Lydon, Michael J.

Michael Lydon graduated from Yale University in 1965 and embarked on a career as a writer and musician. He covered the Civil Rights Movement for the Boston Globe and then moved on to Newsweek where he worked as a staff reporter for the London and San Francisco bureaus. In 1967 he was invited by Jann Wenner to became a founding editor of Rolling Stone. During this period he experienced first hand the London music scene, regularly attended performances at the Fillmore and Avalon Ballrooms in San Francisco, and joined the Rolling Stones on a cross-country tour. In the 1970s he turned to singing and song-writing, and still performs regularly with partner Ellen Mandel. His first book, Rock Folk (1971), was followed by Boogie Lightning: How Music Became Electric (1974), Flashbacks: Eyewitness Accounts of the Rock Revolution (2003), and Songwriting Success: How to Write Songs for Fun and (maybe) Profit (2004). While researching his highly acclaimed biography Ray Charles: Man and Music (2004), Lydon traveled around the country interviewing Charles's friends and associates.