Bob Dylan is almost more a legend than a man. He took what everyone thought about music and turned it inside out. Unlike those before him, Dylan relied more on his exceptional song writing skills than his voice. His influences on song writing went as far as the Beatles and can still be heard penetrating today’s music from rock and roll to country. Dylan was born on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, MN, as Robert Allen Zimmerman. From an early age, he played the guitar and harmonica and eventually formed a band in high school called the Golden Chords. He graduated high school in 1959 and went to the University of Minnesota. He started doing gigs at coffee shops while in college and took the stage name Bob Dylan after the poet Dylan Thomas. His inspirations included Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie. He had a strong interest in folk music but also began to listen to blues as well. When he was supposed to return to college in 1960, Dylan instead decided to pursue music and left for New York City at the beginning of 1961. He soon created a buzz around the folk scene at Greenwich Village and by April, he was performing as an opener for John Lee Hooker. Because of his talent and exposure, he eventually had a great review written on him in the New York Times. A man from Columbia A&R found and signed Dylan because of the review in late 1961. He released a self-titled folk and blues album in 1962 that featured two original songs. Dylan started to write more after that album and recorded his own work in his next album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, released in 1963. These Times are A-Changin’ came in 1964 and he released Another Side of Bob Dylan later that year. He also released two albums in 1965: Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited. The more albums Dylan released the more his popularity increased. After releasing his next album in 1966, Blonde on Blonde, he hit the 10 million mark for records sold. He followed it up with John Wesley Harding in 1967 and Nashville Skyline in 1969. He released some ten albums during the 1970s including the No. 1 albums Planet Waves, Blood on the Tracks and Desire. The 1980s brought a mix of Bob Dylan talent with some new styles and also religious albums like Saved. He has continued to mold his style of music and his new tracks are just as fascinating as his first. His 2006 release, Modern Times, was another platinum album and reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts.