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Bob Dylan

For his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.
Richard Oppel and Jesse Dylan

Jesse Dylan (right) accepts the 2008 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation to Bob Dylan, from Richard Oppel, co-chair of The Pulitzer Prize Board.

Biography

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Birth: May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, United States.

Occupation: Singer, musician.

Family: son of Abe Zimmerman and Beatrice Rutman; m. Sara Lownds (or Lowndes), Nov. 22, 1965 (div. June 19, 1977); children: Jakob, Jesse, Samuel, Anna, Maria; m. Carolyn Y. Dennis, June 4, 1986 (div. Oct. 1992); 1 child, Desiree Gabrielle.

Education: self-taught; student, U. Minn., 1960; Music Dept., Princeton U., 1970.

Avocations/Research/Interests: Achievements include devising and popularizing folk-rock.

Addresses: Office, Columbia Records, 550 Madison Ave, New York, NY, 10022-3211.

 

AWARDS

Named to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1988.

Recipient Lifetime Achievement Award, Grammy Awards, 1991.

Prince of Asturias Arts award, Prince of Asturias Found, 2007.

 

WORKS

Musician: (albums) Bob Dylan, 1962; The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, 1963; The Times They Are A-Changin', 1964; Another Side of Bob Dylan, 1964; Bringing It All Back Home, 1965; Highway 61 Revisited, 1965; Blonde on Blonde, 1966; John Wesley Harding, 1967; Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, 1967; Nashville Skyline, 1969; Self Portrait, 1970; New Morning, 1970; Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2, 1971; Dylan, 1973, Planet Waves, 1974; Blood on Tracks, 1975; Desire, 1976; Hard Rain, 1976; Street Legal, 1978; Masterpieces, 1978; Slow Train Coming, 1979 (Grammy award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Gotta Serve Somebody", 1980); Bob Dylan At Budokan, 1979; Saved, 1980; Shot of Love, 1981; Infidels, 1983; Real Live, 1984; Empire Burlesque, 1985; Biograph, 1985; Knocked Out Loaded, 1986; Down In The Groove, 1988; Oh Mercy, 1989; Under the Red Sky, 1990; The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3: (Rare and Unreleased 1961-1991), 1991; Good as I Been to You, 1992; World Gone Wrong, 1993 (Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album, 1994); Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Vol. 3, 1994; MTV Unplugged, 1995; Time Out of Mind, 1997 (Grammy Award for Album of Yr., 1998, Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, 1998; Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Cold Irons Bound", 1998); The Best of Bob Dylan, 1997; The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: The Royal Albert Hall Concert, 1998; Essential Bob Dylan, 2000; The Best of Bob Dylan, Vol. 2, 2000; The Very Best of Bob Dylan, 2000; Love and Theft, 2001 (Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, 2002); The Bootleg Series, Vol. 5, Live 1975; The Rolling Thunder Revue, 2002; The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6: Live 1964, 200;, The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack, 2005, Live at the Gaslight 1962, 2005; Modern Times, 2006 (Grammy award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2007); musician: (with various artists) The Concert for Bangladesh, 1971 (Grammy Award for Album of Year, 1973); Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, 1993; musician: (with The Band) Before the Flood, 1974; The Basement Tapes, 1976; musician: (with Grateful Dead) Dylan and the Dead, 1988; musician: (with Traveling Wilburys) Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, 1988 (Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, 1990); Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3, 1990; musician: (soundtracks) Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, 1973; The Last Waltz, 1976; Wonder Boys, 2000 (Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Things Have Changed", 2001); Masked and Anonymous, 2003.

Composer: (songs) Like a Rolling Stone.

Dir., editor (films) Eat the Document, 1972.

Appeared in: (documentaries) Don't Look Back, 1967; No Direction Home, 2005

Actor: (films) Pat Garret and Billy the Kid, 1973; Hearts of Fire, 1987; actor, composer, dir., editor, writer (films) Renaldo and Clara, 1978; actor, composer, writer Masked and Anonymous, 2003.

Actor: (TV films) The Madhouse on Castle Street, 1963.

Author: Tarantula, 1971; Writings and Drawings, 1973; Tarantula: Poems,1994; (book of sketches) Drawn Blank, 1994; (memoirs) Chronicles, Vol. 1,2004 (Quills award-biography/memoir, 2005).

 

SOURCE CITATION

"Bob Dylan." Marquis Who's Who™, 2008.

Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, 2008.

Winners in Special Citations and Awards

John Coltrane

A posthumous special citation to the composer for his masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz.

Edmund S. Morgan

For a creative and deeply influential body of work as an American historian that spans the last half century.

2008 Prize Winners

The Washington Post

in exposing mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital, evoking a national outcry and producing reforms by federal officials.

David Umhoefer

For his stories on the skirting of tax laws to pad pensions of county employees, prompting change and possible prosecution of key figures.

David Lang

Co-commissioned by the Carnegie Hall Corporation and The Perth Theater and Concert Hall, and premiered October 25, 2007 in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York City (G. Schirmer, Inc.).

Staff

For its exceptional, multi-faceted coverage of the deadly shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, telling the developing story in print and online.