Lou Reed, rock icon, dies at 71

Loud Reed, the punk-poet of rock-and-roll who profoundly influenced generations of musicians, has died aged 71.

NEW YORK //Lou Reed, the punk-poet of rock-and-roll who profoundly influenced generations of musicians as leader of the 1960s cult band Velvet Underground, has died at age 71.

Reed’s literary agent Andrew Wylie said the legendary musician, who remained a vital solo performer for decades afterwards, died Sunday morning in Southampton, New York, of an ailment related to his recent liver transplant.

Reed never approached the commercial success of such contemporaries as the Beatles and Bob Dylan, but no songwriter to emerge after Dylan so radically expanded the territory of rock lyrics. And no band did more than the Velvet Underground to open rock music to the avant-garde – to experimental theatre, art, literature and film, to William Burroughs and Kurt Weill, to John Cage and Andy Warhol, Reed’s early patron and longtime inspiration.

* Associated Press