Rewind album: I'm Your Man, by Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

Columbia

Leonard Cohen, a bashful septuagenarian singer-songwriter from Montreal, is the kind of man that many men want to be, and many women want to be with. One of the most influential figures of his generation, both as a musician and an individual - and still going strong after a 40-year career - he became a household name at the relatively august age of 33 with the release of Songs of Leonard Cohen.

But becoming a musician wasn't Cohen's primary goal, having embarked on his creative journey as a writer of prose and poetry. Before his debut album came out, Cohen had released a collection of poems entitled Flowers for Hitler in 1964, and novels The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966).

Many attribute this innate ability to manipulate words and sounds to his unique singing style. His down-at-heel tales of love and misery combined with that gravelly voice and measured sense of rhythm lend his music a beauty and melancholy.