Cohen, Leonard (1934– )

Canadian singer-songwriter, novelist, and poet. Many of his songs, such as ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ and ‘Bird on a Wire’, are reflective poems, often with spiritual, ironic, or erotic themes, set to simple acoustic music. His albums include Songs of Leonard Cohen (1968), Songs of Love and Hate (1970), I'm Your Man (1988), and The Future (1992).

Cohen was born in Montréal and educated there at McGill University, where he formed a country music group, the Buckskin Boys. He published the poetry collections Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956) and The Spice Box Of Earth (1961).

After travelling in Europe he settled in Greece, where he wrote a further poetry collection, Flowers for Hitler (1964), and the novels The Favorite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966).

Cohen then settled in the USA, and turned to songwriting. His first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, was used as the music for Robert Altman's 1971 film McCabe and Mrs Miller. Other albums are Songs From a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1970), New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974), Death of a Ladies' Man (1977), Recent Songs (1979), and Various Positions (1984).

He lived in a Zen Buddhist centre in California 1993–99.