Leonard Cohen

See also: Cohen

Leonard Norman Cohen , DC, (September 21st 1934 with Montreal) is a Poète, Romancier and Canadian Auteur-compositeur-interprète (Québécois) Anglophone. Its first collection of poetry appears with Montreal in 1956 and its first novel in 1963.

The first songs of Cohen (mainly those of Songs off Leonard Cohen , 1967) are anchored in the Musique folk European, and sung with a voice of baritone. In the Years 1970, its influences multiply: pop music, of Cabaret, and the world. Since the Years 1980, Cohen sings in a typically serious register (baritone-low, or even low) accompanied by Synthétiseur S and Choriste S.

In all its work, Cohen often includes the same topics: the Religion, the Loneliness, the Sexuality and the complexity of the Interpersonal relationships.

The poetry and the songs of Cohen influenced many others song writers and performers, and one counts at present more than 1200 resumptions of his songs. Cohen is introduced with the Canadian Music Hall off Famed in 1991, with the Canadian Songwriters Hall off Famed in 2006 and is a Companion of the Ordre of Canada since 2003, the highest civil distiction Canadian.

Biography

Youth

Leonard Cohen is born in a Jewish family from middle-class from Polish ascent in 1934, with Montreal, Quebec. He grows with Westmount on the island of Montreal. His/her father, Nathan Cohen, are the owner of a store montréalais of clothing. He dies whereas Leonard is 9 years old. As much on other named Jewish families Cohen, Katz, Kagan, etc, its family prides itself to go down from the Kohanim. I was high like a Messiah , said Cohen to Richard Golstein in 1967, one said to me that I went down from Aaron. With adolescence, it learns the Guitare. It will form later a group of inspiration country-folk, the Buckskin Boys .

Birth of the poet

In 1951, Leonard Cohen between with the University McGill of Montreal. Its first collection of Poetry, Let Custom Compares Mythologies appears in 1956, published by McGill Poetry Series, whereas it is yet only a Undergraduate.

In 1961, The Spice Box off Earth makes it famous in the circles of poets, in particular Canadian.

After being itself installed in Greece (on the island of Hydra), Cohen publishes Flowers for Hitler in 1964, and the Romance S The Favorite Range (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966).

The Favorite Range is a Roman of autobiographical training about an young man finding his identity in the writing. On the other hand, Beautiful Losers can be regarded as a novel of training, but which does not lead to the success of the main character (“AntiBildungsroman”), since in a contemporary fashion post-modern, it destroys the identity of the main characters by combining the Sacré and the Profane, the Religion and the Sexualité in a rich and lyric language.

Cohen songwriter

Cohen settles with the the United States and starts to sing in festivals Folk. In 1966, Judy Collins made its song Suzanne , a hit. This song refers to Suzanne Verdal, the former wife of a personal friend, the sculptor Québécois Armand Vaillancourt. John H. Hammond makes sign Leonard Cohen with Columbia Records. The first album, The Songs off Leonard Cohen , leaves in 1967 and contains a version of Suzanne. The album blackness will be received by criticism

In 1977, Death off has Ladies' Man is produced by Phil Spector, far from the usual minimalism of the artist. Recent Songs more traditional fate in 1979.

In 1984 leaves Various Positions , a very spiritual album which contains celebrates it Hallelujah . Columbia refuses to leave the album to the United States, where Cohen always had a success quite less than in Europe or in Canada. In 1986 it appears in an episode of Two cops in Miami. In 1988, I' m Your Man mark a change in the writing and the composition. The Synthétiseur S are very present and the writing is more committed with colors of black humor.

Withdrawal

In 1994, following the promotion of its album The Future , Leonard Cohen withdraws in a Buddhist monastery with Mount Baldy Zen Center close to Los Angeles. In 1996, Cohen is ordered Buddhist monk Zen, like Jikan, Dharma whose name means “the Silencer”. It leaves finally Mount Baldy in spring 1999. For this period, it did not produce any song, but started again thereafter, which led to the album Ten New Songs in 2001, album very influenced by Sharon Robinson and with Dear Heather , published in 2004. 'Dear Heather is resulting from a collaboration of Cohen with his/her partner the singer of jazz Anjani Thomas.

In 2005, Leonard Cohen prosecutes his old manager, Kelley Lynch, for embezzlement (5 million USD). In March 2006, Cohen obtains win for 9 USD million, as ruled it the Superior court of the county of Los Angeles. However, the judgment is completely ignored by Lynch, which did not answer the Subpoena .

In 2006, Cohen makes appear a new collection of Poésie, Book off Longing and Blue Alert Co-writing with Anjani Thomas. In parallel, documentary the Leonard Cohen: I' m Your Man leaves in room. It is about an assembly of recent interviews carried out for the needs for this film, and services live artists (Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, Jarvis Cocker) at the time of a concert homage. It makes its first public appearance in a bookstore of Toronto on May 13rd, 2006, singing " So Long, Marianne " and " Hey, That' S No Way To Say Goodbye " , accompanied by The Barenaked Ladies and Ron Sexsmith.

Leonard Cohen currently resides in the Portuguese district of Montreal, his birthplace.

Recoveries

Many songs of Cohen were interpreted (and sometimes translated in other languages) by other artists, and some met more success than the versions of Cohen. Most known are:

As regards the French-speaking public, the translations of its songs by Graeme Allwright, as from 1968, took part much in their celebrity (in particular Suzanne , the Foreigner and Danse me towards the end of the love ).

The March 4th 2007, the www.leonardcohenfiles.com site counted 1234 resumptions of Cohen.

Honors

  • 1969: Price of the General governor of Canada (refused) *
  • 1991: member of the Canadian Music Hall off Famed
  • 1993: Price Juno of the singer masculien of the year
  • 1994: Price Juno of Songwriter of the year
  • 2003: companion of the Order of Canada
  • 2006: member of the Canadian Songwriters Hall off Famed

* following the example Hubert Aquin which refused the same price, but French-speaking, the same year.

References

The name of Leonard Cohen is mentioned in the song " Pennyroyal Tea" group Nirvana (1993), whereas Kurt Cobain sings: “Give has me Leonard Cohen afterworld/So I edge sigh eternally”.

Discography

Official albums

Compilations

  • 1975 : The Best off Leonard Cohen (also called Greatest Hits )
  • 1997: More Best off Leonard Cohen (contains two news)
  • 2002: The Essential Leonard Cohen (double CD)

Recoveries

Albums devoted to Leonard Cohen

  • 1987 : Famous Blue Raincoat: Songs off Leonard Cohen, by Jennifer Warnes
  • 1991: I' m Your Fan (album of recoveries by various artists)
  • 1995: Tower off Song (album of recoveries by various artists)
  • 2002: My Kohen , by Vasiliy K (begun again in Russian)
  • 2005: Bird one the Wire: the Songs off Leonard Cohen , by Beaded Batalla
One counts at least 32 albums of recoveries in the whole world, not anglophone for the majority.

Books

  • Let Custom Compares Mythologies (poetry) off 1956
  • The Spice-Box Earth (poetry) 1961
  • The Favorite Game (Romance) 1963
  • Flowers for Hitler (poetry) 1964
  • Beautiful Losers (Romance) 1966
  • Parasites off Heaven (poetry) 1966
  • Selected Poems 1956-1968 (poetry) 1968
  • The Energy off Slavic (poetry) 1972
  • Death off has Lady' S Man (poetry and prose) off 1978
  • Book Mercy (poetry, prose and psalms) 1984
  • Stranger Music (selected poems and texts of songs) 1993
  • Book off Longing (poetry, prose, drawings) 2006

Catalog of films

See too

External bonds

  • Official site on SonyBMG
  • The Leonard Cohen Files
  • The Leonard Cohen Files
  • French Site on Leonard Cohen

Sources

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