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Robert Zimmerman
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He was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, on May 24, 1941. He started playing Little Richard and Elvis Presley rock 'n' roll songs on guitar in high school. But in 1959, when he moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota, he got really into folk music.
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Tune In, Drop Out
Canadian Press
Dylan dropped out of university after his first year. He headed to New York City. In 1962, he released his debut record. The self-titled collection included folk, blues, and gospel covers, plus two original songs. But it only sold 5,000 copies.
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'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'
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His second record, 1963's 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan', was his breakthrough disc. It included protest songs inspired by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. This is the record with "Blowin' in the Wind" on it and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall". It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk Recording.
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'Another Side of Bob Dylan'
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In 1964, he released 'Another Side of Bob Dylan', which included "The Times They Are A-Changin'". Along with "Blowin' in the Wind", it became an anthem for the civil rights and anti-war movements. We're not saying that the Beatles' 1964 hit "I Want to Hold Your Hand" lacked political punch or literary influences. We're just saying that Dylan's lyrics had noticeably more gravitas and would become a sophisticated influence on the Fab Four, the burgeoning counterculture, and the music world in general.
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Plug and Play
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By 1965, Dylan was the de facto leader of the folk music revival. And folk music must be played on acoustic instruments! At least that's the lesson Dylan learned on July 25, 1965, when he plugged in an electric guitar to play at the Newport Folk Festival and was summarily booed. He was undeterred and proceeded to release three epic plugged-in folk-influenced rock albums.
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'Like a Rolling Stone'
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'Bringing It All Back Home', with the hit "Subterranean Homesick Blues", became Dylan's first top-10 album in 1965. Also released in '65 was the blues-influenced 'Highway 61 Revisited', which featured the hit "Like a Rolling Stone". If you ever revisit Highway 61 and take it all the way to the top, you'll be in Thunder Bay, BTW.
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Backup
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His 1966 double album 'Blonde on Blonde' featured his live backup band the Hawks. The predominantly Canadian group would eventually become known as the Band. 'Blonde on Blonde' included hits like "Just Like a Woman" and the classic "Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35". In July 1966, Dylan was in a motorcycle accident that put a damper on touring. But he recorded extensively with the Band; some of this material was released as 'The Basement Tapes' in 1975.
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'Self Portrait'
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Dylan explored country music themes in the Grammy-nominated album 'John Wesley Harding' in 1967, and on 'Nashville Skyline' in '69 and 'New Morning' in '70. Dylan has called Orillia, Ontario, native Gordon Lightfoot his favourite songwriter. He included a cover of the Lightfoot song "Early Morning Rain" on his tenth record, 'Self Portrait' in 1970. He also regularly plays the Lightfoot song "I'm Not Supposed to Care" in concert and includes Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in his encores.
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'Blood On The Tracks'
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His 1975 record 'Blood on the Tracks' saw him embrace a rock sound again. In the late '70s, Dylan became a born-again Christian and released a series of gospel records. He won a Grammy in 1980 for "Gotta Serve Somebody", the opening track off his 1979 album 'Slow Train Coming'.
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Doing It For The Fame
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In 1988, Dylan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He won a Grammy in 1990 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for 'Traveling Wilburys Volume One', the debut record from the rock supergroup comprising Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty.
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'Time Out of Mind'
Dylan's 1997 album 'Time Out of Mind' marked the beginning of a renaissance for his career. Produced by Daniel Lanois of Gatineau, Quebec, it won three Grammy Awards. In 2001, Dylan won the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Things Have Changed" from the soundtrack to "Wonder Boys". His 2002 record 'Love And Theft' earned the Best Contemporary Folk Album Grammy Award. In 2007, his album 'Modern Times' received two Grammys.
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Extraordinary Poetic Power
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Dylan was awarded a special citation in 2008 by the Pulitzer Prize Board for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power". In 2016, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for having created "new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." His acceptance lecture is now available as a book called "The Nobel Lecture". Looking to toast this legend on his 80th birthday? Why not pour a glass of Dylan's Heaven's Door Whiskey or his new 10-year-aged bourbon collab, the Master Blenders' Edition. Even 80 years on, these times keep a-changin'. Cheers!
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Canadian Press
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