Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, the legendary and influential poet, singer, songwriter and novelist has passed away. Cohen was born in 1934 in Westmount, Quebec, Canada. Cohen released his debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen in 1967 and went on to release fourteen other albums. His last was this year's You Want It Darker. A message posted to Cohen's official Facebook page relayed the news:
"It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away.We have lost one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries.
A memorial will take place in Los Angeles at a later date. The family requests privacy during their time of grief."
The cause of death has not been detailed. Following his graduation from McGill University Cohen pursued a graduate degree at Columbia University in New York City. Cohen, with the help of a trust fund set up by his late father, moved to Hydra, a Greek island, where he wrote and published the poetry collection Flowers for Hitler in 1964 and the novels The Favourite Game in 1963 and Beautiful Losers in 1966. The spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca and the American writer Walt Whitman inspired Cohen to take up poetry and writing. Dismayed with low book sales Cohen eventually returned to the United States where he would begin his legendary music career.
Cohen has been induced into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and has received a long list of other awards and recognitions for his contributions to literature, music, and poetry. Leonard Norman Cohen was 82.
H/T: Rolling Stone
