Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. His parents, Abram Zimmerman and Beatrice "Beatty" Stone, were part of the area's small but close-knit Jewish community.
Zimmerman grew up in the mining town of Hibbing, Minnesota, to which he moved with his family at age of six This part of Minnesota is known by its inhabitants as "The North Country," hence the song "Girl From The North Country."
As a youth Zimmerman was a big fan of rock and roll, and he formed a rock and roll band, the Golden Chords, as a freshman in high school – he was the piano player.
A teenage Bob Dylan (known then as Robert Zimmerman) saw Buddy Holly perform at the Duluth Armory in Minnesota on January 31, 1959. Three days later, Holly died in a plane crash.
He briefly attended the University of Minnesota, where he began performing in coffeehouses as Bob Dylan. The former Robert Zimmerman told Playboy in 1978 “I just chose that name and it stuck.”
According to a biographer, he was a fan of Matt Dillon – the sheriff on the TV western Gunsmoke.
In May 1960, Dylan dropped out of college at the end of his first year. Six months later, he traveled to New York City, hoping to perform there and visit his musical idol Woody Guthrie, who was seriously ill with Huntington's disease in Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.
Bob Dylan made his first recordings at the home of friends Sid and Bob Gleason in East Orange, New Jersey on February 3, 1961. They were versions of "San Francisco Bay Blues" and "Jesus Met the Woman at the Well."
In February 1962 Dylan played harmonica for some songs on Harry Belafonte's Midnight Special album. He was paid 50 dollars for the session. It was his first professionally released recording.
Dylan became a regular in the folk clubs and coffeehouses of Greenwich Village. In the fall of 1961, after one of his performances received a rave review in The New York Times, he signed a recording contract with Columbia Records and released his eponymous debut album on March 19, 1962.
Initially poor sales led Dylan's self-titled record to be known around Columbia Records as ‘Hammond's Folly’ (John Hammond was producer of Dylan’s early recordings and the man responsible for signing the singer-songwriter).
When he arrived in Greenwich Village he called himself Bob Dylan, but didn’t legally change his name from Robert Zimmerman until August 2, 1962, when he signed his first management contracts.
Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" is often considered the first psychedelic recording.
Zimmerman grew up in the mining town of Hibbing, Minnesota, to which he moved with his family at age of six This part of Minnesota is known by its inhabitants as "The North Country," hence the song "Girl From The North Country."
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| Zimmerman family home in Hibbing, Minnesota. By Jonathunder - Wikipedia Commoms |
As a youth Zimmerman was a big fan of rock and roll, and he formed a rock and roll band, the Golden Chords, as a freshman in high school – he was the piano player.
A teenage Bob Dylan (known then as Robert Zimmerman) saw Buddy Holly perform at the Duluth Armory in Minnesota on January 31, 1959. Three days later, Holly died in a plane crash.
He briefly attended the University of Minnesota, where he began performing in coffeehouses as Bob Dylan. The former Robert Zimmerman told Playboy in 1978 “I just chose that name and it stuck.”
According to a biographer, he was a fan of Matt Dillon – the sheriff on the TV western Gunsmoke.
In May 1960, Dylan dropped out of college at the end of his first year. Six months later, he traveled to New York City, hoping to perform there and visit his musical idol Woody Guthrie, who was seriously ill with Huntington's disease in Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.
Bob Dylan made his first recordings at the home of friends Sid and Bob Gleason in East Orange, New Jersey on February 3, 1961. They were versions of "San Francisco Bay Blues" and "Jesus Met the Woman at the Well."
In February 1962 Dylan played harmonica for some songs on Harry Belafonte's Midnight Special album. He was paid 50 dollars for the session. It was his first professionally released recording.
Dylan became a regular in the folk clubs and coffeehouses of Greenwich Village. In the fall of 1961, after one of his performances received a rave review in The New York Times, he signed a recording contract with Columbia Records and released his eponymous debut album on March 19, 1962.
Initially poor sales led Dylan's self-titled record to be known around Columbia Records as ‘Hammond's Folly’ (John Hammond was producer of Dylan’s early recordings and the man responsible for signing the singer-songwriter).
When he arrived in Greenwich Village he called himself Bob Dylan, but didn’t legally change his name from Robert Zimmerman until August 2, 1962, when he signed his first management contracts.
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| Bob Dylan in November 1963 |
Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" is often considered the first psychedelic recording.
On July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival. He performed a set of rock and roll songs backed by a band, including Al Kooper on organ and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Dylan's decision to go electric was controversial at the time. Many of his fans were traditional folk music fans who were not interested in rock and roll. They booed and jeered Dylan's performance, and some even left the festival.
However, Dylan's electric performance at Newport is considered a pivotal moment in the history of rock and roll. It helped to popularize the genre and to show that folk music could be fused with other genres, such as rock and roll.
Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" is one of the first successful singles to be longer than three minutes in duration; the accompanying album, Highway 61 Revisited, is also arguably the first successful fusion of rock and folk.
Bob Dylan released the first rock double album with Blonde on Blonde in 1966.
After a serious motorcycle accident in 1966, where he broke his neck Dylan went into temporary seclusion to recover. It prompted rumors that he was brain damaged or dead.
Bob Dylan appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 31, 1969, the final day of the festival. The festival was attended by an estimated 150,000 people over three days. Dylan's performance was his first gig in three years, following his near-fatal motorcycle accident.
Dylan announced his conversion to Christianity in 1979. The evangelical Slow Train Coming was a commercial hit, and won Dylan his first Grammy Award. The tour and albums that followed were less successful, however, and Dylan's religious leanings soon became less overt in his music.
In 1997 he received the Kennedy Center Honors, the highest award for distinction in the performing arts bestowed in the United States.
Dylan performed in 1997 for Pope John Paul II in Bologna, Italy. At the time Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the current Pope, tried to stop the Papal performance.
Dylan recorded in 2000 the single "Things Have Changed" for the soundtrack of the film Wonder Boys, starring Michael Douglas. The song won Dylan an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
"Murder Most Foul" became Dylan's first #1 song in the US under his own name on any Billboard chart when it topped the Rock Digital Song Sales tally in April 2020.
Dylan became in 2008 the first Rock musician ever awarded a Pulitzer Prize. He was given the special award for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."
In May 2012, Dylan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
On October 13, 2016, Dylan was announced as the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Dylan was the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature since Toni Morrison in 1993.
The choice of Bob Dylan was unconventional because it was the first time a musician and song-writer won the Nobel for Literature. The committee noted he was honored “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”
His bull mastiff, Brutus, regularly pooped in actress Katharine Hepburn's flowerbeds when they were neighbors.
Bob Dylan said that if he weren't a musician, he would be a teacher. During an interview published in the February/March 2015 issue of AARP magazine, he stated that "if I had to do it all over again, I'd be a schoolteacher." Dylan added that he "probably" would have taught Roman history or theology.
Dylan announced his conversion to Christianity in 1979. The evangelical Slow Train Coming was a commercial hit, and won Dylan his first Grammy Award. The tour and albums that followed were less successful, however, and Dylan's religious leanings soon became less overt in his music.
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| Dylan in Toronto April 18, 1980 |
In 1997 he received the Kennedy Center Honors, the highest award for distinction in the performing arts bestowed in the United States.
Dylan performed in 1997 for Pope John Paul II in Bologna, Italy. At the time Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the current Pope, tried to stop the Papal performance.
Dylan recorded in 2000 the single "Things Have Changed" for the soundtrack of the film Wonder Boys, starring Michael Douglas. The song won Dylan an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
"Murder Most Foul" became Dylan's first #1 song in the US under his own name on any Billboard chart when it topped the Rock Digital Song Sales tally in April 2020.
Dylan became in 2008 the first Rock musician ever awarded a Pulitzer Prize. He was given the special award for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."
In May 2012, Dylan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
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| Dylan in June 2010 By Alberto Cabello from Vitoria Gasteiz - Wikipedia |
On October 13, 2016, Dylan was announced as the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Dylan was the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature since Toni Morrison in 1993.
The choice of Bob Dylan was unconventional because it was the first time a musician and song-writer won the Nobel for Literature. The committee noted he was honored “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”
His bull mastiff, Brutus, regularly pooped in actress Katharine Hepburn's flowerbeds when they were neighbors.
Bob Dylan said that if he weren't a musician, he would be a teacher. During an interview published in the February/March 2015 issue of AARP magazine, he stated that "if I had to do it all over again, I'd be a schoolteacher." Dylan added that he "probably" would have taught Roman history or theology.
Bob Dylan revealed to The Wall Street Journal in 2022 that he dislikes most modern TV, and only watches Coronation Street, BBC's Father Brown and some early episodes of The Twilight Zone.
Sources Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc, Artistfacts.
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