Robert Allen Zimmerman was born 24 May 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota; his father Abe worked for the Standard Oil Co. Six years later the family moved to Hibbing, often the coldest place in the US, where he taught himself piano and guitar and formed several high school rock bands. In 1959 he entered the University of Minnesota and began performing as Bob Dylan at clubs in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The following year he went to New York, performed in Greenwich Village folk clubs, and spent much time in the hospital room of his hero Woody Guthrie. Late in 1961 Columbia signed him to a contract and the following year released his first album, containing two original songs. Next year "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" appeared, with all original songs including the 1960s anthem "Blowin' in the Wind." After several more important acoustic/folk albums, and tours with Joan Baez, he launched into a new electric/acoustic format with 1965's "Bringing It All Back Home" which, with The Byrds' cover of his "Mr Tambourine Man," launched folk-rock. The documentary Dont Look Back was filmed at this time; he broke off his relationship with Baez and by the end of the year had married Sara Dylan (born Sara Lowndes). Nearly killed in a motorcycle accident 29 July 1966, he withdrew for a time of introspection. After more hard rock performances, his next albums were mostly country. With his career wandering (and critics condemning the fact), Sam Peckinpah asked him to compose the score for, and appear in, his Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid - more memorable as a soundtrack than a film. In 1974 he and The Band went on tour, releasing his first #1 album, "Planet Waves". It was followed a year later by another first-place album, "Blood on the Tracks". After several Rolling Thunder tours, the unsuccessful film Renaldo and Clara and a divorce, he stunned the music world again by his release of the fundamentalist Christrian album "Slow Train Coming," a cut from which won him his first Grammy. Many tours and albums later, on the eve of a European tour May 1997, he was stricken with histoplasmosis (a possibly fatal infection of the heart sac); he recovered and appeared in Rome that September at the request of the Pope. In December he received the Kennedy Center Award for artistic excellence.


July 1966: He was in a serious motorcycle accident, and in seclusion until late 1969. 5/27/97: Admitted to hospital for treatment of a "potentially life-threatening infection.". February 1964: Dylan and three friends drove south from New York to see some of the US heartland. He insisted they stop unannounced to see poet Carl Sandburg in North Carolina. To his lasting disappointment, Dylan left after some ten minutes when he sadly realized he couldn't get the venerable man of letters to take him seriously as a fellow poet. 1/30/90: Received France's highest cultural award, the Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. 1/18/88: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bruce Springsteen at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York City. At the famous "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" concert, Johnny Cash introduced a song co-written by Dylan, describing him as "...the greatest writer of our time". Son Jesse Dylan is a director His albums "Time Out of Mind" (1997), "Love and Theft" (2001) and "Modern Times" (2006) were voted Album of the Year in the Village Voice's annual critics' poll. Borrowed lines from a Japanese book "Confessions of a Yakuza" for lyrics in the songs of his album "Love and Theft" - the author was apparently flattered by this. Hitchhiked from Minnesota to New York after leaving college, paying his way by doing odd jobs and sleeping wherever he could find space. Stopped at a courthouse along the way and legally changed his name from Zimmerman to Dylan (when asked later if his name was spelled like Dylan Thomas, he answered "No, like Bob Dylan"). Dylan's father owned a furniture store when young "Bobby" was in high school, and sent him once on rounds, to collect from installment-plan customers late on their bills. When Dylan returned and told his father "Dad, those people don't have any money," his father replied "Some of those people make as much money as I do; they just don't know how to manage it." The lesson stuck with Dylan. 1959: Graduated from Hibbing High School. June 2004: Awarded an honorary degree at the University of St. Andrews (Scotland). Dylan once visited artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol when he came to pick up actress/model Edie Sedgwick, whom he was dating at the time, and found himself the subject of Warhol's movie camera. Dylan responded by picking up an original Warhol painting and taking it with him "for payment" for being filmed, which he used first as a dartboard, then traded for a sofa (he apologized to Warhol in a press interview years later for his attitude). Said that when he performs "All Along the Watchtower," he thinks of it as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. Although Dylan was the song's original writer, Hendrix's cover is the best known version of the song. Although he avoids discussing religion now, Dylan said in a 1997 interview with Rolling Stone that he's no longer a follower of any organized religion. Although he is often thought of as just playing guitar, harmonica, and singing, Dylan is equally skilled on the piano, and he has played most instruments at one point or another in his 40+ years in music. On the album "John Wesley Harding," for example, he played all the instruments but drums and bass on most of the tracks. Although he continues to influence musicians today, perhaps his most significant influence was on other musicians of his own generation in the 1960s. Among the musicians he influenced to start writing deeper, more introspective material were The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Beach Boys, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Paul Simon, among many, many others. Ironically, when those he influenced were at their creative peaks in the late 1960s, Dylan himself was in seclusion (after a motorcycle accident) and he really had nothing to do with the "hippie counterculture.". Was a member of The Traveling Wilburys with Beatle George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra. Always something of a Casanova, he had his first steady girlfriend at 14 and was seeing as many as five girls at once by the time he was in college. In his book, "Chronicles," Dylan indicates that the reason he began starting writing songs were the works of folk-legend Woody Guthrie (he was obsessed with Guthrie's "hopped-up union meeting sermons"), mysterious blues great Robert Johnson (saying he evoked the "dark night of the soul") and certain songs by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (due to their "tough language" and their "resilience and outrageous power"). Won an Academy Award for the song "Things Have Changed" from the Wonder Boys (2000) soundtrack. He performed the song and accepted the Oscar via satellite due to the fact that he was on tour through Germany at the time. Despite his reputation as a "protest singer", he was never very active politically and very rarely rallied for causes. Although he did some work in support of the civil right movements and often fought individual injustices (most famously, that of 'Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter' ), many of his peers in the folk community found his apparent indifference to politics frustrating. His favorite movie is Tirez sur le pianiste (1960) by François Truffaut. At the The 40th Annual Grammy Awards (1998) (TV) he won a Grammy for best male rock singer (on "Cold Irons Bound"), best contemporary folk singer and album of the year ("Time Out of Mind"). Holds the impressive distinction of having had his songs covered by nearly 3,000 artists, including Jimi Hendrix, U2, Dave Matthews Band, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Cash, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Elvis Costello, Phil Collins, Bryan Ferry, Steve Hackett, Steve Howe, Emerson Lake and Palmer The Beach Boys, and My Chemical Romance. Despite rumors that he hates rap music, Dylan cites several rappers as having "brilliant minds" and, in his "Chronicles" states that he is a big fan of several Old School rappers, particularly Public Enemy, who were one of his favorite artists. Many see an early connection to rap in Dylan's music, particularly the song "Subterranean Homesick Blues". However, Dylan apparently dislikes the commercialism of much modern hip-hop and warned popular rappers that "sometimes less is more". Rode a 500cc T100S/R Triumph Tiger motorcycle upon which he famously crashed He has nine grandchildren - four from his step-daughter, Maria, one each from Jesse and Samuel, and three from Jakob Dylan. He also has a "World's Greatest Grandpa" bumper sticker that he proudly displays on his car. 11/16/05: Inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame for his outstanding contribution to British music and integral part of British music culture. Has a brother named David Zimmerman. Portrayed by Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Ben Whishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin and Richard Gere in I'm Not There. (2007). "All Along the Watchtower" is the song he's performed the most, with nearly 2,000 known performances. It is also, including Jimi Hendrix's performance of the song, the song that's been most frequently featured on film and TV soundtracks. In 1999 Steve Howe released "Portraits of Bob Dylan", an album consisting entirely of 12 of Dylan's songs. Awarded a 2008 Pulitzer Prize (Special Citation "for his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power"). He is the first rock or folk musical artist to win this prestigious honor. Resides in Malibu, California. Recorded "Empire Burlesque" as well as several tracks from his platinum selling "Bootleg Series" at the well-known Cherokee Studios in Hollywood. His Album "Modern Times" (2006) was voted the 8th Best Album of the Decade by Rolling Stone Magazine. He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts on February 25, 2010 in Washington D.C. for his services and contributions to the arts.