Leonard Cohen has alleged that his former manager made up lies claiming he was a drug addict in order to destroy his reputation.
The legendary singer-songwriter spoke in a Los Angeles court yesterday (April 9) at the second day of his ex-business partner Kelley Lynch's trial for making harassing phone calls and violating restraining orders, and revealed that she had sent emails to people trying to convince them that he was dependent on substances.
He said: It's not a pleasant sensation. Ms. Lynch routinely accused me of being a drug addict and many other things. Of course I didn't like it, and I felt my reputation was being assailed. Previously, Cohen revealed that after firing Lynch in 2004, she bombarded him with death threats and would also send him numerous messages daily. He said: "It started with just a few now and then, but it eventually accelerated to 20 or 30 a day".
He added the voicemail messages would sometimes be 10 minutes in length and that Lynch said he "needed to be taken down and shot". At the time, Cohen took out a number of restraining orders against Lynch, which she ignored. She was fired by Cohen after he accused her of stealing $5 million from him and he sued her in 2005.
Leonard Cohen will be touring his latest album, 'Old Ideas', later in the year. Cohen will play shows in Europe and then North America in the autumn, but so far only the European dates have been revealed.
Leonard Cohen released 'Old Ideas' in January of this year. It followed 2004's 'Dear Heather', and is his 12th studio album since 1967.
Source. www.nme.com
