( source ) Leonard Cohen was born outside of Montreal 1934, and died in 2016 in LA. His mother was a Lithuanian Jew. His Jewish name was Eliezer. "I had a very Messianic childhood. I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest." His father was a clothing store owner, and died when Leonard was 9. Irving Layton was a mentor at Herzliah High School, though he transferred from that school. He liked Lorca in that time. He formed a band called the Buckskin Boys in high school. His first album came out in 1967. Cohen's most famous song, "Hallelujah". He had 15 studio albums in the end. He would read his poetry in the clubs of Little Portugal neighborhood in Montreal. He went to McGill in 1951 and published his poetry in the college literary magazines. He graduated in 1955. Yeats is a poet said to influence him, and Henry Miller. His first published book of poetry was Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956). The well-known Canadian literary critic Northr...