Leonard Cohen
Musician · 1934–2016 · Montreal, Canada
Best known for
Songwriter
Leonard Cohen was a Canadian songwriter, poet, and novelist whose 1984 song “Hallelujah” — introduced quietly on his 1984 album Various Positions (released on Passport Records in the US after Columbia declined to issue it) and made famous a decade later by Jeff Buckley — became one of the most-recorded songs of the late twentieth century. He wrote “Suzanne,” “Bird on the Wire,” and “Famous Blue Raincoat” alongside fifteen books of poetry and two novels.
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- Born Leonard Norman Cohen on September 21, 1934, in Montreal, Canada, into a prominent Jewish family.
- Published his first poetry collection, Let Us Compare Mythologies, in 1956 while at McGill University.
- Wrote the 1966 novel Beautiful Losers before turning to music.
- Moved to New York in 1967; Judy Collins introduced “Suzanne” on her 1966 album In My Life, helping launch Cohen’s music career.
- Released his debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen on Columbia in December 1967.
- Wrote “Hallelujah” over five years before placing it on Various Positions in 1984; the song was largely overlooked at release but became internationally known through Jeff Buckley’s 1994 recording and its later use in Shrek.
- Lived in a Mt. Baldy Zen monastery from 1994 to 1999 as the ordained Buddhist monk Jikan.
- Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 and made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
- Died at his home in Los Angeles on November 7, 2016, at age 82.
