Iconic musician Lou Reed has been hailed as everything from a lyrical genius and founder of the noise scene to one of the most hated men in music. Whatever you think of him, there’s no denying this controversial singer-songwriter’s influence on rock ‘n’ roll as we know it today.

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Lou Reed first rose to fame as a founding member of the Andy Warhol-backed band, The Velvet Underground. This was after a tumultuous childhood, where his parents even subjected him to electroshock therapy to control his wayward behavior. As a result of this trauma, he spent his university years in a haze of heroin, alcohol, and marijuana. Despite this, Reed was still seen as “very smart” by his professors and graduated quickly.

Though now heralded as one of the most important groups of the 1960s, The Velvet Underground was seen as too avant-garde to become a commercial success. This was a theme that would plague Lou Reed his entire musical life. It wasn’t until his work caught the eye of a particular rising British star named David Bowie that he embarked on a solo career that would last into the next millennium. Throughout the 70s, Reed’s star simultaneously shone bright–with hit albums like “Transformer,” “Rock n Roll Animal,” and “Sally Can’t Dance”–and crashed. Remember “Metal Machine Music?” It was panned by critics and fans at the time, though Reed later said it was among his favorite works.

Lou Reed had been trying to clean up his act healthwise since the late 1970s, but eventually, his hard-knock life caught up with him. In 2013, he passed away from complications of liver cancer. He was 71 years old. Laurie Anderson, Reed’s wife at the time of his death, said that he spent his final days surrounded by nature. She reminisced about him “doing the famous 21 forms of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air.” The ancient Chinese martial art was something he’d practiced for half of his life and become a master at.

Despite the aging rocker’s notorious reputation as a wholly unlikeable man, tributes poured in for Lou Reed from fans, celebrities, and collaborators around the world. People like former band member John Cale, comedian Ricky Gervais, and music journalist Charles Shaar Murray universally said their lives would not be the same without his musical genius to influence them.

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Lou Reed Suffered a Truly Tragic Fate

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