Bob Dylan is a living legend whom many consider to be the greatest poet of the twentieth century and beyond. Dylan was born on May 24th, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. Showing an interest in music from an early age he was involved with several rock bands in his local high school before his fateful move to New York City at the age of 19. Dylan dropped out of college to move to New York in 1961 with aspirations of becoming a professional musician. Dylan had become interested in folk music, and of folk icon and legend Woody Guthrie in particular, who was probably the single most influential musician of Dylan's early career. Reaching New York City he wasted no time playing whatever small clubs would have him in the Greenwich Village district, an area with a vibrant and growing folk music scene. In short order he gained a devoted local following, and was noticed by a producer from Columbia Records who signed him to the label in 1961, less than one year after he had arrived in New York. It didn't take long for his unique style of cutting edge poetic, and politically charged lyrics accompanied by his one-of-a-kind vocal delivery, and razor sharp wit to garner him a reputation as the best new talent in folk-rock music. The famous scandal at the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of 1965 in which he dared to play part of his set electric and plugged in, as opposed to the traditional acoustic only performances was a turning point in his career. Many of the die-hard traditional folk fans were not pleased with his embrace of non-traditional electric instruments.Ultimately Dylan's decision to go electric resulted in even more fans and popularity, and proved his unwillingness to be bound to any particular musical genre. In 1966 there was a long awaited international Bob Dylan tour, the first of many successful tours to come. Dylan still tours today, and has played with such notables as Tom Petty and Willie Nelson among others. Meanwhile, 48 years, and over 50 albums later the legend lives on and Bob Dylan is in as much demand today as he was when he first started out.
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