Leonard Cohen

Born into a prominent Montreal Jewish family, Cohen was already an acclaimed poet (Let Us Compare Mythologies) and novelist (Beautiful Losers) before turning to songwriting in the mid-1960s. Introduced by Judy Collins, his 1967 debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen established him as a master of modern lyrical song.

His 1984 hymn Hallelujah became one of the most recorded and universally revered songs in human history, covered by hundreds of artists. Over a six-decade career, Cohen published thirteen poetry collections and fourteen studio albums, performing triumphant world tours in his seventies and eighties with aristocratic grace.