What happened to Joan Baez after a complete stranger

Bob Dylan biopic A complete stranger chronicles Dylan's meteoric rise to fame in the 1960s, leading to the backlash Dylan faced at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. A complete stranger features a large cast, led by Timothée Chalamet as Dylan, who portray real people and important circumstances in the folk music scene of the early 1960s. Although the film focuses primarily on the true events of Bob Dylan's early years as a folk musician, it also focuses much attention on Dylan's relationships with those closest to him, including one of his partners and musical collaborators, Joan Baez.

A complete stranger shows the importance of Bob Dylan's relationship with the renaming of Dylan's real-life partner Suze Rotolo, Sylvie Russo, and its gradual dissolution when Dylan began having an affair with Joan Baez. The biopic explores how these women impacted their beliefs and musical style. Understandably, the film can't go into much detail about the other characters' lives and careers while focusing on Dylan, but In addition to her connection with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez is a great and influential musician and activist in its own right, which continues to have an impact today.

Joan Baez's musical career after 1965

Baez continued making music in the decades following the events of a complete stranger

After the events portrayed A complete strangerFinishing with the Newport Folk Festival, Joan Baez continued to have a fruitful musical career. Furthermore, although the end of A complete stranger implies that Baez and Dylan no longer got along after that point; in fact, they continued to work and perform together for many years. Although Dylan and Baez's real-life relationship was very complicated and they were no longer romantically connected after 1965, they worked and traveled together occasionally during the 1980s.

In addition to his collaborations with Bob Dylan, Baez released several albums after 1965, which achieved critical and commercial success. Baez's most recent studio album was released in 2018, marking his 26th studio album. This was followed by a live album in 2019, which marked the end of their farewell tour. Matching his monumental career, Rolling Stone included her in its list of the greatest singers of all time in 2023. Although A complete stranger featured the beginning of her career and political activism, it is safe to say that Joan Baez's influence continued to grow after these years.

Joan Baez's social and political work after 1965

Baez has lent his voice to many causes

Alongside her music, Joan Baez is best known for her commitment to social and political causes so much throughout A complete stranger and in the following decades in real life. During the 1960s, Baez was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and protests against the Vietnam War. Her involvement with anti-war protests and concerts continued into the 1970s, during which time she also openly supported LGBTQ+ rights. Joan Baez has performed shows and recorded music to benefit both causes.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Baez supported several other social causes, beginning with prison reform in the early 1990s. Baez criticized the use of the death penalty and advocated efforts to free people who were wrongfully convicted. Additionally, she has participated in environmental activism, specifically regarding causes in her home state of California. During this same period, Baez expressed his opposition to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, reaffirming the anti-war stance he had maintained since the 1960s.

More recently, Baez has continued to support these causes, continuing to specifically advocate for prison reform and environmental protection. In addition to these causes, Baez also supported the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement, whose focus on economic inequality was in line with his previous beliefs and causes regarding inequality and the protection of all people and the planet. Baez openly supported many important and influential social and political causes throughout his life, and His activism remains one of the most important aspects of his career to this day.

Joan Baez's relationships after Bob Dylan

Joan Baez has had relationships with several notable people after Bob Dylan

After the relationship portrayed in A complete stranger and her breakup with Bob Dylan in 1965, Joan Baez married activist David Harris in March 1968. Baez and Harris met in 1967 in Santa Rita Prison, California, after both were arrested for participating in blocking the doors of an Armed Forces Induction Center to protest the draft. After getting married, Harris was arrested in 1969 for refusing the military draft, and Baez gave birth to their only child later that year (via PBS). The couple finally divorced in 1973.

In addition to her marriage to David Harris, Baez's most notable relationship was with Steve Jobs. Joan Baez and the Apple co-founder dated in the 1980s, when he was in his 20s and she was in her 40s. Although their relationship ended, Joan Baez maintained a positive relationship with Steve Jobs until his death. Baez even performed at his memorial service in 2011, and she shared that he was a kind man, even though his genius could make him “erratic” (through Contact Music).

What is Joan Baez doing in 2024

Baez remains politically active and has received several awards

While A complete stranger showed the fame that Joan Baez found early in her life and career, she remains a legendary figure today, both for her influence on folk music and her activism. Baez continues to support causes she is passionate about and became involved in the Catalan independence movement in 2019. In 2021, she received a 2020 Kennedy Center Honor reflecting her contributions to the arts. Baez also continued to expand her art as a painter, often creating portraits of influential people in her life.

In recent years, Baez's musical and activist work has been honored with numerous awardsincluding induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and receiving the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, among others. Most recently, in April 2024, Baez released a new book of poetry titled When you see my mother, ask her to dance: poems (through joanbaez.com). Given her decades-long career and influence, it's safe to say there's more to Joan Baez's story than A complete stranger present, which is impressive in itself.

Source: PBS, Contact Music& joanbaez.com