Photo: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0

Bob Dylan

1941 – present · age 85^[1][2]

Music

Fun Facts About Bob Dylan

• Bob Dylan was the first musician to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. A campaign to get him the prize began in 1996 and lasted 20 years.^[1]
• In 1959, before he was Bob Dylan, Robert Zimmerman performed twice with Bobby Vee under the name Elston Gunnn, playing piano and clapping.^[1]
• Dylan's 1959 high school yearbook caption read: "Robert Zimmerman: to join 'Little Richard'".^[1]
• When Dylan sat for one of Andy Warhol's Screen Tests in 1966, he made off with a Double Elvis painting from Warhol.^[1][3][4]
• Dylan co-founded the supergroup Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty.^[1][5][6]
• Besides his Nobel Prize, Dylan won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Things Have Changed", written for the film Wonder Boys.^[1]
• Bob Dylan was alive at the same time as Franklin D. Roosevelt — their lives overlapped for 4 years (1941–1945).^[1][2][7][8]
• Bob Dylan shares a birthday with Queen Victoria: both were born on May 24.^{[1][2][9][10]}

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 69-year career. With an estimated 125 million records sold worldwide, he is one of the best-selling musicians. Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social, and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.^[1]

Contemporaries

Noam Chomsky

85 yr overlap

Wole Soyinka

85 yr overlap

Dalai Lama

85 yr overlap

Woody Allen

85 yr overlap

Francis Ford Coppola

85 yr overlap

Tu Youyou

85 yr overlap

Yoko Ono

85 yr overlap

Jack Nicholson

85 yr overlap

James Watson

84 yr overlap

Jane Goodall

84 yr overlap

Pope Francis

84 yr overlap

Paul McCartney

84 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Bob Dylan

When was Bob Dylan born?

Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941, and is alive today.

How old is Bob Dylan?

Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941, and turned 85 on May 24, 2026.

What is Bob Dylan known for?

Bob Dylan is known for: Blowin' in the Wind, Nobel Prize in Literature. Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 69-year career. With an estimated 125 million records sold worldwide, he is one of the best-selling musicians. Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social, and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.

Who was alive at the same time as Bob Dylan?

Bob Dylan's closest contemporary was Noam Chomsky. Their lives overlapped for 85 years.