Leonard Cohen has been one of the most prolific and enigmatic songwriters in the music industry for more than four decades now. Unlike most artists as accomplished as Cohen, the Montreal native did not aspire to a musical career until he was more than 30 years of age, when he was already an accomplished poet and novelist.

Cohen was born in the mid-1930s to a middle-class Jewish family. Growing up, he learned to play the guitar and spent his spare time playing in a band. He decided to pursue English, not music, while attending McGill University. Cohen published his first book, one of poetry, shortly after his graduation from McGill. After spending much of his 20s writing several works, including an extended period spent living in Greece, Cohen started writing music. Stylistically, as a composer he differed from much of the mainstream music of the time. This was partially due to his extended stay in the Aegean, which caused him to be relatively isolated from any kind of popular music.

His musical musings may never have seen the light of day, though, had it not been for a folksinger by the name of Judy Collins, who featured several of Cohen's songs on her albums in the ‘60s. Though it took some convincing, Collins persuaded Cohen to begin performing for the first time since he was a teen. After producer John Hammond Sr. caught a performance of Cohen's, he helped Cohen land a record deal.

The Songs of Leonard Cohen was released in 1967. The music was filled with rich imagery and other characteristics telling of his literary background. The album would be his most successful from a mainstream standpoint, but would open the door for an illustrious songwriting career that would span the better part of five decades. He received a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2007.