One of The Beach Boys Attended This Michigan College, 1960

If you're a music fan, you know The Beach Boys.
If you love classic Rock 'n Roll, you know their songs.

If you read biographies of groups and musicians, then you might know the answer to the question, “which member of The Beach Boys attended Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan?”

That would be vocalist and rhythm guitarist Al Jardine.

According to Al, via Big Rapids News, after he graduated from Hawthorne High in California, his family decided to move to Michigan. They settled in Big Rapids and Al began college courses at Ferris State for the 1960-1961 semester. He had a desire to become a dentist and went into pre-med and pre-dentistry, two courses of which Al was quoted as having “a lot of tough classes”. Being from the warm climate of California, Al was not prepared for a Michigan winter. “I almost froze to death going to biology lab. Seven in the morning, it was 30 below zero and I didn’t have the right clothes because I had just come in from California.” Even though the cold weather surprised him, he also said “I loved that area. It was beautiful.”

Rock history states that Al recorded with the Beach Boys on their very first tracks in 1961. In February 1962, he left the group for a year and returned to school to study dentistry, and was replaced on guitar by David Marks. After The Beach Boys began having hits, Al returned in 1963, around the time of “Little Deuce Coupe”. By the group's fifth album, Al was featured on the cover. Not long ago, I met someone who said he remembered Al from Ferris, which gave me the impetus to write this article.

By the way, that's Al singing lead on The Beach Boys' #1 hit “Help Me, Rhonda”. Listen to the song below and check out some photos!