Robert Allen Zimmerman grew up in Hibbing, Minnesota, listening to American folk, country, rhythm and blues, and early rock and roll music. In 1961 he became Bob Dylan, fused his great mentors Woody Guthrie and Little Richard, moved to Greenwich Village, and began to write the greatest songs of post-World War II American pop music. He moved from masterpieces of social commentary – “Masters of War,” “With God On Our Side,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” – to more personal surrealist epics that defined the angst and atmosphere of the 1960s – “Desolation Row,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.” He became identified as the voice of his generation and for some years withdrew from the scene, only to return to the stage in what has been described as the “Never Ending Tour.”

As brilliant a performer as ever, the recent years have seen him receive astonishing critical acknowledgement. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1991, and in 1997 he received three Grammys for his resurgent album Time Out of Mind. He published a brilliantly received memoir, Chronicles Part I and won an Oscar for his song “Things Have Changed,” the theme to the film Wonder Boys in 2000, performing the song at the ceremony by video from a sound stage in Australia. His most recent album, the 2006 Modern Times, was also well received. Finally, in April of this year he received an honorary Pulitzer Prize in music, the first rock musician to do so, for, said the judges, “his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”