Lou Reed ✝

After leaving the band in 1970, Reed released twenty solo studio albums. His second, Transformer (1972), was produced by David Bowie and arranged by Mick Ronson, and brought mainstream recognition. After Transformer, the less commercial Berlin reached No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart. Rock n Roll Animal (a live album released in 1974) sold strongly, and Sally Can\'t Dance (1974) peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200, but for a period Reed\'s work did not translate into sales, leading him deeper into drug addiction and alcoholism. Reed cleaned up in the early 80s, and gradually returned to prominence with New Sensations (1984), reaching a critical and commercial later career peak with his 1989 album New York.\n', ' Reed participated in a revival of the Velvet Underground in the 1990s, and made several more albums, including a tribute to his mentor Andy Warhol. He contributed music to two theatrical interpretations of 19th-century writers, one of which he developed into an album. He married his third wife Laurie Anderson in 2008, and recorded the album Lulu with Metallica. He died in 2013 of liver disease. Reed\'s distinctive deadpan voice, poetic lyrics and experimental guitar playing were trademarks throughout his long career.\n', ' Lewis Allan Reed was born on March 2, 1942 at Beth El Hospital (now Brookdale) in Brooklyn and grew up in Freeport, Long Island.[nb 1] Reed was the son of Toby (née Futterman) (1920–2013) and Sidney Joseph Reed (1913–2005), an accountant. His family was Jewish; his father had changed his name from Rabinowitz to Reed. Reed said that although he was Jewish, his real god was rock \'n\' roll.\n', '