"I have dined with kings, I've been offered wings. And I've never been too impressed." (Bob Dylan)

In the space of just a few years, Bob Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, rose from the obscurity of a small Minnesota town to a position of royalty atop the folk music landscape. Not content to remain for long within that niche, however, he went on to conquer rock with elements of blues, jazz, pop, country, gospel, rockabilly, and ethnic music of the British Isles, not to mention authoring several books, working in film soundtracks, acting, and holding international art exhibits of his work along the way.

In the 1960s, "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" became anthems of the antiwar and civil rights movements.

The initially baffling young folk singer who appeared out of nowhere was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."

Over the span of his career, he has received Grammy Awards, Golden Globes, and Academy Awards, and he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, not to mention being awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.