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Leonard Norman Cohen, (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, painter, poet, and novelist. His work has explored religion, politics, isolation, sexuality, and personal relationships. Cohen has been inducted into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honor. In 2011, Cohen received a Princess of Asturias Awards for literature. The critic Bruce Eder assessed Cohen's overall career in popular music by asserting that "(is ) one of the most fascinating and enigmatic … singer/songwriters of the late '60s … () has retained an audience across four decades of music-making.... Second only to Bob Dylan (and perhaps Paul Simon) (terms of influence ), he commands the attention of critics and younger musicians more firmly than any other musical figure from the 1960s who is still working at the outset of the 21st century."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Eder, Bruce. "Leonard Cohen: Biography." ''Allmusic'' by Rovi )〕 His second novel, ''Beautiful Losers'' (1966), received attention from the Canadian press and was considered controversial because of a number of sexually graphic passages.〔 The Academy of American Poets has commented more broadly on Cohen's overall career in the arts, including his work as a poet, novelist, and songwriter, stating that "Cohen's successful blending of poetry, fiction, and music is made most clear in ''Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs'', published in 1993, which gathered more than 200 of Cohen's poems … several novel excerpts, and almost 60 song lyrics... While it may seem to some that Leonard Cohen departed from the literary in pursuit of the musical, his fans continue to embrace him as a Renaissance man who straddles the elusive artistic borderlines."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Leonard Cohen: Poet, Novelist, Musician )〕 Cohen's first album was ''Songs of Leonard Cohen'' (1967) followed by ''Songs from a Room'' (1969) (featuring the often-recorded "Bird on the Wire") and ''Songs of Love and Hate'' (1971). His 1977 record ''Death of a Ladies' Man'' was co-written and produced by Phil Spector, which was a move away from Cohen's previous minimalist sound. In 1979 Cohen returned with the more traditional ''Recent Songs'', which blended his acoustic style with jazz and Oriental and Mediterranean influences. "Hallelujah" was first released on Cohen's studio album ''Various Positions'' in 1984. ''I'm Your Man'' in 1988 marked Cohen's turn to synthesized productions and remains his most popular album. In 1992 Cohen released its follow-up, ''The Future'', which had dark lyrics and references to political and social unrest. Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of ''Ten New Songs'', which was a major hit in Canada and Europe. In 2006 Cohen produced and co-wrote ''Blue Alert'', a collaboration with jazz chanteuse Anjani Thomas. After the success of his 2008–13 world tours, Cohen released the highest charting album in his entire career, ''Old Ideas'', to positive reviews. On 22 September 2014, one day after his 80th birthday, Cohen released his 13th studio album, ''Popular Problems'', again to positive reviews. == Early life == Cohen was born on 21 September 1934 in Westmount, Quebec, an English-speaking area of Montreal, into a middle-class Jewish family. His mother, Marsha (Masha) Klonitsky, was the daughter of a Talmudic writer, Rabbi Solomon Klonitsky-Kline, of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Leonard Cohen Biography )〕 His paternal grandfather, whose family had emigrated from Poland, was Lyon Cohen, founding president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. His father, Nathan Cohen, who owned a substantial clothing store, died when Cohen was 9 years old. On the topic of being a Kohen, Cohen has said that "I had a very Messianic childhood." He told Richard Goldstein in 1967, "I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest."〔Williams, P. (n.d.) (Leonard Cohen: The Romantic in a Ragpicker's Trade )〕 Cohen attended Roslyn Elementary School and, from 1948, Westmount High School, where he was involved with the student council and studied music and poetry.〔 He became especially interested in the poetry of Federico García Lorca.〔 As a teenager, he learned to play the guitar and formed a country–folk group called The Buckskin Boys. Although he initially played a regular acoustic guitar, he soon switched to playing a classical guitar after meeting a young Spanish flamenco guitar player who taught him "a few chords and some flamenco."〔 Cohen frequented Saint Laurent Boulevard, where he went for fun, and ate at places such as the Main Deli Steak House. According to journalist David Sax, the Main Deli was where Cohen and one of his cousins would go to "watch the gangsters, pimps, and wrestlers dance around the night." Cohen also enjoyed visiting the previously raucous bars of Old Montreal as well as Saint Joseph's Oratory, which had the closest restaurant near Westmount where he and his friend Mort Rosengarten could go for coffee and a smoke.〔 After moving out of Westmount, Cohen purchased a place in the previous working-class neighborhood of Montreal's Little Portugal on Saint-Laurent Boulevard where he read his poetry at various surrounding clubs. It is also during his time there in the small neighborhood that he wrote the lyrics to what would become some of his most famous songs.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Leonard Cohen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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