Events

363 – Roman Emperor Julian defeats the Sassanid army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sassanid capital, but is unable to take the city.

1167 – Battle of Monte Porzio – A Roman army supporting Pope Alexander III is defeated by Christian of Buch and Rainald of Dassel

1176 – Battle of Legnano: The Lombard League defeats Emperor Frederick I.

1328 – Philip VI is crowned King of France.

1414 – Council of Constance.

1453 – Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire. Although the date of May 29, 1453, is that of the Julian Calendar, the event is commemorated in Istanbul on this day of the present Gregorian calendar.

1660 – English Restoration: Charles II is restored to the throne of Great Britain.

1677 – Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Natives.

1727 – Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia.

1733 – The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City.

1780 – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Waxhaws Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton massacres Colonel Abraham Buford's continentals allegedly after the continentals surrender. 113 Americans are killed.

1790 – Rhode Island becomes the last of the original United States' colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th U.S. state.

1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Between 300 and 500 United Irishmen are massacred by the British Army in County Kildare, Ireland.

1848 – Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.

1852 – Jenny Lind left New York after her wildly successful two-year American tour.

1861 – The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce was founded, in Hong Kong.

1864 – Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first time.

1867 – The Austro-Hungarian agreement known as Ausgleich ("the Compromise") is born through Act 12, which establishes the Austro-Hungarian Empire; on June 8 Emperor Franz Joseph is crowned King of Hungary.

1868 – The assassination of Michael Obrenovich III, Prince of Serbia, in Belgrade.

1886 – Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, the ad appearing in the ''Atlanta Journal''.

1900 – N'Djamena is founded as Fort-Lamy by French commander Émile Gentil

1903 – May coup d'etat: Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (''Crna Ruka'') organization.

1913 – Igor Stravinsky's ballet score ''The Rite of Spring'' receives its premiere performance in Paris, provoking a riot.

1914 – Ocean liner sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the loss of 1,024 lives.

1918 – Armenia defeats the Ottoman Army in the Battle of Sardarapat.

1919 – Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington's observation of a total solar eclipse in Principe and by Andrew Crommelin in Sobral, Ceará, Brazil.

1919 – The Republic of Prekmurje founded

1924 – AEK Athens FC is established on the anniversary of the siege of Constantinople by the Turks.

1931 – Born October 19, 1899 in Sardinia, Michele "Mike" Schirru, Anarchist against Fascism, U.S. Citizen is executed by Italian military firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini. The U.S. Government did nothing to help Schirru.

1932 – World War I Veterans begin to assemble in Washington, D.C. in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.

1939 – Albanian fascist leader Tefik Mborja is appointed as member of the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations.

1940 – The first flight of the F4U Corsair.

1942 – Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling Christmas single in history, for Decca Records in Los Angeles.

1945 – First combat mission of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator heavy bomber.

1948 – Creation of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization

1950 – The ''St. Roch'', the first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1953 – Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay's (adopted) 39th birthday.

1954 – First of the annual Bilderberg conferences.

1964 – The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

1969 – General strike in Córdoba, Argentina, leading to the ''Cordobazo'' civil unrest.

1973 – Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California.

1982 – Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral.

1985 – Heysel Stadium disaster: At the European Cup final in Brussels, Belgium, 39 association football fans die and hundreds are injured when a dilapidated retaining wall collapses after Liverpool F.C. fans breach a fence separating them from Juventus F.C. fans.

1985 – Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months.

1988 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

1989 – Signing of an agreement Egypt - U.S. manufacturing parts of the fighter F-16 in Egypt.

1990 – The Russian parliament elects Boris Yeltsin president of the Russian SFSR.

1999 – Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule.

1999 – Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station.

2001 – U.S. Supreme Court rules that disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a cart to ride in tournaments.

2004 – The World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.

Births

1594 – Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, Bavarian general (d. 1632)

1627 – Anne, Duchess of Montpensier, French writer and Princess (d. 1693)

1630 – King Charles II of England (d. 1685)

1675 – Humphry Ditton, English mathematician (d. 1715)

1716 – Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French naturalist (d. 1800)

1722 – James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, Irish politician (d. 1773)

1736 – Patrick Henry, American patriot, 1st & 6th Governor of Virginia (d. 1799)

1773 – Princess Sophia of Gloucester (d. 1844)

1794 – Johann Heinrich von Mädler, German astronomer (d. 1874)

1823 – John H. Balsley, American carpenter (d. 1895)

1860 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish composer (d. 1909)

1863 – Arthur Mold, English cricketer (d. 1921)

1874 – G. K. Chesterton, English novelist (d. 1936)

1880 – Oswald Spengler, German philosopher (d. 1936)

1892 – Alfonsina Storni, Argentine writer (d. 1938)

1893 – Max Brand, American author and war correspondent (d. 1944)

1894 – Beatrice Lillie, Canadian actress (d. 1989)

1894 – Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-born writer and film director (d. 1969)

1897 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (d. 1957)

1903 – Bob Hope, British-born comedian and actor (d. 2003)

1905 – Sebastian Shaw, English actor (d. 1994)

1906 – T.H. White, British author (d. 1964)

1907 – Hartland Molson, Canadian businessman and senator (d. 2002)

1911 – Armida, Mexican-American stage, vaudeville and film star (d. 1989)

1913 – Tony Zale, American boxer (d. 1997)

1914 – Stacy Keach, Sr., American actor (d. 2003)

1915 – Karl Münchinger, German conductor (d. 1990)

1917 – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)

1920 – John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)

1921 – Norman Hetherington, Australian cartoonist and puppeteer (Mr Squiggle) (d. 2010)

1922 – Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer and architect (d. 2001)

1923 – Bernard Clavel, French novelist (d. 2010)

1924 – Lars Bo, Danish artist and writer (d. 1999)

1926 – Charles Denner, French actor (d. 1995)

1927 – Jean Coutu, Quebec businessman (Jean Coutu Group)

1927 – Thanasis Veggos, Greek actor (d. 2011)

1929 – Harry Frankfurt, American philosopher

1932 – Richie Guerin, American basketball player

1932 – Paul R. Ehrlich, American biologist and author

1933 – Helmuth Rilling, German conductor

1934 – Nanette Newman, English actress and author

1937 – Charles W. Pickering, American jurist

1937 – Irmin Schmidt, German musician (Can)

1937 – Hibari Misora, Japanese singer (d. 1989)

1938 – Fay Vincent, American baseball commissioner

1939 – Al Unser, Sr., American race car driver

1940 – Farooq Leghari, Pakistani politician

1940 – Taihō Kōki, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 48^th Yokozuna

1941 – Doug Scott, British mountaineer

1942 – Pierre Bourque, French-Canadian politician

1942 – Kevin Conway, American actor

1943 – Robert W. Edgar, American theologian

1945 – Gary Brooker, English musician (Procol Harum)

1945 – Joyce Tenneson, American photographer

1946 – Fernando Buesa, Basque politician (d. 2000)

1947 – Gene Robinson, American ecclesiastic

1947 – Anthony Geary, American actor

1948 – Nick Mancuso, Italian-Canadian actor

1949 – Robert Axelrod, American actor

1949 – Andrew Clements, American author

1949 – Brian Kidd, English footballer

1949 – Francis Rossi, British musician

1950 – Rebbie Jackson, American musician

1951 – Peter Chernin, American television executive

1953 – Danny Elfman, American musician (Oingo Boingo)

1953 – Aleksandr Abdulov, Russian actor (d. 2008)

1954 – Jerry Moran, American politician, junior senator of Kansas

1955 – John Hinckley, Jr., American attempted assassin

1955 – Sut Jhally, Kenyan-born American educator

1955 – David Kirschner, American film producer

1955 – Ken Schrader, American race car driver

1956 – LaToya Jackson, American singer

1957 – Jeb Hensarling, American politician

1957 – Ted Levine, American actor

1958 – Annette Bening, American actress

1958 – Willem Holleeder, Dutch criminal

1958 – Karen Maruyama, Japanese-American actress and comedienne

1958 – Juliano Mer-Khamis, Israeli actor, director, filmmaker and political activist (d. 2011)

1959 – Rupert Everett, English actor

1959 – Adrian Paul, English actor

1960 – Carol Kirkwood, Scottish weather presenter

1960 – Neil Crone, Canadian actor

1961 – Melissa Etheridge, American musician

1962 – Eric Davis, American baseball player

1962 – John D. LeMay, American actor

1962 – Fandi Ahmad, Singapore footballer

1963 – Blaze Bayley, British singer (Iron Maiden)

1963 – Tracey E. Bregman, American actress

1963 – Ukyo Katayama, Japanese racing driver

1963 – Lisa Whelchel, American actress

1964 – Howard Mills III, American politician

1964 – Jestoni Alarcon, Filipino actor and politician

1967 – Noel Gallagher, English musician (Oasis)

1967 – Mike Keane, Canadian hockey player

1967 – Steven Levitt, American economist

1967 – Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, Spanish mountaineer (d. 2008)

1968 – Tate George, American basketball player

1969 – Chan Kinchla, Canadian musician (Blues Traveler)

1970 – Natarsha Belling, Australian news presenter

1971 – Eric Lucas, Quebec professional boxer

1971 – Bernd Mayländer, Formula One Safety Car driver

1972 – Közi, Japanese visual kei artist

1972 – Stanislas Renoult, French singer

1972 – Bill Curley, American basketball player

1972 – Simon Jones, British musician (The Verve)

1973 – Anthony Azizi, American actor

1973 – Mark Lee, American musician (guitarist for Third Day)

1973 – Alpay Özalan, Turkish footballer

1974 – Myf Warhurst, Australian radio presenter TV personality

1974 – Stephen Larkham, Australian rugby player

1974 – Aaron McGruder, American cartoonist

1975 – Melanie Brown, English musician and actress (Spice Girls)

1975 – Daniel Tosh, American comedian

1975 – Anthony Wall, English golfer

1975 – David Burtka, American actor and chef

1975 – Jason Allison, Canadian professional ice hockey

1976 – David Buckner, American musician (Papa Roach)

1976 – Caçapa, Brazilian footballer

1976 – Jerry Hairston Jr., American baseball player

1976 – Yūsuke Iseya, Japanese model and actor

1976 – Raef LaFrentz, American basketball player

1976 – Egor Titov, Russian footballer

1977 – Antonio Lebo-Lebo, Angolan footballer

1977 – Scott Allen, American figure skater

1977 – Massimo Ambrosini, Italian footballer

1977 – Danny Gerard, American actor

1978 – Pelle Almqvist, Swedish musician (The Hives)

1978 – Sébastien Grosjean, French tennis player

1978 – Lorenzo Odone, American patient (d. 2008)

1978 – Adam Rickitt, British actor

1979 – Brian Kendrick, American professional wrestler

1979 – Arne Friedrich, German footballer

1979 – John Rheinecker, American baseball player

1979 – Casey Sheehan, American soldier; son of Cindy Sheehan (d. 2004)

1979 – Ahmad Latiff Khamaruddin, Singapore footballer

1979 – Shweta Gulati, Indian television actress

1980 – Ernesto Farías, Argentine footballer

1981 – Andrei Arshavin, Russian footballer

1981 – Justin Chon, American actor

1982 – Ailyn, Spanish singer (Sirenia)

1982 – Ana Beatriz Barros, Brazilian model

1982 – Joanne Borgella, American model and singer

1982 – Anita Briem, Icelandic actress

1982 – Kim Tae-Kyun, South Korean baseball player

1982 – Matt Macri, American baseball player

1983 – Joanna Higson, English actress

1984 – Carmelo Anthony, American basketball player

1985 – Nathan Horton, Canadian ice hockey player

1986 – Jaslene Gonzalez, Puerto Rican fashion model

1986 – Hornswoggle, American professional wrestler

1987 – Lina Andrijauskaitė, Lithuanian athlete

1987 – Kelvin Maynard, Dutch footballer

1987 – Timur Özgöz, German footballer

1987 – Noah Reid, Canadian actor

1987 – Alessandra Torresani, American actress

1989 – Riley Keough, American model

1991 – Kristen Alderson, American actress

1992 – Gregg Sulkin, British Actor

Deaths

1259 – King Christopher I of Denmark (b. 1219)

1379 – King Henry II of Castile (b. 1334)

1405 – Philippe de Mézières, advisor to Charles V of France

1425 – Hongxi Emperor of China (b. 1378)

1453 – Constantine XI Palaiologos, last Byzantine Emperor (b. 1404)

1500 – Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer

1546 – David Beaton, Scottish Catholic cardinal

1593 – John Penry, Welsh Protestant leader (b. 1559)

1628 – Anaukpetlun, King of Burma (b. 1578)

1660 – Frans van Schooten, Dutch mathematician (b. 1615)

1691 – Cornelis Tromp, Dutch admiral (b. 1629)

1790 – Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (b. 1718)

1796 – Carl Fredrik Pechlin, Swedish politician (b. 1720)

1814 – Joséphine de Beauharnais, Empress of France (b. 1763)

1829 – Humphry Davy, English chemist (b. 1778)

1847 – Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (b. 1766)

1866 – Winfield Scott, American general (b. 1786)

1868 – Michael Obrenovich III, Prince of Serbia (b. 1823)

1873 – Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine (b. 1870)

1882 – Vasily Perov, Russian painter (b. 1833)

1892 – Bahá'u'lláh, Persian founder of the Bahá'í Faith (b. 1817)

1896 – Gabriel Auguste Daubrée, French geologist (b. 1814)

1903 – Draga Mašin, Queen of Serbia (b. 1864)

1903 – Bruce Price, American architect (b. 1845)

1910 – Mily Balakirev, Russian composer (b. 1837)

1911 – W. S. Gilbert, English dramatist (b. 1836)

1917 – Kate Harrington, American teacher, writer and poet (b. 1831)

1919 – Robert Bacon, 39th United States Secretary of State (b. 1860)

1935 – Josef Suk, Czech composer and violinist (b. 1874)

1939 – Ursula Julia Ledochowska, Polish-Austrian Catholic saint (b. 1865)

1942 – John Barrymore, American actor (b. 1882)

1946 – Martin Gottfried Weiss, Commandant of Dachau concentration camp (b. 1905)

1948 – Dame May Whitty, English actress (b. 1865)

1951 – Fanny Brice, American singer/comedian (b. 1891)

1951 – Dimitrios Levidis, Greek composer (b. 1885)

1953 – Man Mountain Dean, American professional wrestler (b. 1891)

1958 – Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1881)

1970 – John Gunther, American writer (b. 1901)

1972 – Moe Berg, American baseball player and spy (b. 1902)

1972 – Stephen Timoshenko, Ukrainian-born mechanical engineer (b. 1878)

1973 – P. Ramlee, Malaysian film actor, director, singer and songwriter. (b. 1929)

1977 – Ba Maw, Burmese politician (b. 1893)

1979 – Mary Pickford, Canadian-born American actress and studio founder (b. 1892)

1979 – John H. Wood, Jr., American federal judge (b. 1916)

1982 – Romy Schneider, Austrian actress (b. 1938)

1983 – Arvīds Pelše, Soviet Latvian statesman (b. 1899)

1989 – John Cipollina, American musician (Quicksilver Messenger Service) (b. 1943)

1993 – Billy Conn, American boxer (b. 1917)

1994 – Erich Honecker, leader of East Germany (b. 1912)

1996 – Tamara Toumanova, Ballet star and actress (b. 1919)

1997 – Jeff Buckley, American musician (b. 1966)

1997 – George Fenneman, American radio and television announcer (b. 1919)

1998 – Barry M. Goldwater, U.S. Senator from Arizona and presidential candidate (b. 1909)

2002 – Mildred Benson, American writer (b. 1905)

2003 – David Jefferies, British motorcycle racer (b. 1972)

2004 – Archibald Cox, Watergate special prosecutor (b. 1912)

2004 – Samuel Dash, American Congressional counsel (b. 1925)

2005 – George Rochberg, American composer (b. 1918)

2005 – Hamilton Naki, South African medical assistant (b. 1926)

2006 – Steve Mizerak, American pool player (b. 1944)

2006 – Jacques Bouchard, Quebec advertising executive (b. 1930)

2007 – Dave Balon, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1938)

2007 – Lois Browne-Evans, Bermudian politician (b. 1927)

2008 – Luc Bourdon, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1987)

2008 – Harvey Korman, American actor (b. 1927)

2009 – Karine Ruby, French snowboarder and Olympic champion (b. 1978)

2010 – Dennis Hopper, American actor and director (b. 1936)

2011 – Ferenc Mádl, Hungarian politician, President of Hungary (b. 1931)

2011 – Bill Clements, Governor of Texas (b. 1917)

2011 – Sergei Bagapsh, Abkhazian president (b. 1949)

Holidays and observances

Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh (Bahá'í Faith)

Christian Feast Day:

*Bona of Pisa

*Maximin of Trier

*Pope Alexander of Alexandria (Eastern Orthodox Church)

*Theodosia of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)

*May 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Democracy Day (Nigeria)

Earliest day on which Feast of the Sacred Heart can fall, while July 2 is the latest; celebrated 19 days after Pentecost. (Roman Catholic Church)

International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers (International)

Oak Apple Day (England)

Statehood Day (Rhode Island and Wisconsin)

External links

BBC: On This Day

On This Day in Canada

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Category:Days of the year Category:May

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name	Jessie J
alt	f
background	solo_singer
birth name	Jessica Ellen Cornish
alias	Jessie J
birth date	March 27, 1988
birth place	Chadwell Heath, London, England
genre	R&B;, pop, hip hop, soul
years active	2006–present
label	Lava, Universal Republic, Island, Gut
website
notable instruments	}}

Jessica Ellen Cornish (born on 27 March 1988), better known by her stage name Jessie J, is an English singer-songwriter, currently signed to Island Records. She began her career as a songwriter for artists including Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus. Her debut single, "Do It Like a Dude", was released in November 2010 and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Charts. Follow-up single "Price Tag" reached number one in the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and New Zealand, and reached the top 10 in nineteen other countries. Her debut album, ''Who You Are'', was released in February 2011 and charted at number two on the UK Albums Chart. In February 2011 Jessie J won a BRIT Award, Critics' Choice. It was revealed in October 2011 that Jessie J will be a coach and a mentor on the television show, ''The Voice UK''.

Early life

Jessie J was born Jessica Ellen Cornish in Chadwell Heath, London and was educated at Mayfield High School in the London Borough of Redbridge. She attended Colin's Performing Arts School and as an eleven year old was cast in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End production of ''Whistle Down the Wind''. Jessie has two sisters, who are five and seven years older than her, who were both head girls at school.

Unlike her academic sisters, Cornish has stated she was "never really that good at anything". She said, "At school they were like 'oh, you're a Cornish girl' and they kind of expected me to be the same as my sisters. Give me something to draw or an outfit to pick for someone, or hair, make-up, acting, write a song, I'm fine with it, but anything to do with sums – it was never my thing." She also said she never based her intelligence on her exam results. She also said she was always good at singing and it was her "thing".

At the age of 16 she began studying at the BRIT School and at 17 she joined a girl group named "Soul Deep". She graduated in the class of 2006 along with singers Adele and Leona Lewis. At 18 she suffered a stroke.

Music career

2006–2009: Career beginnings

Jessie J was signed to Gut Records, recording an album for the label, but the company went bankrupt before any material was released. She then found success as a songwriter, gaining a Sony ATV publishing contract. She was also the support act for Cyndi Lauper during Lauper's UK dates of her 2008 Bring Ya To The Brink tour (Lauper invited J to join her on stage for the performances of Girls Just Want To Have Fun). Jessie has also written lyrics for artists such as Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus, including "Party in the U.S.A.".

Jessie J was also part of a girl band, called 'Soul Deep', for two years, however she left due to thoughts that "it wasn't going anywhere". Despite people thinking that her first notoriety was through YouTube, Jessie was signed for four years before her first video was posted.

Jessie first came to the attention of Lava Records when her publisher at Sony/ATV, Rich Christina, sent Lava president Jason Flom a link to her MySpace page, which the record executive loved. After seeing an impressive U.S. showcase, Lava was, along with several other labels, keen to sign the artist but progress was hampered by her management's insistence on, what Flom called, a "crazy deal", and their refusal to let Jessie speak to any labels directly. Despite this, Senior Director of A&R; at Lava, Harinder Rana, made surreptitious efforts to meet Jessie on her own in winter of 2008. Later in the year a change in management to Sarah Stennett and Nadia Khan of Crown Music allowed record deal negotiations to take place. Jessie eventually signed with Lava as part of a joint venture with Universal Republic.

2010–present: ''Who You Are''

Jessie J began recording her debut studio album in 2006 and it was completed on 19 January 2011. She revealed that "Big White Room" would be on the album and was written from an experience she had when she was 11 years old, although she wrote the song at age 17, in hospital, where a ward mate, a little boy, died. Jessie J says the album's title track, "Who You Are", is one of her proudest creations, she said the song is a "positive role model for young people" and "I always say that I'm half-artist, half-therapist"

In late 2010 Jessie J released her first single, "Do It Like a Dude" which was co-written with George Astasio, Tj Normandin, Jason Pebworth, Jon Shave, Kyle Abrahams and Peter Ighile. Originally, she wrote the song with Rihanna in mind because "Rude Boy" was released at the time, partly inspiring the song. She then sent the song to her label, Island Records, before sending it to Rihanna's management. Island insisted the song become Jessie J's first single. She wishes to perform the song with Rihanna at one point. The single gained positive reception from critics. The single charted at number two on the UK Singles Charts. Her follow-up single "Price Tag" was released in late January 2011. This was written by Jessie J, Lukasz Gottwald, Claude Kelly, and Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. and charted at number one in the top of the charts. "Price Tag" was released in the United States on 1 February 2011 and peaked at 23 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Price Tag" also charted at number-one in New Zealand and Ireland and is the most successful online video J has released. As of October 2011, the video has generated over 148 million views on Youtube and Vevo, making it the 22nd most viewed music video of all time. Her first American television appearance was as the musical guest on the 12 March 2011 episode of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''.

On 25 February 2011 her debut album, ''Who You Are'', was released. The album first entered the charts on 6 March 2011 where it charted on the UK Album Charts at number two. The album charted into the top ten in a number of countries and number 11 in the United States.After the release she went on to release a third single from the album, "Nobody's Perfect". MTV reported that the single is, so far, only confirmed for release in the United Kingdom. The album's fourth single was "Who's Laughing Now". "Domino" was her second US single. The Dr. Luke-produced track was sent to mainstream radio on 6 September 2011. With the success of ''Who You Are'' in North America, Jessie was chosen to tour as the opening act for American pop artist Katy Perry's ''California Dreams Tour'' in 2011 but after she was unable to fully recover from her injuries during rehearsals she was forced to pull out under the doctor's orders.

Jessie J served as the house artist at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, performing several of her original songs along with covers around commercial breaks.

In early 2011 she suffered a panic attack on stage after she was forced to perform in the dark. "I did a gig recently and had a panic attack on stage," she told ''NOW''. "The night was called 'Black Out' and I had to perform in the dark. I asked them to turn on the lights and they didn't. I was onstage in pitch black and, because I couldn't see anything, I started to panic. It was awful." James Morrison's third studio album, ''The Awakening'' features a collaboration with Jessie J called "Up", the song was released as a single on 4 December 2011. On 4 October Jessie announced that she will be one of four coaches for new BBC program, ''The Voice UK''.Jessie J re-released "Who You Are" on 9 November 2011, featuring the regular tracks plus "Domino" and two new songs. "Domino" became her second top 30 hit in the U.S., following the success of "Price Tag". The song also peaked at number 1 in January 2012 in the UK, before it was even officially released there.

Personal life

On 12 June 2011 at the Capital Radio Summertime Ball, Jessie ruptured several tendons in her foot during rehearsals, and performed her set the following day while sitting on a gilded throne. For her appearance at Glastonbury Festival 2011 on 25 June 2011, she performed on the throne again, claiming her physician had told her not to perform with her broken foot which would take six weeks to heal. Jessie J was scheduled to play at several festivals throughout the summer, however it was reported on 1 July 2011 that she would not be able to attend T in the Park, T4 On The Beach, Wembley:Orange, iTunes Festival, Lovebox and Oxegen due to the injuries to her foot. Jessie J personally tweeted before surgery; "Keep making nervous jokes with the doctor and he keeps looking at me blankly. Which is making me laugh even more. It's getting serious. I just took my nose stud out." Tweeting after the surgery, she wrote: "Can't keep tweeting. Still very dizzy and being sick. But I'm OK, I got through it." Her record label released an official statement on 30 June 2011 that under strict orders from her doctor, she will not be able to perform for a number of weeks so she can heal and recuperate properly. She returned to the concert circuit in late August, including sets at the V Festival and The Big Chill. For the 2011 VMA's she was still in a cast and using the throne to keep off of it.

Jessie J confirmed on 2 August 2011 that she would be shaving her hair off for charity in 2012. Speaking via her official Twitter account she said: “It’s hair, It will grow back. Even if it takes 2 years, if it saves lives it’s worth it. Even if its 1 life that’s something.”

Jessie J is openly bisexual and stated in an interview on the "In Demand" radio show on March 3, 2011, "I've never denied it. Whoopie doo guys, yes, I've dated girls and I've dated boys – get over it."

Music and voice

Although she was first identified as a soul singer, she primarily records songs of contemporary R&B; and pop music with hip-hop influences.

Music critic Matthew Perpetua of Pitchfork Media compared Jessie J to her peers Adele and Amy Winehouse, but admitted she was missing something: "Whereas Adele and Winehouse also have powerhouse voices, they fit into clear aesthetic niches and invest their songs with depth and humanity. Jessie J doesn't have even a fraction of their restraint." Perpetua added: "Her idea of showcasing her gift is to shoot for a blaring melisma on "Mamma Knows Best" that makes Christina Aguilera seem as subtle as Joni Mitchell by comparison." Ailbhe Malone of the music magazine NME also recognized Cornish's "undeniably potent voice". However, she pointed out the possible "identity crisis" that might have been caused by Jessie's songwriter past: "This is an album of singles for other artists. There’s Rihanna Jessie (‘Do It...’), Perry Jessie (‘Abracadabra’), Pixie Jessie (‘Mamma Knows Best’), Ellie Jessie ('Big White Room')."

Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian shared her positive opinion about the singer, saying that "if any singer has the potential to be the British Katy Perry or Pink, with the accompanying millions of sales, it's her". Sullivan also complimented Cornish's attitude: "[Her songs] are delivered with a confidence that money can't buy." Entertainment Weekly's music critic Adam Markovitz said of Jessie: "The 23-year-old Brit has all the tools, from a monster voice to an ear for hooks — she co-wrote Miley Cyrus' Party in the U.S.A. — and a manic persona that's equal parts Katy Perry, Kristin Chenoweth, and Alice Cooper.

Discography

''Who You Are'' (2011)

Filmography

+Television	Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2012	''The Voice UK''	Herself

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Category:1988 births Category:Living people Category:Bisexual musicians Category:Electronica musicians Category:English female singers Category:English mezzo-sopranos Category:English pop singers Category:English rhythm and blues singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English-language singers Category:LGBT musicians from the United Kingdom Category:LGBT people from the United Kingdom Category:People educated at the BRIT School Category:Singers from London Category:Stroke survivors Category:The Voice judges Category:People from Chadwell Heath

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name	Leonard Cohen
background	solo_singer
birth name	Leonard Norman Cohen
born	September 21, 1934Montreal, Quebec, Canada
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer
genre	Folk, folk rock, rock, spoken word
occupation	Musician, songwriter, poet, novelist
years active	1956 - present
label	Columbia
associated acts	}}

Leonard Norman Cohen, (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships. Famously reclusive, having once spent several years in a Zen Buddhist monastery, and possessing a persona frequently associated with mystique, he is extremely well regarded by critics for his literary accomplishments, for the richness of his lyrics, and for producing an output of work of high artistic quality over a five-decade career.

Musically, Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1967 album, ''Songs of Leonard Cohen'') were rooted in European folk music. In the 1970s, his material encompassed pop, cabaret and world music. Since the 1980s, his high baritone voice has dipped into lower registers (bass baritone and bass), with accompaniment from a wide variety of instruments and female backup singers.

Over 2,000 renditions of Cohen's songs have been recorded. Cohen has been inducted into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. While giving the speech at Cohen's induction into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 10 March 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters."

From May 2008 to December 2010, Cohen was on the major comeback world tour, the biggest in his musical career, giving 246 shows in Europe, Australia, Canada, Israel and United States. The highly successful tour was followed with two live albums, ''Live in London'' and ''Songs from the Road'' in both audio and DVD versions, and with many reissues, unauthorised releases of album compilations, DVDs, biographies and books reprints, and as well many international translations of his books and international awards and nominations (such as Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Meteor Music Awards in Ireland, Porin Award in Croatia, Songwriters Hall of Fame, Polaris Music Prize, and Mojo Honours Lists). In 2011 he received the Glenn Gould Prize and Spain's Prince of Asturias award. Currently he is working on a new album which will possibly be released in late 2011.

Early life

Cohen was born on 21 September 1934 in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec, into a middle-class Jewish family. His mother, of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, emigrated from Lithuania while his great-grandfather emigrated from Poland. He grew up in Westmount on the Island of Montreal. His grandfather was Lyon Cohen, founding president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. His father, Nathan Cohen, who owned a substantial Montreal clothing store, died when Cohen was nine 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." Cohen attended Herzliah High School, where he studied with poet Irving Layton. As a teenager, he learned to play the guitar, and formed a country-folk group called the Buckskin Boys. His father's will provided him with a modest trust income, sufficient to allow him to pursue his literary ambitions, without having to worry about where his rent would come from.

Poetry and novels

In 1951, Cohen enrolled at McGill University, where he became president of the McGill Debating Union. His literary influences during this time included Yeats, Irving Layton, Whitman, Federico Garcia Lorca and Henry Miller. His first published book of poetry, ''Let Us Compare Mythologies'' (1956), was published under Louis Dudek as the first book in the McGill Poetry Series while Cohen was still an undergraduate student. Cohen's book, ''The Spice-Box of Earth'' (1961) made him well known in poetry circles, especially in his native Canada. After completing an undergraduate degree, Cohen spent a term in McGill's law school and then a year (1956-7) at Columbia University.

Cohen wrote poetry and fiction throughout much of the 1960s. He preferred to live in quasi-reclusive circumstances, at the time. After moving to Hydra, a Greek island, Cohen published the poetry collection ''Flowers for Hitler'' (1964), and the novels ''The Favourite Game'' (1963) and ''Beautiful Losers'' (1966). His novel ''The Favourite Game'' is an autobiographical ''bildungsroman'' about a young man who discovers his identity through writing.

Subsequently, Cohen published less, with major gaps, concentrating more on recording the songs. In 1978 he published his major book of poetry and prose ''Death of a Lady's Man'', and in 1984 ''Book of Mercy'', which won him Canadian Author's Association Literary Award for Poetry. The book contains 50 pieces of poetic prose, influenced by the Bible, Torah, and Zen-Buddhist writings. Although cited as "contemporary psalms", Cohen himself referred to the pieces as "prayers".

In 1993, Cohen published ''Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs'', and in 2006, after 10 years of delays, additions and rewritings, ''Book of Longing''. During late 1990s and 2000s, many of his poems were first published on his fan website The Leonard Cohen Files

Cohen's writing process, as he told an interviewer in 1998, is "...like a bear stumbling into a beehive or a honey cache: I'm stumbling right into it and getting stuck, and it's delicious and it's horrible and I'm in it and it's not very graceful and it's very awkward and it's very painful and yet there's something inevitable about it."

In 2011 Cohen was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for literature.

Recording career

1960s and 1970s

In 1967, Cohen moved to the United States to pursue a career as a folk music singer-songwriter. During the 1960s, he was a fringe figure in Andy Warhol's "Factory" crowd. Warhol speculated that Cohen had spent time listening to Nico in clubs and that this had influenced his musical style. His song "Suzanne" became a hit for Judy Collins and was for many years his most covered song. After performing at a few folk festivals, he came to the attention of Columbia Records representative John H. Hammond. At this time, Cohen recorded at least one demo acetate (for Asylum Records or some subsidiary of Polygram), supported by his close companion at the time, Joni Mitchell.

Cohen's first album was ''Songs of Leonard Cohen'' (1967). He became a cult name in the U.S., as well as in the UK, where the album spent over a year on the album charts. Several of the songs on that first album were covered by other popular folk artists, including James Taylor, and Judy Collins. Cohen followed up that first album with ''Songs from a Room'' (1969) (featuring the often-recorded "Bird on the Wire") and ''Songs of Love and Hate'' (1970). John Simon produced Cohen's first album, ''Songs of Leonard Cohen'', but his second and third albums were produced in Nashville by famed producer Bob Johnston, who played a major role in achieving Cohen's spare early sound and also joined Cohen on two subsequent live tours (playing organ and piano).

In 1970, Cohen toured for the first time, with dates in the United States, Canada and Europe, and appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival. He toured again in Europe and Israel in 1972 with some of the same bandmates, including Charlie Daniels and his producer Bob Johnston. Both tours were represented on the ''Live Songs'' LP, while ''Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970'' was released in 2009. The 1972 tour was also filmed by Tony Palmer; the film ''Bird on a Wire'' (with which Cohen was unhappy) was shown re-cut under Cohen's guidance in 1974, but released only in 2010, reconstructed according to Palmer's original version.

In 1971, Cohen's music was used in the soundtrack to Robert Altman's film ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller''. When Cohen was on a stay in Nashville, Altman phoned to ask permission to use some tracks off ''Songs of Leonard Cohen''. Coincidentally, earlier that same day, Cohen had seen Altman's then-current film ''Brewster McCloud'' in a local theater. He hadn't paid attention to the credits so when Altman asked permission to use Cohen's songs in his new film, Cohen had to ask him who he was. Altman mentioned his hit film ''MASH'', but Cohen had never heard of it. When Altman mentioned his lesser-known ''Brewster McCloud'', Cohen replied, "Listen, I just came out of the theater. I saw it twice. You can have anything of mine you want!"

Beginning around 1974, Cohen's collaboration with pianist and arranger John Lissauer created a live sound praised by the critics. They toured together in 1974 in Europe, and in US and Canada in late 1974 and early 1975, in support of their record ''New Skin for the Old Ceremony''. In late 1975 Cohen performed a short series of show in the U.S. and Canada with new band, in support of his ''Best Of'' release, and also tried out the new songs from his and Lissauer's follow-up to ''New Skin for the Old Ceremony'', an abandoned album entitled "Songs for Rebecca". Songs from that project were later reworked for ''Death of a Ladies' Man'' and ''Recent Songs'' albums. None of the recordings from the three live tours with John Lissauer were ever officially released.

In 1976 Cohen, now without Lissauer, embarked on a new major European tour, with a new band and major changes in his sound and arrangements, again, in support of his ''The Best of Leonard Cohen'' release (in Europe retitled as ''Greatest Hits''). One of the band members was Laura Branigan, and the setlist included unreleased songs "Everybody's Child" (a.k.a. "Blessed Is the Memory") and "Storeroom" (both released as bonus tracks to 2007 reissue of ''Songs of Leonard Cohen''), and the new song "Do I Have to Dance All Night?", which remains unreleased. From April to July, Cohen gave 55 shows, including his first appearance at the famous Montreux Jazz Festival.

After the European tour of 1976, Cohen again attempted a new change in his style and arrangements - his new 1977 record, ''Death of a Ladies' Man'' (one year later, in 1978, Cohen also released a volume of poetry with the coyly revised title, ''Death of a Lady's Man''), was co-written and produced by Phil Spector, known as the inventor of the "wall of sound" technique, which backs up pop music with many layers of instrumentation, an approach very different from Cohen's usually minimalist instrumentation. The recording of the album was fraught with difficulty—Spector reportedly mixed the album in secret studio sessions, and Cohen said Spector once threatened him with a crossbow. Cohen thought the end result "grotesque," but also "semi-virtuous." The record was released by Spector's label, Warner, and was returned to Columbia's Cohen catalogue in late 1980s. Cohen did not take part in the album's promotion, but in his tours of 1979, 1980 and 1985, he performed two songs from the album, "Memories" and "Iodine". However, Cohen chose not to include any of the album's songs on his later compilations ''More Best of Leonard Cohen'' and ''The Essential Leonard Cohen''.

In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional ''Recent Songs'', which blended his acoustic style with jazz and Oriental and Mediterranean influences. Beginning with this record, praised in 2001 by Cohen as his favourite, Cohen began to co-produce his albums. Produced by Cohen and Henry Lewy (Joni Mitchell's sound engineer), ''Recent Songs'' included performances by Austin-based jazz-fusion band Passenger whom were introduced to Cohen by Mitchell. The band helped Cohen create a new sound by featuring instruments like the oud, the Gypsy violin and the mandolin. The album was supported by Cohen's major tour with the new band, and Jennifer Warnes and Sharon Robinson on the backing vocals, in Europe in late 1979, and again in Australia, Israel and Europe in 1980. The tour was filmed by Harry Rasky as ''The Song of Leonard Cohen'', and the film was broadcast on television in 1980. Cohen also gave couple of major TV appearances in 1979, including German's ZDF television. In 2000 Columbia released an album of live recordings of songs from the 1979 tour, entitled ''Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979''; the album (with different track list) was originally rejected by the label in 1980.

During 1970s, Cohen toured twice with Jennifer Warnes as a back-up singer (in 1972 and 1979). Warnes would become a fixture on Cohen's future albums, receiving full co-vocals credit on Cohen's 1985 album ''Various Positions'' (although the record was released under Cohen's name, the inside credits say "Vocals by Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes"). In 1987, she recorded an album of Cohen songs, ''Famous Blue Raincoat''.

1980s

In early 1980s, Cohen co-wrote the rock musical film ''Night Magic'' with Lewis Furey, starring Carole Laure and Nick Mancuso (voice-over by Furey); the LP was released in 1985. At that time, Cohen also worked on an unfinished album of his poetry recitations with producer Henry Lewy, before turning back to John Lissauer. Lissauer produced Cohen's next record ''Various Positions,'' which was released in late 1984. The LP included "Dance Me to the End of Love", which was promoted by Cohen's first video clip, directed by French photographer Dominique Issermann, and the frequently covered "Hallelujah". Columbia declined to release the album in the United States. Cohen supported the release of the album with his biggest tour to date, in Europe and Australia, and with his first tour in Canada and United States since 1975. Anjani Thomas, who would become Cohen's partner, and a regular member of Cohen's recording team, joined his touring band. The band performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Roskilde Festival. They also gave a series of highly emotional and politically controversial concerts in Poland, which was under the martial law and Cohen's song "The Partisan" regarded as the hymn of Solidarity movement and Lech Wałęsa's favourite Cohen song. During the 80s, almost all Cohen's songs were performed in Polish language by Maciej Zembaty.

In 1986, Cohen appeared in the episode "French Twist" of the TV series ''Miami Vice.'' In 1987, Jennifer Warnes's tribute album ''Famous Blue Raincoat'' helped restore Cohen's career in the U.S. The following year he released ''I'm Your Man,'' which marked a drastic change in his music. Synthesizers ruled the album and Cohen's lyrics included more social commentary and dark humor. The album, self-produced by Cohen, remains one of Cohen's most acclaimed albums, and was promoted by iconic black and white video shot by Dominique Issermann at the beach of Normandy. Cohen supported the record with series of television interviews, and an extensive tour of Europe, Canada and US. Many shows were broadcast on European and US television and radio stations, while Cohen performed for the first time in his career on PBS's Austin City Limits show; he also performed at the Roskilde Festival again, among other dates. The tour gave the basic structure to typical Cohen's concert which he used in his tours in 1993, 2008–09 and 2010. The selection of performances from the late 1980s was released in 1994 on ''Cohen Live''. None of the concerts was released in its entirety, although some were bootlegged. Parts of one of three Royal Albert Hall concerts were used in BBC documentary ''The Songs from the Life of Leonard Cohen'', which was released on laser disc and video tape.

1990s

The use of the album track "Everybody Knows" (co-written by Sharon Robinson) in the 1990 film ''Pump Up the Volume'' helped expose Cohen's music to a younger audience. The song also featured prominently in fellow Canadian Atom Egoyan's 1994 film, ''Exotica''. In 1992, Cohen released ''The Future'', which urges (often in terms of biblical prophecy) perseverance, reformation, and hope in the face of grim prospects. Three tracks from the album - "Waiting for the Miracle", "The Future" and "Anthem" - were featured in the movie ''Natural Born Killers'', which helped Cohen to reach new US audience.

As with ''I'm Your Man'', the lyrics on the ''The Future'' were dark, and made references to political and social unrest. The title track is reportedly a response to the L.A. unrest of 1992. Cohen promoted the album with two music videos, for "Closing Time" and "The Future", and supported the release with the major tour through Europe, United States and Canada, with the same band as in his 1988 tour, including a second appearance at the PBS's Austin City Limits. Some of the Scandinavian shows were broadcast live on the radio. The selection of performances, mostly recorded on the Canadian leg of the tour, was released on 1994 ''Cohen Live'' album, but none of the new songs from the album itself were included in the live album.

In 1993 Cohen also published his book of selected poems and songs, ''Stranger Music'', on which he had worked since 1989. It includes a number of new poems from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In 1997, Cohen oversaw the selection and release of ''More Best of Leonard Cohen'' album, which included a previously unreleased track, "Never Any Good", and an experimental piece "The Great Event". The first was left over from Cohen's unfinished mid-1990s album, which was announced to include songs like "In My Secret Life" (already recited as song-in-progress in 1988) and "A Thousand Kisses Deep", both later re-worked with Sharon Robinson for 2001 album ''Ten New Songs''.

In 1994, Cohen retreated to the Mt. Baldy Zen Center near Los Angeles, beginning what became five years of seclusion at the center. In 1996, Cohen was ordained as a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk and took the Dharma name ''Jikan'', meaning "silence". He served as personal assistant to Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi. Japanese songwriter and poet Masato Tomobe stated he admires Cohen and this made him better recognized in Japan around this time.

Although around 2000 there was a public impression that Cohen would not resume recording or publishing, he returned to Los Angeles in May 1999. He began to contribute regularly to The Leonard Cohen Files fan website, emailing new poems and drawings from ''Book of Longing'' and early versions of new songs, like "A Thousand Kisses Deep" in September 1998 and Anjani Thomas's story sent on May 6, 1999, the day they were recording "Villanelle for our Time" (released on 2004 ''Dear Heather'' album). The section of The Leonard Cohen Files with Cohen's online writings has been titled "The Blackening Pages".

Cohen is mentioned in the Nirvana song "Pennyroyal Tea" from the band's 1993 release, ''In Utero''. Kurt Cobain wrote, "Give me Leonard Cohen afterworld/ So I can sigh eternally." Cohen, after Cobain's suicide, was quoted as saying "I'm sorry I couldn't have spoken to the young man. I see a lot of people at the Zen Centre, who have gone through drugs and found a way out that is not just Sunday school. There are always alternatives, and I might have been able to lay something on him."

2000s

Post-monastery records: ''Ten New Songs'', ''Dear Heather'' and Anjani's ''Blue Alert''

After two years of production, Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of ''Ten New Songs'', featuring a heavy influence from producer and co-composer Sharon Robinson. The album, recorded at Cohen's and Robinson's home studios, includes the song "Alexandra Leaving", a transformation of the poem "The God Abandons Antony", by the Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy. The album was a major hit for Cohen in Canada and Europe, and he supported it with the hit single "In My Secret Life" and accompanying video shot by Floria Sigismondi.

In October 2004, Cohen released ''Dear Heather'', largely a musical collaboration with jazz chanteuse (and current romantic partner) Anjani Thomas, although Sharon Robinson returned to collaborate on three tracks (including a duet). As light as the previous album was dark, ''Dear Heather'' reflects Cohen's own change of mood - he has said in a number of interviews that his depression has lifted in recent years, which he attributed to Zen Buddhism. In an interview following his induction into the Canadian Songwriters' Hall of Fame, Cohen explained that the album was intended to be a kind of notebook or scrapbook of themes, and that a more formal record had been planned for release shortly afterwards, but that this was put on ice by his legal battles with his ex-manager. He decided not to promote the album at all, but in 2005 he released a home video accompanying the song "Because Of", shot by his daughter Lorca Cohen, while there were no official album singles.

''Blue Alert'', an album of songs co-written by Anjani and Cohen, was released on 23 May 2006 to positive reviews. Sung by Anjani, who according to one reviewer "...sounds like Cohen reincarnated as woman...though Cohen doesn't sing a note on the album, his voice permeates it like smoke." The album includes a recent musical setting of Cohen's "As the mist leaves no scar", a poem originally published in ''The Spice-Box of Earth'' in 1961 and adapted by Phil Spector as "True Love Leaves No Traces" on ''Death of a Ladies' Man'' album. ''Blue Alert'' also included Anjani's own version of "Nightingale", performed by her and Cohen on his ''Dear Heather'', as well the country song "Never Got to Love You", apparently made after an early demo version of Cohen's own 1992 song "Closing Time". In his 2010 shows, Cohen closed the performances with performances of "Closing Time" which included the recitation of verses from "Never Got to Love You". The title song, "Blue Alert", and "Half the Perfect World" were covered by Madeleine Peyroux on her 2006 album ''Half the Perfect World'', while the third covered song, "Crazy To Love You", was included in the albums Japanese edition.

Before embarking on his 2008-2010 world tour, and without finishing the new album which has been in work since 2006 (new song, "The Street", was recited by Cohen in 2006 on KCRW radio, and he also played two new songs from demo tape, "Book of Longing" and "Puppets"), Cohen contributed few tracks to other artists' albums - new version of his own "Tower of Song" was performed by him, Anjani Thomas and U2 in 2006 tribute film ''Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man'' (the video and track were included on the film's soundtrack and released as B-side of U2's single "Window in the Skies", reaching No 1 in Canadian Singles Chart), in 2007 he recited "The Sound of Silence" on album ''Tribute to Paul Simon: Take Me to the Mardi Gras'' and "The Jungle Line" by Joni Mitchell, accompanied by Herbie Hancock on piano, on Hancock's Grammy-winning album ''River: The Joni Letters'', while in 2008 he recited the poem "Since You've Asked" on album ''Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins''.

2005 bankruptcy

On 8 October 2005, Cohen alleged that his longtime former manager, Kelley Lynch, misappropriated over US $5 million from Cohen's retirement fund leaving only $150,000. Cohen was sued in turn by other former business associates. These events placed him in the public spotlight, including a cover feature on him with the headline "Devastated!" in Canada's ''Maclean's'' magazine. In March 2006, Cohen won the civil suit and was awarded US $9 million by a Los Angeles County superior court. Lynch, however, ignored the suit and did not respond to a subpoena issued for her financial records. As a result it has been widely reported that Cohen may never be able to collect the awarded amount. In 2007, U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock dismissed a claim by Cohen for more than US $4.5 million against Colorado investment firm Agile Group, and in 2008 he dismissed a defamation suit that Agile Group filed against Cohen. Cohen has been under new management since April 2005.

''Book of Longing''

Cohen's book of poetry and drawings, ''Book of Longing'', was published in May 2006; in March a Toronto-based retailer offered signed copies to the first 1500 orders placed online. All 1500 sold within hours. The book quickly topped bestseller lists in Canada. Around the time of the release, RJ Smith wrote an essay about Cohen in ''Poetry'' magazine, in which he noted, "The pieces in ''Book of Longing'' are casual, but never so casual that the old horndog doesn’t have muscle or bite." On 13 May 2006, Cohen made his first public appearance in thirteen years, at an in-store event at a bookstore in Toronto. Approximately 3000 people turned up for the event, causing the streets surrounding the bookstore to be closed. He sang two of his earliest and best-known songs: "So Long, Marianne" and "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye", accompanied by the Barenaked Ladies and Ron Sexsmith. Also appearing with him was Anjani, the two promoting her new CD along with his book.

In 2006, Philip Glass composed music to Cohen's 2006 book of poetry ''Book of Longing''. Following the series of live performances which included Glass on keyboards, Cohen's recorded spoken text, four voices (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and bass-baritone), and other instruments, and as well the screenings of Cohen's artworks and drawings, Glass' label Orange Mountain Music released a double CD with the recording of the work, entitled ''Book of Longing. A Song Cycle based on the Poetry and Artwork of Leonard Cohen''.

2008-2010 World Tour

2008 tour

13 January 2008, Cohen quietly announced a long-anticipated concert tour. The tour, Cohen's first in 15 years, began 11 May in Fredericton, NB to wide critical acclaim, and was extended until Winter of 2010. The schedule of the first leg in Summer of 2008 encompassed Canada and Europe, including performances at The Big Chill, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and on the Pyramid Stage at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival on 29 June 2008. His performance at Glastonbury was hailed by many as the highlight of the festival, and his performance of "Hallelujah" as the sun went down received a rapturous reception and a lengthy ovation from a packed Pyramid Stage field. He also played two shows in London's O2 Arena, and in Dublin he gave a "milestone concert", while in Dublin he was the first performer to play an open air concert at IMMA (Royal Hospital Kilmainham) ground, performing there on June 13, 14, and 15 2008. In 2009, the performances were awarded Ireland's Meteor Music Award as the best international performance of the year.

In September, October and November 2008, Cohen gave a marathon tour of Europe, including stops in Austria, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Italy, Germany, and Scandinavia. In London, he played two more shows at the O2 Arena and two additional shows at the Royal Albert Hall.

''Live in London''

On 21 March 2009, Cohen released ''Live in London'', recorded on 17 July 2008 at London's O2 Arena and released on DVD and as a two-CD set. The album contains 25 songs and is over two-and-a-half hours long. It was the first official DVD in Cohen's recording career. The quotation on the album referred to one hundred five-star reviews the tour gained in the international press in 2008.

2009 tour

The third leg of Cohen's World Tour 2008-2009 encompassed New Zealand and Australia from 20 January to 10 February 2009. In January 2009, The Pacific Tour first came to New Zealand. Simon Sweetman in The Dominion Post (Wellington) of 21 January wrote "It is hard work having to put this concert in to words so I'll just say something I have never said in a review before and will never say again: this was the best show I have ever seen." The Sydney Entertainment Centre show on 28 January sold out rapidly, which motivated promoters to announce a second show at the venue. The first performance was well-received, and the audience of 12,000 responded with five standing ovations. In response to hearing about the devastation to the Yarra Valley region of Victoria in Australia, Cohen donated $200,000 to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal in support of those affected by the extensive Black Saturday bushfires that razed the area just weeks after his performance at the Rochford Winery in the ''A Day on the Green'' concert. Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper reported: "Tour promoter Frontier Touring said $200,000 would be donated on behalf of Cohen, fellow performer Paul Kelly and Frontier to aid victims of the bushfires."

On 19 February 2009, Cohen played his first American concert in fifteen years at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. The show, showcased as the special performance for fans, Leonard Cohen Forum members and press, was the only show in the whole three-year tour which was broadcast on the radio (NPR) and available as the free podcast.

The North American Tour of 2009 opened on 1 April and included the performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Friday, 17 April 2009, in front of one of the largest outdoor theatre crowds in the history of the festival. His performance of ''Hallelujah'' was widely regarded as one of the highlights of the festival, thus repeating the major success of the 2008 Glastonbury appearance. The performance has been included on 2010 ''Songs from the Road'' live release. During this leg, Cohen regularly performed new song, "Lullaby".

On 1 July 2009, Cohen started his marathon European tour, his third in two years. The itinerary mostly included sport arenas and open air Summer festivals in Germany, UK, France, Spain, Ireland (the show at O2 in Dublin won him the second Meteor Music Award in a row), but also performances in Serbia in the Belgrade Arena, in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, and again in Romania. On 3 August, Cohen gave an open air show at the Piazza San Marco in Venice.

On 18 September 2009, on the stage at a concert in Valencia, Spain, Cohen suddenly fainted halfway through performing his song "Bird on the Wire", the fourth in the two-act set list; Cohen was brought down backstage by his band members and then admitted to local hospital, while the concert was suspended. It was reported that Cohen had stomach problems, and possibly food poisoning. Three days later, on September 21, on his 75th birthday, he performed in Barcelona. The show, last in Europe in 2009 and rumoured to be the last European concert ever, attracted many international fans, who lighted the green candles honouring Cohen's birthday, leading Cohen to give a special speech of thanks for the fans and Leonard Cohen Forum.

The most controversial concert during the whole tour was the last concert of this leg, held in Tel Aviv, Israel, on September 24, three days after Cohen's 75th birthday, at Ramat Gan Stadium. The event was surrounded by public discussion due to a cultural boycott of Israel proposed by a number of musicians. Nevertheless, tickets for the Tel Aviv concert, Cohen's first performance in Israel since 1980, sold out in less than 24 hours. It was announced that the proceeds from the sale of the 47,000 tickets would go into a charitable fund in partnership with Amnesty International and would be used by Israeli and Palestinian peace groups for projects providing health services to children and bringing together Israeli veterans and former Palestinian fighters and the families of those killed in the conflict. However, on 17 August 2009, Amnesty International released a statement saying they were withdrawing from any involvement with the concert and its proceeds. Amnesty International later stated that its withdrawal was not due to the boycott but "the lack of support from Israeli and Palestinian NGOs." The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) led the call for the boycott, claiming that Cohen was "intent on whitewashing Israel's colonial apartheid regime by performing in Israel." On 24 September at the Ramat Gan concert, Cohen was highly emotional about the Israeli-Palestinian NGO Bereaved Families for Peace. He mentioned the organization twice, saying "It was a while ago that I first heard of the work of the 'Bereaved Parents for Peace'. That there was this coalition of Palestinian and Israeli families who had lost so much in the conflict and whose depth of suffering had compelled them to reach across the border into the houses of the enemy. Into the houses of those, to locate them who had suffered as much as they had, and then to stand with them in aching confraternity, a witness to an understanding that is beyond peace and that is beyond confrontation. So, this is not about forgiving and forgetting, this is not about laying down one's arms in a time of war, this is not even about peace, although, God willing, it could be a beginning. This is about a response to human grief. A radical, unique and holy, holy, holy response to human suffering. Baruch Hashem, thank God, I bow my head in respect to the nobility of this enterprise." At the end of the show he blessed the crowd by the Priestly Blessing, a Jewish blessing offered by Kohanim. Cohen's surname derives from this Hebrew word for priest, thus identifying him as a Kohen.

The sixth leg of the 2008-2009 world tour went again to US, with fifteen shows in October and November, with the "final" show in San Jose. The final leg included two new songs, "Feels So Good" and "The Darkness". But at that point, Cohen's "World Tour 2010" was already announced with the European dates in March.

The 2009 world tour earned a reported $9.5 million, putting Cohen at number 39 on ''Billboard'' magazine's list of the year's top musical "money makers."

Live releases

On 14 September 2010, Sony Music released a live CD/DVD album, ''Songs from the Road'', showcasing Cohen's 2008 and 2009 live performances. The previous year, Cohen's performance at the 1970 Isle of Wight Music Festival was released as a CD/DVD combo. The DVD version included interviews with Kris Kristofferson and others.

2010 tour

Cohen's 2008-2009 world tour was prolonged into 2010. Originally scheduled to start in March, the first dozen of the original European dates were postponed to September and October due to Cohen's lower-back injury. Officially billed as the "World Tour 2010", the tour started on 25 July 2010 in Arena Zagreb, Croatia, where in the week of the show 16 of Cohen's albums simultaneously entered the Croatian Top 40, while Cohen's work was presented by the translation of ''Book of Mercy'', two of Cohen's biographies, and with selection of poems in major literary magazine ''Quorum'', while there was also the translation of Linda Hutcheon's work on Cohen's literary output. In December 2010, the national daily newspaper ''Vjesnik'' ranked Cohen's show among the five most important cultural event in Croatia in 2010, in the poll among dozen of intellectuals and writers; it was the only event ranked which was not actually Croatian. The tour continued through August, with stops in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Scandinavia, and Ireland, where on 31 July 2010 Cohen performed at Lissadell House in County Sligo. It was Cohen’s eighth Irish concert in just two years after a hiatus of more than 20 years. On 12 August, Cohen played the 200th show of the tour in Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden, where he had already played in October 2008; the show was four hours long.

The Fall leg of the European tour started in early September with an open-air show in Florence, Italy, and continued through Germany, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Austria, where Cohen performed at the famous open-air opera stage of Römersteinbruch bei St. Margarethen im Burgenland, and then continued with dates in France, Poland, Russia (Moscow's State Kremlin Palace), Slovenia and Slovakia. In Slovenia's brand new Arena Stožice, Cohen accepted Croatia's Porin music award for best foreign live video programme, which he won for his ''Live in London'' DVD. Cohen's last European show was held in Sibamac Arena, in Bratislava, Slovakia. The shows in late September and October were performed without Sharon Robinson, who left this tour leg due to heavy illness; the setlist omitted songs co-written by her, but old Cohen standards were added instead.

The third leg of the 2010 tour started on 28 October in New Zealand and continued in Australia, including an open-air concert at Hanging Rock near Melbourne. It was the first show ever organised at the site. The tour finished with seven special dates added in Vancouver, Portland, Victoria and Oakland, with two final shows in Las Vegas' The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on 10 and 11 December. The very last concert on 11 December was the 246th show on the world tour which started on 11 May 2008.

The world tour 2010 was covered daily on the Flickr photo blog which was edited by Cohen's road manager, entitled Notes from the Road.

2010s

Currently Cohen is recording a new studio album with his touring band and his producer Ed Sanders. The album is expected in 2011 and is supposed to feature four songs performed during the 2009 and 2010 shows: "The Darkness", "Lullaby", "Born in Chains" , and "Feels So Good". Other songs to be included are "Amen" and "The Street". Some of these songs were co-written (and co-produced) with Sharon Robinson and Anjani Thomas. At least one more song has been tried out at the daily soundchecks ("My Oh My"). The first new songs were presented back in 2006, on KCRW radio, where Cohen played two demo tracks, "Book of Longing" and "Puppets".

''Hallelujah''

In 1991, John Cale's cover of this song first appeared on the Leonard Cohen tribute album ''I'm Your Fan''. In 1996, that version also appeared in the independent film ''Basquiat''. John Cale also performed this song in the 2001 Dreamworks movie ''Shrek''. The cover when watching the actual movie was by John Cale, but the original soundtrack for the movie had a Rufus Wainwright version. John Cale's version was also featured on the television series ''Scrubs''.

In 2004, fellow Canadian k.d. lang released the album Hymns of the 49th Parallel which featured Leonard's song Hallelujah. The critically acclaimed album rose to the number 2 position on the Canadian Albums Chart. She subsequently performed the song live, on 12 February 2010, at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.

Jeff Buckley recorded one of the best-known versions of "Hallelujah" for his debut album Grace in 1994, to critical acclaim. On 7 March 2008, Jeff Buckley's version of Cohen's "Hallelujah", went to number 1 on the iTunes chart after Jason Castro performed the song on the seventh season of the television series ''American Idol''. Another major boost for Cohen's song exposure came when singer-songwriter Kate Voegele released her version of "Hallelujah" from her 2007 album ''Don't Look Away'' and appeared as a regular character named Mia on season five of the teenage television show ''One Tree Hill''.

In December 2008, two versions of "Hallelujah" placed No. 1 and 2 in the UK Christmas singles chart, with ''X Factor'' winner Alexandra Burke at No. 1 and Jeff Buckley at No. 2, following a campaign by Buckley fans to get his version to no. 1 rather than the ''X Factor'' version. As a result, online downloads of Cohen's original version placed it at No. 36, 24 years after its initial release.

The song was performed on August 27, 2011, in Roy Thompson Hall, Toronto, by Stephen Page, former lead of the "Barenaked Ladies", at the state funeral of Jack Layton, leader of Her Majesty's Opposition in the Parliament of Canada.

Themes

Recurring themes in Cohen's work include love, sex, religion, depression, and music itself. He has also engaged with certain political themes, though sometimes ambiguously so. "Suzanne" mixes a wistful type of love song with a religious meditation, themes that are also mixed in "Joan of Arc". "Famous Blue Raincoat" is from the point of view of a man whose marriage has been broken by his wife's infidelity with his close friend, and is written in the form of a letter to that friend. "Everybody Knows" starts off with social inequality ("the poor stay poor/ And the rich get rich"), but this is just the laying of the foundation that leads up to the real issue: Infidelity and betrayal.

"Sisters of Mercy" depicts his encounter with two women in a hotel room in Edmonton, Canada. Claims that "Chelsea Hotel #2" treats his affair with Janis Joplin without sentimentality are countered by claims that the song reveals a more complicated set of feelings than straightforward love. Cohen confirmed, with some embarrassment, that the subject is Janis. "She wouldn't mind," he declares, "but my mother would be appalled." "Don't Go Home with Your Hard-On" also deals with sexual themes.

Cohen is Jewish, and he has drawn from Jewish religious and cultural imagry throughout his career. Examples include "Story of Isaac", and "Who by Fire", the words and melody of which echo the Unetaneh Tokef, an 11th-century liturgical poem recited on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Broader Jewish themes sound throughout the album ''Various Positions''. "Hallelujah," which has music as a secondary theme, begins by evoking the biblical King David composing a song that "pleased the Lord" and continues with references to Bathsheba and Samson. The lyrics of "Whither Thou Goest", performed by him and released in his album ''Live in London'', are adapted from the Bible (Ruth 1:16-17, King James Version). "If It Be Your Will" also has a strong air of religious resignation. In his concert in Ramat Gan, Israel, on 24 September 2009, Cohen spoke Jewish prayers and blessings to the audience in Hebrew. He opened the show with the first sentence of Ma Tovu. At the middle he used Baruch Hashem, and he ended the concert reciting the blessing of Birkat Cohanim.

In his early career as a novelist, ''Beautiful Losers'' grappled with the mysticism of the Mohawk Catholic saint Kateri Tekakwitha. Cohen has also been involved with Buddhism since the 1970s and was ordained a Buddhist monk in 1996; however he is still religiously Jewish: "I'm not looking for a new religion. I'm quite happy with the old one, with Judaism."

He is described as an observant Jew in an article in ''The New York Times'':

Mr. Cohen is an observant Jew who keeps the Sabbath even while on tour and performed for Israeli troops during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. So how does he square that faith with his continued practice of Zen?

"Allen Ginsberg asked me the same question many years ago," he said. "Well, for one thing, 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."

Having suffered from depression during much of his life (although less so recently), Cohen has written much (especially in his early work) about depression and suicide. ''Beautiful Losers'' and "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" are about suicide; darkly comic "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" mentions suicide; "Dress Rehearsal Rag" is about a last-minute decision not to commit suicide. An atmosphere of depression pervades "Please Don't Pass Me By" and "Tonight Will Be Fine." As in the aforementioned "Hallelujah," music itself is the subject of "Tower of Song," "A Singer Must Die," and "Jazz Police."

Themes of political and social justice also recur in Cohen's work, especially in later albums. In "Democracy," he laments "the wars against disorder/ the sirens night and day/ the fires of the homeless/ the ashes of the gay." He concludes that the United States is actually not a democracy. He has made the observation in "Tower of Song" that "the rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor/ And there's a mighty judgment coming." In the title track of ''The Future'' he recasts this prophecy on a pacifist note: "I've seen the nations rise and fall/ …/ But love's the only engine of survival." In "Anthem", he promises that "the killers in high places [who] say their prayers out loud/ [are] gonna hear from me."

War is an enduring theme of Cohen's work that—in his earlier songs and early life—he approached ambivalently. Challenged in 1974 over his serious demeanor in concerts and the military salutes he ended them with, Cohen remarked, "I sing serious songs, and I'm serious onstage because I couldn't do it any other way...I don't consider myself a civilian. I consider myself a soldier, and that's the way soldiers salute." In "Field Commander Cohen" he imagines himself as a soldier of sorts, socializing with Fidel Castro in Cuba—where he had actually lived at the height of US-Cuba tensions in 1961, allegedly sporting a Che Guevara-style beard and military fatigues. This song was written immediately following Cohen's front-line stint with the Israeli air force, the "fighting in Egypt" documented in a passage of "Night Comes On." In 1973, Cohen, who had traveled to Jerusalem to sign up on the Israeli side in the Yom Kippur War, had instead been assigned to a USO-style entertainer tour of front-line tank emplacements in the Sinai Desert, coming under fire. A poetic mention of then-General Ariel Sharon, delivered in the same mode as his Fidel Castro allusions, has given birth to the story that Cohen and Sharon shared cognac together during Cohen's term in the Sinai.

Deeply moved by encounters with Israeli and Arab soldiers, he left the country to write "Lover Lover Lover." This song has been interpreted as a personal renunciation of armed conflict, and ends with the hope his song will serve a listener as "a shield against the enemy." He would later remark, "'Lover, Lover, Lover' was born over there; the whole world has its eyes riveted on this tragic and complex conflict. Then again, I am faithful to certain ideas, inevitably. I hope that those of which I am in favour will gain." Asked which side he supported in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Cohen responded, "I don't want to speak of wars or sides ... Personal process is one thing, it's blood, it's the identification one feels with their roots and their origins. The militarism I practice as a person and a writer is another thing.... I don't wish to speak about war."

His recent politics continue a lifelong predilection for the underdog, the "beautiful loser." Whether recording "The Partisan", a French Resistance song by Anna Marly and Emmanuel d'Astier, or singing his own "The Old Revolution," written from the point of view of a defeated royalist, he has throughout his career expressed in his music sympathy and support for the oppressed. Although Cohen's fascination with war is often as a metaphor for more general cultural and personal issues, as in "New Skin for the Old Ceremony," by this measure his most militant album.

Cohen blends pessimism about political/cultural issues with humour and, especially in his later work, with gentle acceptance. His wit contends with his stark analysis as his songs are often verbally playful and cheerful. In "Tower of Song" the famously raw-voiced Cohen sings ironically that he was "born with the gift of a golden voice." The generally dark "Is This What You Wanted?" contains playful lines "You were the whore and the beast of Babylon/ I was Rin Tin Tin." In concert he often plays around with his lyrics ("If you want a doctor/ I'll examine every inch of you" from "I'm Your Man" sometimes becomes "If you want a Jewish doctor..."). He may introduce one song by using a phrase from another song or poem—for example, introducing "Leaving Green Sleeves" by paraphrasing his own "Queen Victoria," "This is a song for those who are not nourished by modern love."

Cohen has also recorded such love songs as Irving Berlin's "Always" or the more obscure soul number "Be for Real" (originally sung by Marlena Shaw).

Personal life

Cohen had a relationship with the Los Angeles artist Suzanne Elrod beginning in the 1970s, with whom he has two children: a son, Adam, born in 1972, and a daughter, Lorca, named after poet Federico García Lorca, born in 1974. Adam Cohen began a career as a singer-songwriter in the mid-1990s and fronts a band called Low Millions, while Lorca took the part in her father's tour team during the 2008-2010 world tour as photographer and videographer. She also shot Cohen's video for the song "Because Of" in 2004, while her "Backstage Sketch" was included on Cohen's 2010 DVD ''Songs from the Road''. She has directed and shot video clips for The Webb Sisters and Kamila Thompson. On February 2, 2011, Lorca gave birth to a daughter, Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen. The father of the child is Rufus Wainwright.

Cohen has downplayed marriage as an important relationship, and has said that "cowardice" and "fear" have prevented him from ever actually marrying Elrod. Elrod took the cover photograph on Cohen's ''Live Songs'' album and is pictured on the cover of the ''Death of a Ladies' Man'' album. She is also the "Dark Lady" of Cohen's 1978 book of poems, prose and diary entries ''Death of a Lady's Man'', the book which deals with the failed marriage (hence the cover, which shows medieval ''coniunctio spiritual'') and which was started as the novel about the spiritual and emotional failure of marriage, invariantly titled ''The Woman Being Born'', and ''My Life in Art''. Cohen and Elrod had split by 1979.

"Suzanne", one of his best-known songs, refers to Suzanne Verdal, the former wife of his friend, the Québécois sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, rather than Elrod. The 1979 song "The Gypsy Wife" is supposedly about Suzanne Elrod.

In the 1980s, Cohen was in a relationship with the French photographer Dominique Issermann, who shot his first two video clips, "Dance Me To The End Of Love" and "First We Take Manhattan." Issermann is today famous for her photo sessions with Carla Bruni and for her fashion photography for magazines like ''Elle''; in 2010 she was the official photographer of Cohen's world tour. Her photographs of Cohen are the canonical in Cohen's merchandise, and some of them were used for the covers of his 1993 book ''Stranger Music'' and his album ''More Best of Leonard Cohen'', and inside the booklet of Cohen's 1988 record ''I'm Your Man'', which is dedicated to Issermann with words: "All these songs are for you, D. I.".

In the 1990s, Cohen was romantically linked to actress Rebecca De Mornay. De Mornay co-produced Cohen's 1992 album ''The Future'', which is also supposedly dedicated to her with an inscription which quotes Rebecca's coming to the well from Book of Genesis, 24 and giving drink to Eliezer's camels, after he prayed for the help; Eliezer ("God is my help" in Hebrew) is Cohen's Hebrew name, and Cohen sometimes referred to himself as "Eliezer Cohen" or even "Jikan Eliezer."

In 2000s, Cohen has been romantically involved with Anjani Thomas. Together they wrote the album ''Blue Alert'' in 2006, produced by Cohen. Thomas co-produced and co-wrote some songs on Cohen's 2004 album ''Dear Heather'' and is currently involved in recording of Cohen's forthcoming record.

Since late 1970s, Cohen has been associated with Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, regularly visiting him at Mount Baldy Zen Center and serving him as personal assistant during Cohen's own reclusion into Mt. Baldy monastery in the 1990s. Roshi appears as regular motif or addressee in Cohen's poetry, especially in the ''Book of Longing'', and also took part in 1997 documentary about Cohen's monastery years, ''Leonard Cohen: Spring 1996''. Cohen's 2001 album ''Ten New Songs'' is dedicated to Joshu Sasaki.

Awards, titles and honours

1964 the Québec Literary Competition Prize (awarded 1923-70 by the Province of Québec) ''The Favourite Game'' (Cohen's first novel)

1968 Governor General's Award (English language poetry or drama) for ''Selected Poems 1956–1968''. (Refused)

1970 Honorary degree from Dalhousie University

1984 The Golden Rose, the main award at the international television festival Rose d'Or in Montreux, for ''I am a Hotel'', made-for-TV short musical film written by Cohen and based on his songs.

1985 Canadian Author's Association Literary Award for Poetry for ''Book of Mercy''

1986 Genie Award for Best Original Song for "Angel Eyes" from ''Night Magic'' (with Lewis Furey)

1988 Columbia Records Crystal Globe Award from CBS for ''I'm Your Man''. The award is for artists who sell more than five million copies of an album in foreign territories

1989 Nominated for Juno Awards for Canadian Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year

1991 Officer of the Order of Canada

1991 Induction into the Juno/Canadian Music Hall of Fame

1991 Nominated for a Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year.

1992 Honorary degree from McGill University, Montreal.

1993 Juno Award for Male Vocalist of the Year. The video for Closing Time, directed by Curtis Wehrfritz, won for Best Video. He was also nominated as Producer of the Year (with co-producer Leanne Ungar, for "Closing Time").

1993 Governor General's Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.

1994 Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year and was nominated for the Juno Award for Album of the Year (for ''The Future''). The video for The Future, directed by Curtis Wehrfritz, was nominated for Juno Award for Best Video.

1996 Ordained a Rinzai Buddhist monk.

2001 Nagroda Muzyczna Fryderyk, the annual Polish music award, for best foreign album (''Ten New Songs'').

2002 Nominated for Juno Award as Best Songwriter Cohen (with Sharon Robinson) for "Boogie Street", "In My Secret Life", and "You Have Loved Enough").

2002 Nominated for the Juno Award for Best Video for "In My Secret Life", directed by Floria Sigismondi. ''Ten New Songs'' nominated for Best Pop Album, and he was nominated for Best Artist.

2002 SNEP Award Cohen for more than 100,000 copies sold of ''Ten New Songs'' in France.

2003 Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour.

2004 Inclusion in Canada Reads 2005 with ''Beautiful Losers''

2005 Induction into the Canadian Folk Music Walk of Fame.

2006 Induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

2007 Grammy for Album of the Year as a featured artist on Herbie Hancock's ''River: The Joni Letters''. 2008 Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 2008 Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec. 2009 Long Listed for the Polaris Music Prize for ''Live in London'' 2009 Nominated for Mojo Honours Lists for Best Live Act category.

2009 Meteor Music Award for Best International Live Performance for his 2008 show in Dublin's IMMA's Royal Hospital Kilmainham.

2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

2010 A second Meteor Music Award for Best International Live Performance for his 2009 show in Dublin's O2.

2010 Porin Award in Croatia in category of foreign video programme, for his ''Live in London'' DVD.

2010 Induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

2011 Glenn Gould Prize

2011 Prince of Asturias Awards, Literature, Spain

Discography

Studio albums

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Poetry

''Six Montreal Poets''. New York: Folkways Records, 1957.

Tribute albums

!Title	!Release date

Many other cover albums have been recorded by many artists.

Publications

Collections: poems and songs

''Let Us Compare Mythologies''. Montreal: Contact Press [McGill Poetry Series], 1956. reissued 2007 ''The Spice-Box of Earth''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1961. ''Flowers for Hitler''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1964. ''Parasites of Heaven''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1966. ''Selected Poems 1956–1968''. New York, Toronto: Viking, McClelland & Stewart, 1968. ''The Energy of Slaves''. London,Toronto: Cape, McClelland and Stewart, 1972. ISBN 0771022042 ISBN 0771022034 New York: Viking, 1973. ''Selected Poetry of Leonard Cohen''. Penguin Classics, 1978. ''Death of a Lady's Man''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1978. ISBN 0771021771 London, New York: Viking, Penguin, 1979. - reissued 2010 ''Book of Mercy''.London: Cape, 1984. - reissued 2010 ''The Lyrics of Leonard Cohen''. London, Omnibus, 1998. ISBN 0711971412 2nd edition, 2009. ''God is Alive. Magic is Afoot.'' Sarah Perkins and Ian Jackson illus. Toronto: Stoddart, 2000. ISBN 0773761802 ''Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs''. London, New York, Toronto: Cape, Pantheon, McClelland & Stewart, 2003. ISBN 0771022301 ''Book of Longing''. London, New York, Toronto: Penguin, Ecco, McClelland & Stewart, 2006. (poetry, prose, drawings) ISBN 9780771022340

''Poems and Songs (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)'' 2011

Novels

''The Favorite Game''. London, New York, Toronto: Secker & Warburg, Viking P, McClelland & Stewart, 1963. Reissued as ''The Favourite Game.'' Toronto: McClelland & Stewart [New Canadian Library], 1994. ISBN 9780771099540 ''Beautiful Losers''. New York, Toronto: Viking Press, McClelland & Stewart, 1966. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart [New Canadian Library], 1991. ISBN 9780771098758 McClelland & Stewart [Emblem], 2003. ISBN 9780771022005

Film and television

Cohen was the subject of the 1965 documentary ''Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen'', directed by Donald Brittain and Don Owen and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. This film, which pre-dates Cohen's career as a songwriter, explores his career as a well-known Canadian poet. Cohen also appeared in Owen's 1967 film ''The Ernie Game'', which was entered into the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.

Cohen's music also appeared the following year in the 1966 NFB animated short ''Angel''.

In 1968 Cohen performed on the BBC, both on the Julie Felix Show and in his own special, split into two thirty minute shows. The first clip still exists, while the second is only available as a bootleg CD.

Cohen makes a cameo appearance performing "The Stranger Song" in the Canadian film ''The Ernie Game'' (1968), which is based on the stories of Bernard Cole Spencer.

Cohen's music was popular among the directors of the New German Cinema, and appeared in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's ''Beware of a Holy Whore'' (1971) and Werner Herzog's ''Stroszek'' (1977).

Cohen's 1970 performance at the Isle of Wight Festival was filmed by Murray Lerner, but remained unreleased until 2009 when it was released as ''Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970'', and included Lerner's 2009 documentary material.

Robert Altman's 1971 western ''McCabe and Mrs. Miller'' used three Cohen songs on its soundtrack, as well the instrumental parts of The Stranger Song performed by Cohen. Multiple record singles were released during the film's distribution. In 1972, Cohen's European tour was filmed by British director Tony Palmer; the re-edited material appeared in 1974 under the title ''Bird On a Wire'' and exists only as a bootleg VHS tape. Palmer's authorised and restored film was released in 2010. In October 1979, Cohen recorded a show for German TV show ''RockPop Special'', available only as a bootleg. The show is often rebroadcast by the German satellite TV channel 3Sat.

''The Song Of Leonard Cohen'', a 1980 documentary by Harry Rasky, featuring Irving Layton, includes highlights from Cohen's 1979 European tour and tracks from the LP ''Recent Songs''.

In 1983, Cohen wrote and starred in made-for-TV short musical film ''I am a Hotel'', based on his songs. It won the Golden Rose award at the Rose d'Or television festival in Montreux in 1984.

In 1985, Cohen co-wrote and co-composed ''Night Magic'' (starring Carole Laure) with fellow Quebecker, Lewis Furey.

Cohen is subject of the BBC documentary ''Songs from the Life of Leonard Cohen'', filmed during his 1988 tour.

Cohen appeared as villain Francois Zolan in the "French Twist" episode of the American television series ''Miami Vice'' (season 2, episode 17), originally broadcast on 21 February 1986.

In 1988, Spanish TV station RTE televised the full version of Cohen's show in San Sebastian, 20 May, later aired in number of European countries and still rerun on the Spanish TV. It remains the only completely televised Cohen show.

In 1989, Cohen gave his first major performance on US television on Austin City Limits (recorded in November 1988). He performed for the show again in July 1993. Both programs have been often rebroadcast by the PBS.

"Everybody Knows" and "If It Be Your Will" play prominent parts in the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume

Three of Cohen's songs from his album The Future ("Waiting for the Miracle", "Anthem", and "The Future") are used in Oliver Stone's 1994 film Natural Born Killers. Songs from this album have also appeared in the films ''Wonder Boys'' (2000), starring Michael Douglas and The Life of David Gale (2003), starring Kevin Spacey.

In 1994, Cohen narrated NFB-produced documentary ''The Tibetan Book of the Dead''.

Cohen's years at the Mt. Baldy Zen Centre were the subject of 1997 French documentary ''Leonard Cohen: Spring 96'' by Armelle Brusq, released on DVD in 2009.

In 2001, Cohen's song Hallelujah was used on the soundtrack of ''Shrek'', in a version by John Cale.

''The Favourite Game (Le Jeu de l'ange)'', based on his novel of the same title, was released in Canada in 2003.

''Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man'' was released in 2006. It features a 2005 tribute concert to Cohen, "Came So Far For Beauty", held at the Sydney Opera House and produced by Hal Willner. The film, directed by Lian Lunson, has appearances by Nick Cave, Beth Orton, Antony of Antony and the Johnsons, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, and a performance of "Tower of Song" by Cohen and U2. The film also features Cohen recalling significant parts of his life and career.

Cohen is the subject of a two-part documentary, ''Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1934-1977'' (2007) and ''Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1978-2006'' (2008), available separately on DVD.

See also

Music of Canada

List of Quebec musicians

Music of Quebec

Culture of Quebec

List of people with depression

References

Further reading

External links

Official website

The Leonard Cohen Files

''Bird on a Wire'' (1972) at TCM Movie Morlocks

''Canadian Poetry: Studies/Documents/Reviews'', Vol. 33 (Fall/Winter, 1993). The Proceedings of the Leonard Cohen Conference, Red Deer College, Oct. 22-24, 1993.

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