Art, literature & culture

Death of Leonard Cohen

7 November 2016

Leonard Cohen died on 7 November 2016 in Los Angeles, aged 82. A Canadian singer, songwriter and poet from Montreal, Cohen first established himself as a poet and novelist, publishing the collection Let Us Compare Mythologies and the novel Beautiful Losers. In 1967, at 33, he began a musical career with Songs of Leonard Cohen, which included Suzanne. His dark, intimate lyrics on love, faith, loss and politics appeared in songs such as Bird on the Wire, Famous Blue Raincoat and Hallelujah, which became a widely covered standard. He spent years at a Zen monastery in California in the 1990s, and after discovering that his savings had been taken he returned to touring in 2008. His last album, You Want It Darker, was released shortly before his death in 2016.

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