Beloved music icon Lou Reed, whose career spanned nearly 50 years and countless classics, died Sunday at 71 years old, according to Rolling Stone. A cause of death has not yet been announced, though Reed underwent a liver transplant in May.
Taking heroin chic to the masses with Velvet Underground in the ’60s, Reed made a name for himself with startling honesty wrapped in a relentlessly uncompromising poetic creativity. Challenging, unpredictable and never safe in his creative choices, Reed was pushing his own borders until the very end. Velvet Underground’s debut LP The Velvet Underground & Nico is a landmark album that’s widely regarded as one of the most influential records of all time.
Reed specialized in taking musical chances. He most popularly collaborated with Gorillaz in recent years, and infamously paired with Metallica on a 2011 collaborative album called Lulu. He captivated audiences even when assessing the work of others, such as when gave his own spin on Kanye West’s Yeezus with a personally penned review that provided a unique interpretation of the controversial rapper’s latest release.
Lewis Allan “Lou” Reed was born in Brooklyn, in 1942.
