Background

Jakob Luke Dylan was born on December 9, 1969, in New York City, New York. His mother, Sara Dylan, is a successful singer and songwriter. Both of his parents are Jewish. Jakob, the youngest of five siblings, spent the early years of his childhood in Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan.

At the age of three, Jakob, along with his family, moved to Los Angeles. In 1977, when he was of eight years of age, his parents divorced. Though his mother mainly brought him up, Dylan also shared a good relationship with his father. He grew up listening to English rock records and soon developed a tremendous interest in the 'The Clash' English rock band.

During high school, Dylan played guitar in various bands. He was featured as a guitar player on a 1987 album called Trash Matinee. Dylan was also in a band called the Bootheels with future Wallflowers bandmate Tobi Miller. During this time, Dylan started writing songs and began shifting his focus from guitar playing to songwriting. Upon graduation from high school, Dylan decided to move to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design to study art. Dylan subsequently dropped out in his first semester and moved back to Los Angeles to pursue music.

Marriage, Wife, and Children

Dylan married his girlfriend, Paige, in 1992. Paige is an actress known for her roles in Sugar Town, Grace of My Heart, and Say Good Night, Michael. They met each other in 1988 and started dating since then. They got married after four years of romance. Their first child, Levi, was born two years after they tied the knot. They had a second son, James, in 1998, and a third son was born in 2000.

Career and Net Worth

In 1989 Jakob Dylan, along with his childhood friend Tobi Miller, formed a rock band named 'The Apples.' Later, the name was changed to 'The Wallflowers'. The band soon signed with Virgin Records. In 1992, the band released their self-titled debut album. It received positive reviews but didn't do well commercially. In 1995, three years after the release of their first album, their second album, 'Bringing Down the Horse,' was released. The album was a huge hit. It peaked at the fourth position on the U.S. Billboard 200. It was also nominated for multiple Grammys.

Dylan and The Wallflowers launched into an extensive touring run for the next two years, their third album Breach not materializing until 2000. Between releases they recorded a version of David Bowie's "Heroes" for the soundtrack of the 1998 Godzilla re-make, later offering another cover song of The Beatles' I'm Looking Through You to the soundtrack of I Am Sam (2001). The band managed to raise its profile considerably on the subsequent tour by serving as the opening act for prestigious acts such as The Who and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and headlining throughout the U.S. and Japan. Red Letter Days, their fourth album offering, was released in 2002, venturing more into pop territory than the previous records.

His high school buddy and the band's bassist, Greg Richling, said that Jakob's life revolved around the band and his family.

Philanthropy

Dylan is a diabetes advocate who received the American Diabetes Association's Father of the Year award on June 4, 2014. The award honors men who "have prioritized their families while juggling a busy job and community activity." Dylan is also a Crohn's and colitis awareness advocate. He has performed musical entertainment for an annual event by Connecting to Cure, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness and supporting research to cure Crohn's and colitis, every year since 2012.