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Leonard Norman Cohen was born in Montreal in 1934. In his youth he attend McGill University where he formed a country-western trio called the Buckskin Boys at age 17.
He also began writing poetry and was part of the local boho-literary scene. His first collection of poetry as an undergraduate called 'Let Us Compare Mythologies' in 1956. It would be his second collection in 1961 called 'The Spice Box of Earth' that would launch his career.
He attended Columbia University in New York for a short period before skipping over to Europe to travel on a scholarship grant, eventually settling on the Greek island of Hydra with Marianne Jenson and her son Axel.
Cohen Greece occupancy was nomadic for seven years as he continued his prolific writing career with the poetry of 'Flowers For Hitler (1964)'and the two novels - 'The Favorite Game (1963) and 'Beautiful Losers' (1966). To date, each book has sold more than 800,000 copies worldwide.
But Cohen was restless and wasn't able to commit to the domestic scene or remain disciplined enough to stay put for writing books. Instead he settled near Nashville in the US in 1965 and decided to pursue a musical career. He was encouraged through the success of Judy Collins' versions of his songs "Suzanne" and "Dress Rehearsal Rag" in 1966.
By 1967, Cohen appeared at the Newport Folk Festival where he was spotted by Columbia Records' John Hammond and released Cohen's first album, 'The Songs of Leonard Cohen', by Christmas that year. The songs became so revered that Robert Altman's 1971 film, 'McCabe And Mrs. Miller' featured almost the entire album as the soundtrack
'Songs From A Room (1969)' and 'Songs Of Love And Hate (1971 ) followed and established Cohen as not only a poet but a leading pop artist as well. Cohen all the while had been performing his talk-music approach on stages around the worj and 1972 saw the release of 'Live Songs'.
1973 'New Skin For the Old Ceremony' saw Cohen with a more produced and orchestrated structure via producer John Lissauer. Following this period he took a break to focus on his writings and returned once more in 1977 with Death of a Ladies' Man' which was to be a collaborative effort with Phil Spector. But as is Spector's way, Cohen as excluded from the final phases of the recording process. Cohen had laid down rough vocals and Spector released them with benefit of Cohen redoing the weaker moments.
In retaliation, Cohen's 'Recent Songs' (1979) saw the Wall-Of-Sounds removed and replaced by a more raw, stripped down feel due to the work of co-producer Henry Lewy (Joni Mitchell).
Cohen exploration of the male/female relationship had run his course on his previous albums and with 'Recent Songs' he picked up the study of religious fervor which carried over onto the well-studied 'Various Positions' in 1984. The sheer mental drain of such a daunting work left Cohen excised and he once again took another sabbatical.
1988's 'I'm Your Man' was Cohen's "comeback" album with a vengeance. The sheer accessibility of the album with such classics as "First We Take Manhatten," Tower of Song," and "Ain't No Cure For Love," pushed the album to #1 in European countries.
During Cohen's downtime his music has remained in the mainstream through other artists' re-interpretations such Jennifer Warnes hit LP of Cohen cover tunes 'Famous Blue Raincoat'in 1986. There have also been two major label tribue albums featuring the cream of the musical crop performing Cohen's classics - 1992's 'I'm Your Fan' and 1996's 'Tower Of Song'.
Cohen returned with another shattering album with 1992's 'The Future' which, ironically he won a 'Male Vocalist Of The Year' Juno Award. The irony was not lost on Cohen who felt he was more of a poet and not a singer with his wry comment: "Only in Canada could I get 'Male Vocalist Of The Year'.
A tour pushed the profile of 'The Future' which culminated in another live release called, simply, 'Cohen Live!'
Singles
1968 Suzanne
1968 So Long Marianne
1969 Bird On A Wire
1970 Dress Rehearsal
1972 Passing Thru
1988 First We'll Take Manhattan
1989 Dance Me To The End Of Love
1993 Closing Time
1993 The Future
Albums
1967 The Songs Of Leonard Cohen
1969 Songs From A Room
1971 Songs Of Love And Hate
1973 Live Songs
1974 New Skin For The Old Ceremony
1975 The Best Of Leonard Cohen
1977 Death Of A Ladies Man
1979 Recent Songs
1984 Various Positions
1988 I'm Your Man
1992 The Future
Video
1985 Dance Me To The End Of Love
1986 Take This Waltz
1988 First We Take Manhattan
1992 Closing Time
1993 The Future (1993)
1994 Dance Me To The End Of Love
with JENNIFER WARNES
1987 First We Take Manhattan
1983 I Am A Hotel
Compilation Tracks
1974 "Passing Thru" on 'The Earl Scruggs Revue - Anniversary Special, Vol.1' (???) - compilation
1986 "Take The Waltz" on 'Poets In New York' (???) - compilation
1992 "Chill Of Death" on 'Weird Nightmare - Meditations On Mingus' (Columbia) - compilation
with JENNIFER WARNES
1987 Famous Blue Raincoat (Attic) [Cohen sings "Joan of Arc" with Warnes]
with WAS! (NOT WAS)
1990 Are you okay? (Chrysalis) [Cohen sings on "Elvis' Rolls Royce"]
with ELTON JOHN Duets
1993 Duets (Rocket) [Cohen duets with John on "Born To Lose
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