Replay: Sylvie Simmons shares Five Things She's Learned about The Life of Leonard Cohen
Check out the first five minutes of her recent class.
“To write a biography of someone still living, even with their blessing, is to immerse yourself in that person’s life to a degree that would probably get you locked up in any decent society. You learn a whole lot about a person. In fact, I’ve never stopped learning about – and from – Leonard Cohen. Something he said or did still comes to mind whatever the situation – be it making the perfect ginger smoothie (Leonard was quite the chef) or those dark nights of the soul, when just I’m just trying to make sense of it all.”
– Sylvie Simmons, Five Things I've Learned about The Life of Leonard Cohen
Sylvie Simmons is a renowned music journalist, singer-songwriter, and author known for her biography I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen, written with Cohen's participation and support.
Here’s the first five minutes of our recent 90-minute class in which she shares the Five Things She’s Learned about Leonard Cohen – and all she still learns from him five years after he passed away.
Sylvie’s Five Things I’ve Learned about The Life of Leonard Cohen, shares her experiences as Leonard’s biographer and delves into his life as a poet, musician, and a transformative figure.
Sylvie shares her insights into Cohen's unique perspective on the human condition, his battles with depression, and his late-life comeback tour, turning adversity into triumph. This class provides an opportunity to learn about an extraordinary man who defied conventions, exploring themes of artistry, spirituality, and acceptance of imperfection.
Sylvie has been writing about music and musicians for more than 40 years, since leaving her native London for California in the late Seventies - a kid with a crazy dream of becoming a rock writer. She would go on to become one of very few women counted among the rock writing elite. She's interviewed countless musical greats - Joni Mitchell to Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson to Metallica - for the world's leading music magazines.
After the unorthodox epic book tour she undertook for I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen - taking her book and a ukulele across the globe to talk about Cohen and sing his songs - Sylvie was offered a record deal for her own songs. She has since released two albums. The Times called her songs "Poetic, guileless - reminiscent of a female Leonard Cohen."
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