Bob Dylan is one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the 20th century, known for songs describing social and political issues. He was born on May 24, 1941 as Robert Allen Zimmerman, in Duluth, Minnesota. As he went to college he started performing country songs, taking the name 'Bob Dylan '. In 1961, Dylan signed his first record deal and emerged as one of the most original and influential voices in American popular music. Dylan has continued to tour and has released new studio albums including Together Through Life (2009), Tempest (2012), Shadows in the Night (2015) and Fallen Angels (2016). The legendary singer-songwriter has received Grammy Academy and Golden Globe awards, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan and his younger brother David were raised in the Hibbing community, where he graduated from Hibbing High School in 1959. Driven by the influences of early rock stars as Elvis Presley ,  Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard (which he always imitated on the piano in high school dancing), young Dylan formed his own bands, including the Golden Chords, as well as a group under the pseudonym Elston Gunn. While studying at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, he began performing folk and country songs in local cafes. In 1960, Bob left university and moved to New York, where his idol, the legendary folk singer. Woody Guthrie , was hospitalized with rare hereditary nervous system disease. He regularly visited Guthrie in his hospital room, became a fixture in the folk clubs and coffee houses of Greenwich Village, met a host of other musicians and began writing songs at a stunning pace, including 'Song to Woody', a tribute to his sick hero. 

Bob Dylan Blowin in the Wind

In autumn 1961, after one of his performances received a critical acclaim, he signed a record deal with Columbia Records, wherehe legally changed his name to Dylan. Released in early 1962, Bob Dylan contained only two original songs, but showed Dylan's singing style in a number of traditional folk songs and blues song covers. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963 marked Dylan's rise as one of the most original and poetic voices in the history of American popular music. The album featured two of the most memorable folk songs of the 60s, “Blowin 'in the Wind” (which later became a huge hit for the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary) and “A-Rain's A-Gonna Fall”. His next album, 'The Times They Are A-Changin', confirmed Dylan as the definitive songwriter of the '60s protest movement, a reputation that only increased after becoming involved in one of the movement's established icons in 1963, Joan Baez. Although his romantic relationship with Baez lasted just two years, both artists benefited greatly from their music careers. Dylan wrote some of Baez's best-known material and Baez introduced him to thousands of fans during her concerts. In 1964, Dylan played 200 concerts annually, but had grown tired of his role in the protest movement. In 1964, a much more personal, introspective collection of songs followed, much less politically charged than Dylan's earlier efforts.

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