Sylvie Simmons is a London-born, San Francisco based music journalist, named as a "principal player" in Paul Gorman's book on the history of the rock music press In Their Own Write (Sanctuary Publishing, 2001). A widely regarded writer and rock historian, she is one of very few women to be included among the predominantly male rock elite. She is also the author of a number of books, including biography and cult fiction.
In 2010 her liner notes for the CD/DVD Leonard Cohen: Live at the Isle of Wight (Sony) won her an ASCAP Deems-Taylor Award.[2] Her interview with Tom Waits featured in Tom Waits on Tom Waits (Chicago Review Press, 2010) and, the same year, Simmons made an appearance in the film The Mighty Uke: The Amazing Comeback of a Musical Underdog. Simmons worked on her major biography of Leonard Cohen for most of the three-year period from 2009 to 2012.
I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen was published in September 2012. There are 14 foreign-language editions of the book. A New York Times best-seller, the book received extremely favorable reviews in the US and was named best biography of the year (2012) by NPR's All Things Considered. I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen was also an international best-seller.
In September 2012, Simmons began an unconventional book tour. Traveling across America and then the world with her book and a ukulele, she talked about Leonard Cohen, read from the books and performed his songs – often accompanied by different guest musicians in each town. Her performances were not only in bookstores, libraries and literary festivals, but in rock music nightclubs, record stores, churches, synagogues, and at museums and folk festivals, including the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.
Sylvie has also been playing concerts featuring her own songs, also accompanied by the ukulele. She recorded an album at Wavelab Studio in Tucson, AZ titled Sylvie and produced by Howe Gelb/Giant Sand and signed a recording contract with Light In The Attic Records. The album - her debut album - is released in the US, UK and Europe in October. It has earned glowing praise from Brian Wilson (Beach Boys) and Devendra Banhart.
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