Lou Reed—the American singer, songwriter and guitarist for the New York City rock ’n’ roll band The Velvet Underground—died October 27 of end-stage liver disease, The New York Times reports. He was 71. Reed had been undergoing treatment after a liver transplant he received earlier this year. He is critically acclaimed for bringing dark, suggestive themes, aggression and deliberate alienation to rock music in the 1960s and is considered a major influence on several generations and genres of music today.

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