FILE PHOTO: Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen performs during the first night of the 47th Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland on July 4, 2013. REUTERS/Valentin Flauraud/File Photo
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A collection of more than 50 love letters written by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen to the woman who inspired “So Long, Marianne” has sold for $876,000, with many going for more than five times their pre-sale estimates, Christie’s auction house said on Thursday.
The archive of letters from Cohen to Marianne Ihlen chronicles their 1960s love affair and the blossoming of Cohen’s career from struggling poet to famous musician.
The top letter, in which Cohen wrote in December 1960 about being “alone with the vast dictionaries of language,” fetched $56,250 compared to an original high estimate of $10,000.
A 1964 letter, in which Cohen wrote “I am famous but empty,” went for $35,000, Christie’s said.
Cohen and the Norwegian-born Ihlen met on the Greek island of Hydra in 1960 and she became the inspiration for several of his best-known songs, including “Bird on a Wire,” “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,” and the 1967 track “So Long, Marianne.”
Ihlen died of leukemia in Oslo in July 2016 at age 81. Cohen, who was also suffering from leukemia, died in November 2016 at the age of 82.
The letters were sold by Ihlen’s family. The buyers were not revealed.
The top lot in the five-day online auction was an Italian bronze bell dating from the 15th or 16th century that hung in the Hydra home that Cohen and Ihlen once shared. It realized $81,250 compared to a pre-sale estimate of up to $12,000.
The bell is believed to have inspired the lines, “There is a crack, a crack in everything” in Cohen’s 1992 release “Anthem.”
Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Leslie Adler
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Several big-name musicians voiced dismay on Wednesday that some of their recordings may have been among thousands of original masters that The New York Times Magazine reported were lost in the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot fire of 2008.
FILE PHOTO: A fire truck and firefighters are seen at Gate 2 of Universal Studios as smoke rises (background) from a fire that rages out of control at the backlot filled with movie sets in Universal City, California June 1, 2008. REUTERS/Fred Prouser/File Photo
The blaze, which gutted a popular “King Kong” attraction and a swath of the studio’s fabled outdoor lot, also destroyed nearly all the master recordings stored there in a Universal Music Group archive, a loss that has long gone undisclosed, the magazine reported on Tuesday.
Universal Music estimated in a confidential 2009 report that the loss encompassed about 500,000 song titles, the article said.
In a statement on Wednesday, the company called the incident “deeply unfortunate,” but said the Times story contained “numerous inaccuracies, misleading statements, contradictions and fundamental misunderstandings of the scope of the incident.”
The extent of the loss, documented in litigation and company records the article cited, was largely kept from the public eye through a concerted effort on the part of the music label, the magazine said.
Many of the artists whose own material was reported to have been destroyed expressed shock.
“Oh my Lord ... this makes me sick to my stomach,” singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow wrote on Twitter, posted with a link to the article. “And shame on those involved in the coverup.”
The rock band R.E.M said in a Twitter statement that concerned fans were making inquiries. “We are trying to get good information to find out what happened, and the effect on the band’s music, if any,” the group tweeted.
Original sound recordings of many of the greatest names in popular music since the 1940s - from Louis Armstrong and Judy Garland to Tom Petty and 50 Cent - are believed to have gone up in smoke in what the article described as “the biggest disaster in the history of the music business.”
Master recordings are typically owned and controlled by the music labels for the artists in their catalog. But they are seen as vital to musicians’ legacy as they are original, one-of-a-kind recordings considered the truest representation of sounds captured in the studio.
Masters are the source material for all reproductions, including re-releases and remixes, made for distribution, whether on digital medium or vinyl.
Universal Music Group, now owned by French media conglomerate Vivendi, said the fire “never affected the availability of the commercially released music nor impacted artists’ compensation.”
The New York Times article “ignores the tens of thousands of back catalog recordings that we have already issued in recent years, including master-quality, high-resolution, audiophile versions of many records that the story claims were ‘destroyed,’” Universal Music said.
Irving Azoff, manager for the group Steely Dan, said in a statement that the musicians had “been aware of ‘missing’ original Steely Dan tapes for a long time now.”
“We’ve never been given a plausible explanation,” Azoff said. “Maybe they burned up in the big fire. In any case, it’s certainly a lost treasure.”
Krist Novoselic, a founding member of the 1990s grunge band Nirvana, responded to a fan on Twitter asking whether the Times article meant that the masters for the group’s landmark “Nevermind” album were gone. He wrote: “I think they are gone forever.”
Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler
There are lots of hairstylists out there. But there aren’t too many hair artists out here. Mastermind Laetitia shows us the difference with her fine-tuned hair sculptures.
Her hair creations might look whimsical at first, but they actually make deeply political statements, expressed in an unbelievably imaginative way.
Her passion for hair braiding started at age five, and developed as she got older and discovered it as a way to explore and discover her African roots.
Laetitia fights violence with her hair art, turning them into ponytails shaped like pistols, or sculptures that speak volumes about gender equality.
She explains that her art started as a creative outlet before developing it into something that engaged people about serious matters.
However, politics can get a little depressing, so often, Ms. Ky’s work is a playful message about loving yourself, the world around you, while promoting a message of acceptance for all creatures.
Often, her hair has a mind of its own, transforming into hands that apply Fenty’s new lip shades, or dangle grapes in front of her mouth while she scrolls through her social feeds.
We also adore her tributes to nature, transforming her locks into massive scorpions, crabs, and flamingoes.
Laetitia does happen to be gorgeous, but we love that her message of light promotes self-love and beauty that stems from the inside, as opposed to the outside.
African and African American hair is something that has been policed for years. But Laetitia shows us just how regal and otherworldly it really is – we feel privileged that Laetitia has let us join her on her journey.
Her work is fierce, her look is fierce, and her attitude is fierce. Plus, we’re obsessed with the fact that her number one icon is Rihanna, because same.
Besides her magnificent IG, she also has a fashion brand called Kystroy, which utilizes bold, African inspired prints in contemporary silhouettes.
