Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan (birth name Robert Zimmerman), is one of the towering figures of American music, and has made contributions to many musical genres, including Rock, Country, and R&B. He has also, though some may have forgotten it, made enormous contributions to Christian music and Gospel, particularly through two of his albums, Slow Train Coming, and Saved, released after his public declaration of his Christianity.

Robert Zimmerman was born on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, and grew up in Hibbing. His father owned an appliance store, and Zimmerman grew up listening to the radio, where he got his first musical education. After playing in some short-lived high school bands, he left to attend the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. It was there that he took a deep interest in folk music, listening to the recordings of artists such as Odetta and Woody Guthrie. In 1961, he dropped out of college and headed to New York City, where he became a part of the burgeoning folk music scene in Greenwich Village. Sharing the stage with a wide variety of folk acts, among them Dave von Ronk and Tiny Tim, he eventually landed a contract wit Columbia Records, for whom his still records today. He most recent album, Modern Times (2006), reached #1 on the pop music charts; at age 65, he is the oldest artist to have attained that mark.

Over a long and variegated career, Dylan has collaborated with numerous other artists, including Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, and Tom Petty. In 2004, he published the first volume of Chronicles, his planned autobiography.