He electrified audiences and started a music revolution, yet even as he turns 80 few people really know Bob Dylan – except his devoted family.
Calling him “one of the funniest, wisest and most humble” of men, daughter Desi Dennis-Dylan says: “The world may know him as a lot of things, but to me he’s always been Dad. And I love him for it.”
The legendary musician and Nobel Prize winner celebrates his 80th birthday a week tomorrow.
And while he remains one of the world’s most elusive stars, a look into Dylan’s inner circle and insights from friends shed light on the man behind the music.
Louie Kemp – one of his oldest friends, who met Bob as a teenager – tells how Dylan learned early to cope with fame.
He says: “He didn’t let the tail wag the dog… He controlled it and he never got taken in by it.”
Born into a middle class Jewish family in Minnesota in 1941, he changed his name from Zimmerman in 1962, just in time to find fame in the folk music revival.
He caught the mood with songs such as The Times They Are a’Changin’, Blowin’ in the Wind and Like a Rolling Stone.
The women in his life inspired many of his love songs, such as Lay Lady Lay and Tangled Up in Blue.
Early sweethearts included singer Joan Baez, and Suze Rotolo – pictured with him on breakthrough album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
Another was “soulmate” and backing singer Clydie King, who sang on albums including Shot of Love.
One of his best known love songs, Girl from the North Country, was about his first girlfriend, Echo Helstrom.
He also led another lover, Bonnie Beecher, to think he might have written it with her in mind.
Before her death Echo told me: “I think it’s about both of us.
“That’s just Bob. I believe it’s both of us combined, but he [told] each of us that it’s about
us individually.”
Living alone in California in poor health when we last spoke, Echo had fond memories.
“He was a fun guy to hang out with,” she recalled. “I admire him and the things he’s done. I’m glad he’s gotten the recognition he has.”
Of the last time they met, she revealed: “My friend and I went backstage. He said, ‘If I’d known you were going to be here I would have done your song’.”
The girl from the North Country died in 2018, aged 75.
Perhaps tellingly, when Dylan later watched the stage musical named after her song, he wept.
People who know him describe Dylan as solitary and surprisingly shy, with few close friends.
Says Louie: “Most of the people around him are employees.”
Guitarist Stu Kimball told me how he was invited to an audition in 2004 that went well enough for him to be asked casually to join the band for a few gigs.
“I thought I was going on tour for two weeks,” he said.
It turned into nearly 15 years on the road. Stu said: “You never knew what to expect, you know? You have to be on your toes.
“We had a set list but things are always subject to change – every day was an adventure.” Band members like Stu revere Bob as a genius – but they also have fun together on the road.
They play cards with him on the tour bus that is his second home and watch old comedy shows such as I Love Lucy.
“He’s very normal,” says Stu. “There’s a lot of camaraderie.”
When he’s not touring, Dylan’s main residence is a mansion near Zuma Beach, California, where he has lived since the 1970s.
He is said to have asked his architect to design a house with a lounge “big enough to ride a horse through”.
Away from his music and writing, his main hobby is painting – his large works can sell for £250,000.
He also welds huge gates from scrap iron and made one pair now owned by former US President Bill Clinton.
Dylan had four children with his first wife Sara, an ex-Playboy Bunny and model – Jesse, Anna, Samuel and Jakob. He also adopted Sara’s daughter Maria.
In my Dylan biography Down the Highway, I revealed he had secretly remarried in the 1980s, to singer Carolyn Dennis.
They went on to have a child, Desiree, who uses the name Desi.
And while the marriage didn’t last, Desi’s relationship with her father is good.
It is rumoured Dylan has since remarried again, though typically no names have been revealed.
His eldest son, Jesse, has a production company in LA and is married to actress Susan Traylor, who appeared briefly in her father-in-law’s 2003 movie Masked & Anonymous.
The eldest of their two children, Pablo, became a rapper – proudly declaring his grandad “the Jay-Z of his time”.
And Dylan’s youngest son, Jakob, became the most high-profile member of the family after Bob himself – hyped as a major new rock star in the 1990s as leader of LA band the Wallflowers.
To mark her dad’s birthday in 2018, Desi posted a photo on Instagram of herself as a baby with her father.
She wrote: “To my Dad. Not only is he one of the most brilliant men I’ve ever known, but he’s one of the funniest, wisest and most humble.
“The world may know him as a lot of things, but to me he’s always been Dad. And I love him for it.”
Until lockdown struck, Dylan had toured the world every year since the late 1980s on his so-called Never Ending Tour.
But he has not set foot on stage since 2019.
One of his last shows that summer was in London’s Hyde Park, where he looked increasingly frail, with some fans struggling to understand him.
As the author of more than 600 songs – including classics such as Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, Make You Feel My Love and All Along the Watchtower – Dylan is not only assured his place in music history but is also fabulously rich. He recently sold his catalogue for more than £200million.
But while his latest album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, is all about death, friends insist the star wants nothing more than to get back to work.
“Bob enjoys what he does and he’ll continue as long as he lives,” says pal Louie.
Stu adds: “No one knows when Bob’s going to stop. I’m sure he never wants to.”
- Now updated, Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan is published by Doubleday at £16.99
