About Dwight Rounds, author of The Year the Music Died

Dwight Rounds probably can’t name the bands or songs on the radio today, but ask him to name two No. 1 songs from 1964 and 1965 whose lyrics were written before 1930, and he’ll answer you faster than you can change the dial.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, and raised in northern California, Rounds developed a fascination and eventual obsession with popular music when he watched the Beatles perform live on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on February 7, 1964, the official launch of the British Invasion. Rounds began collecting every Beatles album produced, eventually branching out to other bands such as the Rolling Stones and the Byrds. By 1972, Rounds noticed a marked decline in the quality of music on the charts and began listening to contemporary pop music less and less. To this day, Rounds only listens to bands from 1964 to 1972, an era that has defined his musical taste.

Rounds has compiled his knowledge of his true passion—popular music from the 1960s and early 1970s—into his first book, The Year the Music Died (Bridgeway Books, 978-1-933538-69-3, $16.95, July 2007). This collection contains insightful commentary and trivia about the music from 1964 to 1972, including charts and ratings, information on music festivals and commentary on the social movements of the time. The book offers baby boomers a chance to rediscover the music of their childhood and introduce it to today’s generation of listeners.

Rounds received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from DePauw University in 1976, earned his M.B.A. from The University of Southern California in 1978 and was a self-employed CPA for 22 years. He currently resides in Austin, Texas, with his wife and two children. When not listening to music, Rounds enjoys following baseball and playing golf (once with Alice Cooper) and tennis.