Cohen started a career as a poet and novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s. Cohen did not start his music career until 1967, at the age of 33. His first album, "Songs of Leonard Cohen" (1967), was followed by three more albums of folk music: "Songs from a Room" (1969), "Songs of Love and Hate" (1971) and "New Skin for the Old Ceremony" (1974). 