The music industry mourns a great loss as rock icon Lou Reed died at age 71 in South Hampton, New York. Born Lewis Allen Reed, the singer/songwriter founded the legendary band the Velvet Under Ground in 1965. Reed left behind wife singer Laurie Anderson. While Reed was said to have been doing Tai Chi exercises within an hour of his passing, the cause of death was complications following the liver transplant Reed underwent May. This procedure was due to the years of drug abuse Reed chronicled in this song writing, which dealt with dark subjects like drug addiction during a time where peace and love ruled the air waves.
Often viewed as being punk rock before the term existed, the band was taken under the wing of artist Andy Warhol and became the sound track to the New York art scene and counter culture. Reed was a musical innovator, beating Hendrix to the punch when it came to the use of distortion to bring a more sonic to music and could be crowned as the Godfather of indie rock.
Brain Eno of Roxy Music was once quoted as saying, "The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band." While this statement is a good summary of impact their music had, the band and Reeds solo work earn radio airplay with songs like "Take a Walk on the Wild Side", "Sweet Jane" and "White Light/ White Heat." Patti Smith inducted the band into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and their first four albums are on Rolling Stone Magazines' top 500 Greatest Albums list.
Reactions to Reed's death have rippled across celebrities' social media pages as David Bowie, who produced Reed's second solo album, posted a picture of the duo on together on his Facebook page, with the caption: "He was a master." Velvet Underground bassist John Cale posted on Facebook: "The world has lost a fine songwriter and poet ... I've lost my 'school-yard buddy'" Iggy Pop tweeted that Reed's death was "devastating," and Sonic Youth Bassist Kim Gordon tweeted: "So sorry to hear of Lou Reed's passing this is a huge shock" Other celebrity tributes have surfaced online from Miley Cyrus, Salman Rushdie, Samuel Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, Ricky Gervasis, Ryan Adams and Elijah Wood.
Unfortunately Reed's last album he released was the critically panned collaboration with Metallica called "Lulu" in 2011, though the following year he contributed vocals to the Metric album Synthetica. To his credit despite success or failures, Reed was not sitting idly back and resting on his former glories, he continued to experiment and push forward in working with relevant artists
