Dylan, Bob

Dylan, Bob (1941– ), singer, songwriter, 1960s cultural icon who reinvented himself over several decades.Born Robert Allen Zimmerman to middle‐class Jewish parents and reared mainly in Hibbing, Minnesota, he played in high‐school bands such as his Golden Chords, embraced the music of African Americans and marginalized groups labeled “hillbillies” and “poor white trash,” and delivered screaming imitations of Little Richard ( Richard Wayne Penniman). In three semesters at the University of Minnesota (1959–1960), he absorbed the social and musical subcultures of the Twin Cities; worked on the harmonica, guitar, and piano; and honed his vocal timing and style. He came to New York City in January 1961, an unknown lacking even a place to stay. But his evolving music, combining elements of folk, blues, country, and rock and roll, sung in an “Okie” voice heavily influenced by his beloved Woody Guthrie (1912–1967), quickly attracted attention in the Greenwich Village coffeehouses patronized by Beatniks, folk‐song aficianados, and gawking tourists.

Legally changing his name in 1962, he became in succession a traditional acoustic guitar folksinger (Bob Dylan, 1962); a protest folksinger championing civil rights (“Blowin' in the Wind,” 1962; Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, 1963; The Times They Are a‐Changin', 1964); an amplified‐sound folksinger (Bringing It All Back Home, 1965) and hero of campus antiwar protesters; a depoliticized rock star (John Wesley Harding, 1968); a born‐again Christian (Slow Train Coming, 1979); and an admirer of Orthodox Judaism—among other identities.

During an unpredictable, continuously productive career, Dylan inspired many and disappointed many others. In the 1990s he toured regularly, won the French government's highest cultural award (1990), gave a massive thirtieth‐anniversary concert (1992), won three Grammy Awards (1991, 1994, 1998), was honored by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (1997), and produced one of his best records in years (Time out of Mind, 1997).
See also Antiwar Movements; Civil Rights Movement; Music: Popular Music; Music: Traditional Music; Sixties, The; Vietnam War.

Bibliography

Robert Shelton , No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, 1997.
Clinton Heylin , Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades, 2000.

David De Leon