Michael Gray (born 25 August 1946 in

Bromborough Bromborough is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, it is situated on the Wirral Peninsula, to the south east of Bebington and to the north of Easth ...

, Wirral) is a British author who has written extensively about

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

and

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

Biography

Gray grew up on

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

, attended

Birkenhead School Birkenhead School is an independent, academically-selective, co-educational day school located in Oxton, Wirral, in North West England. The school offers educational opportunities for girls and boys from three months to eighteen years of age. ...

, and read History and English Literature at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

. He subsequently lived and worked in

North Devon North Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. North Devon Council is based in Barnstaple. Other towns and villages in the North Devon District include Braunton, Fremington, Ilfracombe, Instow, South Molton, Lynton and Lynmouth ...

, Birmingham, West Malvern,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

. He is married to the food writer Sarah Beattie. In 2008, they moved to South-West

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In 1972, Gray published the first critical study of Dylan's work, ''Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan''; this work was greatly expanded into ''Song & Dance Man III: The Art Of Bob Dylan'' (1999, 2000). In 2006, Gray published the ''

Bob Dylan Encyclopedia ''The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia'' is a 2006 compendium of articles written by Michael Gray covering the life and work of Bob Dylan. It includes reviews of varying length for each album and numerous songs in Dylan's musical output, but is not just a ...

'', which received favourable reviews from the music press and newspapers. In 2007, Gray published ''Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes - In Search of Blind Willie McTell'', both a travelogue and a detailed biography of the influential blues singer

Blind Willie McTell Blind Willie McTell (born William Samuel McTier; May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959) was a Piedmont blues and ragtime singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont bl ...

. This work was shortlisted for the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Unit ...

for Biography in 2008. Gray was the Mary Amelia Cummins Harvey Visiting Fellow Commoner at

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status ...

, in 2005. He established a

blog in 2006. His official website was created in 2011. In 2015 he received the higher doctorate of D.Litt. (Doctor of Letters in English) from the University of York. In 2021, Gray published ''Outtakes on Bob Dylan'', a selection of his writings on Dylan from 1967 to 2021. It contained a new 60-page assessment of Dylan's album ''

Rough and Rowdy Ways ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' is the 39th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on June 19, 2020, through Columbia Records. It is Dylan's first album of original songs since his 2012 album ''Tempest'', following three releas ...

''.

Principal works

*''Song & Dance Man: The Art Of Bob Dylan'' (1972, 1973) *''Mother!: The Frank Zappa Story'' (1985, 1992, 1994, 2007, also published in Italy 1986 and Germany 1994) *''The Elvis Atlas: A Journey Through Elvis Presley's America'' (1996, 2011) - co-author *''All Across The Telegraph: A Bob Dylan Handbook'' (1987, 1988) - co-editor *''The Art Of Bob Dylan: Song & Dance Man'' (1981, 1982) *''Song & Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan'' (1999, 2000) *''

The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia ''The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia'' is a 2006 compendium of articles written by Michael Gray covering the life and work of Bob Dylan. It includes reviews of varying length for each album and numerous songs in Dylan's musical output, but is not just a ...

'' (2006, revised & expanded 2008) *''Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes: In Search Of Blind Willie McTell'' (2007) *''Outtakes on Bob Dylan'' (2021)

References

External links

Michael Gray official websiteGray's Bob Dylan blogGray's Blind Willie McTell blogJohn May interviews Michael Gray
Alumni of the University of York Living people 1946 births {{UK-writer-stub