World mourns the death of Leonard Cohen – as it happened

Flags in Montreal, Canada, where Cohen was brought up, are flying at half-mast.

The Montreal mayor, Denis Coderre, said the city had “lost one of our greatest ambassadors and icons”.

Through 14 albums, from the 1960s to 2016: Cohen’s life in pictures.

Some tributes from readers (you can add your own here on our main news story):

This is a heavy blow to Canadians. Leonard Cohen quickly became an international star after he began performing his own songs, but he was a well-known poet and novelist before that. He was part of a generation of mostly Jewish writers who came out of Montreal in the 50s, including Irving Layton and Mordechai Richler. He published four volumes of poetry (plus a collection of his poems) and two novels before recording his first album in 1966. In 1968, he won the Governor-General's Award for poetry and drama (which he refused for some reason).

He lived mostly in the US in later years, but retained his strong connections to Montreal and Canada.

Probably the greatest of Canadian songwriters, along with Joni Mitchell.

RIP, Leonard, you will be missed.

chephren11 November 2016 3:04am

As I'm Lagatta de Montréal, you can imagine how I feel. I listened to Suzanne by Cohen, and in French by the passionaria Pauline Julien, and after effing Trump, I'm overcome by sadness.

In the spirit of resistance, I'm listening to his rendering of The Partisan...

Lagatta de Montréal11 November 2016 3:04am

Closing Time for a haunting, luminous and often wryly funny poet and singer. I first became a fan in high school about 40+ years ago. My fondest memory was of him phoning my school after I had written a poem featuring him and my teacher had sent it to his publisher. Somehow they read it to him over the phone and he contacted me for a chat. A kind, human gesture.

In recent years, I was lucky to see him on his long 2008-2013 tour several times. What set him apart from so many others of his generation was that he actually got better over 60 with such brilliant songs as The Future and Almost Like the Blues; he didn't just churn out his back catalogue. Thank you and bless you, Leonard.

CroneRanger11 November 2016 3:09am

Cohen spoke about his health just weeks prior to his death during a promotional interview for his 14th album, You Want it Darker:

Just letting a little light in:

For many people – not least because of the many, many cover versions – Hallelujah will be the song they most associate with Cohen.

In 2008, a backlash to a cover of the song by that year’s UK X-Factor winner, Alexandra Burke, sparked a campaign to get Jeff Buckley’s famed version to the top of the charts. It was a one-two – though Burke triumphed.

Cohen’s original charted at number 36.

Asked about it the following year, Cohen suggested he had heard enough covers of the song:

I was happy that the song was being used, of course. There were certain ironic and amusing sidebars, because the record that it came from which was called Various Positions – [a] record Sony wouldn’t put out. They didn’t think it was good enough. It had songs like Dance Me to the End of Love, Hallelujah, If It Be Your Will. So there was a mild sense of revenge that arose in my heart.

But I was just reading a review of a movie called Watchmen that uses it, and the reviewer said ‘Can we please have a moratorium on Hallelujah in movies and television shows?’

And I kind of feel the same way. I think it’s a good song, but I think too many people sing it.

11 Nov 201622.10 EST

Stephanie Convery

Cohen, who was born in Quebec in Canada, came to prominence in the 1960s as a poet, novelist and singer-songwriter. Originally focusing on literary pursuits, he shifted his attention to music in the late 60s when he moved to New York. His first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, was released in 1967 and became a cult hit.

Cohen’s influence on the music industry has been likened to that of his contemporaries Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.

Despite his immense popularity, Cohen often appeared to be shy of the stage. Judy Collins, who found success with his song Suzanne, once described how she had to coax him back on stage after he quit halfway through a performance.

He came out of retirement in his late 70s to embark what would end up being a five-year, worldwide tour, after his former manager, Kelley Lynch, was found guilty of stealing millions of dollars from him.

Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has commented on the loss of one of the country’s greatest cultural icons: