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Leonard Cohen

Leonard Norman Cohen, CC, GOQ (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships.[1] Cohen has been inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. While giving the speech at Cohen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 10 March 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters." Early life

Cohen was born on 21 September 1934 in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec, into a middle-class Jewish family. His mother, of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, emigrated from Lithuania while his great-grandfather emigrated from Poland.[3] [4] He grew up in Westmount on the Island of Montreal. His grandfather was Lyon Cohen, founding president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. His father, Nathan Cohen, who owned a substantial Montreal clothing store, died when Cohen was nine years old. On the topic of being a Kohen, Cohen has said that, "I had a very Messianic childhood." He told Richard Goldstein in 1967. "I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest."[5] Cohen attended Westmount High School, beginning in 1948 where he was involved with the Student Council and studied music and poetry.[6] He became especially interested in the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca.[6] As a teenager, he learned to play the guitar, and formed a country-folk group called the Buckskin Boys. Although he initially played a regular acoustic guitar as a teenager, he soon switched to playing a classical guitar after meeting a young Spanish flamenco guitar player who taught him "a few chords and some flamenco."[6] [edit]Poetry and novels

In 1951, Cohen enrolled at McGill University, where he became president of the McGill Debating Union and won the Chester MacNaughton Prize for Creative Writing for a series of four poems titled "Thoughts of a Landsman." He graduated in 1955 with a B.A. degree.[6] His literary influences during this time included William Butler Yeats, Irving Layton, Walt Whitman, Federico Garcia Lorca and Henry Miller.[7] His first published book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956), was published by Louis Dudek (who taught poetry at McGill and was a mentor to Cohen) as the first book in the McGill Poetry Series while Cohen was still an undergraduate student. The book contained "poems written largely when Cohen was between the ages of fifteen and twenty," and Cohen dedicated the book to his late father.[6] The famous and influential Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye wrote a review of the book in which he gave Cohen "restrained praise." [6] After completing an undergraduate degree, Cohen spent a term in McGill's law school and then a year (1956-7) at the School of General Studies at Columbia University. Cohen described his graduate school experience as "passion without flesh, love without climax".[8] Consequently, Cohen left New York and returned to Montreal in 1957, working various odd jobs and focusing on the writing of fiction and poetry, including the poems for his next book, The Spice-Box of Earth (1961), which was the first book that Cohen published through the Canadian publishing company McClelland & Stewart. Fortunately, his father's will provided him with a modest trust income, sufficient to allow him to pursue his literary ambitions for the time, and The Spice-Box of Earth was successful in helping to expand the audience for Cohen's poetry, helping him reach out to the poetry scene in Canada, outside the confines of McGill University. The book also helped Cohen gain critical recognition as an important new voice in Canadian poetry. One of Cohen's biographers, Ira Nadel, stated that "reaction to the finished book was enthusiastic and admiring. . .[noting that] the critic Robert Weaver found it powerful and declared that Cohen was 'probably the best young poet in English Canada right now.'"[6] Cohen continued to write poetry and fiction throughout much of the 1960s and preferred to live in quasi-reclusive circumstances after he bought a house on Hydra, a Greek island in the Saronic Gulf. While living and writing on Hydra, Cohen published the poetry collection Flowers for Hitler (1964), and the novels The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966). His novel The Favourite Game was an autobiographical bildungsroman about a young man who discovers his identity through writing. Beautiful Losers received a good deal of attention from the Canadian press and stirred up controversy because of a number of sexually graphic passages.[6] In 1966 Cohen also published Parasites of Heaven, a book of poems. Both Beautiful Losers and Parasites of Heaven received mixed reviews and sold few copies.[6] Subsequently, Cohen published less, with major gaps, concentrating more on recording songs. In 1978, he published his first book of poetry in many years, Death of a Lady's Man (not to be confused with the album he released the previous year with the similar title, Death of a Ladies' Man). It wasn't until 1984 that Cohen published his next book of poems, Book of Mercy, which won him the Canadian Author's Association Literary Award for Poetry. The book contains 50 prose-poems, influenced by the Bible, Torah, and Zen-Buddhist writings. Cohen himself referred to the pieces as "prayers".[citation needed] In 1993, Cohen published Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs, and in 2006, after 10 years of delays, additions and rewritings, Book of Longing. During the late 1990s and 2000s, many of his poems were first published on his fan website The Leonard Cohen Files [9][10] Cohen's writing process, as he told an interviewer in 1998, is "...like a bear stumbling into a beehive or a honey cache: I'm stumbling right into it and getting stuck, and it's delicious and it's horrible and I'm in it and it's not very graceful and it's very awkward and it's very painful and yet there's something inevitable about it."[11] In 2011, Cohen was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for literature. [edit]Recording career

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Multiple Reviews

Leonard Cohen and His Legacy

Read "Leonard Cohen and His Legacy" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


In recent years, nobody has raged against the dying of the light more spectacularly and thrillingly as singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen. For 50 years he had been telling stories of love, faith, death, despair, solitude, war, politics, and exaltation. Before embarked on a successful and eventful career in the show business he had a successful career as a poet and novelist. His achievements were legendary and his status as a writer, poet, songwriter and the famous ladies' man had ...

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Extended Analysis

Leonard Cohen: You Want it Darker

Read "Leonard Cohen: You Want it Darker" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


On first listen, Leonard Cohen's album You Want it Darker is a great album. On second listen, it could rank among his best and on third listen, it is obvious that it is the best contender for a Nobel Prize in literature in the next turn of awards. But so are the other albums that have preceded it. It is astonishing that Cohen as an elder statesman is producing some of his best work at this stage of his career. ...

13
Book Review

On Tour With Leonard Cohen

Read "On Tour With Leonard Cohen" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


On Tour With Leonard Cohen Sharon Robinson 221 pages ISBN: 1576877256 PowerHouse Books 2014 When singer and poet Leonard Cohen got back on the road in 2008 after years of absence and seclusion in a Zen monastery beset by management and financial woes, his comeback was universally greeted by audiences worldwide. Despite the age when most musicians of his generation are retired or about to it seems that the return to stage ...

17
Album Review

Leonard Cohen: Live in London

Read "Live in London" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


The Live in London LP could have easily been Leonard Cohen's last record and the tour that followed it could have easily been a low key farewell tour. Already at the twilight of his career or at an age when most acts go into retirement, Cohen slowly was secluding himself from recordings, performances or public appearances and instead he lived the life of a monk at a Zen monastery. Due to misfortune concerning his former manager, who bled his bank ...

17
Extended Analysis

Leonard Cohen: Popular Problems

Read "Leonard Cohen: Popular Problems" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


On 21st of September, Leonard Cohen, member of an elite triumvirate of singer songwriters joined the 80 club. A day after his birthday, he delivered a new record and another chapter of his life opened to the public. Cohen is one of those singer songwriters that have kept maturing, producing new and interesting work with every advancing decade of his life. And there is something wondrous about Cohen delivering a new record for his 80th birthday. That he is delivering ...

9
Live Review

Leonard Cohen at Arena Pula

Read "Leonard Cohen at Arena Pula" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


Leonard CohenArena PulaPula, CroatiaAugust 2, 2013On a sweltering day, with temperatures rising high above in the red, Canadian singer Leonard Cohen performed with a skill, passion and hunger that ultimately rendered all those restrictive perceptions of age, time or genre utterly redundant. Performing on St. Elijah's day at a Roman amphitheater in Pula--a renowned location for various cultural happenings that include film festivals and A-list concerts--the walls of this two-millennia-old building provided a beautiful backdrop ...

14
Book Review

Alan Light: The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah"

Read "Alan Light: The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah"" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah" Alan Light pp. 288 ISBN: 1451657846 2012 For ages musicologists, psychologists, producers and people alike have tried to decipher or unravel the secret of what makes certain songs so likeable and popular, even to give them a scientific explanation. What they have found out so far, from a scientific point of view, is that each musical hit is reliant ...

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1

Obituary

R.I.P Leonard Cohen, "The Lord Of Song"

R.I.P Leonard Cohen, "The Lord Of Song"

Source: HypeBot

Front row seats at the Palace Theatre in Waterbury, CT to see Leonard Cohen on his comeback tour a decade ago will always rank in the top handful of the hundreds and hundreds of concerts that I've been privileged to attend.  A true songsmith with a deep and caring soul has left us.  Leonard Cohen, the influential singer, and songwriter, widely regarded as the poet laureate of the 1960s and 1970s has died at the age of 82. His death ...

2

Interview

For Americana Recording Artist, Julie Christensen, Cathartic Journey Prompts Album -- Weeds Like Us -- While New Leonard Cohen Biography Marks Her Role In Legendary Career

For Americana Recording Artist,  Julie Christensen, Cathartic Journey Prompts Album -- Weeds Like Us -- While New Leonard Cohen Biography Marks Her Role In Legendary Career

Source: KJPR Publicity and Artist Relations

Julie Christensen'S “WEEDS LIKE US” CD Candidly Reveals a Cathartic Journey of Loss and Survival Bringing “Great Plains Soul” to Acclaimed Career of Americana Singer-Songwriter While Release of New Leonard Cohen Biography Documents Christensen's Pivotal, Musical Role in Legendary Career Los Angeles, CA: It is a busy season for Julie Christensen, whose critically-acclaimed recordings, and longtime backing vocals for Leonard Cohen, confirm her standing as a quintessential “Americana” artist who matters. Now, her body of work has taken a decidedly ...

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Music Industry

Leonard Cohen: "Darkness"

Leonard Cohen: "Darkness"

Source: JamBase

LEONARD COHEN GETS DARK With the forthcoming release of his new record Old Ideas on January 31, legendary singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen has made available a track off the record entitled “Darkness." Listen below. This is the second song we're hearing from Old Ideas, with “Show Me the Place" being the first. The album is available for pre-order today on CD, 180 gram vinyl or with collector's edition lithograph at LeonardCohen.com. Old Ideas Tracklist:

Going HomeAmenShow Me the PlaceThe DarknessAnyhowCrazy to ...

82

Recording

Bluesy cover of Leonard Cohen classic highlights eclectic new album from Australia's Joanna Melas

Source: Lauren Rogers

It takes a certain amount of courage to cover a Leonard Cohen song. Doing it successfully is another matter. However, Australian singer Joanna Melas manages to accomplish the nearly impossible, offering a rendition of Cohen's timeless “First We Take Manhattan" that can actually stand on its own. Cohen's original version is a masterpiece of cinematic moodiness and grim delivery; its icy keyboards reflected the glacial temperatures of Cohen's detached vocal work. Melas thankfully takes a radically different approach, transforming its ...

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Recording

Leonard Cohen: New Track, New Album Details

Leonard Cohen: New Track, New Album Details

Source: JamBase

NEW ALBUM OLD IDEAS OUT JAN. 31, 2012 ON COLUMBIA RECORDS Old Ideas, a new album by Leonard Cohen, will be released by Columbia Records on January 31, 2012. The album's ten songs poetically address some of the most profound quandaries of human existence—the relationship to a transcendent being, love, sexuality, loss and death. Arguably the most overtly spiritual of the revered artist's albums, Old Ideas inspires commitment to a greater sense of compassion and decency. The new record is ...

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Recording

Leonard Cohen: New Album in 2012

Leonard Cohen: New Album in 2012

Source: JamBase

NEW ALBUM OLD IDEAS TO BE RELEASED IN 2012 Leonard Cohen has revealed plans to release a new album next year, tentatively titled Old Ideas, Reuters reports. The legendary singer/songwriter let slip the news while speaking to reporters in Oviedo, Spain, where he was on hand to accept the Principe de Asturias Prize for his poetry. “I've played it for a few people, and they seem to like it," said the 77-year old Cohen of his new material. When asked ...

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Performance / Tour

Leonard Cohen Cancels Hawaii Show; Adds Vancouver and Oakland

Leonard Cohen Cancels Hawaii Show; Adds Vancouver and Oakland

Source: JamBase

FINAL WORLD TOUR DATES SCHEDULED FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE AEG Live has announced the cancellation of Leonard Cohen's previously scheduled December 4 performance in Honolulu, Hawaii due to prohibitive and insurmountable logistical issues. However, newly added dates have been scheduled in Vancouver, BC and Oakland, CA to round out the artist's final dates of his current world tour. Ticketholders for the cancelled December 4 performance in Hawaii will be fully refunded. Additionally, ticketholders for the Hawaiian date will have a ...

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Performance / Tour

Leonard Cohen: Final Tour Dates

Leonard Cohen: Final Tour Dates

Source: JamBase

WORLD TOUR CONCLUDES WITH INTIMATE DECEMBER SHOWS Leonard Cohen's current world tour will be extended with four North American performances at intimate, 3,000-capacity venues before coming to a close in December. An extended pre-sale window for fans will be available beginning September 7 at 10:00 AM and extending through September 24 at 10:00 PM at www.leonardcohenfiles.com. LEONARD COHEN WORLD TOUR FINAL DATES: Dec 4 Blaisdell Concert Hall Honolulu, Hawaii Dec 8 Rose Quarter Theatre of the Clouds Portland, Oregon Dec10 ...

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TV / Film

Debut Theatrical Screenings of Leonard Cohen's "Songs from the Road"

Debut Theatrical Screenings of Leonard Cohen's "Songs from the Road"

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

Emerging Pictures and Legacy Recordings have joined forces to present the US theatrical premiere of Leonard Cohen's Songs From The Road, a concert film comprised of a dozen exceptional performances, each taken from a different city along Cohen's highly-acclaimed 2008/2009 concert tour. Following the celebration of his 40th year as a Columbia artist in 2007 and coinciding with his induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in March 2008, Cohen thrilled his fans by announcing his first tour ...

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Award / Grant

Leonard Cohen, Earth Wind & Fire to Enter Songwriters Hall of Fame

Leonard Cohen, Earth Wind & Fire to Enter Songwriters Hall of Fame

Source: All About Jazz

Among those up for enshrinement in the Songwriters Hall of Fame this year are Leonard Cohen, key members of Earth, Wind & Fire, and producer-composer David Foster.

The hall made the announcement of its inductees on Tuesday. Earth, Wind & Fire's Maurice White, Philip Bailey and Verdine White are being honored in addition to Foster and Cohen. Also up for honors are Johnny Mandel, Jackie DeShannon, Larry Dunn and Al McKay. The Hall of Fame celebrates composers and lyricists. The ...

Steven Blane
guitar, acoustic
Gabriel Judet-Weinshel
composer / conductor

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Leonard Cohen: You...

Columbia Records
2016

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Live in London

Music On Vinyl
2015

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Leonard Cohen:...

Columbia Records
2014

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Leonard Cohen: Old...

Columbia Records
2012

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Live in London

Music On Vinyl
2008

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River: The Joni...

Verve Music Group
2007

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Videos

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