Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934-November 7, 2016) was a Quebecer singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist.
His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death and romantic relationships.
Cohen was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour.
Cohen pursued a career as a poet and novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s, and did not begin a music career until 1967 at the age of 33. His first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), was followed by three more albums of folk music: Songs from a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974).
His 1977 record Death of a Ladies' Man, co-written and produced by Phil Spector, was a move away from Cohen's previous minimalist sound.
In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs, which blended his acoustic style with jazz, East Asian, and Mediterranean influences.
Cohen's most famous song, Hallelujah, was first released on his studio album Various Positions in 1984. I'm Your Man in 1988 marked Cohen's turn to synthesized productions.
In 1992, Cohen released its follow-up, The Future, which had dark lyrics and references to political and social unrest.
More information: Leonard Cohen
Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of Ten New Songs, which was a major hit in Canada and Europe. Following a successful string of tours between 2008 and 2013, Cohen released three albums in the final four years of his life: Old Ideas (2012), Popular Problems (2014) and You Want It Darker (2016), the last of which was released three weeks before his death. A posthumous album titled Thanks for the Dance was released in November 2019, his fifteenth and final studio album.
Leonard Cohen was born in the Montreal suburb of Westmount, Quebec on September 21, 1934.
His Lithuanian-born mother, Marsha Klonitsky, was the daughter of a Talmudic writer, Rabbi Solomon Klonitsky-Kline, and emigrated to Canada in 1927.
In 1951, Cohen enrolled at McGill University, where he became president of the McGill Debating Union and won the Chester MacNaghten Literary Competition for the poems Sparrows and Thoughts of a Landsman.
In 1967, disappointed with his lack of success as a writer, Cohen
moved to the United States to pursue a career as a folk music
singer–songwriter. During the 1960s, he was a fringe figure in Andy
Warhol's Factory crowd. Warhol speculated that Cohen had spent time listening to Nico in clubs and that this had influenced his musical style.
His song Suzanne became a hit for Judy Collins, who subsequently covered a number of Cohen's other songs as well, and was for many years his most-covered song.
After performing at a few folk festivals, he came to the attention of Columbia Records producer John Hammond, who signed Cohen to a record deal.
Cohen's first album was Songs of Leonard Cohen.
Cohen followed up that first album with Songs from a Room (1969, featuring the often-recorded Bird on the Wire) and Songs of Love and Hate (1971).
In 1973, Columbia Records released Leonard Cohen: Live Songs.
In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs, which blended his acoustic style with jazz and East Asian and Mediterranean influences.
In the early 1980s, Cohen co-wrote, with Lewis Furey, the rock musical film Night Magic starring Carole Laure and Nick Mancuso; the LP Various Positions was released in 1984.
Cohen supported the release of the album with his biggest tour to date, in Europe and Australia, and with his first tour in Canada and the United States since 1975. The band performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Roskilde Festival.
They also gave a series of highly emotional and politically controversial concerts in Poland, which had been under martial law just two years before, and performed the song The Partisan, regarded as the hymn of the Polish Solidarity movement.
Hallelujah was first released on Cohen's studio album Various Positions in 1984, and he sang it during his Europe tour in 1985.
The album track Everybody Knows from I'm Your Man and If It Be Your Will in the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume helped expose Cohen's music to a wider audience.
More information: NPR
In 1993, Cohen also published his book of selected poems and songs, Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs, on which he had worked since 1989. It includes a number of new poems from the late 1980s and early 1990s and a major revision of his 1978 book Death of a Lady's Man.
In 1997, Cohen oversaw the selection and release of the More Best of Leonard Cohen album, which included a previously unreleased track, Never Any Good, and an experimental piece The Great Event.
After two years of production, Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of Ten New Songs, featuring a major influence from producer and co-composer Sharon Robinson.
In October 2004, Cohen released Dear Heather, largely a musical collaboration with jazz chanteuse Anjani Thomas, although Sharon Robinson returned to collaborate on three tracks, including a duet.
Cohen published a book of poetry and drawings, Book of Longing, in May 2006.
Leonard Cohen's 12th studio album, Old Ideas, was released worldwide on January 31, 2012.
Cohen released his 13th album, Popular Problems, on September 24, 2014.
Cohen's 14th and final album, You Want It Darker, was released on October 21, 2016.
Cohen died on November 7, 2016 at the age of 82 at his home in Los Angeles; leukaemia was a contributing cause.
More information: Leonard Cohen Files
Leonard Cohen
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