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TL;DR: 

  • Bob Dylan was born in Minnesota.
  • One of Bob Dylan’s childhood friends said he’d never been a fan of the artist, just the person.
  • Bob Dylan and his friend had a falling out in 2001.
A black and white picture of Bob Dylan wearing sunglasses and sitting at a piano.
Bob Dylan | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Bob Dylan met a close friend at a summer camp years before he became a celebrity. For years, his friend, Louis Kemp, remained one of Dylan’s closest friends outside the music industry. They remained close until 2001, when they fell out of contact, meaning that Kemp knew Dylan as a celebrated musician for decades. Still, he said he didn’t think of him this way. He couldn’t relate to the public persona.

The musician grew up in Minnesota

Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1941. When speaking about his upbringing, Dylan often recalls the state’s harsh weather. 

“Minnesota has its own Mason Dixon line,” Dylan said in an interview on his official website. “I come from the north and that’s different from southern Minnesota; if you’re there you could be in Iowa or Georgia. Up north the weather is more extreme — frostbite in the winter, mosquito-ridden in the summer, no air conditioning when I grew up, steam heat in the winter and you had to wear a lot of clothes when you went outdoors. Your blood gets thick. It’s the land of 10,000 lakes — lot of hunting and fishing.”

Dylan first began playing music in Minnesota before moving to New York in 1961.

Bob Dylan’s childhood friend said he didn’t consider himself a fan

Before his move to New York and subsequent stardom, Dylan attended a Jewish summer camp as a teenager. Here, he met two longtime friends, Larry Kegan and Louis Kemp. They met Dylan pre-fame, when he still went by Robert Zimmerman. 

“I would say Larry and I were his best friends, sure,” Kemp said, per Literary Hub. “My friend is Bobby Zimmerman, and I don’t relate to him as Bob Dylan — that professional persona … I was never a fan. I was a friend of Bobby Zimmerman, and that’s a whole different relationship from what most people have.”

A black and white picture of Bob Dylan holding a guitar and standing in front of a microphone.
Bob Dylan | Val Wilmer/Redferns
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Kemp said that he considered Dylan modest, which helped them remain friends despite his level of fame.

“He always said to me, ‘You know, I’m just a conduit for these songs. It’s a gift from God. It passes through me,'” Kemp said. “He has no ego about it whatsoever. He is down to earth. That’s why I was able to stay friends with him, because he remains Bobby Zimmerman. You know, he’s really Bobby Zimmerman.”

While describing oneself as a conduit of God may not come across as down-to-earth to everyone, it helped Kemp and Dylan remain friends for years.

Bob Dylan and his friend had a falling out

Dylan, Kemp, and Kegan vacationed together and visited one another’s homes. Dylan even invited them onto his tours. Their close relationship fell apart on Sept. 11, 2001, however. 

That day, Dylan released his album Love and Theft. While Kegan was on his way to buy it, he had a near-fatal heart attack.

“I broke the news to him. We had a long conversation,” Kemp said. “After 2001 we weren’t in touch.”

Kemp said that he and Dylan are still friends, just no longer in close contact. 

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