-Bob's mother Beatrice Stone, was born in 1915.
-When her father went to teach her how to drive she said he didn't need to, she already knew how, and away she went.
-She liked to drive from Hibbing to Duluth. It was here, at a New Years Eve party in 1932 that she met Bob's father, Abram Zimmerman.
-Abram had been born in 1911 in Duluth.
-He married Beatty in 1934.
-Beatty went into forced labour on May 24, 1941 at St. Mary's Hospital, and delievered her 1st child, a hefty 10 pound baby boy, Robert Allen. (Abe bought cigars and was proud)
-Everyone said Bob was beautiful child, with golden hair. His mother told him he was so beautiful he should have been a girl.
-When Bobby was 3 he gave his 1st public performances, perched atop his father's office desk, singing into a dectaphone.
-His father liked to tease the secretaries by slipping the brief recordings in between voice mail messages
-In 1946, his Grandmother, Anna, took him to a mother's day celebration. Everybody got up to perform, but little Bobby was the only one who was listening. Then he went up to perform. He stampted his foot and commanded attention. Bobby said "If everyone in this room will keeep quiet I will sing for my grandmother. I'm going to sing "Some Sunday Morning". The four year did sing it, and tore the whole place apart. His encore was "Accentuate the Positive."
-Two weeks later the four year old had his next gig, at his aunt's lavish wedding reception at the Covenant Club. Beatty decked her son in a white Palm Beach suit, and a handful of relatives contributed money to pay Bob for singing. He didn't want to sing, but was persuaded by his father. So he made his "if everyone will please be quiet I will sing" speech, and he sang his 2 songs. The audiance cheered and took the $25 pay from his uncle. Hey then walked over to his mother. "Mummy", "I'm going to give the money back", and he did, and almost upstaged the bridal couple.
-Bob's brother, David was born in February 1946.
-Bobby attended kindergarden at Duluth's Nettleton school, he refused to go the first day unless his father escorted him, much to Abe's embarrasment.
-Abram was stricken with the 1946 polio epidemic and the family moved to Hibbing, where Beatty had left. Bob was 6.
-Hibbing was tiny, with very few Jewish families, and Bob always hated it.
-Bob and David got along well, although many times their parents would come home to find Robert on top of his little brother's stomach, pinning his shoulders to the floor. His mother said "This kid was so strong he could lift a refrigerator."
-Bob learned to play the piano by the time he was 9 years old. Shortly after, he was playing the harmonica. He learned these with no "formal" training.
-At age 10 he got a cheap Sears&Roebuck guitar&around the neck harmonica holder.
-One mother's day, Beatty recieved her first poem, written lovingly by her son on notebook paper. The poem was carefully rhymed in 12 balanced stanzas of 4 or 5 lines each. Click HERE to read the last verse of it.
-On father's day his father also recieved a poem. Click HEREto read it.
-The Zimmerman's got the first TV in Hibbing, in 1952. Bob's bigger muscles usually allowed control of what the brothers watched.
-May 24th, 1954, when Bob was 13, 400 people attended his bar mitzvah.
-David recieved lessons in piano, Bob took one lesson before he decided that wasn't how he wanted to be taught. He never did learn to read music.
-He went through several instruments including a trumpet and a saxaphone, before deciding they weren't for him (much to his family's relief) and renting a small, beat up guitar, which the young Bob cherished.
-He liked to listen to listen to the radio, often doing this under the covers.
-In the 1959 Hibbing Highschool yearbook his ambition was "to join the band of Little Richard".
-He saved his money to buy records and a new guitar
-He formed his first band when he was 13 years old. The band played in the Zimmerman's garage, and called themselves "The Golden Chords"
-His parents were determined that Bobert would go to college, they agreed he could have 1 year off to do his music thing, and if that didn't work it was back to school. Back to school was where he went- but not for long.
-He attended the Universtity of Minnesota, where he briefly belonged to a Jewish Fraternity, but he considered it phoney, and dropped it before he was even pledged in.
-Dylan left Minnestora, and arrived in New York on a cold, stormy day in 1960.
-He had no place to stay, and was taken in by various people to stay for awhile.
-He was later one of the major figures of the Grenwich Village scene.
-Places he regularly played included: The Commons, the Gaslight, The Folklore Center, and Cafe Wha?
-Bob Dylan met his idol, Woodie Guthrie early in February 1961. Guthrie was in the hospital, and already very sick with Huntington's chorea. He could barely talk, but he loved to listen to Bob sing Woodie's own songs to him.
-Bob Dylan recorded his first album, at Columbia Studio A on 7th Avenue, recording most tracks in 5 takes or less.
-The record, simply called "Bob Dylan" wasn't released until March 19, 1962.
-Albert Grossman was to become his manager, in 1962.
-August 9,1962, legally changed his name from Robert Zimmerman to Bob Dylan.
-Friday, April 13,1963, Bob played his first solo, a turning point in his career and from that concert on he could only be compared to himslef. The concert was held at Town Hall.
-"The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan released, May 1963
-"The Times They Are A-Changin' released, February 1964
-"Another Side of Bob Dylan" released, August 1964
-In 1965, he left his folk roots and turned to rock music.
-"Bringing it All Back Home" released, March 1965
-"Highway 61 Revisited" released, August 1965
-Married Sara Lowndes at a very private civil ceremony on November 22, 1965.
-1965, Dylan adopts Maria.
-A son, Jesse born, early in 1966
-"Blonde on Blonde" released May 1966
-Had a motercycle accident, which would put him out public eye for 4 years. (July 29, 1966.) The motercycle accident probably saved him- he needed out, and this was how he got out.
-After motorcylce accident, he settled in Woodstock, NY. The Band joined him as his back up group after his accident. They then retired to the Catskills and began writing songs and recording demo tapes together. They later released "The Basement Tapes"
-"Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits" released, March 1967
-A daughter, Anna, born sometime in 1967
-"John Wesley Harding" released, January 1968
-Bob's father Abe suffers a fatal heart attack June 5, 1968. Bob returns to Hibbing for the first time in over 4 years. When his mother tells him all the money is frozen until the estate was setteled, Bob took out his checkbook and wrote her a five figure check.
-A son, Samuel, born summer 1968
-"Nashville Skyline" released, April 1969
-Son Jakob born, December 1969
-"Self Portrait" released, June 1970
-"New Morning" released, October 1970
-"Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Volume 2" released, November 1971
-"Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" released, July 1973
-"Dylan" released, November 1973
-"Planet Waves" released, January 1974
-"Before the Flood" released, June 1974
-"Blood on the Tracks" released, January 1975
-"The Basement Tapes" released, July 1975
-"Desire" released, January 1976
-"Hard Rain" released, September 1976
-On March 1, 1977, Sara's divorce petition was filed in Superior Court. She saught permanent custody of the 5 kids. A lenghty, and costly, custody battle was to follow.
-"Masterpieces" released, March 1978
-"Steet-Legal" released June 1978
-"Bob Dylan at Budokan" released April 1979
-"Slow Train Coming" released, August 1979
-"Saved", released June 1980
-"Shot of Love" released, August 1981
-"Infidels" released, November 1983
-"Real Live" released, December 1984
-"Empire Burlesque" released, June 1985
-"Biograph" released November 1985
-1991, honored with the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award. To read his speech, Click Here
-May 1997, suffered from a rare, possibly fatal heart ailment, inflamation of tissue surrounding the heart. He fully recovered and returned to touring.
-"Time Out of Mind" released, September 1997.
-December 1997, honored with a Kennedy Center Honor. He was honored by Gregory Peck. Click Here to read what the Kennedy Center had to say about Mr. Dylan.
-Dylan wins 3 Grammys, including best album of the year for "Time Out of Mind".
*This information was taken from various articles and biographies*