Lou Reed
From a New York Times report:
Lou Reed, the singer, songwriter and guitarist whose work with the Velvet Underground in the 1960s had an impact on generations of rock musicians, and who remained a powerful if polarizing force for the rest of his life, died on Sunday at his home in Southampton, N.Y., on Long Island. He was 71.
The cause was liver disease, said Dr. Charles Miller of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, where Mr. Reed had liver transplant surgery earlier this year and was being treated again until a few days ago.
Dr. Miller said Mr. Reed decided to return to New York after the doctors could no longer treat his end-stage liver disease. “He died peacefully, with his loved ones around him,” Dr. Miller said. “We did everything we could,” added Dr. Miller, the director of the hospital’s liver transplant program. “He really wanted to be at home.”
Sober since the 1980s, Mr. Reed was a practitioner of Tai Chi. “Lou was fighting right up to the very end,” Dr. Miller said. “He was doing his Tai Chi exercises within an hour of his death, trying to keep strong and keep fighting.”
Mr. Reed is survived by his wife, the composer and performance artist Laurie Anderson.
***********************
More on the life & death of Lou Reed:
“Lou Reed, Beloved Contrarian, Dies”
“Lou Reed, longtime influential rock star, dead at 71”
“Was Lou Reed the First Out Rock Star?”