Bob Dylan

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Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is a multi-awarded American singer/songwriter and an author who has been in the list of highly respected figure by artists of different genre proven by Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time where he ranked second. After releasing his latest studio album, Modern Times, he became the oldest and living artist to enter the top spot of the US album charts.

Contents

[edit] About

Born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, USA on May 24, 1941 to parents Abraham and Maria Zimmerman. When he was six, his family moved to Hibbing, Minnesota and spent most of his childhood there. During his childhood, he learned how to play the harmonica, guitar and piano by himself and he grew up and entered high school, he formed a band called the Golden Chords. When he graduated in 1959. he continued his studies in the University of Minnesota wehre he also began performing at coffee shops and clubs as Bob Dylan (taken from the ariter Dylan Thomas).


He quit college to pursue his love for music. He began to travel and play in small clubs which gained him a little fanbase and eventually led him to sign a contract to Columbia Records on October 1961 by legendary John Hammond. The following year, he released his eponymous album which was Grammy-nominated for Best Folk Album category.


He has released 32 studio albums where most of it earned Platinum and Gold certifications. He took a Aside from being a a world renowned artist, he is also an author, publishing books such as Tarantula, Writings and Drawings, Drawn Black' and more.


In his personal life, Bob Dylan was married to Sara Lownds on November 22, 1965 but got divorced on June 29, 1977. They had five children including an adopted daughter from Sara's previous marriage. One of his children, Jakob Dylan followed his footsteps who's famously knwon as the lead vocalist of the band, The Wallflowers. Nine years after his divorce with Sara Lownds, he married Carolyn Dennis, his longtime backup singer which also led to a divorce on January 31, 1996.

[edit] Awards & Certifications

Awards Won

Year Award Category
2007 Grammy Award Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album for "Modern Times"
2007 Grammy Award Best Rock Vocal Solo Performance for "Someday Baby"
2002 Grammy Award Best Contemporary Folk Album for "Love & Theft"
2001 Oscar Best Music, Original Song (from a movie "Wonder Boys" (2000)) for "Things Have Changed"
2001 Golden Globe Best Original Song - Motion Picture (from a movie "Wonder Boys"(2000)) for "Things Have Changed"
2000 Sierra Award Best Song (from a movie "Wonder Boys" (2000)) for "Things Have Changed"
1998 Grammy Award Best Rock Vocal Performance - Male for "Cold Iron Bound"
1998 Grammy Award Best Contemporary Folk Album for "Time Out Of Mind"
1998 Grammy Award Album of the Year for "Time Out Of Mind"
1995 Grammy Award Best Traditional Folk Album for "World Gone Wrong"
1992 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
1990 Grammy Award Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for "Traveling Wilburys Volume One" shared with Traveling Wilburys
1988 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Performer
1982 Songwriter's Hall of Fame
1980 Grammy Award Best Rock Vocal Performance - Male for "Gotta Serve Somebody"
1980 Dove Award Album by a Secular Artist for "Slow Train Coming" shared with Jerry Wexler; Barry Becket
1978 Interfilm Award Renaldo and Clara (978)
1973 Grammy Award Album of the Year for "The Concert For Bangladesh" shared with George Harrison; Eric Clapton; Ravi Shanker; Leon Russell; Ringo Starr

Awards Nominated

Year Award Category
2007 Brit Award Best International Album for "Modern Times"
2007 Brit Award Best International Male Solo Artist
2007 Grammy Award Best Rock Song for "Someday Baby"
2004 Golden Satellite Award Best Original Song (from a movie"Gods and Generals" (2003)) for "Cross the Green Mountain"
2004 Grammy Award Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking" shared with Mavis Staples
2004 Grammy Award Best Rock Vocal Performance - Male for "Down In The Flood"
2002 Grammy Award Album of the Year for "Love & Theft"
2002 Grammy Award Best Rock Vocal Performance - Male for "Honest With Me"
2001 Golden Satellite Award Best Original Song (from a movie "Wonder Boys" (2000)) for "Things Have Changed"
2001 Grammy Award Best Rock Vocal Performance - Male for "Things Have Changed"
2001 Grammy Award Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for "Things Have Changed"
1999 Grammy Award Best Country Song for "To Make You Feel My Love"
1996 Grammy Award Best Rock Vocal Performance - Male for "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
1996 Grammy Award Best Rock Song for "Dignity"
1996 Grammy Award Best Contemporary Folk Album for "MTV Unplugged"
1994 Grammy Award Best Contemporary Folk Album for "Good As I Been to You"
1994 Grammy Award Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for "My Back Pages" shared with Roger McGuinn; Tom Petty; Neil Young; Eric Clapton; George Harrison
1994 Grammy Award Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "All Along The Watchtower"
1992 Grammy Award Best Music Video, Short Form for "Series Of Dreams shared with Meirt Avis
1989 Grammy Award Best Traditional Folk Recording for "Pretty Boy Floyd"
1987 Grammy Award Best Historical Album for "Biograph"
1982 Grammy Award Best Inspirational Performance for "Shot of Love"
1981 Grammy Award Best Inspirational Performance for "Saved"
1974 Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
1970 Grammy Award Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Nashville Skyline Rag"
1969 Grammy Award Best Folk Performance for "John Wesley Harding"
1965 Grammy Award Best Folk Recording for "The Times, They Are A-Changin'"
1964 Grammy Award Best Documentary, Spoken Word or Drama Recording (Other than Comedy) for "We Shall Overcome (The March on Washington, August 28, 1963)" shared with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Marian Anderson, Rabbi Joachim Prinz
1963 Grammy Award Best Folk Recording for "Bob Dylan"

Certifications

Year Certification Album
1963 The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan Platinum
1964 The Times They Are a-Changin' Gold
1964 Another Side of Bob Dylan Gold
1965 Bringing It All Back Home Platinum
1965 Highway 61 Revisited Platinum
1966 Blonde on Blonde 2x Platinum
1967 John Wesley Harding Platinum
1969 Nashville Skyline Platinum
1970 Self Portrait Gold
1970 New Morning Gold
1973 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid Gold
1973 Dylan Gold
1974 Planet Waves Gold
1975 Blood on the Tracks 2x Platinum
1975 The Basement Tapes Gold
1976 Desire 2x Platinum
1978 Street Legal Gold
1979 Slow Train Coming Platinum
1983 Infidels Gold
1997 Time One of Mind Platinum
2001 Love and Theft Gold
2006 Modern Times Platinum

[edit] Chart Toppers

Year Title US Hot 100 US Mainstream Rock UK singles Album
1965 The Times They Are A-Changin' ~ ~ 9 The Times They Are A-Changing
1965 Maggie's Farm ~ ~ 22 Bringing It All Back Home
1965 Subterranean Homesick Blues 39 ~ 9 Bringing It All Back Home
1965 Like a Rolling Stone 2 ~ 4 Highway 61 Revisited
1965 Positively 4th Street 7 ~ 8 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits
1965 Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? 58 ~ 17 non-album
1966 One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) ~ ~ 35 Blonde on Blonde
1966 Rainy Day Women 12 & 35 2 ~ 7 Blonde on Blonde
1966 I Want You 20 ~ 16 Blonde on Blonde
1967 Just Like a Woman 33 ~ ~ Blonde on Blonde
1967 Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat 81 ~ ~ Blonde on Blonde
1969 I Threw It All Away 85 ~ 30 Nashville Skyline
1969 Lay Lady Lay 7 ~ 5 Nashville Skyline
1969 Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You 50 ~ ~ Nashville Skyline
1970 Wigwam 41 ~ ~ Self Portrait
1971 Watching the River Flow 41 ~ 24 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II
1971 If Not for You ~ ~ ~ New Morning
1971 George Jackson 33 ~ ~ non-album
1973 Knockin' on Heaven's Door 12 ~ 13 Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
1973 A Fool Such as I 55 ~ ~ Dylan
1974 On a Night Like This 44 ~ ~ Planet Waves
1974 Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) 66 ~ ~ Before the Flood
1975 Tangled Up in Blue 31 ~ ~ Blood on the Tracks
1975 Hurricane 33 ~ 43 Desire
1976 Mozambique 54 ~ ~ Desire
1978 Is Your Love in Vain? ~ ~ 55 Street-Legal
1978 Baby Stop Crying ~ ~ 13 Street-Legal
1979 Gotta Serve Somebody 24 ~ ~ Slow Train Coming
1983 Sweetheart Like You 55 ~ ~ Infidels
1995 Dignity ~ ~ 33 MTV Unplugged

[edit] News

[edit] Tours & Concerts

04/12/07 - Newcastle, United Kingdom (Metro Radio Arena)

04/14/07 - London, United Kingdom (Wembley Arena)

04/16/07 - London, United Kingdom (Wembley Arena)

04/17/07 - Birmingham , United Kingdom (National Exhibition Centre / NEC)

04/19/07 - Dusseldorf, Germany (Phillipshalle)

04/20/07 - Stuttgart, Germany (Porsche Arena)

04/21/07 - Frankfurt am Main, Germany (Jahrhunderthalle GmbH)

04/23/07 - Paris, France (Palais Omnisports de Bercy)

04/25/07 - Geneva, Switzerland (Geneva Arena)

04/26/07 - Turin, Italy (Pala Olympico)

04/27/07 - Milan, Italy (DatchForum)

04/29/07 - Zurich, Switzerland (Hallenstadion Zurich)

04/30/07 - Mannheim, Germany (SAP Arena)

05/02/07 - Leipzig , Germany (Arena)

05/03/07 - Berlin, Germany (Max Schmeling Halle)

05/05/07 - Herning, Germany (Herninghalle)

[edit] Announcements

[edit] Discography

Comprehensive list of the recordings made.

[edit] Albums

[edit] EPs


[edit] Singles

Date Title
1962 Mixed Up Confusion
1964 Blowin' in the Wind
1965 The Times They Are A-Changin'
1965 Maggie's Farm
1965 Subterranean Homesick Blues
1965 Like a Rolling Stone
1965 Positively 4th Street
1965 Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
1966 One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
1966 Rainy Day Women 12 & 35
1966 I Want You
1967 Just Like a Woman
1967 Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
1969 I Threw It All Away
1969 Lay Lady Lay
1969 Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You
1970 Wigwam
1971 Watching the River Flow
1971 If Not for You
1971 George Jackson
1973 Knockin' on Heaven's Door
1973 A Fool Such as I
1974 On a Night Like This
1974 Something There Is About You
1974 Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
1974 All Along the Watchtower
1975 Tangled Up in Blue
1975 Hurricane
1976 Mozambique
1977 Rita May
1978 Is Your Love in Vain?
1978 Baby Stop Crying
1978 Changing of the Guards
1979 Gotta Serve Somebody
1980 Man Gave Names to All the Animals
1980 Solid Rock
1980 Saved
1981 Heart of Mine
1983 Sweetheart Like You
1984 Jokerman
1985 Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love?)
1985 When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky
1995 Dignity
2006 Someday Baby

[edit] Compilations

[edit] Other artists

[edit] Similar artists

[edit] Influences

[edit] Contemporaries

[edit] Trivia

  • The town of Hibbing, Minnesota where he went to high school still acknowledges him. On Howard Street, there is a restaurant called Zimmy's taken after his real last name (Zimmerman).
  • Awarded an honorary degree at the University of St Andrews (Scotland). [June 2004]
  • Dylan once visited artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol when he came to pick up actress/model Edie Sedgwick, whom he was dating at the time, and found himself the subject of Warhol's movie camera. Dylan responded by picking up an original Warhol painting and taking it with him "for payment" for being filmed, which he used first as a dartboard, then traded for a sofa. (Dylan apologized to Warhol in a press interview years later, for his attitude.)
  • Visited Israel in the early 1980s on what was supposed to be a private trip; this was spoiled when he was photographed at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall, and the picture made headlines around the world.
  • Said that when he performs "All Along the Watchtower," he thinks of it as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. Although Dylan was the song's original writer, Hendrix's cover is the best known version of the song.
  • Although Dylan was raised Jewish (being of fully Jewish heritage), he converted to a born-again version of Christianity in the late 70s.
  • Although he avoids discussing religion now, Dylan said in a 1997 interview with Rolling Stone that he's no longer a follower of any organized religion.
  • Besides his self-titled first album and a few albums in the early 1970s, he has been the writer of almost everything he has recorded.
  • Although he is often thought of as just playing guitar, harmonica, and singing, Dylan is equally skilled on the piano, and he has played most instruments at one point or another in his 40+ years in music. On the album "John Wesley Harding," for example, he played all the instruments but drums and bass on most of the tracks.
  • He turned down an offer to headline the legendary Woodstock Festival in 1969 (Jimi Hendrix ultimately headlined), even though he had been living on a farm in Woodstock for many years at that point.
  • Although he continues to influence musicians today, perhaps his most significant influence was on other musicians of his own generation in the 1960s. Among the musicians he influenced to start writing deeper, more introspective material were The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Beach Boys, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Paul Simon, among many, many others. Ironically, when those he influenced were at their creative peaks in the late 1960s, Dylan himself was in seclusion (after a motorcycle accident) and he really had nothing to do with the "hippie counterculture.".
  • He was voted the 2nd Greatest Rock 'n' Rock Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.
  • He studied with Lubavitch Hasidim in the early '80s.
  • Always something of a Casanova, he had his first steady girlfriend at 14 and was seeing as many as five girls at once by the time he was in college.
  • In his book, "Chronicles," Dylan indicates that the reason he began starting writing songs were the works of folk-legend Woody Guthrie (Dylan was obsessed with Guthrie's "hoped-up union meeting sermons"), mysterious blues-great Robert Johnson (Dylan saying he evoked the "dark night of the soul"), and certain songs by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (due to their "tough language" and their "resilience and outrageous power").
  • There is much myth surrounding his changing his last name. In his "Chronicles" he said that he didn't think Zimmerman would be catchy enough as a stage name and that he first considered making his last name to his middle name, Allen. He then noted that a "D" would be stronger than an "A". But rather than spell it Dillion and in tribute to one of his favorite poets, Dylan Thomas, he choose to spell it Dylan. By late in college as many people called him "Dylan" as they did "Zimmerman" or "Zimmy" and, by the time he made it to New York City, everybody called him "Dylan.".
  • Although he had several stalkers over the years, perhaps the most dogged was the self-titled Dylanologist, A.J. Weberman. This obsessed fan started the "Dylan Liberation Front," protesting that Dylan had sold out and has abandoned his political causes (in reality, Dylan was never very political). Weberman staged several "protests" in front of Dylan's home, rooted through Dylan's garbage repeatedly, and accused Dylan of heroin use. After Weberman pushed aside Dylan's wife, Sara, and broke into Dylan's home, Dylan lost his patience and defeated his considerably beefier stalker in a fight.
  • Despite his reputation as a "protest singer", he was never very active politically and very rarely rallied for causes. Although he did some work in support of the civil right movements and often fought individual injustices (most famously, that of 'Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter' ), many of his peers in the folk community found his apparent indifference to politics frustrating.
  • For the recording of the famous, rambling song "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35" (with its chorus of "everybody must get stoned!"), Dylan took the group of mostly straight-laced, professional session musicians he was recording with, got them very drunk and had them smoke pot. When they returned, he had each man play a different instrument to what they usually played. After this went on, somebody asked Dylan when they were actually going to record the song, Dylan countered, "That was it."
  • His favorite movie is Tirez sur le pianiste (1960) by François Truffaut.
  • In May 1997 he was diagnosed with pericarditis, which can be lethal if it's not discovered in time.
  • His song "Like a Rolling Stone" was named # 1 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2004). Other songs listed include: "Blowin' in the Wind" (# 14), "The Times Are A-Changin'" (# 59), "Tangled Up In Blue" (# 68), "Mr. Tambourine Man" (# 106), "Desolation Row" (# 185), "Knocking on Heaven's Door" (# 190), "Positively 4th Street" (# 203), "Just Like a Woman" # (230), "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (# 332), "Highway 61 Revisited" (# 364), and "Visions of Johanna" (# 403).
  • Despite rumors that he hates rap music, Dylan cites several rappers as having "brilliant minds" and, in his "Chronicles" states that he is a big fan of several Old School rappers, particularly Public Enemy, who were one of his favorite artists. Many see an early connection to rap in Dylan's music, particularly the song "Subterranean Homesick Blues". However, Dylan apparently dislikes the commercialism of much modern hip-hop and warned popular rappers that "sometimes less is more".
  • Rode a 500cc T100S/R Triumph Tiger motorcycle upon which he famously crashed
  • He has nine grandchildren - four from his step-daughter, Maria, one each from Jesse and Samuel, and three from Jakob Dylan. He also has a "World's Greatest Grandpa" bumper sticker that he proudly displays on his car.
  • A father of six children. His children are: Maria Lowndes Dylan (born 21 October 1961; married to Peter Himmelman and a mother of four), Jesse Byron Dylan (born 6 January 1966; married to Susan Traylor and father of William), Anna Leigh Dylan (born 11 July 1967; she is married, but has no children), Samuel Abraham Dylan (born 30 July 1968; married to Stacy Hochheiser and father of Jonah), Jakob Luke Dylan (born 9 December 1969; married to Nicole Denny and a father of three), Desiree Gabrielle Dennis-Dylan (born 31 January 1985). His eldest child, Maria, became his step-daughter when he married Sara Lowndes, and he later adopted her as his own. His youngest daughter, Desiree, was born to his second wife, Carolyn Dennis. His other four children were all with his first wife, Sara.
  • He was in a serious motorcycle accident in July of 1966, and in seclusion until late 1969.
  • Admitted to hospital, for treatment of a "potentially life threatening infection." [27 May 1997]
  • In February 1964 Dylan and three friends drove south from New York to see some of the US heartland. Dylan insisted they stop unannounced to see poet Carl Sandburg in North Carolina. To his lasting disappointment, Dylan left after some ten minutes when he sadly realized he couldn't get the venerable man of letters to take him seriously as a fellow poet.
  • Received France's highest cultural award, the Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, January 30, 1990.
  • Awarded honorary doctorate by Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, June 9, 1970.
  • Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bruce Springsteen at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, New York, January 18, 1988.
  • Has a daughter named Desiree Gabrielle Dennis-Dylan (born 1985) from his secret marriage to gospel-rock vocalist Carol Dennis, a former backup singer with him.
  • At the famous "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" concert, Johnny Cash introduced a song co-written by Dylan, describing him as "...the greatest writer of our time".
  • He is a vegetarian.
  • Son Jesse Dylan is a director
  • Early in his career used the stage name 'Elston Gunn'.
  • Appears on sleeve of The Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
  • Borrowed lines from a Japanese book "Confessions of a Yakuza" for lyrics in the songs of his latest Album "Love and Theft" - the author was apparently flattered by this.
  • Hitchhiked from Minnesota to New York after leaving college, paying his way by doing odd jobs and sleeping wherever he could find space. Stopped at a courthouse along the way and legally changed his name from Zimmerman to Dylan (when asked later if his name was spelled like Dylan Thomas, he answered "No, like Bob Dylan").
  • Introduced The Beatles to pot-smoking in 1964, during their first meeting in New York; each told the press later, "We just laughed all night.".
  • Dylan's father owned a furniture store when young "Bobby" was in high school, and sent him once on rounds, to collect from installment-plan customers late on their bills. When Dylan returned and told his father "Dad, those people don't have any money," his father replied "Some of those people make as much money as I do; they just don't know how to manage it." The lesson stuck with Dylan.
  • According to the stage manager at Hibbing High School, and a local documentary, the piano that he played on stage is currently the same one that the school uses during their drama performances.
  • Inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame for his outstanding contribution to British music and integral part of British music culture. (16 November 2005).


[edit] External Links

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