American singer-songwriter who transformed popular music from entertainment into literature — awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 — with a 60-year career of restless creative reinvention.
The literary elevation of popular song: Dylan demonstrated that the popular song could carry the weight of poetry, political prophecy, and personal myth — Blowin' in the Wind, The Times They Are A-Changin', Like a Rolling Stone, Desolation Row. His 1965 decision to 'go electric' at Newport is one of the defining moments in music history — booed by folk purists, vindicated by history. Six decades of reinvention: protest folk, electric rock, country, gospel, standards. The Nobel committee's citation: 'for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.'
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