Leonard Cohen

Canadian-born songwriter, poet, and folksinger

• Born: September 21, 1934
• Birthplace: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• Died: November 7, 2016
• Place of death: Los Angeles, California

Cohen was an influential poet-singer-songwriter, whose work encompassed folk, popular, and rock music.

Early Life

Leonard Cohen was born on September 21, 1934, in Montreal, Quebec, to Nathan Cohen, an engineer and a men’s clothing store owner of self-proclaimed Kohanim descent, and Marsha Klinitsky, a nurse of Lithuanian Jewish descent. Cohen’s childhood was steeped in Judaism; Cohen later claimed it had been a Messianic childhood. He was taught that he was not merely of Jewish descent, but he was a descendant of Aaron, the first Hebrew high priest of the Israelites. This and other legacies would influence Cohen’s work. From his father, who died in 1943, when Cohen was only nine years old, he inherited a modest trust fund that would support his future ambitions; from his mother, he probably inherited a propensity for periods of depression.

Cohen thrived in his progressive, open-minded upbringing, and he was given a wide range of freedom of expression. He played piano and clarinet; and by the age of thirteen he had learned guitar. Attending Herzliah Hebrew High School, he studied with creative fellows A. M. Klein and Irving Layton, and he played guitar at local coffeehouses and in a country-folk band, Buckskin Boys, he and his friends formed in 1951. Throughout the 1950s, Cohen was also active in the underground literary scene, and he combined his attraction to the writings of William Blake, Jean Genet, and Walt Whitman with his affinity for the folk music of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and others.

Life’s Work

In 1951, Cohen began to study at McGill University. His poems were published in a collection, Let Us Compare Mythologies, which was the first book in the McGill Poetry Series in 1956. He won his first creative writing award, the McNaughton Prize, before graduating with a BA in English in 1955. He had a single term at McGill’s law school and then briefly, from 1956 to 1957, took graduate studies at Columbia University in New York. Let Us Compare Mythologies won the 1956 McGill Literary Award, which included a grant that enabled the twenty-three-year-old to travel. He visited Cuba, lived and wrote in England for four years, traveled throughout Europe, and then moved to Greece. For six years he lived on the island of Hydra with his muse, model Marianne Ihlen, and her son. He wrote and published three poetry collections and two novels; he drafted his first songs; and occasionally returned to Montreal to give readings.

By the mid-1960s, Cohen’s published poetry and prose had earned critical and popular favor. His songs, thanks to the work of folksinger Judy Collins, soon got the same reception. In 1966, he visited New York, where he was introduced to Collins, who in turn introduced several of his pieces on her next album, In My Life (1966). As he transitioned from poetry and fiction to music, Cohen eventually broke ties with Greece and Marianne (a farewell immortalized in the song "So Long, Marianne" on his debut album), moved back to the United States, and met Suzanne Elrod, who became his longtime companion and with whom he had two children, Adam and Lorca. In the summer of 1967, Cohen debuted at the Newport Folk Festival and followed up with two sold-out New York City concerts and a television appearance, in which he sang his songs and recited his poetry. Despite his private concerns that he did not have a suitable voice, in 1968 Cohen produced his first album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen. It contained what would become some of his best-known songs, including "Suzanne," "Sisters of Mercy," and "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye."

For the next twenty-five years, Cohen would produce eleven albums and four collections of poetry. His folk-oriented albums Songs from a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971), and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974) mostly continued in the vein of his debut, and were met with consistent critical acclaim. Songs from his first album were also featured in the Robert Altman film McCabe & Mrs. Miller in 1971. His album Death of a Ladies' Man (1977) saw him collaborate with famed producer Phil Spector, who added his trademark layered instrumentation to the tracks. He returned to his former style for 1979's Recent Songs.

Cohen's career briefly stuttered through the early 1980s, but soon he saw a rising wave of new followers, as devout as those of the 1960s and 1970s. His song "Hallelujah," off his 1984 album Various Positions, though mostly ignored upon release, would eventually prove to be his most famous composition, with numerous cover versions recorded—including notable ones by John Cale and Jeff Buckley—and extensive use in films and other media. In 1988 Cohen broke through to new audiences with his successful album I'm Your Man, which marked a major transformation in his sound. The record relied heavily on synthesizers, as compared to the more acoustic-focused approach of most of his earlier albums, which helped make Cohen more relevant to younger listeners.

While Cohen achieved critical and some commercial success with his own recordings, his reputation as one of the top songwriters of his day led many artists to cover his works. This attention from fellow musicians often in turn boosted Cohen's career, especially during periods in which he released relatively little material. In 1987, singer Jennifer Warnes, who had collaborated on Various Positions, released an album called Famous Blue Raincoat, which featured mostly Cohen songs, including the well-known title track; the album's success ensured Cohen remained noticed by critics and fans. In 1991, in the wake of the success of I’m Your Man, Christian Fevret, the editor of France’s premier rock magazine, Les Inrockuptibles, produced an album titled I’m Your Fan, for which eighteen singers and groups, among them the Pixies, R.E.M., and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, recorded their favorite Cohen song. The album included Cale's version of "Hallelujah," which Cale also included on a 1992 solo album. That version served as inspiration for Buckley's own cover, which appeared on his album Grace in 1994 and eventually became hugely popular, bringing new attention to Cohen, the original songwriter, in the process.

After several years of touring, in 1994 Cohen moved to the Mount Baldy Zen Center, outside Los Angeles. There, Cohen trained in the discipline of Japanese Rinzai Zen and remained mostly secluded from the public eye for several years. This period saw the release of albums of his live concerts and best-of compilations. In 2001, Cohen produced his thirteenth album, Ten New Songs. After that came several more album releases, including the all-new Dear Heather (2004) and digital remastered versions of some of his back catalog.

After discovering that his business manager had embezzled millions of dollars from his savings, in 2005–06 Cohen filed and won a lawsuit against her for $9.5 million in damages, but he was unable to collect any of the money. Cohen released a new poetry collection, Book of Longing, in 2006, but with his retirement savings depleted, he was financially compelled to go on tour between 2008 and 2010, despite being in his seventies. During the tour he produced a live album, Live in London (2009), and a DVD/CD, Songs from the Road (2010). The successful tour saw him playing to some of the largest audiences of his career and helped reverse his financial setbacks. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 and won a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2010.

Cohen released Old Ideas, comprised of new material, in early 2012, and went on a world tour in support of the album. In September 2014, the same month as his eightieth birthday, Cohen released another new album, Popular Problems, followed by a live album, Live in Dublin, that December. His next studio album, You Want It Darker, was released in October 2016.

By 2016 Cohen had openly discussed his declining health, which had led to a few incidents such as fainting, back problems, and other issues during his tours. According to those around him, he increasingly withdrew from online communication and other things he saw as distracting from his work on You Want It Darker and other projects. He was reportedly fighting cancer as he continued recording. On November 7, 2016, Cohen suffered a fall in the middle of the night and passed away peacefully at home at the age of eighty-two. His death was widely reported around the world and various tributes were organized in recognition of his lifelong contributions as a multifaceted artist.

Significance

Cohen’s music and performances made him an iconic figure. His music and poetic lyrics have attracted audiences of all ages, and his songs are thematically rich, on spiritual, political, sensual, historical, and religious topics. He is often considered one of the best songwriters of the 1960s, the twentieth century, or even all time. In an interview, Cohen admitted that he had "a lot of versions" of himself and that he "used religion to support" them. His career spanned decades, encompassing Cohen’s varied life changes, but audiences consistently respond to his revelatory music as well as his poetry and literature. His song "Hallelujah," in particular, became one of the most-recorded and best-known songs in English-speaking pop culture, and exemplifies his lyrical style. In 2006 Lions Gate Films released the critically praised Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, a film portrait of Cohen by director Lian Lunson.

Bibliography

Cohen, Leonard. Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters. Ed. Jeff Burger. Chicago: Chicago Rev. P: 2014. Digital file.

Eder, Bruce. "Leonard Cohen: Artist Biography." AllMusic. AllMusic/All Media, 2014. Web. 22 Dec. 2014.

Footman, Tim. Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah—A New Biography. New Malden, Surrey: Chrome Dreams, 2009.

Hendrickx, Marc. Yesterday’s Tomorrow: Leonard Cohen. Australia: Brandl and Schlesinger, 2008.

Holt, Jason. Leonard Cohen and Philosophy: Various Positions. New York: Open Court, 2014. Digital file.

Leibovitz, Liel. A Broken Hallelujah: Rock and Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen. New York: Norton, 2014. Print.

Nadel, Ira B. Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007.

Rohter, Larry. "Leonard Cohen, Epic and Enigmatic Songwriter, is Dead at 82." The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/obituaries/leonard-cohen-dies.html. Accessed 6 Dec. 2016.

Sheppard, David. Leonard Cohen: Kill Your Idols. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2000.

Sisario, Ben. "For Leonard Cohen, the End Came with a Fall in the Night." The New York Times, 16 Nov. 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/arts/music/leonard-cohen-last-days.html. Accessed 6 Dec. 2016.