Bob Dylan's 17th studio album was released on 5 January 1976.
In June 1975, Dylan reconnected with Bob Neuwirth (who he'd met in 1961 and worked as Dylan's road manager until 1966) and began assembling a band for a tour (The Rolling Thunder Revue) and to record an album. Also in June, Dylan spotted Scarlet Rivera walking in Greenwich Village with a violin case and stopped and talked to her and later the two played together in Dylan's rehearsal space. That night they attended a Muddy Waters concert and Dylan announced her as the latest member of her band. Through Roger McGuinn (who would be part of the Rolling Thunder Revue), Dylan met Jacques Levy and began collaborating on songwriting together (7 of the 9 songs on Desire are co-written by Dylan and Levy).
Desire would become one of Dylan's best-selling albums, peaking at #1 in the US (#3 in the UK), where it stayed for 5 weeks, and would go on to sell more than 3 million copies worldwide.
When Dylan sold his publishing rights in 2020, Levy's estate (Levy had died in 2004) filed a lawsuit, claiming they were owed part of the $300 million sale. After several rulings, it was determined that Dylan did not owe Levy (and his estate) anymore than the original 35% royalties Levy agreed to in 1975.
