Jennie Lee
by
Jan and Arnie
Jennie Lee hit number 8 on the nationwide charts on June 30, 1958. Jan (Berry) and Arnie (Ginsburg) were classmates at L.A.'s University High School and aspiring musicians when one night they went down to the New Folies Theatre at 5th and Main In L.A. and watched a robust young lady by the name of Jenny "The Bazoom Girl" Lee do her act on stage and all the way home they thought about it and worked up a song about the star of that evening's performance. When they arrived at Jan's home Arnie had about 2/3rds of the words and the melody already written down in his head. The song "Jennie Lee" was actually recorded right there in Jan's garage and other parts were overdubbed in a recording studio in Hollywood. Through some connections they were able to get the song placed on Arwin Label and released for sale. How surprised they were when this "makeshift" performance with Arnie pounding on a cardboard box and singing mostly indecipherable lyrics made the nation's top ten in June of '58.
After a few more very minor hits "Gas Money with "Bonnie Lou" on the flip side and "I love Linda" with "The Beat That Cant Be Beat" on the flip side Arnie decided to Leave the music business and pursue a career in commercial art and graphic design.
Jan found a new partner Dean Torrance and they began recording as Jan and Dean and had a big string of hits in the late 50's and early 60's with surf songs and hot rod songs.
Bopper Bob Hennessey