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 Frank Gambale ( ; born 22 December 1958) is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released twenty albums over a period of three decades, and is known for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques. Recording career Sol ...

, and

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jazz-fus ...

. 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 John Lissauer is an American composer, producer, and performer. At the age of 19, he arranged the first recordings of Al Jarreau. Lissauer went on to produce and arrange a pair of Leonard Cohen albums, including the song "Hallelujah" which was ...

, who hired her to provide backup vocals on

's influential song "

Hallelujah ''Hallelujah'' (; , Modern ) is an interjection from the Hebrew language, used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Tanakh (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, and four times in the Christ ...

" from ''

Various Positions ''Various Positions'' is the seventh studio album by Leonard Cohen, released in December 1984 (and February 1985). It marked not only his turn to a modern sound and use of synthesizers (particularly on the opening track), but also, after the harm ...

''. 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 The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently e ...

'', ''

Dear Heather ''Dear Heather'' is the 11th studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, released by Columbia Records in 2004. It was dedicated "in memory of Jack McClelland 1922-2004." Background The album features Cohen experimenting with differ ...

'' and ''

Old Ideas ''Old Ideas'' is the twelfth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, released in January 2012. It is Cohen's highest-charting release in the United States, reaching number 3 on the ''Billboard'' 200, 44 years after the release o ...

''. 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 Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay, San Francisco, Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of t ...

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