Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet and painter. He has been a major figure in music for five decades and has had immense influence on popular music. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of his early songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving his initial base in the culture of folk music behind, Dylan proceeded to revolutionize perceptions of the limits of popular music in 1965 with the six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone".
His lyrics incorporated a variety of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed hugely to the then burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the songs of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, and the performance styles of Buddy Holly and Little Richard, Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres. His recording career, spanning fifty years, has explored numerous distinct traditions in American song—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly, to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing.
Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards, and harmonica. Backed by a changing line-up of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, but his greatest contribution is generally considered to be his songwriting.
Since 1994, Dylan has published three books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. As a songwriter and musician, Dylan has received numerous awards over the years including Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards; he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2008, a road called the Bob Dylan Pathway was opened in the singer's honor in his birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota. The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2008 awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."
Biography[]
Bob Dylan is considered one of the most influential induviduals music history; he's written songs that have been covered by many, many bands, and has had quite a few films about him. He's got many famous and not-so-famous admirers and is still going strong.
Discography[]
Albums[]
- Bob Dylan
- The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
- The Times They Are A-Changin'
- Another Side Of Bob Dylan
- Bringing It All Back Home
- Highway 61 Revisited
- Blonde On Blonde
- Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits
- John Wesley Harding
- Nashville Skyline
- Self Portrait
- New Morning
- Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. Ii
- Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid
- Dylan
- Planet Waves
- Before The Flood
- Blood On The Tracks
- The Basement Tapes
- Desire
- Hard Rain
- Street-Legal
- Bob Dylan At Budokan
- Slow Train Coming
- Saved
- Shot Of Love
- Infidels
- Real Live
- Empire Burlesque
- Biograph
- Knocked Out Loaded
- Down In The Groove
- Dylan & The Dead
- Oh Mercy
- Under The Red Sky
- The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased)
- Good As I Been To You
- The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration
- World Gone Wrong
- Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3
- Mtv Unplugged
- Time Out Of Mind
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert
- The Essential Bob Dylan
- Love And Theft
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert At Philharmonic Hall
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack
- Live At The Gaslight 1962
- The Best Of Bob Dylan