Music Icon Leonard Cohen Dead At 82

Legendary singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen has passed away at the age of 82. 

A statement posted to the musician's Facebook page today confirmed the news. 

"It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away," the statement reads.

"We have lost one of music's most revered and prolific visionaries.

"A memorial will take place in Los Angeles at a later date. The family requests privacy during their time of grief." 

read more: the world mourns the loss of leonard cohen

A cause of death is yet to be announced.

The iconic Canadian poet's illustrious career spanned across five decades, in which he released 14 studio albums. His most recent, You Want It Darker, was released just three weeks ago. 

While promoting his last album late last month in an interview with The New Yorker, Cohen said, "I am ready to die. I hope it’s not too uncomfortable. That's about it for me".

As Rolling Stone reports, Cohen pursued a career in music in 1966 after becoming frustrated from poor book sales as a writer, despite the attention he received for his novels, The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966).

Beautiful Losers in particular courted controversy due to the graphic nature of the book.

He soon met US singer Judy Collins, who added two of his songs, including Suzanne, on her own album. 

Quickly earning a reputation as the go-to songwriter for names like James Taylor and Willie Nelson, the Quebec-born artist embarked on the first of many tours in the '70s, having already released two LP's, Songs Of Leonard Cohen (1967) and Songs From A Room (1969).

In 1995, Cohen faded from the music scene when he became an ordained monk and took on the Dharma name Jikan (meaning 'silence') and did not make his return until 2001 with the release of his tenth studio album (and the first since 1992's The Future), Ten New Songs.

In 2005, Cohen sued his long-time manager Kelley Lynch, accusing her of embezzling over $US5 million from his retirement fund. It was later found Lynch had indeed misappropriated the funds, resulting in Cohen having to embark on a massive 247-date world tour to recoup the losses.

He returned to the touring scene in 2008 and performed all over the globe in the following years, before he embarked on the final Old Ideas world tour in 2013.

The music icon was inducted into the US Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, as well as the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.