Leonard Cohen - Tribute Painting

Leonard Norman Cohen was born into a middle-class Jewish family in a Montreal, Canada on 21st September 1934 - November.7th 2016. From a young age he... more

by Ian Gledhill

Title

Leonard Cohen - Tribute Painting

Artist

Ian Gledhill

Medium

Painting - Painting - Mixed Media

Description

Leonard Norman Cohen was born into a middle-class Jewish family in a Montreal, Canada on 21st September 1934 - November.7th 2016. From a young age he studied music and poetry and, even before attending McGill University in 1951 to study English, was already performing his poems in various clubs round Little Portugal.

In 1954 Cohen had his poems published in the short-lived but hugely influential CIV/n magazine before publishing his first book of poetry, Let us Compare Mythologies, in 1956. When he graduated at Columbia University, New York, in 1957 he moved back to Montreal where he undertook menial work to support his writing. Cohen was able to supplement this with money from his fathers will who died when he was nine-indeed, his first book is dedicated to his late father.

His next book, The Spice Box of Earth (1961) was received well critically and helped to expand his audience. Cohen bought a house on Hydra in the Sardonic Gulf so he could write in relative seclusion and he spent much of the 60s writing critically ambiguous novels -'The Favorite Game' (1963) Flowers for Hitler (1964) and 'Beautiful Losers' (1966) -and, in between, developing his skills as a songwriter.

In 1967 Cohen moved back to New York where he was a fringe figure in Andy Warhol's Factory scene. His song Suzanne became a hit for folk singer Judy Collins which courted the attention Columbia records.

Cohen was signed to Columbia and, in 1968, released his first album, 'The Songs of Leonard Cohen'. His second and third albums Songs from a room (1969) and Songs of Love and Hate (1971) were both recorded in Nashville to a much more specific production brief and he took off on tour.

In addition to dates in the US and Canada, Cohen played the Isle of Wight Festival in 1972 (footage of the show, and, indeed, the tour (directed by Tony Palmer) has been recently released). In 1974 Cohen collaborated with John Lissauer and they toured the album New Skin for the Old Ceremony round Europe and the US to critical acclaim.

In 1976 Cohen took his new band on a major European Tour to support his Best Of album which included his first appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival before returning home to work with Phil Spector. Recording the album was fraught with problems -Cohen said Spector threatened him with a crossbow. Spector is currently serving life for murder- and Cohen has tried to distance himself from what became Death of a Ladies Man, though he has performed a couple of songs off the album on three spate occasions.

After realising the more traditional, Recent Songs in 1979, Cohen took some time out to co-write a rock musical with Lewis Furey entitled Night Magic (1980) before re-collaborating with Lissauer for 1984s Various Positions. In addition to containing Dance Me to the End of Love, the album featured the now classic Hallelujah.

Hallelujah was initially successful but gained popularity when covered by John Cale and Jeff Buckley and has been performed by almost 200 artists in various languages. It's been the subject of documentaries and books and has featured in the soundtrack of dozens of TV shows and movies. In 2009 X Factor winner Alexandra Burke covered Hallelujah and it took the coveted Christmas-Number-One slot in the UK and with it a new generation of fans.

In 1986 Jennifer Warnes released a cover album of Cohen tracks, 'Famous Blue Raincoat', bringing a new lease of life to his records and re-vitalising his popularity in the US. The following year he released the self-produced, synth-heavy I'm Your Man, one of his most critically acclaimed albums to date. The album was supported by an extensive tour of Europe, US and his native Canada and a series of TV and radio interviews.

In 1991 'I'm Your Fan' featured the likes REM, Nick Cave, Pixies and Lloyd Cole covering a selection of Cohen's songs -another tribute album, 'Tower of Song', in 1995, featured a further selection by artists such as Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Elton John and Peter Gabriel.

In 1992 Cohen released The Future. Three songs featured in Oliver Stones controversial Natural Born Killers bringing his music to a more diverse audience and another major tour beckoned.

Remaining true to his literary roots, Cohen published Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs in 1993 featuring a collection of poems from 1989, just before he retreated to the Mount Baldy Zen Center near Los Angeles where he took a vow of silence.

With regards to his dalliance with Buddhism, something that could be construed as negative in the eyes of Judaism, Cohen is quoted as saying, in the tradition of Zen that I've practiced, there is no prayerful worship and there is no affirmation of a deity. So theologically there is no challenge to any Jewish belief.

In 1997 Cohen released More Best of Leonard Cohen, featuring previously unreleased material and following a period of writing released Ten New Songs in 2001 which was a major hit in Europe and Canada. This was followed by Dear Heather a music collaboration with his then partner Anjani Thomas which presented a much lighter side to Cohen, something he attributed to his time in the Zen Centre.

Cohen and Anjani went on to release Blue Alert in 2006 to favourable reviews whilst in the midst of a legal wrangle with his long-time manager, Kelley Lynch. Lynch was convicted of financial impropriety and Cohen sued her for $9 million US dollars though it's unlucky he'll ever see the amount awarded.

In the same year Book of Longing was published and went on to top the bestseller charts. It was also the theme of a composition by Philip Glass featuring the voice and artworks of Cohen and performed live.

In 2008 to 2010 Cohen embarked on his first world tour in fifteen years, highlights in the UK included performances at Londons O2, The Royal Albert Hall and a show-stopping performance of Hallelujah at Glastonbury. The tour was a huge success and two live albums Live in London and Songs from the Road were launched subsequently.

Cohen was inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 where he was described as a "poet, in the classical, arts-and-letters sense of the word". Other artists bestowed with this honor are Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and Joni Mitchell. In his speech at the singer-songwriter's induction, Lou Reed said that Cohen belonged to "the highest and most influential echelon of songwriters".

In 2010, Cohen was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contribution to music and the same year he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

His music has spanned a wide range of genres, from the stripped down folk of his earlier work to the synth-laden bombast of the albums released in the 1980s. Cohen is, first and foremost, a hugely talented writer and therein lies the key to which was his ongoing successes as a musician.

Painting on canvas mixed media..

3rd.Place in "Male Musician Portraits in all Mediums" FAA/Pixels Contest ..26th March 2017.

Uploaded

November 15th, 2016