Leonard Cohen once said, “If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.”
The hugely influential Canadian singer and poet, with a musical career spanning over 5 decades and is said to be “one of the foremost songwriters of the contemporary era”, has passed away at the age of 82.
The sad news was confirmed on the legendary musician’s Facebook page. The statement reads, “It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away. We have lost one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries. A memorial will take place in Los Angeles at a later date. The family requests privacy during their time of grief.”
The Montreal-born artiste is known for writing scores of songs that touched on the themes of religion and love, depression and suicide, politics and war. New York Times called him “an unlikely and reluctant pop star” seeing as how he only released his 1st record at age 33 in 1967.
Since then, Cohen has produced more than 2000 songs that have been covered by artistes from different genres ranging from the folk singers to rock, pop, country, and even rhythm and blues performers, including U2, Elton John, Sting, Trisha Yearwood, and Aretha Franklin.
His string of hits included “Suzanne”, “Bird on a Wire,” “Everybody Knows”, and “I’m Your Man”, but as Reuters points out, his most famous song, “Hallelujah,” in which he invoked the biblical King David and drew parallels between physical love and a desire for spiritual connection, has been covered hundreds of times since he released it in 1984. The song remains popular even to this day.
His 14th and latest studio album, “You Want It Darker”, was recently released by Columbia Records on 21st October 2016. The album was produced by Cohen’s son, Adam.
We bet that choirs of angels are singing “Hallelujah” right now. Of course, it’s their cover version. #RIPLeonardCohen 🙁
