Leonard Cohen has died aged 82, his record label has announced.

The influential Canadian singer and songwriter’s career spanned five decades, and last month he released his fourteenth studio album.

Sony Music Canada confirmed his death on the singer’s Facebook page.

“It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away,” the statement read.

“We have lost one of music's most revered and prolific visionaries. A memorial will take place in Los Angeles at a later date. The family requests privacy during their time of grief.”

No cause of death has been given as yet.

He is among his generation’s most celebrated musicians, and before his move into music had already found success as a poet and novelist.

He moved to New York in 1966 aged 31 to break into the music business.

Before long, critics were comparing him to Bob Dylan for the lyrical power of his songwriting.

Although he influenced many musicians and won many honours, including induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada, Mr Cohen rarely made the pop music charts with his dark brand of folk-rock.

His most famous song, “Hallelujah,” in which he invoked the biblical King David and drew parallels between physical love and a desire for spiritual connection, has been covered hundreds of times since he released it in 1984.

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Mr Cohen had publicly spoken of his “proximity” to death in a profile for the New Yorker in October.

In the interview he said: “I am ready to die. I hope it’s not too uncomfortable. That’s about it for me.”