Leonard Cohen (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. His work has explored religion, politics, isolation, sexuality, and personal relationships. The critic Bruce Eder assessed Cohen’s overall career in popular music by asserting: “[He is] one of the most fascinating and enigmatic . . . singer/songwriters of the late ’60s . . . [and] has retained an audience across four decades of music-making. . . . Second only to Bob Dylan (and perhaps Paul Simon) [in terms of influence], he commands the attention of critics and younger musicians more firmly than any other musical figure from the 1960’s who is still working at the outset of the 21st century.” (More from Wikipedia)
If anything, the practice of virtually any celebrity deciding to lay down some musical tracks has been accelerating in recent years; sometimes the results aren’t bad at all actually. On their 2009 Varshons album – made up entirely of covers of mostly unfamiliar songs – the Lemonheads are accompanied by model Kate Moss on one track, Arling & Cameron’s “Dirty Robot”; while actress and model Liv Tyler (daughter of Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and model/singer Bebe Buell) contributed vocals to their version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye”.
(March 2013)
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The first Native American artist that I became familiar with is Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree). Hers is one of the strongest vibratos that I have ever heard in a singer, and I think it is fair to say that her music is an acquired taste. I have several of her albums, but I can recommend the above double-LP as providing a good overview of her music. She is primarily a folksinger but has also made rock and country recordings. Surprisingly, one of the four album sides on The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie has electronic music; one song in particular is a lively rendition of a song by Leonard Cohen called “God is Alive (Magic is Afoot)”, with looping lyrics that freely interchange the ideas of “God” and “magic”.
(August 2013)
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Over her career, k.d. lang has collaborated with many prominent musicians from Roy Orbison, to Dwight Yoakam, to Tony Bennett, to fellow Canadian artist Anne Murray. She first came to prominence during a performance at the closing ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary; in 2010, k.d. lang performed Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
(January 2014)
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