Cohen steps out of his father's shadow and into the spotlight

Success hasn’t come easy to Adam Cohen, who is just not enough of his father for some – but age, at least, has brought a certain level of acceptance

HIS FIRST name is Adam. His surname is Cohen. He’s a singer-songwriter. He’s the son of a better-known singer-songwriter, whose surname is also Cohen, and whose first name is Leonard. For some people, that’s all they need to know – they’re not too fussed about the music, they just want to warm themselves in front of the genetic radiator that is Adam. Sometimes, for reasons Adam can actually understand, these people shout out the titles of his father’s songs in the hope that he will sing them. It’s true – you really can’t keep all of the people happy all of the time.

“I don’t want to speak disparagingly about the wonderful, faithful, loving and terribly encouraging fans that I was lucky enough to have on my side,” says Adam, without a hint of sarcasm. “But here has been an incredible amount of disappointment written on people’s faces – and swift judgment levied on me – for not resembling my father enough for their tastes. Now, I don’t begrudge them that position, yet they were often unforgiving. The geometric axiom by which it was judged was very much Leonard Cohen-based. And that’s okay – I am who I am.”

He is, indeed, yet does he ever get fed up talking about dear old Leonard? “It can be challenging sometimes,” is the diplomatic reply. On a scale of one to 10, then, how difficult is it being the son of your father? “Well, unless certain documents prove that I was actually adopted, I choose to look at it as an amazing blessing.

“I can safely say I’ve inherited from a wonderful genetic pool terribly privileged circumstances. And, of course, encouragement and instruction from someone’s filial devotion who happens to be a master.”

Yet it’s been something of an uphill struggle. Initially signed to Columbia in 1997, Adam veered from much-vaunted star on that label to being dropped. He subsequently signed to Capitol Canada, but record releases have proven sporadic. His music career, says he, has been “incredibly tumultuous, challenging, surprising and unpredictable, yet with little parcels of delicious encouragement.” Dig a little deeper and Adam will also admit that “for the most part it’s been a beast very much out of my control. It’s been tumultuous because I’ve experienced many ups and downs. It has been unpredictable because where success came I could never have imagined. I was always envious of people who had careers, somewhere, anywhere. And lo and behold, southeast Asia and Canada were pretty much the only places where I received streams of royalty and income and demand for me as a live act.”

Cohen seems somewhat more in control at this point; a new album, Like a Man, arrives six years after his previous solo (French language) album, Mèlancholista. He had, he says (although sighs is perhaps the better word), essentially quit the music business.

“I had become quite disillusioned, and the songs on this new record reflect my recovery from oblivion. My relationship with music right now is one of restoration, reclaiming a position, voice and a need to be part of something I left years ago.”

Cohen plays a few dates in Ireland this week as part of a two-month European tour. There is a distinct sense from him of making up for lost or wasted time. “A wonderful set of circumstances arose that led me to be able to do this,” he reveals. “The first was the wonderful and unexpected resurgence of my father in the public eye, and his staggering, triumphant comeback. That was inspiring to me. The second was my leap into fatherhood, and third was the sobriety and courage that comes with wisdom and age.”

The words “sobriety” and “courage” tell perhaps more than we need to know, but such honesty is to be admired. A further pointer can be found on Cohen’s website, adamcohen.com, where he writes that, like many a son before him, he is now in the family business. One gets the impression that, whereas before there was conflict, now there is acceptance. How very zen that is.

“Yes, especially when the father enters into an age where he has to consider a successor. The new album is, in a way, my demonstration of my ability to tend to the family store.”

Adam Cohen performs at Spirit Store, Dundalk, Co Louth, tonight and Crawdaddy, Dublin, tomorrow. Like a Manis on general release