Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen
source
Name	Leonard Cohen
Caption	Cohen performing in 2008
Birth date	21 September 1934
Birth place	Westmount, Quebec, Canada
Death date	07 November 2016
Death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, poet, novelist
Years active	1956–2016
Notable works	Songs of Leonard Cohen, Various Positions, I'm Your Man, The Future, You Want It Darker
Awards	Companion of the Order of Canada, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Leonard Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist whose work explored themes of love, faith, despair, and redemption with profound depth and literary grace. His career spanned six decades, beginning as a celebrated poet and novelist in Montreal before achieving global fame as a musician with a uniquely resonant baritone voice. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and revered songwriters of the late 20th century, with his songs covered by countless artists across genres. His final albums, released in his late seventies, were met with universal critical acclaim, cementing his status as a vital artistic voice until his death.

Early life and education

He was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Westmount, an affluent enclave of Montreal. His mother was the daughter of a Talmudic scholar, and his paternal grandfather founded the Canadian Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, where he was immersed in religious liturgy and choral music. He attended Westmount High School and later enrolled at McGill University, where he studied under poets like Irving Layton and Louis Dudek. During his time at McGill, he became president of the McGill Debating Union and won the Chester MacNaghten Literary Competition for his early poems. He published his first collection of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies, in 1956 as part of the McGill Poetry Series before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He briefly attended the Faculty of Law at McGill University and spent a term at the Columbia University School of General Studies before abandoning formal academic pursuits to focus on writing.

Music career

He moved to the United States in the late 1960s to pursue a career as a folk music singer-songwriter, settling in New York City's Chelsea Hotel. His debut album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, was released in 1967 to critical acclaim, featuring now-classic songs like "Suzanne" and "So Long, Marianne". Throughout the 1970s, he released a series of influential albums, including Songs of Love and Hate, while touring extensively across Europe and North America. The 1980s saw a commercial resurgence with the synth-pop influenced album I'm Your Man, which featured the hit "First We Take Manhattan". His 1992 album The Future offered a stark commentary on social and political decay. After a period of seclusion at the Mount Baldy Zen Center in the 1990s, he embarked on a massively successful world tour from 2008 to 2013 following the release of compilation albums like The Essential Leonard Cohen. His final studio albums, Popular Problems and the Grammy-winning You Want It Darker, were produced in collaboration with his son Adam Cohen and released to universal praise.

Poetry and prose

Before his music career, he was an established literary figure, publishing the poetry collections The Spice-Box of Earth and Flowers for Hitler. His novel Beautiful Losers (1966) was a controversial, experimental work that shocked critics with its explicit content but was later hailed as a landmark of Canadian literature. He continued to publish volumes of poetry and drawings throughout his life, including Book of Mercy, a book of psalms, and Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs. His literary work earned him numerous honors, including the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry, which he declined, and the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters.

Personal life and beliefs

His personal life was marked by romantic relationships that often inspired his work, including his long-term partnership with Norwegian woman Marianne Ihlen, immortalized in "So Long, Marianne", and his relationship with Suzanne Elrod, with whom he had two children. He was a lifelong student of Zen Buddhism, studying under Kyozan Joshu Sasaki at the Mount Baldy Zen Center for years and was ordained as a Rinzai Zen monk in 1996, taking the name Jikan. Despite this deep engagement with Buddhism, he consistently identified with his Jewish heritage and theological concerns, which permeated his lyrics. He struggled with depression throughout his life, a theme he addressed openly in his work. In his later years, he faced significant financial difficulties after discovering his longtime manager Kelley Lynch had misappropriated his retirement fund, a situation partially resolved through a legal settlement.

Legacy and influence

He is considered one of the most covered songwriters in history, with iconic songs like "Hallelujah" achieving global cultural ubiquity through interpretations by John Cale, Jeff Buckley, and countless others on shows like American Idol. His influence extends across a vast array of artists, from Bob Dylan and Nick Cave to Kurt Cobain and Lana Del Rey. Major institutions have recognized his impact, with inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honor. Posthumous tributes include the Juno Award-winning documentary Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man and the memorial album Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard Cohen. His final album, Thanks for the Dance, was completed posthumously by his son and released in 2019, ensuring his voice continued to resonate.

Category:Canadian singer-songwriters Category:Canadian poets Category:1934 births Category:2016 deaths