Leonard Cohen - On A Wire

A captivating, revealing biography of the legendary musician and poet

Leonard Cohen opens in Los Angeles on the last night of the man-s life in 2016. Alone in his final hours, the beloved writer and musician ponders his existence in a series of flashbacks that reveal the ups and downs of a storied career.

A young Cohen traded in the promise of steady employment in his family-s Montreal garment business for the unlikely path of a literary poet. His life took another sharp turn when, already in his thirties, he recorded his first album to widespread international acclaim. Along the way he encountered a who-s who of musical luminaries, including Lou Reed, Nico, Janis Joplin, and Joni Mitchell. And then there-s Phil Spector, the notorious music impresario who held a gun to Cohen-s head during a coke-fueled, all-night recording session.

Later in Cohen-s life, there-s the story of "Hallelujah," one of his most famous songs, and its slow rise from relativ