What if Leonard Cohen had a head start?

Leonard Cohen reached adulthood and chose to write poetry and novels at a time when it was unusual for singers to write their own songs. Not so long later, in 1962, the singer-songwriter was co-introduced by the Beatles and Bob Dylan. Now I know there were singer-songwriters before then, but less prominent.
But if Leonard Cohen had begun his musical career, say, in his early twenties, he would have had a head start on introducing the singer-songwriter and in putting poetry into music.
 
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If Len gets to be a star in the early 60s, I would say that kills his art (one of the worst things that happened to Dylan was getting so famous at a young age). It was crucial to Len's work that he came at it with some degree of maturity under his belt.
 
But Leonard's first work was a book of poetry written back in 1956. He did write books that were published when he was at that young age.
 
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