Orion to Publish 'Wild Side: The Life and Death of Lou Reed' by Mick Wall, Dec. 5

Orion will publish a biography of the late singer-songwriter Lou Reed by rock writer Mick Wall.

Non-fiction editorial director Jane Sturrock bought world rights in Wild Side: The Life and Death of Lou Reed from Robert Kirby at United Agents, with a publication date of 5th December.

In a blog on October 13, Wall said:

For learning about the glory of love there is no one better to listen to than Lou Reed. Not just the title track of his Coney Island Baby album but the real gut-tearing live version on Take No Prisoners. I heard him do it live before that and it was great - you know, really moving - yet it never came within an asteroid belt of the same universe the TNP version lives in.

Amazing how already the canonisation of Uncle Lou has begun. People are even talking about Lulu is 'refreshed' terms. (Please don't bother mailing me how much you still hate it, do I look like I'll be listening to anyone else about that particular masterpiece?) Not only that but his sales are suddenly going through the roof. Turns out he really was the Van Gough of the rock generation - critical dead meat in his lifetime, buried treasure waiting to be discovered in death.

And here I was trying to show everyone the map all these years, all the way back to Transformer, right Frankie? Right, Pete, Sandy and whoever else was there sneering at me that night late in 197? I tried to tell them how in years to come we'd be talking about The Bells and Growing Up In Public the same way we later did about the VU?

Right. Not that I'm one to say told you so. Except when it comes to Lou, who always enjoyed telling us that.

Wild Side will be a £14.99 hardback and £7.99 e-book.

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