Cohen, cantor, choir combine to win Grammy for best rock performance

There was never any doubt. Right?

Of course, the late Leonard Cohen, Montreal cantor Gideon Zelermyer and the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue choir would win the Grammy Award on Sunday for Best Rock Performance for their collaboration on You Want It Darker, the first track on Cohen’s 14th and final album of the same name.

Zelermyer, the magnificent tenor behind that towering, operaticlike rendering on the chorus, was left nearly speechless after hearing the announcement in a ceremony prior to the main 60th annual Grammy Awards presentation at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“This is just so surreal,” Zelermyer said. “A Grammy Award — that is beyond my wildest dreams. I just let out a scream when I heard it announced. I hadn’t been this nervous since my bar mitzvah.

“Sure, it’s such a thrill for the choir, myself and Adam (Cohen’s son, who produced the album). But, first and foremost, it’s a great honour for Leonard. His life accomplishments speak for themselves. He had received a Lifetime Achievement Award, but the one thing that he never won was a Grammy Award for his own work. It’s very bittersweet.”

Zelermyer et al. beat out far more traditional rockers for the Grammy: the late Chris Cornell (The Promise), the Foo Fighters (Run), Kaleo (No Good) and Nothing More (Go to War).

The Cohen album also netted a second Grammy nomination for the tune Steer Your Way for Best American Roots Performance, but it came up short in that category.

“This is just such an unbelievable capstone to such an unbelievable and unexpected experience I had with Leonard,” said Zelermyer, 42.

“The relationship, the collaboration, the funeral, the memorials, the tribute concerts, and now this.”