Post by Sysop3 on Nov 10, 2016 23:36:21 GMT -5
Leonard Cohen Dead at 82
Leonard Cohen was called "the high priest of pathos" and the "godfather of gloom"
But the influence and appeal of this poet, novelist, songwriter and legendary ladies' man has endured throughout his career.
Often prone to depression throughout his life, is often, witty, charming and self-deprecating manner was reflected in his lyrics.
And after a period of retreat in the 1990s he remerged with his creativity undimmed.
Leonard Norman Cohen was born in Westmount, a well-to-do area of Montreal, on 21 September 1934.
His mother had emigrated from Lithuania to Canada and his father Nathan, whose ancestors came from Poland, owned a prosperous clothing store.
His father died when Cohen was just nine years old but left his son a trust fund that would enable him to pursue his chosen literary career.
The young Cohen attended a privately run Jewish co-educational day school where he learned to play guitar and formed a folk group called the Buckskin Boys. "Guitars impress girls", was the reasoning he gave.
In 1951 he enrolled at Montreal's McGill University to study English Literature, and published his first collection of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies, in 1956.
His poetry was well-received and after a year at Columbia University in New York he turned to writing full-time producing his second collection of poems, entitled The Spice Box of Earth, in 1961 when he was 27.
The volume established Cohen's reputation as a serious poet and became his most popular work. The poem, You Have the Lovers, captured his fascination with human relationships.
Cohen then moved to the small Greek island of Hydra, publishing his first novel, The Favourite Game, in 1963. He lived there with Norwegian Marianne Jensen, for whom he later wrote 'So Long Marianne'.
Beautiful Losers, Cohen's second novel, was published in 1966, and was the last of his writing before he quit Hydra to move to the United States.
Volatile
He arrived in New York in 1967, determined to pursue a career as a songwriter and musician. His debut album, Songs of Leonard Cohen which, while failing to become commercially successful, turned into something of a cult classic for folk buffs.
The song Suzanne, based on his poem Suzanne Takes You Down, became a hit for Judy Collins and has been covered by a variety of artists over the years.
Over the next seven years he recorded three more albums, Songs From a Room, Songs of Love and Hate and New Skin for the Old Ceremony, all of which featured in a series of US, Canadian and European tours on which he embarked during the 1970s.
more
www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-12811248
Leonard Cohen was called "the high priest of pathos" and the "godfather of gloom"
But the influence and appeal of this poet, novelist, songwriter and legendary ladies' man has endured throughout his career.
Often prone to depression throughout his life, is often, witty, charming and self-deprecating manner was reflected in his lyrics.
And after a period of retreat in the 1990s he remerged with his creativity undimmed.
Leonard Norman Cohen was born in Westmount, a well-to-do area of Montreal, on 21 September 1934.
His mother had emigrated from Lithuania to Canada and his father Nathan, whose ancestors came from Poland, owned a prosperous clothing store.
His father died when Cohen was just nine years old but left his son a trust fund that would enable him to pursue his chosen literary career.
The young Cohen attended a privately run Jewish co-educational day school where he learned to play guitar and formed a folk group called the Buckskin Boys. "Guitars impress girls", was the reasoning he gave.
In 1951 he enrolled at Montreal's McGill University to study English Literature, and published his first collection of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies, in 1956.
His poetry was well-received and after a year at Columbia University in New York he turned to writing full-time producing his second collection of poems, entitled The Spice Box of Earth, in 1961 when he was 27.
The volume established Cohen's reputation as a serious poet and became his most popular work. The poem, You Have the Lovers, captured his fascination with human relationships.
Cohen then moved to the small Greek island of Hydra, publishing his first novel, The Favourite Game, in 1963. He lived there with Norwegian Marianne Jensen, for whom he later wrote 'So Long Marianne'.
Beautiful Losers, Cohen's second novel, was published in 1966, and was the last of his writing before he quit Hydra to move to the United States.
Volatile
He arrived in New York in 1967, determined to pursue a career as a songwriter and musician. His debut album, Songs of Leonard Cohen which, while failing to become commercially successful, turned into something of a cult classic for folk buffs.
The song Suzanne, based on his poem Suzanne Takes You Down, became a hit for Judy Collins and has been covered by a variety of artists over the years.
Over the next seven years he recorded three more albums, Songs From a Room, Songs of Love and Hate and New Skin for the Old Ceremony, all of which featured in a series of US, Canadian and European tours on which he embarked during the 1970s.
more
www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-12811248
Omega
