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Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen was already an established published poet and novelist in his native Canada before turning to music in his early thirties, and his literary background gave his songwriting a density of language and imagery distinct from most of his singer-songwriter contemporaries. His 1984 song "Hallelujah," largely overlooked upon its original release, became one of the most frequently covered songs in popular music history following later interpretations by Jeff Buckley and other artists, and the song's now-ubiquitous cultural presence stands in stark contrast to its initially modest commercial reception. Cohen's deep, resonant baritone voice, which grew even lower and more weathered across his later career, combined with his consistently dark, spiritually and romantically searching lyrical themes, gave his catalog a distinctive gravity that set him apart from more conventionally melodic singer-songwriters. His final albums, released in his final years including one issued just weeks before his 2016 death, continued directly and unflinchingly addressing mortality, giving Cohen's late-career work an unusually direct meditation on death that critics widely praised as a fitting, deliberate conclusion to his decades-long body of work.
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Carole King
Carole King wrote or co-wrote more than 100 hit songs for other artists during the 1960s, working out of New York's Brill Building alongside husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin, before her own 1971 album Tapestry established her as a major performing artist in her own right rather than solely a behind-the-scenes songwriter. Tapestry sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and held the record for most weeks atop the Billboard 200 album chart by a female solo artist for decades, and its blend of confessional, piano-driven singer-songwriter material with King's own polished pop songwriting craft made it one of the defining albums of the early-1970s singer-songwriter movement. King's transition from primarily writing hits for other performers, including songs recorded by The Shirelles and Aretha Franklin, into performing her own material herself reflected a broader shift in the music industry during that era toward valuing artists who wrote and performed their own songs. Her combined catalog as both a hit songwriter for other artists and a hugely successful performer in her own right has made King one of the most commercially and critically significant figures in American popular songwriting, and her 2014 Kennedy Center Honors recognition reflected her sustained influence across both distinct phases of her career.
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