Jan was born in Washington, DC in July 1950 and has lived in Maryland all of his life. His parents, who were also musicians, started him on piano lessons at age 7. He played French horn in his Junior High and High School bands, studied harmony and arranging and learned guitar at age 14. This is when he formed his first band playing guitar. The bass player in the second band was drafted into the Army. At that point he decided that he would start playing bass and replace him. That was in 1965 and he’s been playing bass ever since.

Jan was in several bands those early years including; The Night Owls, The Coachmen, Adams Apples, Nobody’s Children, The Surf Boys, Tuesday Boots and Boones Farm. In the spring of 1967 he was offered a job with The Cherry People and played with them for 7 years. They recorded an album and had a Top 40 single - And Suddenly. They did many national TV shows including American Bandstand and Upbeat. When he left the Cherry People in 1973 he went back to finish high school in hopes of attending Berkley School of Music in Boston. He was sidetracked from this plan when an offer was made to him to join the Nighthawks in June of 1974.

Through his 29 years with The Nighthawks, He has played on every recording (over 20 albums), played thousands of gigs, and appeared on several TV shows including Homicide and HBO’s The Wire. He has met and shared the stage with many great musicians and singers.

Two of his most memorable moments were playing bass for George Thorogood at the Live Aid Concert in July of 1985, and, doing 2 recording sessions at The Record Plant in NYC with Jimi Hendrix in 1969.

He has been very fortunate to have played bass with great artists like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Neil Diamond, Jimmy Jones, John Lee Hooker, Elvin Bishop, Ben E. King, George Thorogood, Muddy Waters, Guitar Junior, John Hammond, Jr., Otis Rush, Jimmy Dawkins, J.B. Hutto, Jimmy Hall, Warren Haynes, Gregg Allman, Toru Oki, Treated and Released, and The Hubcaps (when Denny Cook was recovering from back surgery).