Lou Reed, former lead singer of The Velvet Underground and an iconic solo artist, has died at the age of 71. No details have been shared yet about his death; however, Reed did have a liver transplant in May.
Reed was born in Brooklyn in 1942, studied at Syracuse–where his relationship with poet Delmore Schwartz influenced his career later as a musician–and moved back to New York City in the 1960s where he started The Velvet Underground with John Cale.
It was his work with the Velvets that helped propel Reed to stardom, as many consider his group’s 1967 album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, to be one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll albums of all time. Reed, through his work with The Velvets, Andy Warhol and as a solo artist, influenced generations of artists, not to mention entire genres of music, including glam and punk. He also pushed the boundaries of musical content throughout his career, peppering his work with allusions to the grimy Downtown New York City culture of the ’60s and ’70s, sex, drugs and avant-garde art. As a Hip-Hop side note, Reed’s “Take A Walk On The Wild Side” featured prominently as a sample in A Tribe Called Quest’s 1991 classic, “Can I Kick It?”
Recently, Reed collaborated with Metallica to make Lulu, which really only exists to exist, and was influential in political activist circles. He also lent his hand to reviewing Kanye West’s Yeezus when it released this year, which you can find here (unsurprisingly, he liked it). Below you’ll find “I’m Waiting For The Man,” one of The Velvet Underground’s most popular songs off The Velvet Underground & Nico.
Via: Rolling Stone
Photos: Getty