He sang Suzanne down the phone to her and she immediately promised to record it.Ģ4 He was then asked to lunch by John Hammond of Columbia Records, one of rock's greatest talent-spotters: he had signed Bob Dylan, and went on to discover Bruce Springsteen. He could live there for $1,000 a year, so he would go back to Canada, earn the money with his writing and head back to Hydra "to write and swim and sail".Ģ2 His second novel, Beautiful Losers, about a love triangle, was hailed by one reviewer as "the most revolting book ever written in Canada".Ģ3 His big break was meeting the folk singer Judy Collins. He published his first volume of poetry at 22, and won a $2,000 scholarship to travel around Europe when he was 25.Ģ1 He liked the Greek island of Hydra so much that he bought a house there in 1960 for $1,500. "Each time we met, we felt that it was a landmark in the history of thinking, let alone poetry."Ģ0 Cohen was a poet and novelist before he was a pop star. Soon, he may be audible only to dogs.ġ3 Cohen's maternal grandfather, a rabbi, wrote a 700-page thesaurus of Talmudic interpretations.ġ4 His father, who was in the garment trade, died when he was nine.ġ6 His first band, formed when he was 17, was called the Buckskin Boys.ġ7 In his high-school yearbook, he gave his ambition as "world-famous orator".ġ8 At McGill University, he was president of the debating society.ġ9 His friends were fellow poets. His vocals have gone from a limited but appealing wail to a heroically smoky rumble. But his lyrics have made only one stylistic leap, from lush lyricism to dry humour.
He had two children with Suzanne Elrod, and also had a long relationship with the film star Rebecca De Mornay.ġ1 "The heart," he says, "goes on cooking, sizzling like shish kebab." He likes the image so much, he used it to interviewers in 1977, 1988, 19.ġ2 He has used many musical styles, from acoustic folk to electro-pop.
When he first touted his songs around New York, agents said to him: "Aren't you a little old for this game?"ġ0 He has never married - "too frightened". In Barcelona, a singer will perform Cohen's songs in Catalan.ĩ Cohen was 32 and an established poet and novelist before deciding that songwriting might pay better. And I'd like to be one of them."Ĩ Birthday parties are planned in Toronto, Edmonton, Barcelona and Toowoomba, Queensland. But I love to hear an old singer lay it out. As the Talmud says, there's good wine in every generation. It's wonderful to hear a 20-year-old speaking about love. When she said 'God bless you', you really felt that you had been blessed. His influence has been cited by Nick Cave, Suzanne Vega and Rufus Wainwright, who said recently: "I really believe he's the greatest living poet on earth."ĥ Cohen's albums regularly go to no 1 in Norway.Ħ In America, his last album entered the Billboard chart at number 143.ħ In 2001 he said: "When Alberta Hunter was singing many years ago, at 82, I came to New York just to listen to her.
There have been several tribute albums and covers by Bono, REM and Johnny Cash. Late middle-age tends not to be easy for pop stars, if they get there at all, but it has smiled on Cohen. It includes a song about September 11, called On That Day.Ĥ Since his mid-50s, his stock has risen steadily. He was born in 1934, shortly before Elvis Presley.ģ His new album, Dear Heather, is out next month. He has, none the less, given pleasure and even laughter to the million or so people who buy his records.Ģ He will be 70 on Tuesday, the first of the 1960s singer-songwriters to reach 70. Reprinted here by permission of the authorĬlick here to read it on the Guardian site!Īs the godfather of gloom turns 70, Tim de Lisle describes his brush with death - and lists 69 other things you may not know about himġ Leonard Cohen has been labelled "the poet laureate of pessimism", "the grocer of despair", "the godfather of gloom" and "the prince of bummers". "Who held a gun to Leonard Cohen's head?" This article was first printed in The Guardian (UK) H ALLELUJAH: 70 T HINGS A BOUT L EONARD C OHEN A T 70 Hallelujah: 70 things about Leonard Cohen at 70 by Tim de Lisle
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