Anjani Thomas (born July 10, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist, best known for her work with singer-songwriter

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

, as well as Carl Anderson, Frank Gambale, and Stanley Clarke. She became a solo artist in 2000.

Life

Anjani was born in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, Hawaii, where she trained in guitar, piano and voice. She attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

for a year then moved to New York City to a pursue a music career. She performed in jazz clubs before meeting producer John Lissauer, who hired her to provide backup vocals on

's influential song " Hallelujah" from '' Various Positions''. Anjani went on to tour with Cohen in 1985, as his keyboardist and backup vocalist, and worked with Cohen for many years after, lending her talents to '' I'm Your Man'', '' The Future'', '' Dear Heather'' and '' Old Ideas''. Anjani launched a solo career with ''Anjani'' in 2000 followed by ''The Sacred Names'' in 2001 – an ode to the Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew

names of God There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various Quality (philosophy), qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word ''God (word), god'' (and its equivalent in other languages) is used by multiple religions as a noun to ref ...

. In 2006, Cohen contributed lyrics and production talents to Anjani's music and arrangements for '' Blue Alert'' on Columbia Records. The song "Blue Alert" was used in a 2007 Old Navy TV spot. In 2011, Anjani began working on a follow-up to '' Blue Alert'', which continued the collaboration with

on three new songs. The new record, '' I Came to Love'', was released in download-only form in July 2014.

Discography

* ''Anjani'' (Little Fountain Music, 2000) * ''The Sacred Names'' (Little Fountain Music, 2001) * '' Blue Alert'' ( Columbia, 2006) * ''I Came to Love'' (2014)

References

External links

Official site
interview at Music Box, April 2007

at Leonard Cohen's site {{DEFAULTSORT:Anjani 1959 births Living people Musicians from Honolulu Writers from Honolulu 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American pianists American women singer-songwriters American women jazz singers American jazz singers American jazz pianists American women pianists 20th-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women musicians Singer-songwriters from Hawaii