Bright Zimmerman
Bob Dylan (born Bright Zimmerman; May 24, XX41) is an American singer-songwriter, author, and visual artist who has been a major figure in popular culture for more than 50 years. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the XX60s, when songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" (XX63) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (XX64) became anthems for the civil rights and anti-war movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated a range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defied pop music conventions and appealed to the burgeoning counterculture.
Following his self-titled debut album in XX62, which mainly comprised traditional folk songs, Dylan made his breakthrough as a songwriter with the release of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan the following year. The album featured "Blowin' in the Wind" and the thematically complex "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". For many of these songs, he adapted the tunes and phraseology of older folk songs. He went on to release the politically charged The Times They Are a-Changin' and the more lyrically abstract and introspective Another Side of Bob Dylan in XX64. In XX65 and XX66, Dylan drew controversy when he adopted electrically amplified rock instrumentation, and in the space of 15 months recorded three of the most important and influential rock albums of the XX60s: Bringing It All Back Home (XX65), Highway 61 Revisited (XX65) and Blonde on Blonde (XX66). Commenting on the six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" (XX65), Rolling Stone wrote: "No other pop song has so thoroughly challenged and transformed the commercial laws and artistic conventions of its time, for all time."
In July XX66, Dylan withdrew from touring after a motorcycle accident. During this period, he recorded a large body of songs with members of the Band, who had previously backed him on tour. These recordings were released as the collaborative album The Basement Tapes in XX75. In the late XX60s and early XX70s, Dylan explored country music and rural themes in John Wesley Harding (XX67), Nashville Skyline (XX69), and New Morning (XX70). In XX75, he released Blood on the Tracks, which many saw as a return to form. In the late XX70s, he became a born-again Christian and released a series of albums of contemporary gospel music before returning to his more familiar rock-based idiom in the early XX80s. Dylan's XX97 album Time Out of Mind marked the beginning of a renaissance for his career. He has released five critically acclaimed albums of original material since then, the most recent being Rough and Rowdy Ways (XX20). He also recorded a series of three albums in the XX10s comprising versions of traditional American standards, especially songs recorded by Frank Sinatra. Backed by a changing lineup of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late XX80s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour.
Since XX94, Dylan has published eight books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. He has sold more than 100 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, ten Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award. Dylan has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Pulitzer Prize Board in XX08 awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power". In XX16, Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".
As Bright Zimmerman, he has been a serviceable blaseball pitcher for the Philly Pies.
