Bob Dylan Biography

Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, Dylan took on the name ‘Bob Dylan’, after the poet Dylan Thomas.

Dylan moved to New York in 1960 and quickly became immersed in the music world and, after The New York Times gave him a very positive review for one of his performances in 1961, Dylan was able to sign a recording contract with Columbia Records.

His first album, ‘Bob Dylan’, was released in 1962 but it was the 1963 release of ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ that really began to mark Dylan out as an original and very special talent. The album contained ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ and ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’.

Dylan’s reputation was consolidated with his next album, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’.

Dylan’s songs were closely linked to the 1960s protest movements, and this connection became more apparent in 1963, with Dylan’s relationship with Joan Baez, an established singer of the protest movement.

However, while Dylan’s fame rose, he became tired of being type-cast into the role of folk-singer of the protest movement and, in 1964, he released the album ‘Another Side of Bob Dylan’, which was a less politically motivated and far more introspective album.

Dylan continued to try new styles and in 1965 he released ‘Bringing It All Back Home’, a half-acoustic, half-electric style.

Dylan’s new styles were not always supported by his old followers and in 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, he was booed while on stage. This did not stop Dylan and, over the next three decades, he continued to reinvent himself, producing some of his most innovative work.

Dylan also branched out into film and in 1973 appeared in ‘Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid’. However, music was the most memorable contribution Dylan made to this film, writing the sound track ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’.

In 1974, after having suffered a near-fatal accident, Dylan released a new album, ‘Planet Waves’ which became his first No.1 album. His next album, ‘Blood on the Tracks and Desire’, also shot straight to No.1.

In 1979, Dylan declared himself a born-again Christian, which inspired the song ‘Slow Train’. This song won Dylan his first Grammy Award.

In 1989, Dylan was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and, in 1997, he became the first rock star ever to receive Kennedy Center Honors.

While some had thought Dylan was passed it, his 1997 album, ‘Time Out of Mind’, won him three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.

In 2000, he recorded the single 'Things Have Changed', for the soundtrack of the film ‘Wonder Boys’, which won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Dylan married Sara Lowndes in 1965 but they divorced in 1977. They have four children.