74-524: The Whitest Boy Alive is a German-Norwegian musical group based in Berlin. It was originally active from 2003 to 2014; after a five-year hiatus, the group reformed in 2019. The band is composed of singer and guitarist Erlend Øye of Kings of Convenience , bassist Marcin Öz, drummer Sebastian Maschat, and Daniel Nentwig on Rhodes piano and Crumar . The Whitest Boy Alive started as an electronic dance music project in 2003 in Berlin, but since slowly developed into
148-492: A Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974). His 1977 record Death of a Ladies' Man , co-written and produced by Phil Spector , was a move away from Cohen's previous minimalist sound. In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs , which blended his acoustic style with jazz, East Asian, and Mediterranean influences. Cohen's most famous song, " Hallelujah ",
222-548: A Valparaíso from his album De algo hay que morir (UVA Robot, 2019). In late 2019, The Whitest Boy Alive announced a new series of performances in Chile and Argentina and in 2020 released the non-album single Serious , the project's first new material since 2009's Rules . In the beginning of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic , Øye found himself stranded in San Jose del Cabo , Mexico. In
296-605: A band with no programmed elements. The name of the band comes from the idea of a naïve, shy northern European boy that their music is about. The band's German record label was Bubbles. Their debut album Dreams was released on 21 June 2006 in Germany. In July 2007, Modular Records signed them to their UK imprint and the band played their first UK performance with New Young Pony Club at the London Astoria in September 2007. The album
370-576: A duo) which was released as the album Quarantine At El Ganzo in July 2020. Erlend %C3%98ye Erlend Otre Øye (born 21 November 1975) is a Norwegian composer, musician, producer, singer and songwriter from Bergen , best known for being one half of the indie folk duo Kings of Convenience , along with Eirik Glambek Bøe . Among other musical projects he is front-man for the band The Whitest Boy Alive , and has contributed to tracks by electronic music artists such as Dntel and Norwegian duo Röyksopp . He
444-593: A honey cache: I'm stumbling right into it and getting stuck, and it's delicious and it's horrible and I'm in it and it's not very graceful and it's very awkward and it's very painful and yet there's something inevitable about it." In 2011, Cohen was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for literature. His poetry collection The Flame , which he had been working on at the time of his death, appeared posthumously in 2018. Cohen's books have been translated into several languages. In 1967, disappointed with his lack of success as
518-513: A hotel that came equipped with a recording studio, Øye and Sebastian Maschat , the drummer of Whitest Boy Alive , recorded the album Quarantine At El Ganzo . Erlend Øye often performs significantly reworked versions of other bands' songs during his concerts, which is reflected in the vocal interludes on his mixtape album DJ-KiCKS: Erlend Øye . Among his most-played covers are: Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen CC GOQ (September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016)
592-641: A new album, New Skin for the Old Ceremony , with songs inspired by the war. "Lover Lover Lover", was written and performed in Sinai. "Who By Fire", written reflecting on the war, takes its name from the Yom Kippur prayer, the Unetaneh Tokef . Other songs inspired by the war are "Field Commander Cohen" and "There is a War". In 1976, Cohen said during the concert that his now famous song was written for "the Egyptians and
666-589: A new sound by featuring instruments like the oud , the Gypsy violin, and the mandolin . The album was supported by Cohen's major tour with the new band, and Jennifer Warnes and Sharon Robinson on the backing vocals, in Europe in late 1979, and again in Australia, Israel, and Europe in 1980. In 2000, Columbia released an album of live recordings of songs from the 1979 tour, titled Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979 . During
740-585: A poem, which allowed him to meet Øye's mother. Having grown up listening to Leonard Cohen , Nick Drake , Suzanne Vega and The Smiths , during high school in the early-mid 1990s, he and some of his friends formed the band Skog (" forest " in Norwegian), taking inspiration from the famous song " A Forest " by The Cure . In 1996 he joined the band Peachfuzz as electric guitarist, playing several times in London between 1996 and 1998. In 2008 he started to collaborate on
814-426: A project with Mikal Telle of Tellé Records and they created the independent label Opplett with the aim of producing young talent from Bergen and the surrounding area. The label Opplett published three projects: the album Opplett 2008 that contains seven songs by seven different artists (as Lars Vaular , John Olav Nilsen & Gjengen and Razika , 2008); the first single of Indie rock band Razika called Love
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#1732848196039888-640: A return to touring to recoup his losses. Following a successful string of tours between 2008 and 2013, he released three albums in the final years of his life: Old Ideas (2012), Popular Problems (2014), and You Want It Darker (2016), the last of which was released three weeks before his death. His posthumous, fifteenth, and final studio album Thanks for the Dance , was released in November 2019. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked him number 103 in their "200 Greatest Singers of All Time" list. Leonard Norman Cohen
962-435: A rocket site and they would shine their flashlights at us and we would sing a few songs. Or they would give us a jeep and we would go down the road towards the front and wherever we saw a few soldiers waiting for a helicopter or something like that we would sing a few songs. And maybe back at the airbase we would do a little concert, maybe with amplifiers. It was very informal, and you know, very intense." In 1974 Cohen released
1036-422: A songwriter. I want to write songs," Simon recalled Cohen telling him. Subsequently, Cohen published less, with major gaps, concentrating more on recording songs. In 1966 he wrote "Suzanne", which was performed the same year by The Stormy Clovers, and recorded by Judy Collins on her album In My Life . In 1978, he published his first book of poetry in many years, Death of a Lady's Man (not to be confused with
1110-566: A term in the McGill Faculty of Law and then a year (1956–1957) at the Columbia University School of General Studies . Cohen described his graduate school experience as "passion without flesh, love without climax". Consequently, Cohen left New York and returned to Montreal in 1957, working various odd jobs and focusing on the writing of fiction and poetry, including the poems for his next book, The Spice-Box of Earth (1961), which
1184-528: A tour with Øye through Europe, where he established a great friendship with Chilean musicians. During the summer of 2018, he returned to Chile to accompany the Swedish-Argentine singer-songwriter José González , and later accompanied Niña Tormenta, Diego Lorenizi and the band Salanca Selector at an outdoor concert in the Chilean town of Pirque . In 2019 Øye collaborated with Diego Lorenzini in his song Me voy
1258-404: A very Messianic childhood. I was told I was a descendant of Aaron , the high priest ." Cohen attended Roslyn Elementary School and completed grades seven through nine at Herzliah High School , where his literary mentor (and later inspiration) Irving Layton taught. He then transferred in 1948 to Westmount High School , where he studied music and poetry. He became especially interested in
1332-524: A writer, Cohen moved to the United States to pursue a career as a folk music singer–songwriter. During the 1960s, he was a fringe figure in Andy Warhol 's "Factory" crowd. Warhol speculated that Cohen had spent time listening to Nico in clubs and that this had influenced his musical style. His song " Suzanne " became a hit for Judy Collins (who subsequently recorded a number of Cohen's other songs), and
1406-502: A year on the album charts. He appeared on BBC TV in 1968 where he sang a duet from the album with Julie Felix . Several of the songs on that first album were recorded by other popular folk artists, including James Taylor and Judy Collins. Cohen followed up that first album with Songs from a Room (1969, featuring the often-recorded " Bird on the Wire ") and Songs of Love and Hate (1971). In 1971, film director Robert Altman featured
1480-487: A young Spanish guitar player taught him "a few chords and some flamenco ", he switched to a classical guitar. He has attributed his love of music to his mother, who sang songs around the house: "I know that those changes, those melodies, touched me very much. She would sing with us when I took my guitar to a restaurant with some friends; my mother would come, and we'd often sing all night." Cohen frequented Montreal's Saint Laurent Boulevard for fun and ate at places such as
1554-514: A young man who discovers his identity through writing. Cohen was the subject of a 44-minute documentary in 1965 from the National Film Board called Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen . The 1966 novel Beautiful Losers received a good deal of attention from the Canadian press and stirred up controversy because of a number of sexually graphic passages. Regarding Beautiful Losers,
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#17328481960391628-564: Is All About the Timing ; and the first album of the band Fjorden Baby!. In 1998 he moved to London and then in 1999 to Manchester . When he was back home in Bergen for vacations he jammed with Eirik Glambek Bøe , his former high school and Skog mate. The duo formed Kings of Convenience in 1998 and released the debut record, Quiet is the New Loud , in 2001. In the same period, he collaborated with
1702-669: Is a long time by fellow Bergen band Kakkmaddafakka . In 2012, during a small concert organized in a vernissage in Ortigia in Sicily, he publicly stated that he had bought a house in the city of Syracuse to move there with his mother. In 2013, he released a new single, entitled La Prima Estate , sung in Italian and inspired by his time living in Italy, which is accompanied by a videoclip shot in Syracuse. He
1776-523: Is also the co-founder of the independent label Bubbles Records. Since 2012 he has lived in Sicily and played extensively with trio La Comitiva . In addition to his native Norwegian , he also speaks English and some Italian. Erlend Øye was born on 21 November 1975 in Bergen , his parents met in 1974 in a demonstration in support of the victims of the 1973 Chilean coup d'état against Salvador Allende that took place in Bergen, at which time his father read
1850-488: Is cruel, that it leaves bones, blood and ugly stains on the holy soil." Cohen played his most-known songs to the troops: "Suzanne", "So Long Marianne", "Bird on the Wire", and his new song he called "Lover Lover Lover". In Sinai, Cohen was introduced to the Major General Ariel Sharon , future Prime Minister of Israel. Cohen later described the improvised concerts: "We would just drop into little places, like
1924-565: Is currently working on more songs in Italian, which will be made into an album. In 2014, The Whitest Boy Alive announced the end of the project. On 3 October 2014, he released his second solo album Legao , recorded in Reykjavík with Hjálmar , a reggae group from Iceland, which was anticipated by the single Garota with a videoclip shot in Seoul . Despite currently living in Sicily , he is still involved in
1998-399: Is dedicated to the poet Irving Layton . Also, during the late 1990s and 2000s, many of Cohen's new poems and lyrics were first published on the fan website The Leonard Cohen Files, including the original version of the poem "A Thousand Kisses Deep" (which Cohen later adapted for a song). Cohen's writing process, as he told an interviewer in 1998, was "like a bear stumbling into a beehive or
2072-555: Is inextricably connected to Cohen's songs. It's impossible to imagine Altman's masterpiece without them." In 1970, Cohen toured for the first time, in the United States, Canada, and Europe, and appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival . In 1972 he toured again in Europe and Israel, captured on film by Tony Palmer and eventually released in 2010 under the title 'Bird on a Wire'. When his performance in Israel did not seem to be going well he walked off
2146-484: Is one of those rare songs that survives its banalization with at least some of its sublimity intact". The song is the subject of the 2012 book The Holy or the Broken by Alan Light and the 2022 documentary film Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song by Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine. Janet Maslin 's New York Times book review said that Cohen spent years struggling with the song, which eventually became "one of
2220-528: The Bergen music scene, promoting local bands and assisting the organization of the annual Traena Music Festival . On numerous occasions Øye has visited Chile. His first presentation was in 2006, during his tour in South America. In 2017 he traveled to Chile to spend a season at the home of a close friend who lived in Santiago , where he mainly dedicated himself to composing songs on the ukulele. After playing at
2294-545: The Boston Globe stated: "James Joyce is not dead. He is living in Montreal under the name of Cohen." In 1966 Cohen also published Parasites of Heaven , a book of poems. Both Beautiful Losers and Parasites of Heaven received mixed reviews and sold few copies. In 1966, CBC-TV producer Andrew Simon produced a local Montreal current affairs program, Seven on Six , and offered Cohen a position as host. "I decided I'm going to be
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2368-532: The Main Deli Steak House . According to journalist David Sax , he and one of his cousins would go to the Main Deli to "watch the gangsters, pimps, and wrestlers dance around the night". When he left Westmount, he purchased a place on Saint-Laurent Boulevard in the previously working-class neighbourhood of Little Portugal . He would read his poetry at assorted nearby clubs. In that period and place, he wrote
2442-566: The Spanish poetry of Federico García Lorca . During high school, he was involved in various extracurricular activities, including photography, yearbook, cheerleading, arts club, current events club, and theater. He also served as president of the Students' Council. During that time, he taught himself to play the acoustic guitar and formed a country – folk group that he called the Buckskin Boys. After
2516-403: The "En Orbita" Festival, he met Tiare Galaz (a member of the Chilean band Niña Tormenta), who also played the ukulele. After talking with Tiare backstage, they agreed to meet another day to share their experiences on the instrument. After being invited to dinner the next day by Tiare, he met Diego Lorenzini, who brought him a chord notebook. Some time later, he was invited to a series of concerts of
2590-495: The 1970s, Cohen toured twice with Jennifer Warnes as a backup singer (1972 and 1979). Warnes would become a fixture on Cohen's future albums, receiving full co-vocals credit on Cohen's 1984 album Various Positions (although the record was released under Cohen's name, the inside credits say "Vocals by Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes"). In 1987 she recorded an album of Cohen songs, Famous Blue Raincoat . Cohen said that she sang backup for his 1980 tour, even though her career at
2664-815: The Chester MacNaghten Literary Competition for the poems "Sparrows" and "Thoughts of a Landsman". Cohen published his first poem in March 1954 in the magazine CIV/n . The issue also included poems by Cohen's poet–professors (who were also on the editorial board) Irving Layton and Louis Dudek . Cohen graduated from McGill the following year with a B.A. degree. His literary influences during this time included William Butler Yeats , Irving Layton (who taught political science at McGill and became both Cohen's mentor and his friend), Walt Whitman , Federico García Lorca , and Henry Miller . His first published book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956),
2738-501: The Israelis", though he wrote and performed the song for the Israeli soldiers during the war, and the song originally contained the lines "I went down to the desert to help my brothers fight". In 1973, Columbia Records released Cohen's first concert album, Live Songs . Then beginning around 1974, Cohen's collaboration with pianist and arranger John Lissauer created a live sound praised by
2812-565: The Matiné Uva Robot, where he met musicians Rosario Alfonso and Javier Bobbert. In an interview with CNN Chile , he said "from that moment on we started to play regularly while I was in Chile. It was very surprising to see how the musical search of these four Chileans was very similar to what I was doing with the support band that I had formed with three Sicilian friends - called La Comitiva -, so I finally decided to invite them to open my tour of Germany together". Chilean artists were invited to
2886-702: The album he released the previous year, the similarly titled Death of a Ladies' Man ). It was not until 1984 that Cohen published his next book of poems, Book of Mercy , which won him the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award for Poetry. The book contains 50 prose-poems, influenced by the Hebrew Bible and Zen writings. Cohen himself referred to the pieces as "prayers". In 1993 Cohen published Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs , and in 2006, after 10 years of delays, additions, and rewritings, Book of Longing . The Book of Longing
2960-643: The album with his biggest tour to date, in Europe and Australia, and with his first tour in Canada and the United States since 1975. The band performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival , and the Roskilde Festival . They also gave a series of highly emotional and politically controversial concerts in Poland, which had been under martial law just two years before, and performed the song " The Partisan ", regarded as
3034-516: The album with two music videos, for "Closing Time" and "The Future", and supported the release with the major tour through Europe, United States and Canada, with the same band as in his 1988 tour, including a second appearance on PBS 's Austin City Limits . Some of the Scandinavian shows were broadcast live on the radio. The selection of performances, mostly recorded on the Canadian leg of the tour,
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3108-415: The audience for Cohen's poetry, helping him reach out to the poetry scene in Canada, outside the confines of McGill University. The book also helped Cohen gain critical recognition as an important new voice in Canadian poetry. One of Cohen's biographers, Ira Nadel , stated that "reaction to the finished book was enthusiastic and admiring...." The critic Robert Weaver found it powerful and declared that Cohen
3182-416: The band announced via their Facebook page that they would play Fauna festival in Chile on 9 November of the same year and expressed an interest in booking further shows, with the conditions they play shorter sets and less frequently than before, due to frontman Erlend Øye's tinnitus . On 5 March 2020, after more than a decade without releasing any new material, the band released a new single, "Serious", which
3256-508: The band travelled to China with promoters Split Works . In June 2014, the band announced via their Facebook page that they were "no longer composing or playing together as The Whitest Boy Alive". On 4 August 2017, Erlend Øye announced via Facebook that The Whitest Boy Alive would perform a 45-minute one-off reunion show on 20 August 2017 in Siracusa, Italy, to celebrate the birthdays of Marcin Öz and Daniel Nentwig. Further, on 3 September 2019,
3330-483: The critics. They toured together in 1974 in Europe, the US and Canada in late 1974 and early 1975, in support of Cohen's record New Skin for the Old Ceremony . In late 1975 Cohen and Lissauer performed a short series of shows in the US and Canada with a new band, in support of Cohen's Best Of release. The tour included new songs from an album in progress, co-written by Cohen and Lissauer and titled Songs for Rebecca . None of
3404-418: The electronic Norwegian duo Röyksopp , lending his voice for the song " Poor Leno " and " Remind Me " on the record Melody A.M. . As a result, he became interested in electronic music and spent the next years in Berlin from 2002 to 2006 or travelling around the world, recording his solo album Unrest in ten different cities with ten different electronic music artists. He toured as a DJ, singing along with
3478-492: The face of grim prospects. Three tracks from the album – " Waiting for the Miracle ", "The Future" and "Anthem" – were featured in the movie Natural Born Killers , which also promoted Cohen's work to a new generation of US listeners. As with I'm Your Man , the lyrics on The Future were dark, and made references to political and social unrest. The title track is reportedly a response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots . Cohen promoted
3552-659: The famous Montreux Jazz Festival . After the European tour of 1976, Cohen again attempted a new change in his style and arrangements: his new 1977 record, Death of a Ladies' Man was co-written and produced by Phil Spector . One year later, in 1978, Cohen published a volume of poetry with the subtly revised title, Death of a Lady's Man . Leonard acknowledges that the whole act of living contains immense amounts of sorrow and hopelessness and despair; and also passion, high hopes, deep love, and eternal love. —Jennifer Warnes, describing Cohen's lyrics In 1979, Cohen returned with
3626-519: The first time in his career on PBS's Austin City Limits show. "Hallelujah" was first released on Cohen's studio album Various Positions in 1984, and he sang it during his Europe tour in 1985. The song had limited initial success but found greater popularity through a 1991 cover by John Cale , which formed the basis for a later cover by Jeff Buckley . "Hallelujah" has been performed by almost 200 artists in various languages. New York Times movie reviewer A. O. Scott wrote that "Hallelujah
3700-435: The harvest, though he had no solid plan. He was spotted in a Tel Aviv Pinati Café by Israeli musicians Oshik Levi , Matti Caspi and Ilana Rovina , who offered him to go together to Sinai to sing for Israeli soldiers. Even though he reportedly voiced "pro-Arab political views" before the war, he said after the war "I am joining my brothers fighting in the desert. I don't care if their war is just or not. I know only that war
3774-488: The hymn of the Polish Solidarity movement. In 1987, Jennifer Warnes 's tribute album Famous Blue Raincoat helped restore Cohen's career in the US. The following year he released I'm Your Man . Cohen supported the record with a series of television interviews and an extensive tour of Europe, Canada, and the US. Many shows were broadcast on European and US television and radio stations, while Cohen performed for
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#17328481960393848-423: The latest record entitled Rules was released in 2009. Both the records were released by Bubbles Records, the independent label founded by Erlend Øye and Marcin Öz in 2006. In 2006, he appeared in the Italian movie Shooting Silvio acting as DJ during a house party. In 2009, Kings of Convenience released the third record Declaration of Dependence . In 2011 and 2013, he produced the records Hest and Six months
3922-470: The lyrics to some of his most famous songs. For six decades, Leonard Cohen revealed his soul to the world through poetry and song—his deep and timeless humanity touching our very core. Simply brilliant. His music and words will resonate forever. —Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, 2008 In 1951, Cohen enrolled at McGill University , where he became president of the McGill Debating Union and won
3996-409: The more traditional Recent Songs , which blended his acoustic style with jazz and East Asian and Mediterranean influences. Beginning with this record, Cohen began to co-produce his albums. Produced by Cohen and Henry Lewy ( Joni Mitchell 's sound engineer), Recent Songs included performances by Passenger, an Austin-based jazz–fusion band that met Cohen through Mitchell. The band helped Cohen create
4070-657: The most haunting, mutable and oft-performed songs in American musical history". The album track " Everybody Knows " from I'm Your Man and "If It Be Your Will" in the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume helped expose Cohen's music to a wider audience. He first introduced the song during his world tour in 1988. The song "Everybody Knows" also featured prominently in fellow Canadian Atom Egoyan 's 1994 film, Exotica . In 1992, Cohen released The Future , which urges (often in terms of biblical prophecy) perseverance, reformation, and hope in
4144-476: The recordings from these live tours with Lissauer were ever officially released, and the album was abandoned in 1976. In 1976, Cohen embarked on a new major European tour with a new band and changes in his sound and arrangements, again, in support of his The Best of Leonard Cohen release (in Europe retitled as Greatest Hits ). Laura Branigan was one of his backup singers during the tour. From April to July, Cohen gave 55 shows, including his first appearance at
4218-477: The records that he played and released a remix record for the DJ Kicks series in 2004. In the same year, Kings of Convenience released the second record Riot on an Empty Street . Meanwhile, he founded another project in Berlin, The Whitest Boy Alive . The band originally started as an electronic band, but slowly developed into a band with no electronic elements, releasing the debut record Dreams in 2006, while
4292-557: The songs "The Stranger Song", "Winter Lady", and "Sisters of Mercy", originally recorded for Songs of Leonard Cohen , in McCabe & Mrs. Miller . Scott Tobias wrote in 2014 that "The film is unimaginable to me without the Cohen songs, which function as these mournful interstitials that unify the entire movie." Tim Grierson wrote in 2016, shortly after Cohen's death, that '"Altman's and Cohen's legacies would forever be linked by McCabe . The movie
4366-553: The stage, went to his dressing room, and took some LSD. He then heard the audience clamouring for his reappearance by singing to him in Hebrew, and under the influence of the psychedelic, he returned to finish the show. A Jew remains a Jew. Now it’s war and there’s no need for explanations. My name is Cohen, no? —Leonard Cohen In 1973, when Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on the Yom Kippur day , Cohen arrived in Israel. He had no guitar, and intended to volunteer in some kibbutz for
4440-406: The time was in much better shape than his. "So this is a real friend", he said. "Someone who in the face of great derision, has always supported me." In the early 1980s, Cohen co-wrote (with Lewis Furey ) the rock musical film Night Magic starring Carole Laure and Nick Mancuso . Columbia declined to release his 1984 LP Various Positions in the United States. Cohen supported the release of
4514-409: The words to "Suzanne" while singing to a different audience. Singers such as Joan Baez have sung it during their tours. Cohen stated that he was duped into giving up the rights for the song, but was glad it happened, as it would be wrong to write a song that was so well loved and to get rich for it also. Collins told Bill Moyers , during a television interview, that she felt Cohen's Jewish background
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#17328481960394588-414: Was Canadian Jewish Congress founding president Lyon Cohen . His parents gave him the Hebrew name Eliezer , which means "God helps". His father, clothing store owner Nathan Bernard Cohen (1891–1944), died when Cohen was nine years old. The family attended Congregation Shaar Hashomayim , to which Cohen retained connections for the rest of his life. On the topic of being a kohen , he said in 1967, "I had
4662-564: Was 'probably the best young poet in English Canada right now.' Cohen continued to write poetry and fiction throughout the 1960s and preferred to live in quasi-reclusive circumstances after he bought a house on Hydra , a Greek island in the Saronic Gulf . While living and writing on Hydra, Cohen published the poetry collection Flowers for Hitler (1964), and the novel The Favourite Game (1963), an autobiographical Bildungsroman about
4736-579: Was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, social and political conflict, and sexual and romantic love, desire, regret, and loss. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame , the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame , and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . He
4810-465: Was an important influence on his words and music. After performing at a few folk festivals, he came to the attention of Columbia Records producer John Hammond , who signed Cohen to a record deal. Cohen's first album was Songs of Leonard Cohen . The album was released in the US in late 1967 to generally dismissive reviews, but became a favourite in the UK on its release in early 1968, where it spent over
4884-508: Was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in the Montreal anglophone enclave of Westmount, Quebec , on September 21, 1934. His Lithuanian Jewish mother, Marsha ("Masha") Klonitsky (1905–1978), emigrated to Canada in 1927 and was the daughter of Talmudic writer and rabbi Solomon Klonitsky-Kline. His paternal grandfather, who had emigrated from Suwałki , in Congress Poland , to Canada,
4958-439: Was for many years his most recorded song. Collins recalls that when she first met him, he said he could not sing or play the guitar, nor did he think "Suzanne" was even a song: And then he played me "Suzanne" ... I said, "Leonard, you must come with me to this big fundraiser I'm doing" ... Jimi Hendrix was on it. He'd never sung [in front of a large audience] before then. He got out on stage and started singing. Everybody
5032-593: Was going crazy—they loved it. And he stopped about halfway through and walked off the stage. Everybody went nuts. ... They demanded that he come back. And I demanded; I said, "I'll go out with you." So we went out, and we sang it. And of course, that was the beginning. People think Leonard is dark, but actually his sense of humour and his edge on the world is extremely light. —Judy Collins She first introduced him to television audiences during one of her shows in 1966, where they performed duets of his songs. Still new to bringing his poetry to music, he once forgot
5106-492: Was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada , the nation's highest civilian honour. In 2011, he received one of the Prince of Asturias Awards for literature and the ninth Glenn Gould Prize . Cohen pursued a career as a poet and novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s, and did not begin a music career until 1966. His first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), was followed by three more albums of folk music : Songs from
5180-488: Was published by Dudek as the first book in the McGill Poetry Series the year after Cohen's graduation. The book contained poems written largely when Cohen was between the ages of 15 and 20, and Cohen dedicated the book to his late father. The well-known Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye wrote a review of the book in which he gave Cohen "restrained praise". After completing his undergraduate degree, Cohen spent
5254-590: Was recorded and mixed in Buenos Aires , Argentina. A further session to record another new song was planned in spring 2020, but was aborted when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the members becoming physically separated while in Mexico for a festival that later was cancelled. Confined to the state of Baja California Sur , members Sebastian Maschat and Erlend Øye used the hotel recording studio that had been intended to be booked for The Whitest Boy Alive to record solo material (as
5328-532: Was released in the UK with the single "Burning" in November 2007. The band released their second album Rules in March 2009. It was recorded in a newly built studio located on Punta Burros , Nayarit , Mexico. Their single "1517" was also featured in the soundtrack of the video-game FIFA 10 . The band started The Whitest Boy Alive + The New Wine tour in April 2009, visiting Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, and Sweden. In 2011,
5402-538: Was released on his seventh album, Various Positions (1984). I'm Your Man in 1988 marked Cohen's turn to synthesized productions. In 1992, Cohen released its follow-up, The Future , which had dark lyrics and references to political and social unrest. Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of Ten New Songs , a major hit in Canada and Europe. His eleventh album, Dear Heather , followed in 2004. In 2005, Cohen discovered that his manager had stolen most of his money and sold his publishing rights, prompting
5476-406: Was the first book that Cohen published through the Canadian publishing company McClelland & Stewart . Cohen's first novella and early short stories were not published until 2022 ( A Ballet of Lepers ). His father's will provided him with a modest trust income sufficient to allow him to pursue his literary ambitions for the time, and The Spice-Box of Earth was successful in helping to expand
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