations.

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). Reacting to the group's Eurovision victory, with the song "Love Shine A Light", Katrina said it was the second landslide victory in a week -- Tony Blair had won the British general election two days previously. 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. Their lead guitarist is Kimberley Rew, formerly of the Soft Boys. 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. They are an American/British band formed in 1981 in Cambridge, England, and were fronted by American singer Katrina Leskanich until she left the group in 1999. Their first commercial success was Jennie Lee (1958), an ode to a local burlesque performer which they recorded along with pal Arnie Ginsberg. Katrina and the Waves was the name of the band which won the Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom on 3rd May 1997.

They first performed on stage as The Barons at a high school dance. Primitive recording sessions followed soon after, in a makeshift studio in Jan's garage. They began singing together after football practice at University High School in Los Angeles. 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.