May 24, 1941
Bob Dylan is born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, to Abram and Beatty Zimmerman.
1948
The Zimmerman’s move to a middle-class neighborhood in nearby Hibbing, a mining town where Bob’s mother grew up and still had family.
1951–1959
Dylan teaches himself guitar and other musical instruments.
During high school, young Zimmerman forms a band—The Golden Chords—and others, primarily playing rock-and-roll cover songs.
Moves to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to attend the University of Minnesota, lives at the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity house.
1961
Dylan drops out of college and moves to New York City, largely to meet his idol Woody Guthrie, who was then ill and mostly hospitalized with Huntington’s chorea.
September 29
A review of one of his performances by Robert Shelton appears in the New York Times, launching great interest in the young singer’s work.
Dylan signs a contract with Columbia Records.
1962
Legally changes his name to Bob Dylan, rumors still abound as to why, but Dylan himself remains coy in discussing the rationale.
Dylan records his first album, self-titled Bob Dylan, containing two original songs and compilation of traditional folk covers. The album receives good reviews, but sells about 5,000 copies, a disappointing debut from a financial viewpoint.
1963
Dylan’s second album Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is released in May, featuring many protest songs including the famous “Blowin’ in the Wind” in support of the civil rights movement.
May 12
Dylan refuses to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show after show executives determine that the lyrics of his political satire “Talkin’ John Birch Society Blues” will cause controversy.
August 28
Dylan and Joan Baez perform at the March on Washington. Later Martin Luther King delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Dylan becomes romantically linked to protest movement icon Joan Baez.
January 1964
The Times They Are A-Changing is released, featuring politically charged songs, including the title track, “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” and “Only a Pawn in Their Game.”
August
Another Side of Bob Dylan, a more personal and less political album, is released. It is a mix of folk and rock and roll songs.
March 22, 1965
Bringing It All Back Home is released featuring electric instruments.
Dylan performs at the Newport Folk Festival with a band and electric instruments. He is booed for moving away from his folk roots.
August 30
Highway 61 Revisited is released, featuring six-minute electronic rock single “Like a Rolling Stone.” The single hits No. 2 on the U.S. charts.
Dylan secretly weds 25-year-old model Sara Lowndes.
1966
Jesse Byron Dylan, Dylan’s first child is born on January 6.
May 16
Blonde on Blonde is released.
July
Dylan suffers injuries in a motorcycle accident near Woodstock, New York. Rumors about the severity abound as Dylan becomes reclusive and stops performing.
1967
Dylan plays jam session with the Hawks while he recovers. The recordings are later released as The Basement Tapes in 1975.
December 27
John Wesley Harding is released, featuring the single “All Along the Watchtower.”
1968
Dylan makes his first public appearance since his accident and performs at the Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert at Carnegie Hall.
April 9, 1969
Nashville Skyline is released, a country album and featured Dylan crooning in a different voice on such tunes as “Lay, Lady, Lay.”
Dylan appears on debut episode of Johnny Cash’s new television show in May.
1970
A Gallup poll reveals that 56 percent of the public believe that sending troops to Vietnam was a mistake. Dylan’s music is well established as an anthem for the antiwar movement.
June 8
Self Portrait is released, getting mixed reviews from music critics and fans.
Dylan is awarded an honorary Doctorate in Music from Princeton University.
October
New Morning is released, which showcases Dylan returning to more traditional songwriting.
Dylan moves his family from Woodstock back to Greenwich Village in December.
1971
Tarantula, a book of Dylan’s free-verse poetry, is published.
Along with music stars such as Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton, Dylan performs in the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden. The benefit concert alone raises $250,000 for refugees from East Pakistan.
1972
Dylan’s second book, Writings and Drawings, is released.
Dylan plays a small role in the film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and provides songs for the soundtrack including the classic “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”
1973
Dylan refuses to renew his contract with Columbia Records; consequently Columbia then releases a collection of outtakes and warm-up tracks entitled Dylan.
Dylan signs with new record label, Asylum Records, but soon returns to Columbia.
January 17, 1974
Planet Waves becomes Dylan’s first No. 1 album.
Dylan launches a national tour, the first full-scale tour since his motorcycle accident.
June
Before the Flood, Dylan’s first live album is released.
January 17, 1975
Blood on Tracks is released. Later, it will be considered one of Dylan’s best albums.
Dylan forms the Rolling Thunder Review Tour, a group tour featuring Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and other folk singers.
The Basement Tapes are finally released.
1976
Desire is released and reaches No. 1 on the U.S. charts, his last to hit that mark for three decades. The album includes the song “Hurricane,” written about the boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, serving life in prison for the wrongful conviction in a triple homicide.
Dylan performs at The Last Waltz, a farewell concert for his long-time touring band, The Band.
Hard Rain, a live album, is released.
1977
Sara Dylan files from divorce and for custody of their five children.
1978
Street Legal is released.
Dylan stars (with Joan Baez) in the nearly four-hour film Renaldo and Clara, which features footage from the Rolling Thunder Revue Tour. The film is panned by critics.
Bob Dylan at Budokan, a live album, is released.
1979
Dylan declares himself a born-again Christian.
August 29
Slow Train Coming, Dylan’s first gospel album is released.
Dylan wins his first Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance for “Gotta Serve Somebody.”
Dylan is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City.
1980
Saved is released.
1981
Shot of Love is released, ending Dylan’s trilogy of Christian Gospel music albums.
October 27, 1983
Infidels is released.
1984
Real Live, a live album, is released.
1985
Empire Burlesque is released.
A party is thrown at New York’s Whitney Museum to celebrate Dylan’s 25-year recording career and for selling over 3 million records.
July
Dylan sings on USA for Africa’s famine relief fundraising single “We Are the World.”
Performs at Live Aid in Philadelphia.
Biograph, a five-disc retrospective is released.
1986
Knocked Out Loaded is released.
Dylan secretly marries backup singer Carolyn Dennis six months after she gives birth to the couple’s daughter, Desiree Gabrielle Dennis-Dylan.
July 14
Knocked Out Loaded is released and Dylan begins a tour with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
1987
Tours with the Grateful Dead.
1988
Down in the Groove is released.
Dylan is elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
June
Begins what is called the “Never Ending Tour,” which continues to the present.
September 1989
Oh Mercy is released.
Dylan & the Dead, a collaboration between Dylan and the Grateful Dead, is released.
1990
Dylan is awarded France’s highest cultural honor.
Under the Red Sky is released.
1991
Dylan is presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by Jack Nicholson at the Grammy Awards.
Columbia launches the Bootleg Series, a collection of official Dylan bootlegs, with The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3.
1992
Dylan and Carolyn Dennis divorce.
Good as I Been to You, an acoustic collection of traditional folk and blues covers, is released in November.
1993
The 30th Anniversary Concert Collection is released.
World Gone Wrong is released, an album of covers.
January 1994
Dylan performs at Bill Clinton’s inauguration.
Dylan performs at the Woodstock II Festival.
Drawn Blank, a book of Dylan’s drawings, is published by Random House.
1995
MTV Unplugged is released.
1997
Time Out of Mind is released.
Dylan is hospitalized due to a serious heart infection.
Dylan becomes the first rock star to receive the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award, the nation’s highest award for artistic excellence.
Dylan performs “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” for Pope John Paul II in Bologna, Italy.
1998
Dylan wins three Grammys for Time Out of Mind.
2001
The single “Things Have Changed” for the soundtrack of the film Wonder Boys wins a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
“Love and Theft” is released and praised by critics and fans.
2003
Film Masked & Anonymous released, which Dylan stars in and cowrote. The movie is panned by critics, despite an all-star cast, including John Goodman and Jessica Lange.
2004
Dylan appears in a controversial lingerie advertisement for Victoria’s Secret.
Receives honorary doctorate of music from St. Andrews University of Scotland.
Dylan releases Chronicles: Volume One, his memoir of the early years spent in New York City and several episodes from more recent eras. The book receives widespread critical and commercial acclaim.
2005
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, a documentary directed by Martin Scorsese is released.
Dylan and country-music legend Willie Nelson spend the summer playing concerts at minor league baseball stadiums.
2006
Dylan begins hosting Theme Time Radio Hour on XM Satellite Radio.
Dylan wins Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album for Modern Times at the 2006 Grammy Awards.
2008
A road named “Bob Dylan Pathway” is dedicated in Duluth, Minnesota.
May 29
Dylan is awarded a special citation by the Pulitzer Prize jury for his profound impact on popular music and American culture.
The film I’m Not There by Todd Haynes debuts, featuring six different actors of different races and genders playing various scenes in Dylan’s life, including Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, and Heath Ledger.
2009
In October, Dylan releases Christmas in the Heart, donating all royalties to charity.
Dylan appears with rapper will.i.am in a Superbowl XLIII commercial advertisement.
October 19, 2010
Dylan releases a bootleg album called The Witmark Demos, followed by a set entitled Bob Dylan: The Original Mono Recordings.
Dylan exhibits 40 of his original paintings for a solo show at the National Gallery of Denmark.
2011
Live album, Bob Dylan in Concert—Brandeis University 1963 released.
April
Concerts in China draw criticism, since Dylan did not comment on Chinese political system. Rumors circulate that he allowed government to censor his playlist, though Dylan later denied it.
September 20
The Asia Series, Dylan’s paintings of scenes in China and the Far East open at the Gagosian Madison Avenue Gallery.
October 5
The Los Angeles Times predicts Dylan as a favorite for the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature.
May 2012
Dylan is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
September 11
35th studio album Tempest is released, which receives widespread critical acclaim.
November
Dylan’s second exhibit at Gagosian Gallery opens, titled Revisionist Art.
2013
Volume 10 of the Bootleg Series released, Another Self Portrait (1969–1971).