Biography of Late Music Icon Lou Reed Coming Soon

By: Caryn Robbins Nov. 18, 2013

A biography of music legend Lou Reed has been announced by Little, Brown and Co. publishers, according to Billboard.com. Rolling Stone critic Anthony DeCurtis, who interviewed the artist on numerous occasions will pen the biography.

Little, Brown describes the project as offering "the inside story" of the well know artist. No title or release have been revealed. Reed passed away on Oct. 27 at age 71. He was known for such songs as "Walk On the Wild Side," "Heroin" and "Pale Blue Eyes."

On his own and as the leader of the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed created a daring body of work that proved rock & roll could be art. He was best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his solo career, which spanned several decades. Though the Velvet Underground were a commercial failure in the late 1960s, the group has gained a considerable cult following in the years since its demise and has gone on to become one of the most widely cited and influential bands of the era.

After his departure from the group, Reed began a solo career in 1972. He had a hit the following year with "Walk on the Wild Side", although he subsequently lacked the mainstream commercial success its chart status seemed to indicate. In 1975, Reed released a double album of feedback loops, Metal Machine Music, upon which he later commented, "No one is supposed to be able to do a thing like that and survive." Reed was known for his distinctive deadpan voice, poetic lyrics and for pioneering and coining the term Ostrich guitar.

Reed contributed vocals to the track "The Wanderlust" on Metric's 2012 album Synthetica. He was a well known supported of the Free Tibet movement. In 2008, Reed married performance artist Laurie Anderson.