He spent time at the Mt. Baldy Zen Center, a Buddhist retreat in California, and eventually became a full-time resident, and a Buddhist monk in the late '90s. When he re-emerged in , Cohen had many dozens of new compositions in hand, songs and poems alike. In , the year he turned 70, Cohen released one of the most controversial albums of his career, Dear Heather.
It revealed his voice anew, in this phase of his career, as a deep baritone more limited in range than on any previous recording, but it overcame this change in vocal timbre by facing it head-on, just as Cohen had done with his singing throughout his career.
It also contained a number of songs for which Cohen wrote music but not lyrics, a decided change of pace for a man who'd started out as a poet. And it was as personal a record as Cohen had ever issued. His return to recording was one of the more positive aspects of Cohen 's resumption of his music activities.
On another note, in , he filed suit against his longtime business manager and his financial advisor over the alleged theft of more than five million dollars, at least some of which took place during his years at the Buddhist retreat. Five decades after he emerged as a public literary figure and then a performer, Cohen remained one of the most compelling and enigmatic musical figures of his era, and one of the very few of that era who commanded as much respect and attention, and probably as large an audience, in the 21st century as he did in the '60s.
As much as any survivor of that decade, Cohen held onto his original audience and saw it grow across generations, in keeping with a truly timeless and ageless body of music. A performance set, Live in London , was released in In , the combined video and audio package Songs from the Road was issued, documenting his world tour which actually lasted until late , revisiting songs from each part of his career.
The tour covered 84 dates and sold over , tickets worldwide. Cohen didn't rest long, however: in early he began to craft what would become Old Ideas , his first album of new material in seven years. The sessions took place with producers Ed Sanders renowned poet and leader of the Fugs , Patrick Leonard , Cohen 's saxophonist Dino Soldo , and his partner, singer and songwriter Anjani Thomas. Old Ideas contained ten new songs dealing with spirituality, mortality, sexuality, loss, and acceptance, similar in sound and texture to Dear Heather.
The tracks "Lullaby" and "Darkness" were staples of the world tour, while the cut "Show Me the Place" was pre-released in late Old Ideas was released at the end of January It was a tremendous success, debuting inside the Top Five in the U. Cohen 's success in Europe was more impressive; Old Ideas reached number one in almost ten countries. After yet another world tour that brought him universal accolades, Cohen , uncharacteristically, returned quickly to the studio with producer and co-writer Patrick Leonard , emerging with nine new songs, at least one of which -- "Born in Chains" -- had origins that dated back 40 years.
Popular Problems was released in September of to positive reviews and chart success. Just like its predecessor, it hit number one across Europe as well as Canada. Cohen continued to tour internationally with impressive vigor, and in December he released Live in Dublin , his third live album since returning to the road.
The album had been recorded in September , during a concert at Dublin's O2 Arena, and a high-definition video release appeared in tandem with the audio edition. Yet another concert document, Can't Forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour , appeared in May , with the album drawn from live takes as well as pre-show rehearsals at soundchecks. Cohen went right back to work on new material although he was in declining health.
On September 21, , his 82nd birthday, "You Want It Darker," the eerie, mortality-themed title track of a new studio album, appeared on the Internet. The full-length, produced by his son Adam , was issued on October The record was his goodbye; Cohen passed away less than three weeks later, on November 7, Another album drawn from Cohen 's final recording sessions, Thanks for the Dance , appeared in November AllMusic relies heavily on JavaScript.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use the site fully. Blues Classical Country. Electronic Folk International. Jazz Latin New Age. Aggressive Bittersweet Druggy. Energetic Happy Hypnotic. Romantic Sad Sentimental. Sexy Trippy All Moods. Drinking Hanging Out In Love. Introspection Late Night Partying. Cohen was always acutely aware of the Holocaust , and images of the Nazi genocide permeate and condition his writing.
Poetry, religion, sex, death, beauty and power form interlocking patterns in his work, heightened by the sensuousness of his language and by his wild, black sense of humour. Cohen had a wry humour that made its way into conversation and into the way he sometimes juxtaposed his tombstone voice with arch music.
That was sort of the quintessential Canadian voice. Even the counterpoint lines — they give a celestial character and melodic lift to every one of his songs. As far as I know, no one else comes close to this in modern music.
In the s, Cohen had a relationship with a Norwegian woman, Marianne Ihlen, whom he met when living in Hydra, Greece. In the s, Cohen was in a relationship with artist Suzanne Elrod until they separated in The couple had two children: Adam, born in , and Lorca, born in In the s, Cohen was in a relationship, personally and professionally, with French photographer Dominique Issermann.
The first contains 63 poems, some of them several decades old and already in print. It was directed by acclaimed filmmaker Nick Broomfield, who also had a romantic relationship with Ihlen. The Flame , a posthumous album of material left over from You Want it Darker , was set to be released by Sony Music on 22 November As a result, his songs have been covered by countless musicians from around the world.
Three years after his death, Canada Post issued a commemorative set of three stamps honouring Cohen. Four million of the stamps were printed and made available on 21 September , which would have been Cohen's 85th birthday. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest songwriters of all time. He was in the line of great Canadian musical talents such as Glenn Gould , but just in a different sector of music and from a different era. This guy is speaking from his particular rung in life — he will be leaving a giant void when he leaves us.
Utterly unique and impossible to imitate no matter how hard we tried. My life was forever changed by his music and words. He will never be forgotten. His ability to conjure the vast array of human emotion made him one of the most influential and enduring musicians ever.
His style transcended the vagaries of fashion. See also: Leonard Cohen Profile. Scroll down the page to check out the latest award winners and music clips. Features a biography, discography, tour dates, video clips, and more. Search The Canadian Encyclopedia. Remember me. I forgot my password. Why sign up? Create Account.
Suggest an Edit. Enter your suggested edit s to this article in the form field below. Accessed 12 November In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. He saw that my voice could go low, that I could get deep into the material consciously — that I could explore things. Then, just as unassumingly as he took leave of his life, Cohen also took leave of the monastery, and returned to his family and friends. In the fall of , he released an album, Ten New Songs. It was not about a fearsome future but rather about a tolerant present.
Deep in the folds of the album there were hints about the mysteries that had surrounded Cohen in the s: Why did he leave the world behind when the world finally seemed ready for him? In fact, the only comic element in the whole thing was when I was taking Prozac, I came to believe that I had overcome my [sexual] desires. I thought it was a spiritual achievement. The daily regimen of life at the Zen center was sometimes preoccupation enough.
Just maintenance took the whole day just to keep the thing going. Pipes would burst in the winter. You get up at or 3 in the morning, depending on your duties. I was never looking for a new religion. I was perfectly satisfied with my old religion. This whole scene sucks.
I was in there, I was in my robes, and the furthest thing from my mind was spiritual advancement. The furthest. I mean, I was consumed with rage. The wind moved, something moved, and I disappeared into this movement.
The whole scene blew up. A dog started barking, and I was barking. And everything that arose was the content of my being. Everything that moved was me. In certain blessed moments, we experience ourselves as the reality that is manifesting as everything. I was barking with the dog, but there really was no dog. But dread still arose, and it could obliterate the self. After several years at the camp, Cohen had decided it was time to leave.
It was dreadful. I pulled my car over to the side of the road. In , Cohen departed Mount Baldy and headed to Mumbai. He spent a year studying with Balsekar. The conventional therapeutic wisdom today encourages the sufferer to get in touch with his inner feelings — as if there were an inner self, a true self, the real self that we have glimmerings of in dreams and insights.
There is no real inner self to command your loyalty and the tyranny of your investigation. What happened to me was not that I got any answers, but that the questions dissolved.
Slowly, the depression eased. But I have been. The evening had come. It was time to wind up. By the end of the third act, which nobody can predict, it can be pretty hairy. I just know that life is worth living. It maybe even included a fourth act. I like to wake up alone, and she likes to be alone. In , a new devastation hit. It had begun as early as Cohen had granted Lynch power of attorney over his finances, and she had persuaded him to sell many of his publishing rights.
Cohen fired Lynch and tried to come to terms with her. She ignored the suit, including orders of discovery. She attacked Cohen online and wrote long, disparaging e-mails to him, his family, the IRS and even the Buddhist community. In March , Lynch was arrested for violating a permanent protective order that forbade her from contacting Cohen. Cohen never recovered most of the money that Lynch had embezzled. And so, in the summer of , at age 73, Leonard Cohen launched an astounding concert tour that would last, off and on, for five years.
He played songs from all phases of his career backed by a meticulously rehearsed band; he played for three hours, and sometimes longer, most nights; he skipped on- and offstage. Sometimes my dreams would entail me being up onstage and not remembering the words or the chords. It had a nightmarish quality, which did not invite me to pursue the enterprise.
He recorded a new album in , Old Songs. He had been battling cancer for some time. Other health problems, including multiple fractures of the spine, kept him from traveling.
Still, he saw his kids and grandkids often.
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