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One of the most influential artists to come out of Canada, poet, musician, novelist Leonard Cohen died in Los Angeles on November 7, 2016. 

Cohen was born in Montreal and in his teenage years developed an interest in music founding a country/folk band called The Buckskin Boys. His real passion, however, was poetry. He was a devoted fan of Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca and Canadian poets like Irving Layton, who taught at Herzliah High School where Cohen was a student. 

He received a B.A. from McGill University where he found success as a writer, winning the Chester MacNaghten Literary Competition while a student. His first book of poetry Let Us Compare Mythologies was published in 1956. It contained poems he had written between ages 15-20. He attended law school at McGill but dropped out after one term to pursue literary success while attending graduate school at Columbia University. 

In 1961, his second book of poetry Spice-Box of Earth brought him wider recognition in the Canadian literary scene and with the financial support of a modest trust fund, he bought a house on Hydra in Greece where he completed work on another poetry collection, Flowers for Hitler and two novels, The Favourite Game and Beautiful Losers.

Frustrated by the lack of success with his writing, Cohen returned to New York in 1966 where he joined the burgeoning folk music scene. His first album Songs of Leonard Cohen was released in 1967 followed by numerous classic albums:

Songs of Leonard Cohen

Songs from a Room

Songs of Love and Hate

Death of a Ladies' Man

I'm Your Man

Live in Dublin

In the mid-1990s, plagued by depression Cohen dropped out of the public eye entirely, moving to a Buddhist retreat in California for several years. He returned to the recording studio with Ten New Songs released in 2001 and began touring again following the discovery that his longtime manager had misappropriated most of his savings. 

His final album You Want it Darker was released in October 2016. At this time, Cohen caused concern by telling the New Yorker that he was "ready to die". He subsequently clarified this by announcing "I think I was exaggerating. I’ve always been into self-dramatization. I intend to live forever."

…and he will–through his poetry and fiction but most of all through the songs that live on in our hearts.