Legendary country-rock singer Bob Dylan has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Dylan was honoured with the award for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,” reported the Swedish Academy on Thursday. known for anti-war and civil right movement songs like Blowin’ in the Wind and The Times They are A-Changin’, As a musician, Dylan sold more than 100 million records. He was inspired by the legends like Little Richard, Woody Guthrie and Robert Johnson. In his career spanning more than 50 years, he explored many genres in the American traditional music like folk, blues, country, rock and roll, gospel, jazz, Scottish and even Irish folk music.
Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941 and began his musical career in 1959 by playing at coffee houses in Minnesota where he met John Hammond, the record producer that gave him a contract for his first album, Bob Dylan. On 19 March 1962, Bob Dylan’s debut album ‘Bob Dylan’ was released.
He has received numerous awards like eleven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award. Dylan’s name also appears in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fam. In 2012, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. Besides music, Dylan has also published six books of paintings. His works have been exhibited in major art galleries in the United States. Dylan has various albums on his name including Highway 61 Revisited in 1965, Blood on the Tracks in 1975 and Blonde on Blonde in 1966.
Here are 10 best songs of the American lyricist and folk singer:
Time’s They Are a-Changing
Blowin’ in the Wind
Mr. Tambourine Man
Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right
Masters of War
To Fall in Love With You
Ballad of a Thin Man
Visions of Johanna
Forever Young
Things Have Changed
