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28 Oct 2013

Oh Lou, why did you leave us this way?

David Bowie, Morrissey and John Cale lead tributes to pioneering musician, Lou Reed, who fronted influential rock band the Velvet Underground.

Reed, who collaborated with pop artist Andy Warhol, died at his Long Island home aged 71, following complications from a liver transplant earlier this year.

Lou Reed in pictures: You made me forget myself

Formed by Reed and classically trained Welsh-born musician John Cale in the mid-1960s as an experiment in avant-garde rock, the Velvet Underground gained Warhol’s notice soon after hitting the New York club scene.

While the band never achieved great commercial success, it revolutionized rock in the 1960s and 70s with a mixture of thrashing guitar licks and smooth melodies sung by Reed or the German model Nico.

‘A master’

Fellow avant-garde rocker David Bowie, who helped produce Reed’s second solo album and is often cited as one of his greatest musical heirs, posted a picture of the two recording stars together on his Facebook page, saying of his old friend: “He was a master.”

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Post by David Bowie (Official).

Cale, who played bass, organ and viola in the Velvets and had an often-fractious relationship with Reed, said on his Facebook page: “The world has lost a fine songwriter and poet … I’ve lost my ‘school-yard buddy’.”

Reed and Cale put aside their differences to release a tribute album to Warhol in 1990 called “Songs for Drella.” That album led to a handful of reunion performances by members of the Velvet Underground’s original line-up – rounded out by guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker – in the early 1990s.

‘Life is a pigsty’

Morrissey wrote on the True To You website: “No words to express the sadness at the death of Lou Reed. He had been there all of my life.

“He will always be pressed to my heart. Thank God for those, like Lou, who move within their own laws, otherwise imagine how dull the world would be. I knew the Lou of recent years and he was always full of good heart. His music will outlive time itself.

“We are all timebound, but today, with the loss of liberating Lou, life is a pigsty.”

Here is how other celebrities and musicians paid tribute to the singer today;