"Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot." Bob DylanBiography:
Robert Allen Zimmerman was born in 1941 in Duluth, MN. When he was six years old, his father came down with polio, and the family moved to Hibbing where Bob grew up in a small Jewish community.
In 1959, he enrolled in the University at Minneapolis, where he became involved in the local folk music scene. It was during this time that he started using the name Bob Dylan, which has no verifiable origin.
At the end of his first year in college, Dylan quit school but stayed in Minneapolis and remained active in the Folk scene. During a tour in 1961, he spent a good deal of time in New York City, and was eventually signed to Columbia Records.
Over the next half-decade, Bob wrote and released a hand full of records that became sentinels in the evolving folk-rock scene. His "Blowin in the Wind" (Purchase/Download) and "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" typified a generation and soon became somewhat anthemic tributes to the emerging social climate at the time.
Then, finding himself pigeon-holed as a protest song writer, Dylan changed the tune with the release of Another Side of Bob Dylan in 1964. This record showcased less serious tunes and introduced fans to a more edgy and somewhat sentimental side of his work.
Over the next 30 years, Dylan continued to release timely topical records as well as some occasional flat out rock and roll records. He's toured at the pace only a Folk singer could really hold up. And he's managed to influence just about every second or third artist making a living these days in music.
