Bob Dylan is one of the main personalities of pop music in the United States. He is not only a singer, songwriter, but also an artist, writer and film actor. The artist was called the "voice of a generation."
Maybe that's why he doesn't associate his name with the music of any particular generation. Having "burst" into folk music in the 1960s, he sought to create not only pleasant, poignant music. But he also wanted to create social and political awareness through his lyrics.
He was a real rebel. The artist was not someone who conformed to the existing norms of popular music of his era. He decided to experiment with his music and lyrics. And he made a revolution in genres such as pop music and folk music. His work included a wide range of musical genres - blues, country, gospel, folk and rock and roll.
The talented musician is also a multi-instrumentalist who can play guitar, keyboards and harmonica. He is a versatile singer. His most significant contribution to the world of music is considered songwriting.
In the songs, the artist touches on social, political or philosophical issues. The musician also enjoys painting and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries.
Bob Dylan's early life and early career
Folk rock singer and songwriter Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. His parents are Abram and Beatrice Zimmerman. The real name of the artist is Robert Allen Zimmerman. He and his younger brother David grew up in the Hibbing community. There he graduated from Hibbing High School in 1959.
Influenced by rock stars such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard (who imitated him on the piano during his school days), young Dylan formed his own bands. These are Gold Chords and the team he led under the pseudonym Elston Gunn. While attending the University of Minnesota, he began performing folk and country songs at local Bob Dylan cafes.
In 1960, Bob left college and moved to New York. His idol was the legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie. Woody was hospitalized with a rare hereditary disease of the nervous system.
He regularly visited Guthrie in the hospital room. The artist became a regular participant in folklore clubs and coffee houses in Greenwich Village. He met many other musicians. And he began to write songs at an amazing pace, including Woody's Song (a tribute to his sick hero).
Contract with Columbia Records
In the fall of 1961, one of his speeches received a rave review in The New York Times. He then signed with Columbia Records. He then changed his last name to Dylan.
The first album, released in early 1962, included 13 tracks. But only two of them were original. The artist has demonstrated a gravelly voice in traditional folk songs and cover versions of blues songs.
Dylan emerged as one of the most original and poetic voices in the history of American popular music on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963). The collection includes two of the most memorable folk songs of the 1960s. It's Blowin' in the Wind and A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall.
The Times Are a-Changin' album established Dylan as a songwriter for the 1960s protest movement. His reputation improved after he contacted Joan Baez (a famous "icon" of the movement) in 1963.
Although his romantic relationship with Baez only lasted two years. They have been of great benefit to both performers regarding their musical careers. Dylan wrote some of Baez's most famous material, and she presented it to thousands of fans at concerts.
In 1964, Dylan performed 200 shows a year. But he is tired of being the folk singer-songwriter of the protest movement. The album, recorded in 1964, was more personal. It was an introspective collection of songs, less politically charged than the previous ones.
Bob Dylan after the accident
In 1965, Dylan recorded the album Bringing It All Back Home. On July 25, 1965, he made his first electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival.
Highway 61 Revisited was released in 1965. It included the rock composition Like the Rolling Stone and the double album Blonde on Blonde (1966). With his voice and unforgettable lyrics, Dylan united the world of music and literature.
Dylan continued to reinvent himself for the next three decades. In July 1966, after a motorcycle accident, Dylan recovered for almost a year in seclusion.
The next album, John Wesley Harding, was released in 1968. The compilations All Along the Watchtower and Nashville Skyline (1969), Self-portrait (1970) and Tarantula (1971) followed.
In 1973, Dylan starred in the film "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" directed by Sam Peckinpah. The artist also wrote the soundtrack for the film. It became a hit and featured the classic Knockin' on Heaven's Door.
First Tours and Religion
In 1974, Dylan began the first full-scale tour since the accident. He traveled across the country with his backup Band. The compilation he recorded with the band Planet Waves became his first #1 album in history.
Then the artist released the famous album Blood on the Tracks and Desire (1975). Each single took the 1st position. The Desire compilation included the song Hurricane, written about boxer Rubin Carter (nicknamed The Hurricane). He was wrongfully convicted of a triple murder in 1966. The Carter case led to a retrial in 1976, when he was convicted again.
After a painful separation from his wife Sarah Lownds, the song "Sarah" was released. It was Dylan's plaintive but unsuccessful attempt to win Sarah back. Dylan rediscovered himself again, declaring in 1979 that he was born a Christian.
The song Evangelical Arrival of the Slow Train was a commercial hit. Thanks to the composition, Dylan received the first Grammy Award. The tour and albums were less successful. And Dylan's religious inclinations soon became less pronounced in his music. In 1982, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Rock Star Bob Dylan
Beginning in the 1980s, Dylan toured occasionally with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and The Grateful Dead. Notable albums from this period: Infidels (1983), Five-Disc Retrospective Biography (1985), Knocked Out (1986). And also Oh Mercy (1989), which became the best collection in recent years.
He recorded two albums with the Traveling Wilburys. Also involved: George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. In 1994, Dylan received a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album for World Gone Wrong.
In 1989, Dylan was invited to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And Bruce Springsteen spoke at the ceremony. The artist said that "Bob freed the mind the way Elvis freed the body. He created a new way of sounding like a pop singer, overcame the limits of what a musician could achieve, and changed the face of rock and roll forever." In 1997, Dylan became the first rock star to receive the Kennedy Center Honorary Badge of Honor. It was the country's highest award for artistic excellence.
Thanks to the album Time Out of Mind by Dylan (1997), the artist received three Grammy awards. He continued to tour vigorously, including a performance in 1997 for Pope John Paul II. In it, he played Knocking on the Heavenly Door. And also in 1999, the singer went on tour with Paul Simon.
In 2000, he recorded the single "Things Is Changed" for the soundtrack of the film Wonder Boys, starring Michael Douglas. The song won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Original Song.
Dylan then took a break to tell his life story. In autumn 2004, the singer released Chronicles: Volume One.
Dylan was interviewed for the first time in 20 years for the documentary No Location Given (2005). The director was Martin Scorsese.
Recent work and awards
In 2006, Dylan released the studio album Modern Times, which went to the top of the charts. It was a combination of blues, country and folk, and the album was praised for its rich sound and image.
Dylan continued to tour throughout the first decade of the 2009st century. He released the studio album Together Through Life in April XNUMX.
In 2010, he released the bootleg album The Witmark Demos. It was followed by a new box set, Bob Dylan: The Original Mono Recordings. In addition, he exhibited 40 original paintings for a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Denmark. In 2011, the artist released another live album, In Concert - Brandeis University 1963. And in September 2012, he released a new studio album, Tempest. In 2015, the cover album Shadows in the Night was released.
Fallen Angels 37th studio album
A year later, Dylan released the 37th studio album Fallen Angels. It features classic songs from the Great American Songbook. And in 2017, the artist released a three-disc studio album Triplicate. It includes 30 remastered songs. Also: Stormy Weather, As Time Goes By and The Best Is Go On.
Following Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe awards, Dylan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2012. On October 13, 2016, the legendary singer-songwriter also received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Bob Dylan was highly commended by the Swedish Academy for the creation of new poetic expressions in the great American song tradition.
Dylan returned in November 2017 with the release of the Trouble No More - The Bootleg Series Vol. 13/1979-1981. It was announced that his old recording studio in Greenwich Village (Manhattan) had been reopened. It was a luxury apartment building with lofts available for a minimum of $12 a month. After that, the door to his room at the Chelsea Hotel was auctioned off for $500.
In 2018, Dylan was one of the artists featured on the 6-track EP Universal Love: Wedding Songs Reimagined, a collection of classics from different eras. Dylan scored such hits as: My Girlfriend and And Then He Kissed Me (1929).
That same year, the songwriter also released Heaven's Door Spirits whiskey brand. Heaven Hill Distillery sued for trademark infringement.
Personal life
The artist dated Joan Baez. Then with singer and gospel icon Mavis Staples, he wanted to marry her. The artist has never talked about girls publicly. Dylan married Lownds in 1965, but they divorced in 1977.
They had four children: Jessie, Anna, Samuel and Jacob. And Jacob became the vocalist of the popular rock band Wallflowers. Dylan also adopted a daughter, Maria, from Lounds' previous marriage.
When not making music, Dylan explored his talents as a visual artist. His paintings have appeared on the covers of the albums Self Portrait (1970) and Planet of the Waves (1974). He published several books about his paintings and drawings. He has also exhibited his work all over the world.
Bob Dylan today
For the first time in 8 years, the legendary Bob Dylan presented his new LP Rough and Rowdy Ways to fans. The collection received many positive reviews from fans. In the record, the musician skillfully "draws" landscapes. The album featured singer-songwriters Fiona Apple and Blake Mills.
