Leonard Cohen: Growing Up
Leonard Cohen was born in Westmount, Quebec on September 21, 1934 to a middle-class Jewish family. As a young boy, Leonard Cohen developed a love for music after he learned to play the guitar. However, Leonard Cohen’s real passion lay in writing, and the trust income his father provided him with allowed Leonard Cohen to go after his literary dreams. Leonard Cohen attended college at McGill University, where he published his first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies under the McGill Poetry Series. After graduating from McGill University, Leonard Cohen attended Columbia University for a year but dropped out to pursue his love for writing. Throughout the 1960s, Leonard Cohen focused on writing poetry and fiction by living a reclusive lifestyle.
Leonard Cohen: Writing Music
Leonard Cohen moved from Canada to the United States in 1967 and began his career as a writer and singer of folk songs. “Suzanne,” a song Leonard Cohen wrote for Judy Collins, elevated the songwriter status after its success. Columbia Records agent John H. Hammond soon took notice of Leonard Cohen and signed the budding singer/songwriter. Leonard Cohen’s first album Songs of Leonard Cohen was widely praised by folk music critics, but the album’s darkness prevented it from becoming a commercial success. However, Leonard Cohen garnered fame in the UK, where Songs of Leonard Cohen remained on British charts for over a year and formed Leonard Cohen a cult following.
Leonard Cohen: An Emerging Artist
Following the release of Songs of Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen produced a slew of notable albums including Song from a Room, which featured the popular “Bird on the Wire” song, and Songs of Love and Hate. Leonard Cohen toured the United States, Europe, and Canada extensively throughout the late ‘60s and ‘70s, which formed Leonard Cohen a strong fan base. In the early 1970s, Leonard Cohen toured Israel and gave free concerts to army bases in the midst of the Yom Kippur War. Leonard Cohen soon teamed up with pianist John Lissauer to produce an innovative live sound which amazed the critics. Around the same time, Leonard Cohen also toured with back-up singer Jennifer Warnes, who later became essential in his later albums.
Leonard Cohen: A New Sound
In 1977, Leonard Cohen teamed up with producer Phil Spector for his cleverly titled album, Death of a Ladies’ Man. Phil Spector is known as the creator of the “wall of sound” style, where dense layers of instrumentals are used to back up pop music. This technique contrasted sharply with Leonard Cohen’s typical minimalist style and Leonard Cohen found recording to be a difficult process. Phil Spector supposedly went to great lengths for the CD and reportedly worked on the album during secret studio sessions. A more traditional album Recent Songs was released by Leonard Cohen and co-producer Henry Lewis in 1979. Leonard Cohen recruited a jazz band for the album along with oriental instruments, giving Recent Songs an innovative new sound.
Leonard Cohen: The 1980s
Leonard Cohen’s popularity in the United States had declined in the beginning of the ‘80s, so Columbia Records hoped to boost his popularity with the release of Leonard Cohen’s Various Positions album. Various Positions contained “Hallelujah,” which is one of the all-time most recorded songs in music history. Covers of the song have been done by famous artists including Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, and Simple Plan. Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” also appeared in the popular animated film, Shrek. However, Leonard Cohen’s sales in Europe still exceeded his sales in America.
It wasn’t until Jennifer Warnes’ Famous Blue Raincoat album was released in 1987 as a tribute toward Leonard Cohen that Leonard Cohen’s career was reenergized in the US. That same year, Leonard Cohen released I’m Your Man, which was drastically different than the singer’s previous albums. I’m Your Man incorporated the extensive use of synthesizers along with Leonard Cohen’s dark humor. “First We Take Manhattan” and “I’m Your Man” later became Leonard Cohen’s two most popular songs.
Leonard Cohen: Seclusion
Leonard Cohen started off the ‘90s with the debut of his album song “Everybody Knows” in the film Pump Up the Volume, which exposed Leonard Cohen’s music to a younger audience. In 1992, the foreboding album The Future, was released. Leonard Cohen predicts political and social destruction in the album and criticizes America’s fixation on the television and negligence toward political matters. The troubled lyrics of his song revealed Leonard Cohen was spiraling towards a mental breakdown. After finishing up a tour to promote his latest CD, Leonard Cohen entered a five-year period of seclusion at the Mount Baldy Centre in California. At Mount Baldy, Leonard Cohen took on the name Jikhan and officially became a Rinzai Zen Buddhist Monk.
Leonard Cohen: Recent Years
Following the end of his five-year seclusion in 2001, Leonard Cohen released new album Ten New Songs, which exhibited a cohesive music style previously not present in Leonard Cohen’s earlier albums. Three years later, Leonard Cohen and his current romantic partner, Anjani Thomas, collaborated to create Dear Heather, which is Leonard Cohen’s most playful album yet. In 2006, Leonard Cohen released another book of poetry and drawings, Book of Longings, and attended a successful book signing of 3000 people. In 2008, Leonard Cohen was honored with an induction into the American Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame for his musical talent. Leonard Cohen also began his long-awaited concert tour in 2008, which will be Leonard Cohen’s first tour in 15 years.
Leonard Cohen: Hit List
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| Strasbourg, BR Sun, Sep. 19, 2010 9:00 PM |  |
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