The life story of world-renowned Canadian writer, poet, songwriter and singer Leonard Cohen:
Leonard Norman Cohen was born on September 21, 1934, in the well-off Westmount area of Montreal, Canada.
His mother had emigrated from Lithuania to Canada. His Polish-born father owned a successful clothes shop.
His father, Nathan Cohen, died when he was only nine, but left him a fund to continue his literary career.
Cohen attended a private Jewish school. He learned to play the guitar at school and formed a band called 'Buckskin Boys'.
He explained his reason for starting the guitar as "impressing girls".
Leonard Norman Cohen CC GOQ (September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships.
In 1951 he enrolled at McGill University in Montreal to study English Literature. In 1956, he published his first poetry book, 'Let Us Compare Mythologies'.
His poems aroused interest. After spending a year at Columbia University in New York, he again devoted all his time to writing poetry and published his second book of poetry, The Spice Box of Earth, at the age of 27.
The book made Cohen one of the most important poets and became his most famous book. The poem 'You Have the Lovers' revealed his intense interest in human relations.
Greek island of Hydra inspired first novel
Cohen later moved to the Greek island of Hydra and published his first novel, 'The Favorite Game', in 1963.
He lived there with Norwegian Marianne Jensen, for whom he later wrote the song 'So Long Marianne'.
Cohen's second book, 'Beautiful Losers', was published in 1966 and was his last work before moving to the United States.
The fame that comes with Suzanne
He settled in New York in 1967 and decided to pursue his life as a songwriter and musician. His debut album 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' became a cult cult in terms of folk music, although it was not a commercial success.
Her song Suzanne became a hit and has been interpreted by many different artists over the years.
He released three more recordings over the next seven years and toured in the USA, Canada and Europe in the 1970s.
Unforgettable Isle of Wight performance
His performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in England in 1970 was recorded as one of the memorable moments in his career. Leonard Cohen took the stage after rock artist and guitar virtuoso Jimi Hendrix gave the audience an ecstatic performance. The calm and sincere performance of the folk musician won the attention of the initially angry crowd and became one of the unforgettable moments of the festival.
In 1973, Cohen voluntarily went to Israel to serve in the Yom Kippur War. But instead he was given the task of entertaining soldiers in a tank company and meanwhile came under fire in the Sinai Desert.
Her fifth album 'Death of a Ladies' Man' was unsuccessful. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Cohen's musical style fell out of favor. The interest revived with his album 'Various Positions' released in 1985. Cohen's most reinterpreted song 'Hallelujah' was also included in this album.
The album 'I'm Your Man', released in 1988, reintroduced the artist among the mainstream pop music artists.
The album 'I'm Your Fan', in which Cohen's songs were interpreted by different artists, was released in 1991 and made the artist the center of attention again.
However, around this time, Cohen began spending time at a Buddhist center in California and settled there in 1996 to become a Buddhist monk.
When it reappeared in 1999, it had accumulated a lot of new material. Some of them were included in the album 'Ten New Songs' released in 2001.
'Solemnity rather than depression'
Written with producer and vocalist Sharon Robinson, the songs on the album alluded to mortality. The song "The night is getting colder" was one of them.
In 2006, at the age of 73, Cohen was forced to tour again after his manager and ex-girlfriend, Kelley Lynch, discovered that he had stolen more than $5 million from her account.
Although Cohen won the lawsuit against him, Lynch was unable to pay back the money he stole. Lynch would later go to jail for violating the restraining order concerning Cohen.
The album "Old Ideas", released in 2012, became Cohen's best-selling album. Despite the success of the album, Cohen did not want to go on a world tour.
Leonard Cohen was one of the most mysterious poets and songwriters of his contemporaries. Although much of what he wrote pointed to depression, he saw himself as an observer of the realities of life.
“Solemnity rather than depression, I think, is the main feature of my work,” he said.
"I love to laugh out loud, but I think there's a mood of complacency that comes with it. We're all left with our hearts and our emotions when we close the door and come to our room, and it's not that funny."
10 Interesting Facts About The Influential Bard of Our Time Leonard Cohen:
1. The song 'Hallelujah' is one of the most covered songs of all time.
2. Each of her albums has regularly topped the Norwegian charts.
3. His grandfather, Lyon Cohen, was the president of the first Jewish Congress in Canada.
4. He named her daughter Lorca after his idol, the famous Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca.
5. The inspiration for his best-known song is not loved, but the Holocaust.
1984's 'Dance Me To The End Of Love' has been covered many times and still remains his best-known song. Leonard Cohen, of Polish descent, explained that the song's inspiration was the Nazi camps and torture during the genocide.
6. "The heart continues to sizzle like a shish kebab." It was his favorite description.
From 1977 to 2001; He repeated this phrase in many of his interviews.
7. He was a vegetarian from 1965 to 1968.
Although there were claims that there were attempts to return to vegetarianism later on, this remained just a rumor. To some, this was just an attempt at the hippie spirit of the 60s anyway.
8. He is the inventor of the cocktail called the Red Needle.
9. His songs have been included in the soundtracks of many movies, but the most famous is undoubtedly the Natural Born Killers.
The influence of the film made Leonard Cohen popular again in the '90s.
10. The reason for his unique vocal is that he also uses his own voice for backing vocals.