Bob Dylan

This article is about the musician. For his debut album, see Bob Dylan (album).

Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan standing on stage
Dylan in 2019
Born
Robert Allen Zimmerman

(1941-05-24) May 24, 1941 (age 83)
Duluth, Minnesota, US
Other names
Occupations
  • Singer-songwriter
  • painter
  • writer
Years active1957–present[2]
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1965; div. 1977)​
​
​
(m. 1986; div. 1992)​
Children6, including Jesse and Jakob
Awards
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • harmonica
  • keyboards
Discography
Labels
Websitebobdylan.com
Signature

Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan;[3] born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time,[4][5][6] Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60-year career. He rose to prominence in the 1960s, when songs such as "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. Initially modeling his style on Woody Guthrie's folk songs,[7] Robert Johnson's blues[8] and what he called the "architectural forms" of Hank Williams's country songs,[9] Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry".[4] His lyrics incorporated political, social and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.[10]

Dylan was born and raised in St. Louis County, Minnesota. Following his self-titled debut album of traditional folk songs in 1962, he made his breakthrough with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963). The album featured "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall", which adapted the tunes and phrasing of older folk songs. He released the politically charged The Times They Are a-Changin' and the more lyrically abstract and introspective Another Side of Bob Dylan in 1964. In 1965 and 1966, Dylan drew controversy among folk purists when he adopted electrically amplified rock instrumentation, and in the space of 15 months recorded three of the most influential rock albums of the 1960s: Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. When Dylan made his move from acoustic folk and blues music to rock, the mix became more complex. His six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965) expanded commercial and creative boundaries in popular music.[11][12]

In July 1966, a motorcycle accident led to Dylan's withdrawal from touring. During this period, he recorded a large body of songs with members of the Band, who had previously backed him on tour. These recordings were later released as The Basement Tapes in 1975. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dylan explored country music and rural themes on John Wesley Harding (1967), Nashville Skyline (1969) and New Morning (1970). In 1975, he released Blood on the Tracks, which many saw as a return to form. In the late 1970s, he became a born-again Christian and released three albums of contemporary gospel music before returning to his more familiar rock-based idiom in the early 1980s. Dylan's Time Out of Mind (1997) marked the beginning of a career renaissance. He has released five critically acclaimed albums of original material since, most recently Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020). He also recorded a trilogy of albums covering the Great American Songbook, especially songs sung by Frank Sinatra, and an album smoothing his early rock material into a mellower Americana sensibility, Shadow Kingdom (2023). Dylan has toured continuously since the late 1980s on what has become known as the Never Ending Tour.[13]

Since 1994, Dylan has published nine books of paintings and drawings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. He has sold more than 125 million records,[14] making him one of the best-selling musicians ever. He has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, ten Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award. Dylan has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2008, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power." In 2016, Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.[15]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sounes14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (December 12, 2019). "Bob Dylan biography". AllMusic. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  3. ^ His legal name, Robert Dylan, is enumerated in the following sources:
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference EncBr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "No. 1 Bob Dylan". Rolling Stone. April 10, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  6. ^ "Dylan 'the greatest songwriter'". BBC News. May 23, 2001. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  7. ^ Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One pp. 243–246.
  8. ^ Dylan, pp. 281–288.
  9. ^ Dylan, pp. 95–97.
  10. ^ "The Counterculture" by Michael J. Kramer in Latham, Sean (ed.), 2021, The World of Bob Dylan, pp. 251–263.
  11. ^ "500 Greatest Songs Of All Time". Rolling Stone. April 7, 2011. Archived from the original on October 31, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  12. ^ Rogovoy, Seth (September 27, 2021). "How Bob Dylan's greatest song changed music history — a deep-dive into an accidental masterpiece". The Forward. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021. Bruce Springsteen, who was originally touted as a 'new Dylan' when he was signed to Columbia Records, Dylan's label, by the same label honcho, John Hammond, who signed Dylan, said this about 'Like a Rolling Stone':
    'Dylan freed your mind and showed us that because the music was physical did not mean it was anti-intellect. He had the vision and talent to make a pop song so that it contained the whole world. He invented a new way a pop singer could sound, broke through the limitations of what a recording could achieve, and he changed the face of rock 'n' roll for ever and ever.'
  13. ^ Heylin, Clinton, 2011, Bob Dylan: Behind The Shades, The 20th Anniversary Edition, pp. 646–652.
  14. ^ Lenthang, Marlene (January 25, 2022). "Bob Dylan sells his entire catalog of recorded music to Sony". NBC News. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  15. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016" (PDF). Nobelprize.org. October 13, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2020.