Artists of all kinds are mourning the loss of singer, songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen.

Blue Rodeo frontman Jim Cuddy told CTV News Channel: “He was a guiding light in music. A guiding light about precision and beauty and humour and lyrics. Also, a shining light as an individual.”

“He was really a gentleman too. […] This guy was elegant in every moment,” he said speaking about a time he ran into Cohen in a deli.

Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith said Cohen reshaped his understanding of music at the age of 21.

“I was always into the Beatles and the Kinks, and when I heard Leonard it made me wonder if it was okay to listen to the Beatles and the Kinks anymore. Because his music and his lyrics had so much, sort of, you know, this weight to it and this substance,” he told CTV News Channel.

Sexsmith said the news was particularly difficult to process after “the recent election down south.”

“It’s just been a bad week, you know?”

Gordon Lightfood said in a statement: "I am deeply saddened by the passing of my contemporary, colleague, fellow Canadian and my dear friend Leonard Cohen. He loved music and his music affected millions of people around the world. He will be greatly missed. I offer my deepest condolences to his family as they grieve this tremendous loss."

Joni Mitchell told the story of how she met Leonard at Newport Folk Festival back in 1967 on her website, adding: "Our hearts go out to all those who loved Leonard Cohen," at the end.

Canadian performer k.d. lang, who famously covered Cohen’s "Hallelujah," was among the first to share her sorrow after learning on Thursday of his death at 82.

Later in a statement she added: "An elegant practitioner of the senses. Fully engaged in the realm of desire and yet fully dedicated to the spiritual. The quintessential renaissance man who will never be matched."

 

 

 

"Hamilton" star Lin-Manuel Miranda simply shared some of Cohen's work.

 

 

 

 

 

Comedians Patton Oswalt and Marc Maron took a lighter tone.