Leonard Cohen dead at 82
Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist Leonard Cohen had released his latest album only two weeks ago. Photo: Getty
Musician Leonard Cohen has died aged 82.
The musician’s Facebook page confirmed the news on Friday afternoon AEST, saying the world has lost “one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries”.
Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, Cohen’s career spanned six decades as a poet, singer, songwriter, musician and novelist.
His latest album, You Want it Darker, was released just weeks ago, a deeply introspective work that focused thematically on mortality.
Some of Cohen’s most memorable songs
Cohen’s elegantly penned songs, authored during a musical career that spanned six decades, won him comparison with such other songwriters of his era as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon.
His best-known song, Hallelujah, has been recorded more than 200 times.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame noted that Cohen’s academic background in poetry and literature “gave him an extraordinary advantage over his pop peers when it came to setting language to music”.
“Along with other folk-steeped musical literati, Cohen raised the songwriting bar,” his Hall of Fame biography says.
Cohen never recorded a chart single and didn’t place an album in the top 10 until he was in his 70s, but his ardent fans and musical peers viewed him as a musical craftsman with few equals.
Leonard Cohen during a concert in Melbourne in 2013. Photo: Getty.
As a songwriter, his themes encompassed love in all its manifestations, religion, faith and the tenuous state of the world.
Like Hallelujah, many of his tunes — his breakthrough composition Suzanne, Bird on the Wire, Tower of Song — became much-covered keystones of the popular songbook.
His longtime accompanist, Jennifer Warnes, recorded several of his best-known works on her 1987 Cohen recital, Famous Blue Raincoat.
Like his art, his life evidenced a dynamic tension between sexuality and spirituality. Among his many romantic partners were fellow Canadian musician Joni Mitchell and actress Rebecca De Mornay.
Yet he would famously reject the world of the flesh: torn by depression and doubt about his life and career, he withdrew to spend more than five years in a Buddhist monastery.
He later studied at a Hindu ashram in Mumbai.
A financial crisis late in life led to a fresh burst of fame. After his business manager embezzled millions from him, the impecunious Cohen embarked on a 2008-10 world tour that restored his fortune and renewed his reputation.
His 2012 album, Old Ideas, released at the age of 77, became his highest-charting release ever, debuting at No. 3 in the US.
He was born in Montreal. His father was a wealthy clothier, and he grew up in the city’s affluent Westmount neighbourhood. He was the grandson of Jewish European immigrants, and his maternal grandfather was a rabbi and Talmudic scholar.
The top-10 arrival of the spare and drily witty Old Ideas in 2012 was succeeded by another series of concert dates in Europe and America that year and in 2013.
His Popular Problems album was released in fall of 2014, shortly after Cohen’s 80th birthday.
Cohen’s many honours included his 2008 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and a 2010 Lifetime Achievement Grammy.
He is survived by a son and daughter from his relationship with Suzanne Elrod.
Leonard Cohen has died. Another magical voice stilled.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) November 11, 2016
Very sad news Leonard Cohen is gone . He was a true visionary and a great inspiration, how to grow old as an artist.
— neil mullane finn (@NeilFinn) November 11, 2016
Kids. Take a moment to listen to Leonard Cohen's song Going Home when you can. RIP L Cohen and thank you.
— benjamin folds (@BenFolds) November 11, 2016
One of my favorite singer-poets. RIP Legendary Musician Leonard Cohen Dead At 82 | The Huffington Post https://t.co/5zKK4tW8iM
— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) November 11, 2016
More to come.
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