Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, and grew up in Hibbing, where his father co-owned a furniture and appliance store. Influenced early by Hank Williams, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Ray, he acquired his first guitar at age 14 and played in high school rock bands. By 1959, just before enrolling at the University of Minnesota, he briefly played piano for Bobby Vee under the alias Elston Gunnn. At college, he discovered Dinkytown's bohemian scene, Beat poetry, and Woody Guthrie, prompting him to perform folk music in coffeehouses and adopt the surname Dylan after the poet Dylan Thomas. In January 1961, restless to meet the hospitalized Guthrie, Dylan moved to New York City, enduring a harsh winter while building a cult following at Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village. Benefactors provided support, and within months, he played harmonica on a Harry Belafonte session; his first major composition, “Blowin’ in the Wind,” became a protest anthem. He legally changed his name to Robert Dylan in August 1962. His second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963), established him as a key folk songwriter, followed by The Times They Are a-Changin’ and Another Side of Bob Dylan (both 1964). Dylan revolutionized music by transitioning to rock in the 1960s, infusing rock lyrics with literary depth and poetry, moving beyond romantic themes. He became the voice of his generation, with songs like “The Times They Are a-Changin’” fueling civil rights and anti-war movements. Over decades, he performed worldwide, sold millions of albums, and wrote over 500 songs, earning acclaim as the “Shakespeare” of his era and the greatest poet of the 20th century's second half. His career evolved through phases like the electric folk-rock shift, with ongoing influence into the present.