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Leonard Cohen Facts & Worksheets

Leonard Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter who was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Leonard Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter who was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also established himself as a poet and a novelist. He was also a painter. He received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2010.

See the fact file below for more information on the Leonard Cohen or alternatively, you can download our 25-page Leonard Cohen worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

  • Leonard Cohen was born on September 21, 1934, in the Montreal suburb of Westmount, Quebec, Canada.
  • He was born into a middle-class Jewish family.
  • His father was Nathan Cohen, who died when Leonard Cohen was nine years old. His mother was Marsha (Masha) Klonitsky.
  • Cohen attributed his love of music to his mother who, according to him, would sing songs frequently at home.
  • As a child, he was immersed in Jewish theology as his family observed Orthodox Judaism.
  • It was during his time in Westmount High School when he took interest in music and poetry. There, he began to play acoustic guitar and write poems.
  • He eventually formed a country–folk group called the Buckskin Boys.
  • Along with music, Cohen loved poetry. He was a big fan of poet Federico García Lorca and novelist Jack Kerouac.
  • In 1951, he enrolled in McGill University where he studied English and became president of the McGill Debating Union.

POETRY AND FICTION

  • In March 1954, Cohen’s poems were first published in the magazine CIV/n.
  • He published his first poetry collection entitled Let Us Compare Mythologies a year after his graduation in 1955.
  • Cohen briefly pursued graduate studies at Columbia University before finally returning to Montreal in 1957.
  • In Montreal, he worked various odd jobs and continued writing poetry.
  • In 1961, his second book, The Spice-Box of the Earth, was published and became a commercial and critical success.
  • He soon bought a house on Hydra, a Greek island in the Saronic Gulf, where he lived periodically for seven years.
  • Leonard Cohen became a prolific poet during the 1960s.
  • He went on to write his first novel The Favourite Game, which was published in 1963.
  • His novel entitled Beautiful Losers which was published in 1966 outraged the public because of its explicit content.
  • Despite his growing fame, Cohen thought he wouldn’t make much money from writing so he expanded to music, which still very much included and celebrated his poetic prowess.

MUSIC CAREER

  • At 33 years old, Cohen officially began his music career with the release of his first album straightforwardly entitled Songs of Leonard Cohen.
  • Cohen’s baritone voice and melancholic lyrics immediately earned him a solid following.
  • His early work was composed of folk music, as featured in his albums Songs from a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971), and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974).
  • Famous American record producer Phil Spector produced and co-wrote Cohen’s fifth studio album Death of a Ladies’ Man released in 1977.
  • Death of a Ladies’ Man was a departure from Cohen’s folk style and featured jazz and Oriental styles.
  • Cohen’s next album Recent Songs (1979) was a return to Cohen’s traditional acoustic folk style, but still mixed with jazz, Oriental, and Mediterranean influences.
  • Cohen took a five year hiatus and released no new material from 1979 to 1984.
  • In 1984, his poetry book Book of Mercy was published and his seventh studio album Various Positions was released.
  • Book of Mercy and Various Positions shared the theme of spirituality.
  • The song “Hallelujah” in Various Positions is one of Cohen’s best-known and most-loved songs of all time, despite initially not gaining popularity.
  • After another five-year hiatus, Cohen proved himself to be a man of many musical genres when he released the album I’m Your Man in 1988, his first record having a synthesizer-oriented production.
  • Cohen’s 1992 studio album The Future and tribute album I’m Your Fan catered to a younger audience, with the latter featuring covers of songs by alternative rock groups.
  • After releasing The Future, Cohen retired to the Mount Baldy monastery and studied under a Zen master for five years.
  • In 1995, a tribute album to Cohen entitled Tower of Song featured well-known rock and roll artists including Billy Joel, Elton John, Peter Gabriel, Sting with the Chieftains, and Bono from U2.
  • Cohen reemerged in 1999, and released a new album two years later which was entitled Ten New Songs.
  • Cohen always wrote his own lyrics, but his next album Dear Heather (2004) included songs for which he did not write lyrics.
  • Cohen received much honor for his work as he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

PERSONAL LIFE

  • Leonard Cohen had two children (named Adam and Lorca) with Suzanne Elrod. Cohen and Elrod never married.
  • For most of the 1960s, Cohen was in a relationship with Marianne Ihlen. He wrote the 1967 track “So Long, Marianne” in dedication to her.
  • In the 1970s, Cohen was in a relationship with artist Suzanne Elrod, who is seen on the cover of Cohen’s fifth album, Death of a Ladies’ Man.
  • In the 1980s, Cohen was in a relationship with French photographer Dominique Issermann.
  • In the 1990s, Cohen was romantically linked to actress Rebecca De Mornay.
  • In November 7, 2016, at age 82, Cohen died of leukemia and from complications of a fall.

Leonard Cohen Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Leonard Cohen across 25 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Leonard Cohen worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Leonard Cohen who was a Canadian singer-songwriter who was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also established himself as a poet and a novelist. He was also a painter. He received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2010.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Leonard Cohen Facts
  • Appropriate Lyrics
  • True or False?
  • Decoding Discography
  • Match the Lyrics
  • Book or Album?
  • Listen and React
  • Similar Artists
  • Seventies Symbols
  • Fun Cohen Trivia
  • Cohen-Inspired Song

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Use With Any Curriculum

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