Lou Reed: The King of New York

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The most complete and penetrating biography of the rock master Lou Reed. Since his death ten years ago, Lou Reed's stature and living presence have only grown. The great rock-poet presided over the marriage of Brill Building pop and the European avant-garde, and left American culture transfigured. In Lou- A New York Life, the critic Will Hermes offers the definitive narrative of Reed's life and legacy, dramatizing his long, brilliant, and contentious dialogue with fellow artists from David Bowie to Andy Warhol. Will explore his craft as a singer and songwriter with the Velvet Underground as well as the gift for self-sabotage he took from his mentor Delmore Schwartz. This is a portrait of a committed artist who pursued beauty and noise with equal fervour and a man who left a lasting emotional imprint the world over.

Reviews

Meticulous yet vivid . . . Hermes expertly conjures the difference scenes Reed inhabited, placing him amid a rich cast of collaborators, friends and lovers * Guardian *
A sympathetic portrait of a vastly talented but difficult man * Mojo *
No matter how well you know the man and his music, theres so much more to him thats never been revealed until now. This book has the menace and allure of Reeds finest work * Rolling Stone *
Plenty has been written about Reed, but only Hermes, to my mind, has gotten Reeds peculiar balance, of person and poseur, exactly right . . . This biography is as beautifully researched as it is written * The Washington Post *
Fans will likely devour many of these stories and want to live inside of them * The Atlantic *
Through his all-encompassing focus on Lou, Will Hermes serves up a big slice of late 20th-century New York art history. This is an extraordinary achievement. -- Michael Imperioli, author of THE PERFUME BURNED HIS EYES
There have been many biographies of Lou Reed, but Will Hermes has written the definitive life. He has probed into every corner, talked to people the others overlooked, dug up every last clipping and tape, but above all he has brought to the assignment a sharp eye, a clear head, a lucid prose style, and a determination to let Lou be Lou, without judgement -- Lucy Sante, author of LOW LIFE
Can literature change your life Yes ... along came Will Hermes, who cost me several hundred pounds on iTunes and ruptured my relationship with guitars -- Nick Hornby * Believer magazine *
As in his magisterial Love Goes to Buildings on Fire, Will Hermes again tracks the traces of time in New York City, but now focusing in on one pulse, the scorching light that was Lou Reed. He chronicles the past that made this artist and the future he helped call into being our own, especially the expansive senses of gender and sexuality that Reed longed for and sang about, but never got to benefit from fully. Hermes's empathy for the pain behind his subject's notoriously difficult personality is worthy of the humanity of Reed's songs, and I couldn't offer higher praise -- Carl Wilson, author of LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE
Hermes shrewdly probes Reed's complex personal and professional life . . . Hermes' strength is in identifying and articulating the transformational brilliance of Reed's songwriting and performances within the context of the 1960s and '70s music scene. Reverent about his artistry, he's also discerningly cognizant of Reed's temperamental shortcomings . . . An engrossing, fully dimensional portrait of an influential yet elusive performer * Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review *

Author Bio

Will Hermes is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, a longtime contributor to NPR's All Things Considered and The New York Times, and the author of Love Goes to Buildings on Fire and Lou Reed- The King of New York. He also writes for Pitchfork and other publications, and was co-editor of SPIN- 20 Years of Alternative Music.