Lou Reed, one of Rock’s most influential figures, has died in New York just months after having a liver transplant. He was 71-years old.
Lou Reed was first heard as lead singer of New York’s Velvet Underground. He became part of Andy Warhol’s New York inner-circle and a friend of David Bowie, who produced his classic 1972 solo record ‘Transformer’ featuring his greatest hit ‘Walk On The Wild Side’.
Reed was born Lewis Allan Reed on March 2, 1942. In 2008 at his keynote address at the SXSW music conference in Austin he gave an insight into his songwriting he responded, “People always want to know, ‘How do you write a song?’ I don’t know. I’ve wanted to know, too. If I could have done it, I would have had ‘Son of [Walk on the] Wild Side’ and I would own an island in the Caribbean. But I don’t know how to do it or how it works or why it works or what it has to do with anything.”
He said his ability to write about the dark side was because “I have a B.A. in dope — and a Ph.D. in soul”.
Reed formed The Velvet Underground with John Cale in 1964. A lot of Reed’s live standards including ‘’Sweet Jane’, ‘Rock and Roll’, ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’ and ‘Heroin’ came originally from the band.
Reed quit the Velvet Underground in 1970 and recorded his first solo album ‘Lou Reed’ a year later with Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman of Yes as session musicians.
However it was the next one ‘Transformer’ that put him on the international map as a solo artist. Produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson and featuring jazz arrangement from Herbie Flowers, the album cemented Reed’s reputation as one of the greatest recording artists and performers of all-time with songs like ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ and ‘Perfect Day’.
Reed never set out to have hits and as a result never did but his songs painted realist backdrop of a drug infested New York few got to see. His 1989 album ‘New York’ is a must have record.
Reed’s last album was the diabolical ‘Lulu’ recorded with Metallica in 2011. The critics and fans panned it but that didn’t stop it going all the way to Number 4 in Croatia.
Lou Reed was married to New York singer/songwriter/artist Laurie Anderson. They married in 2008. It was Reed’s second marriage. He was previous married to designer Sylvia Morales.
