TIMELINE AND AWARDS OF LEONARD COHEN






Compiled by Tom Sakic Jarkko Arjatsalo

Compelete and updated list of Awards below the Timeline!

Year Books Albums Tours & Concerts Special Happenings
1934       Born on Sept 21 in Montreal
1944       Father Nathan Cohen dies
1947       Bar Mitzvah
1948       Attends Westmount High
1949       Buys a guitar & discovers Lorca
1951       Enters McGill University
1955      
        Graduates from McGill
1956 Let Us Compare Mythologies     Attends Columbia University
1957       Leaves Columbia University
1959       Moves to London
1960       Goes to Hydra; buys the house
1961 The Spice-Box Of Earth     Visits Cuba
1963 The Favorite Game     CBC Prize
1964 Flowers For Hitler     Ladies and Gentlemen (NFB film)
1966 Beautiful Losers     Begins serious musical career
  Parasites Of Heaven      
1967   Newport Folk Festival & NY First major singing performance
1968 Selected Poems 1956-1968 Songs Of Leonard Cohen   Goes to Nashville. Refuses
        Governor General's Award
1969   Songs From A Room   Meets Joshu Sasaki Roshi
1970     Europe, Festivals, USA
1971   Songs Of Love And Hate Montreal  
1972 The Energy Of Slaves   Europe & Israel Bird on a Wire (tour film)
        Son Adam is born
1973   Live Songs Israel  
1974   New Skin For The Old Ceremony USA&Europe Daughter Lorca is born
1975   Greatest Hits/Best Of USA & Canada  
1976     Europe  
1977   Death Of A Ladies' Man    
1978 Death Of A Lady's Man     Mother Masha Cohen dies
1979   Recent Songs Europe  
1980     Australia, Europe, USA, Israel  
1983       I'm A Hotel (TV film)
1984 Book Of Mercy      
1985   Various Positions Europe, USA, Canada,
      Australia, Israel
1988   I'm Your Man Europe, USA, Canada
1991      
1992   The Future  
1993 Stranger Music   Europe, USA, Canada
1994   Cohen Live   Moves to Mt Baldy Zen Center
1995       Internet community borns
1996       Is ordained Zen monk Jikan
1997   More Best Of Leonard Cohen    
1999       Leaves Mt Baldy Zen Center
        Settles in Los Angeles
        First visit to Mumbai, India
2001   Field Commander Cohen  
  Ten New Songs    
2002   The Essential Leonard Cohen    
2003      
2004   Dear Heather   70th birthday
2006 Book of Longing Blue Alert (with Anjani Thomas)   I'm Your Man,
documentary film
2007   Digital remasters of 3 albums   Book of Longing, collaboration
    of Philip Glass and L Cohen
    (concerts and CD)
    Art exhibitions in Canada and UK
2008 World Tour (Canada, Europe)
2009 Live in London (DVD&CD) Tour in Australia/New Zealand Plaque at Chelsea Hotel
  Live at Isle of Wight (CD, DVD, Spring Tour in US&Canada to commemorate his 75th
  BluRay) Summer Tour in Europe & Israel birthday
  Fall Tour in USA  
2010 New tour video (tbc) World Tour 2010 in
Bird on a Wire (DVD) Europe, Pacific, Asia


Awards, nominations, titles and honours

Compiled by Tom Sakic

  • 1955 MacNaughton Prize for Creative Writing, Peterson Memorial Prize

  • 1961 Canada Council Arts Scholarship

  • 1964 his novel The Favourite Game won the Quebec Literary Competition Prize (awarded 1923-70 by the Province of Quebec)

  • 1968 refused a Governor General's Award (in category for English language poetry or drama) for Selected Poems 1956 – 1968
  • 1968 Cohen's first LP Songs of Leonard Cohen reached #13 in the UK and #83 in the US

  • 1969 Cohen's second studio album Songs from a Room reached #2 in the UK, #7 in Canada, and #63 in the US; gold certificate in Canada

  • 1969 Bird on the Wire single reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard music chart, and #31 on Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart

  • 1970 honorary degree from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

  • 1971 Cohen's third LP Songs of Love and Hate reached #4 in the UK and #145 in the US

  • 1973 Cohen's 1968 LP Songs of Leonard Cohen received gold certificate in the UK
  • 1973 Cohen's first live album Live Songs reached #156 in the US

  • 1974 Cohen's fourth LP New Skin for the Old Ceremony reached #24 in the UK

  • 1977 Cohen's fifth LP Death of a Ladies' Man reached #35 in the UK

  • 1979 Cohen's sixth LP Recent Songs reached #53 in the UK

  • 1984 made-for-TV short musical film I am a Hotel, written by Cohen and based on his songs, won The Golden Rose, the main award at the international television festival Rose d'Or in Montreux

  • 1985 Cohen's seventh LP Various Positions reached #52 in the UK
  • 1985 Book of Mercy won the Canadian Author's Association Literary Award for Poetry

  • 1986 Cohen and Lewis Furey won the Genie Award for Best Original Song (for "Angel Eyes" from Night Magic)

  • 1988 I'm Your Man LP receives platinum certificates in Norway and Spain, and gold certificates in Canada and Sweden; reached #48 in the UK
  • 1988 CBS awarded Cohen with the Columbia Records Crystal Globe Award, reserved for artists who sell more than five million copies of an album in foreign territories (for I'm Your Man)

  • 1989 nominated for Juno Award as Canadian Entertainer of the Year
  • 1989 nominated for Juno Award as Male Vocalist of the Year
  • 1989 Cohen's 1968 LP Songs of Leonard Cohen received gold certificate in the Unites States

  • 1991 inducted into the Juno/Canadian Music Hall of Fame
  • 1991 Cohen was made Officer of the Order of Canada
  • 1991 nominated for Juno Award as Songwriter of the Year

  • 1992 honorary degree from McGill University, Montreal
  • 1992 Cohen's ninth album The Future reached #36 in the UK; receives gold, platinum and double platinum certificate in Canada (1993)

  • 1993 won the Juno Award for Male Vocalist of the Year
  • 1993 Cohen's video for Closing Time, directed by Curtis Wehrfritz, won the Juno Award for Best Video
  • 1993 nominated for Juno Award as Producer of the Year (with co-producer Leanne Ungar, for Closing Time)
  • 1993 Cohen received the Governor General's Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement
  • 1994 won the Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year

  • 1994 nominated for Juno Award for Album of the Year (for The Future)
  • 1994 Cohen's video for The Future, directed by Curtis Wehrfritz, was nominated for Juno Award for Best Video
  • 1994 Cohen Live album reached #35 in the UK

  • 1995 Tower of Songs tribute CD reached #198 in the US

  • 1996 received Cohen was ordained a Rinzai Buddhist monk
  • 2000 Cohen's 1975 The Best Of LP received gold certificate in the US

  • 2001 Cohen's 10th studio album Ten New Songs reached #1 in Poland and Norway, #4 in Canada, and #143 in the US; #13 on Top Internet Albums chart
  • 2001 Ten New Songs received platinum certificates in Canada, Norway and Poland, and gold certificates in Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland
  • 2001 Nagroda Muzyczna Fryderyk, the annual Polish music award, for best foreign album (Ten New Songs).

  • 2002 Cohen (with Sharon Robinson) was nominated for Juno Award as Best Songwriter (for Boogie Street, In My Secret Life, and You Have Loved Enough)
  • 2002 Cohen's video In My Secret Life, directed by Floria Sigismondi, was nominated for Juno Award as Best Video
  • 2002 nominated for Juno Award for Best Pop Album (for Ten New Songs)
  • 2002 nominated for Juno Award as Best Artist
  • 2002 SNEP Award for more than 100,000 copies of Ten New Songs sold in France

  • 2003 The Essential Leonard Cohen reached #10 in the Netherlands, #16 in Ireland, #20 in Norway, #26 in Finland, #29 in New Zealand, and #34 in Poland
  • 2003 his 1966 novel Beautiful Losers was chosen for inclusion in Canada Reads 2005

  • 2004 Cohen's 11th studio album Dear Heather reached #1 in Denmark and Poland, #2 in Norway, #5 in Canada, Ireland and Portugal, #8 in Sweden, #9 in Belgium, #13 in Austria and Switzerland, #22 in Finland, #24 in Italy, #34 in the UK, Netherlands and France, #38 in Germany, #131 in the US, #18 in World Albums 40 and #131 in Top Internet Albums charts
  • 2004 Dear Heather receives gold certificate in Canada, The Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, and Poland

  • 2005 Cohen was included to the Canadian Folk Music Walk of Fame

  • 2006 Book of Longing reached #1 on the Top 10 Hardcover Fiction Books in Canada (as compiled by Maclean’s Magazine), being the first book of poetry ever to reach the top of the bestsellers’ lists in Canada
  • 2006 Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man soundtrack CD reached #176 in the US
  • 2006 Cohen was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame

  • 2007 Cohen received a Grammy for Album of the Year as a featured artist on Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters

  • 2008 Philip Glass' CD Book of Longing: A Song Cycle Based on the Poetry and Images of Leonard Cohen reached #17 on Billboard's classical albums chart in the US
  • 2008 Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
  • 2008 Cohen was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec
  • 2008 The Compilation box-set reached #17 on Finland's Albums Top 50 chart
  • 2008 Cohen's 1985 song Hallelujah reached #36 on UK Billboard chart (simultaneously with Alexandra Burke's version at #1 and Jeff Buckley's 1994 version at #2)
  • 2008 Leonard Cohen's song Hallelujah won Musicnotes Song of the Year Award
  • 2008 re-distributed The Essential Leonard Cohen (2002) reached #17 in Denmark, #23 in Austria, #30 in Sweden, #51 in Spain and #57 in the UK

  • 2009 3CD re-release of The Essential Leonard Cohen (2002) reached #8 on Australia Albums Top 50 chart
  • 2009 Cohen's first full concert album Live in London reached #7 in Canada, #3 in Ireland, #4 in Belgium, New Zealand and Denmark, #7 in Finland, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands, #8 in Norway and Portugal, #9 in Austria, #13 in Germany, #14 in Sweden, #15 in France, #19 in the UK, #23 in Switzerland, #25 in Australia, 27 in Italy, #76 in the US; #17 on World Albums Top 40 and #93 on Top Internet Albums charts
  • 2009 Cohen's album Live in London was Long Listed for the Polaris Music Prize
  • 2009 Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 reached #56 in the Netherlands and #73 in Ireland
  • 2009 nominated for the MOJO Honours List 2009 award in category of Best Live Act
  • 2009 2009 re-release of 1975 Greatest Hits LP reached #28 on Austria Albums Top 75 and #29 on UK Albums To 75 charts

  • 2010 2009 re-release of 1975 Greatest Hits LP reached #6 on Ireland Albums Top 75 chart
  • 2010 Cohen received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
  • 2010 received Porin, the annual Croatian music award, for Live in London DVD in category of foreign video programme
  • 2010 Cohen was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame







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