Lou Reed- Composer, The Island of Misfit Toys (2003)

www.loureed.org

Reed is a musician and composer who lives in New York. In 1996, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a founding member of The Velvet Underground. He has acted in and composed original scores for several films. In 1998 he was designated an AMERICAN MASTER by the award winning PBS documentary series. He received a Grammy for Best Long Form Documentary for Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart.  Reed was awarded the Chevalier Commander of Arts and Letters from the French Government.  Pass Thru Fire, a collection of lyrics, was published in the fall of 1999.  He collaborated with Robert Wilson on POEtry in which toured throughout the world in 2000-01, and the following year his Metal Machine Music and other electronic works were performed by the avant garde German music collective Zeitkratzer. His latest album, The Raven, is a complete reworking of POEtry, with a diverse list of guest artists including Steve Buscemi, David Bowie, Willem Dafoe, Ornette Coleman and Elizabeth Ashley.  Luciano Pavarotti invited Lou Reed to perform with him at the Pavarotti International 2002, in Modena, Italy . Recently, he collaborated with Laurie Anderson on an evening of words and music performed at selected European venues. In June 2003, BMG Heritage released NYC Man The Collection, a compilation of Reed's greatest hits spanning his days with The Velvet Underground through his current solo material - all selected and sequenced by Reed. Lou will have two books published this year, The Raven, based on text from the album, and Emotion in Action, a photography book.