Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen holds a unique place in the international folk music scene: his music has been a touchstone for fans, musicians, and filmmakers for the last five decades with songs such as “Suzanne,” “Bird on a Wire,” “So Long, Marianne,” and “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye”. Cohen was born in Montréal, Canada in 1934. Although he started to play the guitar when he was 13 years old - to impress a girl, of course - he was known as a highly respected poet and novelist long before he ever recorded a song. As an English major at McGill University, Cohen won the McNaugton Prize in creative writing. His first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956) was published a year after graduating. His second book of poetry, The Spice Box of Earth, was successful enough to allow Cohen to travel the world and settle in Greece. Four books followed, two poetry collections (Flowers for Hitler, Parasites of Heaven) and two novels (The Favorite Game, Beautiful Losers), the last of which became an international best seller in 1966, and is still in print. While in Greece he also started to set some of his words to music. Judy Collins sang his song “Suzanne” on her album, In My Life, and then convinced Cohen to perform his own songs. His debut at the Newport Folk Festival in 1967 led to sold-out shows in New York. The combination of his words with a distinctive growl of a voice kept winning fans at his live performances and in the music industry. There have been 32 tribute albums to his songs with performers ranging from Willie Nelson, to Billy Joel, to Elton John, to REM, The Pixies, and John Cale. Starting with Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs. Miller, movies have incorporated Cohen’s music, including Pump Up the Volume, Natural Born Killers, and Basquiat. Now a Buddhist monk, Cohen continues to create poetry and music.
