In brief
Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942 – October 27, 2013), known professionally as Lou Reed, was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and poet whose work chronicled the underbelly of urban life through stark, unfiltered lyrics.
Lou Reed was born Lewis Allan Reed on March 2, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York City, to Sidney Joseph Reed, a tax accountant of Jewish descent whose family had changed its surname from Rabinowitz, and Toby Futterman Reed, a former secretary and beauty contest winner who became a full-time homemaker. The family's middle-class status reflected the socioeconomic stability common among urban Jewish households in the early post-World War II era, supported by Sidney's steady professional income amid broader economic recovery and growth.
Photographs
Hero photograph: Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons
