Lou Reed, the founder of the seminal avant-garde band The Velvet Underground who influenced a generation of rock stars, died Sunday at 71.
No official cause of death was announced, but the hard-living icon underwent a liver transplant in May.
Reed, who once said his goal was to write the Great American Novel in the form of a record album, did just that in an extensive solo catalog that incorporated every sound from sledgehammer guitars to the sweet 1950s harmonies he later said gave romance to the nights of his youth.
Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesReed is best known for 1973 hit 'Walk on the Wild Side,' but his body of work over a nearly 50-year career often defied categorization.
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The Brooklyn-born Reed grew up in Freeport, but New York was the canvass on which he painted much of his music. His 1989 album New York was one of the most admired of his career, looking back on the turbulent 80s through a lens of wry humor and measured anger that called out the likes of Rudy Giuliani, the NRA, subway shooter Bernhard Goetz and the decades Republican presidents.
Reed was one of the few artists who meant it when he said he was unconcerned with the commercial appeal of his music.
REUTERS/Miguel VidaLou Reed performs in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, in July 16, 2004.
His only pop radio hit was Walk on the Wild Side, the 1973 tune that looked back on his days in Andy Warhols sex- and drug-drenched demimonde. The David Bowie-produced song reached No. 16 on the national charts, despite a reference to oral sex.
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In the version sent to radio stations, RCA edited out a 25-second segment with a passing reference to oral sex. Album radio and eventually all radio soon were routinely playing the original version.
Gijsbert Hanekroot/RedfernsLou Reed smokes just a cigarette in Amsterdam in 1976.
Reed often said he took delight in defying expectations for his music, which drew on jazz, classical, pop, rock n roll and a wide range of experimental sounds.
He later said he was frustrated by the success of the LP Transformer because he felt it boxed him into playing songs like Wild Side when he wanted to move on.
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Ebet Roberts/RedfernsPals Andy Warhol, left, and Lou Reed at a David Johansen show.
So two years later, he recorded the double album Metal Machine Music, consisting almost entirely of audio feedback, in what he called an effort to wipe his slate clean.
New York, 14 years later, was back-to-basics rock n roll. Conversely, the 2007 Hudson River Wind Meditations was all instrumental.
The eclectic music legend was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of the Velvet Underground, in 1996. He is not in the Hall as a solo artist.
Chris Felver/Getty ImagesReed in 1997: The musician went to launch a solo career in 1972, spanning several more decades.
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Unlike many artists, including Bowie, Reed did not scorn the Hall. He had previously appeared at a dinner there in 1989 to induct Dion, whose early New York street harmonies he called one of musics great treasures.
During a 1986 Paul Simon benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, Reed joined Simon, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor and others to sing backup vocals for Dion on Teenager in Love.
Michael Ochs Archives1969: (L-R) Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale and Maureen 'Moe' Tucker of the rock 'n' roll band The Velvet Underground pose for a portrait in circa 1969.
These guys couldnt wait to do it, Dion said later. They all grew up in the 50s wanting to be the Belmonts.
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Dion returned the favor to Reed in 1989, singing backup vocals on New York.
Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesThe Velvet Underground was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 by Patti Smith.
Because Reeds musical output was so diverse, it was hard to pin him down in any one style. He also was never a classic singer, learning more to talk rhythmically.
Wherever he fit in the musical pantheon, Rolling Stone in its obituary Sunday called him massively influential.
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Richard Corkery / New York Daily NewsDavid Bowie (left) and Lou Reed: Reed's work influenced much of the Rock 'n' roll scene from the 1960s and on.
But the road from troubled youth to rock icon was a long one. While a teenager, Reed was given electroshock treatments in hopes they would cure his bisexuality. His 1974 song Kill Your Sons was based on that unpleasant experience.
Reed played and sang in several rock and rhythm and blues bands in high school. In the fall of 1960 he started at Syracuse University, where he hosted a late-night radio show and befriended poet Delmore Schwartz.
He dedicated several songs to Schwartz over the years and credited the poet with helping him crystallize a vision of literature fused with rock music.
Tom Meinelt/Splash NewsJune 6: Lou Reed seen for the first time in NYCs West Village since receiving a liver transplant in May.The cause of his death is unknown.
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Reed moved to New York when he graduated in 1964 and took a job as a songwriter for Pickwick Records, where he scored a minor hit with the dance parody The Ostrich.
During that recording process he met Welsh musician John Cale. They eventually formed the Velvet Underground with Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker.
Splash NewsLou Reed, wife Laurie Anderson and their dog seen in Tribeca in June.
The group caught the attention of Andy Warhol, who designed the famous Banana cover of their self-titled album with singer Nico.
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The album proved more influential than popular, though it carved an enduring niche in rock n roll history.
The band itself was never terribly stable, owing to creative tension, drugs and other factors. Reed left in August 1970.
He worked briefly as a typist at his fathers accounting firm before signing a solo deal with RCA.
After Transformer and Metal Machine Music, his records ranged from an album based on Edgar Allan Poe to the 1987 Songs for Drella, in which he reunited with Cale for a tribute to their late friend Warhol.
Reed was a regular performer for much of his career, appearing at events from the first Farm Aid in 1985 to a 2000 concert for Pope John Paul II and the Jazz Foundation of Americas 2009 Great Night in Harlem.
He married British designer Sylvia Morales in 1980. They divorced around 1994 and he began seeing musician Laurie Anderson. The two were married in 2008 and she survives him.
dhinckley@nydailynews.com
Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/lou-reed-velvet-underground-musician-dead-71-article-1.1498187
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