Crying and laughing about it all

For many biographers of popular musicians, the obvious problem is that the only interesting bit comes when your subjects are in their brief creative pomp. For Sylvie Simmons, the situation is rather different — and not just because Leonard Cohen has been somewhere near his pomp for nearly 50 years. The real trouble is that every other aspect of his life is fascinating too.

To do the man justice, you first need to know about the wealthier parts of Jewish Montreal in the 1930s, where the new-born Cohen arrived home from hospital in a chauffeur-driven car. There’s also the fact that he didn’t become a working musician until he was 33, having first been a respected poet and novelist, who smoked French cigarettes with the best of them, among the artists and drifters of two continents. Along the way, his unashamed interest in spirituality has led from synagogue to Scientology, bohemianism to Buddhism — often at the same time.