Bob Dylan

Robert Allen Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) was born on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota to a family that originated in Ukraine and was involved in a Jewish community. Bob Dylan quickly became interested in music and created many bands while in high school, but they didn’t last long. After high school, Bob Dylan went off to the University of Minnesota. About this time, he started to become more interested in folk music instead of rock and roll because he said that folk music was more serious and had a more realistic view on life with deeper feelings. After one year in college, Bob Dylan dropped out.

In 1961, Bob Dylan went to New York where he hoped to be able to perform and to meet Woody Guthrie, his musical idol. In 1962, Zimmerman changed his name to Robert Dylan, and he also came out with his first album with Columbia Records, called Bob Dylan. Then in 1963, when Bob Dylan came out with his second album called The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, he began to gain more recognition. On this album, was the song “Blowin’ in the Wind” which was classified as a protest song and became very famous.

In 1963, Bob Dylan became more involved politically and spoke out for and against different things. For example, Bob Dylan was scheduled to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show where he planned to perform a song called "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues", which went against the Johan Birch Society. CBS told Dylan that he couldn’t perform the song, and he chose not to appear on the show. Dylan also became involved in the Civil Rights Movement when he wrote songs about different African Americans that were killed and sang at the Civil Rights March that was in Washington D.C. in 1963 with Joan Baez. The National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee also awarded him with the “Tom Paine Award.” Bob Dylan was a very influential and renowned musician who made himself prominent in the ‘60s.