Rocker Lou Reed Dies at 71 [CNN]

Lou Reed, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and overall “rock pioneer,” has died. He was 71 years old and the news of his passing is confirmed by his publicist Peter Noble in a brief statement to CNN.

Noble says that Reed died this past Sunday, but doesn’t offer more details on that. This summer, Reed had revealed to the media that he had undergone a liver transplant shortly before, in May.

As we speak, mourning fans, friends and fellow musicians (and celebrities in general) are rushing to pay their respects to a man who redefined the rock genre with his fearlessness and creativity.

“Lou Reed's influence is one that there are really only a tiny handful of other figures who you can compare to him,” Simon Vozick-Levinson, a senior editor at Rolling Stone, says for CNN.

&ldquo ;He spoke incredibly frankly about the realities of being an artist, being a person who lived life on one's own terms. He didn't prettify things. He didn't sugarcoat things. He showed life as it really is and that's something that made him a true original, and one of our great all-time artists,” he adds.

Lou will be missed.