Biographic - Sunday October 28, 2018 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Five years ago this weekend, Lou Reed- the man hailed by many as one of the Godfathers of Punk- succombed to liver disease at the age of 71. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 2, 1942, Lou Reed worked for a number of years as a staff songwriter and ghost artist for Pickwick records, recording low-budget cash-in discs for sale in supermarkets, Reed almost had a hit in the New York area with "Th Ostrich" to perform the record, the label formed the band The Primitives. Welsh musician John Cale was a member of The Primitives, and he subsequently teamed up wiht Reed, Sterling Morrison and Angus MacLise to form The Velvet Underground, MacLise soon dropped out and was replaced by Moe Tucker. The group captured the interest of Andy Warhol, who took on management duties and made them part of his exploding plastic inevitable art and performance collective. Warhol pushed them to add German model Nico, with an iconic banana print sleeve designed by Warhol, was a commercial flop- but is now acclaimed as one of the most influential albums in rock history. After the band parted company with Warhol and Nico, creative tensions saw Cale replaced by Doug Yule. Reed quit in 1970, leaving The Velvet Underground to limp onward, finally disbanding in 1973. After a spell living back with his parents and working as a typist at his dad's accounting firm, Lou embarked on a solo career. The 1972 album "Transformer" produced by David Bowie, took him from cult sttus to rock stardom, propelled by tracks such as the hit single "Walk On The Wild Side" and "Perfect Day." His excesses were the stuff of legend in the 1970s, and his esoteric output- laterly hailed as pioneering- was roundly derided. But by the '80s he had mellowed, and he enjoyed commercial success once more. By the time The Velvet Underground was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, he had found a kindred spirit in musicial Laurie Anderson. They married in 2008. Lou died of liver failure in 2013, he was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame in his own right in 2015.

Tags