Los Angeles: Leonard Cohen, the baritone-voiced Canadian singer-songwriter who seamlessly blended spirituality and sexuality in songs like Hallelujah..., Suzanne... and Bird on a Wire..., has died at age 82, his son said.
“My father passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles,” Adam Cohen said in a statement on Friday. “He was writing up until his last moments with his unique brand of humor.”
Cohen, also renowned as a poet, novelist and aspiring Zen monk, blended folk music with a darker, sexual edge that won him fans around the world and among fellow musicians like Bob Dylan and R.E.M. He remained wildly popular into his 80s, when his deep voice plunged to seriously gravelly depths. He toured as recently as earlier this year and released a new album, You Want it Darker, just last month.
Cohen’s Hallelujah went from cult hit to modern standard, now an unending staple on movies, TV shows, YouTube videos, and reality shows. Cohen, who once said he got into music because he couldn’t make a living as a poet, rose to prominence during the folk music revival of the 1960s. However, he never seemed quite as comfortable on stage as he did writing and recording, chalking it up to being a late starter among his folk cohort.
