Featured In
ALBUMYou Want it Darker (Satori Remix (Radio Edit)) - SingleLeonard Cohen
Albums by Leonard Cohen
ALBUMThanks for the DanceLeonard Cohen
ALBUMYou Want It DarkerLeonard Cohen
ALBUMPopular ProblemsLeonard Cohen
ALBUMOld IdeasLeonard Cohen
ALBUMDear HeatherLeonard Cohen
ALBUMField Commander CohenLeonard Cohen
ALBUMTen New SongsLeonard Cohen
ALBUMThe FutureLeonard Cohen
ALBUMVarious PositionsLeonard Cohen
ALBUMRecent SongsLeonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen's Popular Music Videos
Hallelujah (Live in London)
Leonard Cohen
Happens to the Heart
Leonard Cohen
Thanks for the Dance
Leonard Cohen
Dance Me To The End Of Love (Live in London)
Leonard Cohen
Everybody Knows (Live in Dublin)
Leonard Cohen
Moving On
Leonard Cohen
The Hills
Leonard Cohen
Leaving the Table
Leonard Cohen
Bird On The Wire (Live in London)
Leonard Cohen
Hallelujah (Live at Glastonbury) [Lyric Video]
Leonard Cohen
Artist Playlists
Leonard Cohen Essentials
Meet the dark prince of the singer/songwriter realm.
Leonard Cohen Video Essentials
The singer/songwriter boasts a stockpile of sublime concert footage.
Leonard Cohen: Deep Cuts
Odes touched by darkness that shed so much light.
Leonard Cohen: The Songwriters
Hear some of his most gifted fans breathe new life into his work.
Inspired by Leonard Cohen
Icons and outlaws alike bow down before the master of melancholy.
Leonard Cohen: Influences
Artists that moved the poet, novelist, and folk-rock legend.
Artist Biography
Leonard Cohen was the most potent poet ever to find his way into the singer/songwriter world, possessing a lyrical flair that elevated the language of folk and rock, plus a mix of brooding mystique and arch attitude that made him an alternative icon. Cohen, born in Montreal in 1934, was a respected writer who published several books of poems and two novels before he ever recorded a note. It wasn’t until the 1967 landmark Songs of Leonard Cohen that the world heard his tunes and craggy but compelling baritone. He quickly reached more people as a songwriter than he ever had as a poet, and on songs like the much-covered “Suzanne,” his previous occupation served him well. Cohen stirred up images like no other songwriter, with lyrics full of darkness but also shot through with black humor. Despite the broad appeal of his debut, he remained a cult hero all the way through to 1984’s Various Positions—although that album’s “Hallelujah” would eventually become one of the most popular songs on the planet. But with 1988’s I’m Your Man, Cohen reinvented his sound, relying more on synthesizers than acoustic guitar, and the album sparked a renaissance for the 53-year-old songwriter, introducing him to a new generation. Jeff Buckley’s 1994 rendition of “Hallelujah” lit a slow fuse that exploded in the 2000s when the tune became one of the most widely covered songs of the era. Cohen gained in status, graduating from theaters to arenas even though his work remained as arch and sophisticated as ever. He remained a vital artistic force to the end, releasing the powerful You Want It Darker just weeks before his death in 2016.
Hometown
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genre
Pop