Rock Legend Lou Reed dies at 71 | Lou Reed Dead | Lou Reed Passed Away | Lou Reed No More | Lou Reed
Lou Reed, who took rock 'n'
roll into dark corners as a songwriter, vocalist and guitarist for the Velvet
Underground and as a solo artist, died Sunday, his publicist said. He was 71.
Just two days ago they played the song “Perfect day” on the radio. Who could
have imagined that today would be anything but perfect – a sad day for millions
of music fans throughout the world.
"Lou Reed's influence is
one that there are really only a tiny handful of other figures who you can
compare to him," said Simon Vozick-Levinson, a senior editor at Rolling
Stone. A few months ago, Reed’s wife, Laurie Anderson surprised the music world
and revealed that Reed underwent a life-saving liver transplant. “It’s as
serious as it gets. He was dying. You don’t get it for fun,” Anderson said at
the time. “He’ll never totally recover from this,” she added. She did, however,
expect him to be active within a few months.
Nevertheless, Rolling Stone
ranks the group's debut album, "The Velvet Underground and Nico," as
the 13th greatest of all time. Tunes like "Sweet Jane," from the
group's 1970 album "Loaded," have become rock standards. Reed was born
to a Jewish family in Brooklyn in 1942. His father Sydney was an accountant. As
a boy, the rebellious Reed was a like a virus in his conservative community,
which tried its best to restrain him. He underwent electric shock therapy,
meant to “cure” him of homosexual tendencies. In general, although Reed was one
of rock’s greatest writers, the man who perhaps more than any other brought
literature into rock and roll, he was a true believer in the power of sound,
and powerful rock. Like Bob Dylan, Reed resented, and justly so, the fact that
he was considered a good songwriter, and people seemed to forget that he was an
excellent musician as well.
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