Rock legend, Lou Reed, died Sunday morning, according to a report by Rolling Stone. The cause of his death has not yet been released, but it is known that the 71-year-old had a liver transplant back in May.

Reed was one of the founders for “The Velvet Underground” in the late 60s. Their album, “The Velvet Underground & Nico”, has been called on of the “most influential rock albums of all time”. Reed was a famous song writer with his most popular songs being “Rock & Roll,” “Sweet Jane” and “Walk on the Wild Side”.

Lewis (Lou) Allan Reed was born on March 2, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York. At an early age, by listening to doo-wop and early rock and roll singers from the 1950s, he quickly developed a love for music. After college, in 1964, he hooked up with guitarist, Sterling Morrison, and drummer, Maureen Tucker, to form “Velvet Underground”. The group lasted until 1970, when they released their final album, “Loaded”.

Reed later went solo and released his first solo album, “Transformer” in 1972. His song, “Walk on the Wild Side” from that album made it to number 16 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list.

The “Violet Underground” was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. However, Reed had not yet made it in on his solo endeavors. According to Rolling Stone, Reed “brought a whole new lyrical honesty to rock & roll poetry and glam, punk and alternative rock are all unthinkable without his revelatory example”.

Reed’s later work included his album “The Raven”, released in 2005, “Hudson River Win Meditations”, released in 2007, and a collaboration with Metallica on the album “Lulu” released in2011. Reed described all of his albums as chapters of a book of his life.

“All through this, I’ve always thought that if you thought of all of it as a book then you have the Great American Novel, every record as a chapter,” he told Rolling Stone in 1987. “They’re all in chronological order. You take the whole thing, stack it and listen to it in order, there’s my Great American Novel.”

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