Rock legend Lewis Allan “Lou” Reed passed away Sunday morning at the age of 71. His literary agent Andrew Wylie has confirmed that the he died from complications from his liver transplant earlier this year, and that he had been in frail health for months.
In June Reed’s wife Laurie Anderson spoke with the U.K. Times about her husband’s May surgery, saying that he was “dying” before the operation. She said at the time that the operation was very successful. “They put it [the new liver] in immediately and it started to work immediately,” she said. “Every week it gets better. I can imagine a world where you can get everything transplanted.”
His doctor Dr. Charles Miller spoke with the New York Times, saying that the singer had recently returned to the clinic and it was determined that he was in end stage liver failure, and it was time to stop treatment. “We all agreed that we did everything we could,” Dr. Miller told the newspaper.
His liver had started failing from from complications from Hepatitis C, a disease he acquired when he was using heroin intravenously.
Lou Reed’s contribution to music over the decades is immeasurable. He once said that all his music combined is kind of like a Great American Novel with each album a chapter. RIP Lou.
