Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist, born in 1934 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He died in 2016. His music is usually associated with folk, folk rock, singer-songwriter, soft rock, and literary pop, with lyrics often exploring love, spirituality, desire, loss, politics, mortality, and redemption. Britannica describes him as a Canadian singer-songwriter whose spare songs helped make him one of the most distinctive voices of 1970s pop music.

Important albums include Songs of Leonard Cohen, Songs from a Room, Songs of Love and Hate, New Skin for the Old Ceremony, Various Positions, I’m Your Man, The Future, Ten New Songs, Old Ideas, and You Want It Darker. His best-known songs include “Suzanne,” “So Long, Marianne,” “Bird on the Wire,” “Famous Blue Raincoat,” “Hallelujah,” “Dance Me to the End of Love,” “Everybody Knows,” “I’m Your Man,” and “You Want It Darker.” Apple Music and Amazon Music list many of these among his top songs and albums.

Leonard Cohen is known for combining the precision of poetry with dark, intimate songwriting. He became one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century, and “Hallelujah” became one of the most covered songs in modern popular music. His official site describes him as a songwriter, musician, poet, novelist, and visual artist.