Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941) is an American singer–songwriter, author, poet, and painter who has been a major figure in popular music for more than five decades.
Many major recording artists have covered Dylan's material, some even increasing a song's popularity as is the case with the Byrds' cover version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and Jimi Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower".
Over 600 musicians have released their own recordings of songs written by Dylan, creating more than 1,500 covers of nearly 300 unique songs.