Music Legend Leonard Cohen Passes Away
It’s probably one of the most famous songs in the world—from one of the best musicians who ever lived but it looks like Leonard Cohen will be singing a spiritual Hallelujah from now on.
Cohen’s manager informed the world Friday of the 82-year old Canadian songwriter’s death via Facebook.
“It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away,” the statement read. “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.”
Much of Cohen’s career and lyrics revolved around the subject of death, and he didn’t seem to fear it. But near the end, he didn’t have any clue what he was doing—even though he had all of his mental facilities.
“I have no idea what I am doing,” he said in an interview with the New Yorker last month. “It’s hard to describe. As I approach the end of my life, I have even less and less interest in examining what have got to be very superficial evaluations or opinions about the significance of one’s life or one’s work. I was never given to it when I was healthy, and I am less given to it now.”
But while he didn’t focus on examining his work, his work is pretty much everywhere. Especially with Hallelujah, as many people know. It’s been a big part of film and pop culture and many bands have covered it. However, like all interesting things from Cohen’s life, it has it’s own interesting story. Cohen took 5 years to write it and it ended up being rejected by a record label back in 1984. That’s right, one of the most famous songs ended up being rejected by a record label company.
The song didn’t become popular until a decade later thanks to the presentation by Jeff Buckley. Now, it’s one of the most famous songs in music as over 200 artists including Justin Timberlake and Bob Dylan have performed it in various settings including the Olympics.
Even up to his death, Cohen was still doing what he loved to do—working on new music. The singer and songwriter, whom many consider to be a reluctant star, was working on his latest album and his family has said that it was his “greatest album.”
“My father passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles with the knowledge that he had completed what he felt was one of his greatest records,” Cohen’s son Adam wrote in a statement to Rolling Stone. “He was writing up until his last moments with his unique brand of humor.”
Now, that unique brand of humor has departed from us but it leaves a fulfilling legacy in the process. But Cohen is still signing “hallelujah.”