Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American songwriter, singer, painter, and writer. He has been influential in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when his songs chronicled social unrest. Dylan's lyrics incorporate a wide range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed to the burgeoning counterculture. In 2016, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".