Author: Neal Umphred

Neal Umphred began collecting records in 1962, when he inherited his aunt’s collection of rock & roll 45s from the ’50s. His first loves were Elvis and Ricky, Fats and Chuck, Connie and Brenda, the Everlys and the Platters, etc. In 1964, came came the British Invasion and he fell in love with all those fab gear English beat groups like the Beatles, Stones, Dave Clark 5, Animals, Hollies, Yardbirds, and especially the Kinks (God save 'em!). In 1965, he heard the Byrds’ “Mr Tambourine Man” and nothing was ever the same. In 1978, he sold records as a dealer for the first time at a Rock of Ages show in New York City. In 1980, he sold his first records through the mail via ads in Goldmine magazine. In 1985, he was tapped for the position of writer and editor of the O’Sullivan Woodside line of record collectors price guides and nothing was ever the same, for him and for record collecting. In 1989, he launched Goldmine's line of price guides for record collectors. For the past three years, Neal Umphred has written extensively and often pugnaciously about popular music (mostly rock & roll) and record collecting for his own blogs, Rather Rare Records (ratherrarerecords.com) and Elvis – A Touch Of Gold (elvis-atouchofgold.com).