Leonard Cohen: Everybody Knows

No other contemporary songwriter has created a body of work of such consistent quality, and such singular emotional and intellectual brilliance, as Leonard Cohen. His smoke-black vocal style navigates the most sophisticated and arresting of melodies in songs infused with romance, innuendo, and humor. Arriving at the 60s pop-music party fashionably late, Cohen released his debut albumSongs of Leonard Cohenin 1967. At 33 years of age, he was the adult in the room, a room brimming, then as now, with literary pretension and artistic self-importance. But Cohen, already established as a respected poet and novelist, was the real deal. In the decades since, he has battled with drugs, love, and bankruptcy; become a Buddhist monk while simultaneously reaffirming his Jewish faith; and recorded 11 more albums of unfailingly affecting beauty. Beginning with Cohen the young poet and author in his home town of Montreal and ending with his 2012 releaseOld Ideasand recent acclaimed live performances, Everybody Knows honors Leonard Cohens 80th birthday by celebrating his genius and tracing his rise to stardom through 200 photographs and the thoughts, memories, and reflections of those who have both worked with and been inspired by him.