The View may refer to:

• The View (U.S. TV series), an American morning talk and variety show
• The View (Irish TV series), an Irish television arts programme
• The View (band), a Scottish indie rock band from Dundee
• "The View", a song from Modest Mouse's album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News
• "The View", a song from the album Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed
• The View (Chad Wackerman album), a 1993 album by drummer Chad Wackerman
• The View, a 2003 EP by Canadian indie band Immaculate Machine
• The View , a 1999 album by American indie band Eureka Farm
• The View (Winchester), an exhibition space in Winchester, England

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Lou Reed
Lou Reed performing at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon in January 2004
Background information
Birth name	Lewis Allan Reed
Born	(1942-03-02) March 2, 1942 (age 70) Brooklyn, New York United States
Genres	Rock, experimental rock, art rock, protopunk, noise music, drone music, psychedelic rock, folk rock, glam rock, blue-eyed soul, spoken word
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer, photographer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, ostrich guitar, bass, synthesizer, keyboards, piano, harmonica, drums, percussion
Years active	1964–present
Labels	Matador, MGM, RCA, Sire, Reprise, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	The Velvet Underground, John Cale, Nico, David Bowie, The Killers, Mick Ronson, Gorillaz, Laurie Anderson, Peter Gabriel, Metallica.
Website	www.loureed.com

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed, born March 2, 1942, is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer.^[1] He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his solo career, which has spanned several decades. Though the Velvet Underground were a commercial failure in the late 1960s, the group has gained a considerable cult following in the years since its demise and has gone on to become one of the most widely cited and influential bands of the era.^[2] As the Velvet Underground's principal songwriter, Reed wrote about subjects of personal experience that rarely had been examined so openly in rock and roll, including sexuality and drug culture.

After his departure from the group, Reed began a solo career in 1971. He had a hit the following year with "Walk on the Wild Side", although he subsequently lacked the mainstream commercial success its chart status seemed to indicate.^[3] Reed's work as a solo artist frustrated critics wishing for a return of the Velvet Underground. In 1975, Reed released a double album of feedback loops, Metal Machine Music, upon which he later commented, "No one is supposed to be able to do a thing like that and survive."^[4]

In 2008, Reed married performance artist Laurie Anderson.^[5]

Early life[link]

Reed was born at Beth El Hospital in Brooklyn and grew up in Freeport, Long Island.^{[citation needed]} Contrary to some sources, his birth name was Lewis Allan Reed, not Louis Firbanks, a name that was coined as a joke by Lester Bangs in Creem magazine.^[6] Having learned to play the guitar from the radio, he developed an early interest in rock and roll and rhythm and blues, and during high school played in a number of bands.^[7] His first recording was as a member of a doo wop-style group called The Jades.

Reed as a high school senior, 1959

In 1956, Reed received electroconvulsive therapy as a teenager intended to cure his bisexuality; he wrote about the experience in his 1974 song, "Kill Your Sons."^[8] In an interview, Reed said of the experience:

"They put the thing down your throat so you don't swallow your tongue, and they put electrodes on your head. That's what was recommended in Rockland County to discourage homosexual feelings. The effect is that you lose your memory and become a vegetable. You can't read a book because you get to page 17 and have to go right back to page one again."

—Lou Reed quoted in Please Kill Me (1996)^[9]

Reed began attending Syracuse University in the fall of 1960, studying journalism, film directing, and creative writing. In 1961 he began hosting a late-night radio program on WAER called "Excursions On A Wobbly Rail."^[7] Named after a song by pianist Cecil Taylor, the program typically featured doo wop, rhythm and blues and jazz, particularly the free jazz developed in the mid-1950s.^[10] Many of Reed's guitar techniques, such as the guitar-drum roll, were inspired by jazz saxophonists, notably Ornette Coleman. Reed graduated from Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences with a B.A. in June 1964.^[8]

Poet Delmore Schwartz taught at Syracuse University and befriended Reed, who in 1966 dedicated the song "European Son," from the Velvet Underground's debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico, to Schwartz.^[11] In 1982, Reed recorded "My House" as a tribute to his late mentor. He later said that his goals as a writer were "to bring the sensitivities of the novel to rock music" or to write the Great American Novel in a record album.^[12]

Career[link]

Pickwick Records[link]

In 1964, Reed moved to New York City and began working as an in-house songwriter for Pickwick Records. In 1964, he scored a minor hit with the single "The Ostrich," a parody of popular dance songs of the time, which included lines such as "put your head on the floor and have somebody step on it." His employers felt that the song had hit potential, and arranged for a band to be assembled around Reed to promote the recording. The ad hoc group, called "The Primitives," included Welsh musician John Cale, who had recently moved to New York to study music and was playing viola in composer La Monte Young's Theater of Eternal Music, along with Tony Conrad. Cale and Conrad were both surprised to find that for "The Ostrich," Reed tuned each string of his guitar to the same note. This technique created a drone effect similar to their experimentation in Young's avant-garde ensemble. Disappointed with Reed's performance, Cale was nevertheless impressed by Reed's early repertoire (including "Heroin"), and a partnership began to evolve.

The Velvet Underground[link]

Reed and Cale lived together on the Lower East Side, and after inviting Reed's college acquaintances, guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker, to join the group, they formed the Velvet Underground. Though internally unstable (Cale left in 1968, Reed in 1970), and without commercial success, the band has a long-standing reputation as one of the most influential bands in rock history.^[13]

The group soon caught the attention of artist Andy Warhol. One of Warhol's first contributions was to integrate them into the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Warhol's associates inspired many of Reed's songs as he fell into a thriving, multifaceted artistic scene. Reed rarely gives an interview without paying homage to Warhol as a mentor. Conflict emerged when Warhol had the idea for the group to take on a chanteuse, the European former model and singer Nico. Reed and the others registered their objection by titling their debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico to imply that Nico was not accepted as a member of the group. Despite his initial resistance, Reed wrote several songs for Nico to sing, and the two were briefly lovers (as were Nico and Cale later). The Velvet Underground & Nico reached No. 171 on the charts.

Today, however, it is considered one of the most influential rock albums ever recorded. Rolling Stone has it listed as the 13th most influential album of all time. Brian Eno once famously stated that although few people bought the album, most of those who did were inspired to form their own band.^[14]

By the time the band recorded White Light/White Heat, Nico had quit and Warhol was fired, both against Cale's wishes. Warhol's replacement as manager, Steve Sesnick, convinced Reed to drive Cale out of the band. Morrison and Tucker were discomfited by Reed's tactics but continued with the group. Cale's replacement was Doug Yule, whom Reed would often facetiously introduce as his younger brother. The group now took on a more pop-oriented sound and acted more as a vehicle for Reed to develop his songwriting craft. The group released two albums with this line up: 1969's The Velvet Underground and 1970's Loaded. The latter included two of the group's most commercially successful songs, "Rock and Roll" and "Sweet Jane". Reed left the Velvet Underground in August 1970; the band disintegrated as core members Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker departed in 1971 and 1972, respectively. Yule continued until early 1973, and the band released one more studio album, Squeeze, under the Velvet Underground name.

After the band's move to Atlantic Records' Cotillion label, their new manager pushed Reed to change the subject matter of his songs to lighter topics in hopes of commercial success. The band's album Loaded had taken more time to record than the previous three albums together, but had not broken the band through to a wider audience. Reed briefly retired to his parents' home on Long Island.

Solo career[link]

1970s[link]

After quitting the Velvet Underground in August 1970, Reed took a job at his father's tax accounting firm as a typist, by his own account earning $40 a week. A year later, however, he signed a recording contract with RCA and recorded his first solo album in London with top session musicians including Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman, members of the progressive rock group Yes. The album, simply titled Lou Reed, contained smoothly produced, re-recorded versions of unreleased Velvet Underground songs, some of which were originally recorded by the Velvets for Loaded but shelved (see the Peel Slowly and See box set). This first solo album was overlooked by most pop music critics (although Stephen Holden in Rolling Stone called it "almost perfect") and it did not sell in significant numbers.

In December 1972, Reed released Transformer. David Bowie and Mick Ronson co-produced the album and introduced Reed to a wider popular audience (specifically in the U.K.). The hit single "Walk on the Wild Side" was an ironic yet affectionate salute to the misfits, hustlers, and transvestites who once surrounded Andy Warhol. Each of the song's five verses poignantly describes an actual person who had been a fixture at The Factory during the mid-to-late 1960s: (1) Holly Woodlawn, (2) Candy Darling, (3) "Little Joe" Dallesandro, (4) "Sugar Plum Fairy" Joe Campbell and (5) Jackie Curtis. The song's cleverly transgressive lyrics evaded radio censorship. Though the jazzy arrangement (courtesy of bassist Herbie Flowers and saxophonist Ronnie Ross) was musically somewhat atypical for Reed, it eventually became his signature song. The song came about as a result of his commission to compose a soundtrack to a theatrical adaptation of Nelson Algren's novel of the same name, though the play failed to materialize. Ronson's arrangements brought out new aspects of Reed's songs. "Perfect Day," for example, features delicate strings and soaring dynamics. It was rediscovered in the 1990s and allowed Reed to drop "Walk on the Wild Side" from his concerts.

Though Transformer would prove to be Reed's commercial and critical pinnacle, there was no small amount of resentment in Reed devoted to the shadow the record cast over the rest of his career. An argument between Bowie and Reed ended their working relationship for several years, though its subject is not known. The two reconciled some years later, and Reed performed with Bowie at the latter's 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden in 1997. The two would not formally collaborate again until 2003's The Raven. Touring in support of Transformer posed the challenge of forming a band for the first time since joining the Velvets. Reed took the simple path of hiring an inexperienced bar band, the Tots. Their straightforward guitar sound suited the songs, and Reed spent much of 1972 and the winter of 1973 on the road with them. Though they improved over the months, criticism of their still-basic abilities ultimately led Reed to fire them mid-tour. He chose the creative young keyboardist Moogy Klingman to come up with a new five-member backing band on barely a week's notice. Thus the tour continued through the spring with a denser, bluesier and tighter sound that presaged the very successful live albums Reed would record with all different musicians in December.^[15]

Reed followed Transformer with the darker Berlin, which tells the story of two junkies in love in that city. The songs variously concern domestic abuse ("Caroline Says I," "Caroline Says II"), drug addiction ("How Do You Think It Feels"), adultery and prostitution ("The Kids"), and suicide ("The Bed"). Reed's late-1973 European tour, featuring dual lead guitarists Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, mixed his Berlin material with older rockers.

After Berlin came two albums in 1974, Sally Can't Dance and a live record Rock 'n' Roll Animal, which contained performances of the Velvet Underground songs "Sweet Jane" and "Heroin". Rock 'n' Roll Animal became his biggest selling album, and its follow-up Lou Reed Live, recorded on the same occasions in December 1973, kept Reed in the public eye with strong sales after its release in early 1975.

As he had done with Berlin after Transformer, in 1975 Reed responded to commercial success with a commercial failure, a double album of electronically generated audio feedback, Metal Machine Music. Critics interpreted it as a gesture of contempt, an attempt to break his contract with RCA or to alienate his less sophisticated fans. But Reed claimed that the album was a genuine artistic effort, even suggesting that quotations of classical music could be found buried in the feedback. Lester Bangs declared it "genius," though also as psychologically disturbing. The album was reportedly returned to stores by the thousands after a few weeks.^[16] Though later admitting that the liner notes' list of instruments is fictitious and intended as parody, Reed maintains that MMM was and is a serious album. He has since stated though that at the time he had taken it seriously, he was also "very stoned".^{[citation needed]} In the 2000s it was adapted for orchestral performance by the German ensemble Zeitkratzer.

By contrast, 1975's Coney Island Baby was mainly a warm and mellow album, though for its characters Reed still drew on the underbelly of city life. At this time his lover was a transgender woman, Rachel, mentioned in the dedication of "Coney Island Baby" and appearing in the photos on the cover of Reed's 1977 "best of" album, Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of Lou Reed. While Rock and Roll Heart, his 1976 debut for his new record label Arista, fell short of expectations, Street Hassle (1978) was a return to form in the midst of the punk scene he had helped to inspire. But Reed was dismissive of punk and rejected any affiliation with it. "I'm too literate to be into punk rock . . . The whole CBGB's, new Max's thing that everyone's into and what's going on in London—you don't seriously think I'm responsible for what's mostly rubbish?"^[17] The Bells (1979) featured jazz musician Don Cherry, and was followed the next year by Growing Up in Public with guitarist Chuck Hammer. Around this period he also appeared as a sleazy record producer in Paul Simon's film One Trick Pony. Reed also played several unannounced one-off concerts in tiny downtown Manhattan clubs with the likes of Cale, Patti Smith, and David Byrne during this period.

1980s[link]

In 1980, Reed married British designer Sylvia Morales.^[18] They were divorced more than a decade later. While together, Morales inspired Reed to write several songs, particularly "Think It Over" from 1980's Growing Up in Public and "Heavenly Arms" from 1982's The Blue Mask.^{[citation needed]} After Legendary Hearts (1983) and New Sensations (1984) fared adequately on the charts, Reed was sufficiently reestablished as a public figure to become spokesman for Honda motorcycles.

In the early 1980s, Reed asked guitarist Robert Quine to join his group. Quine appeared on Reed's The Blue Mask (1982), acclaimed as one of Reed's best albums, and Legendary Hearts (1983). The two guitarists’ played both rhythm and lead guitar. Robert Quine eventually quit the group due to tensions with Reed. However, Reed persuaded Quine to rejoin for a world tour, with which he agreed to despite his aversion to touring, for financial reasons. Quine ended his musical relationship with Reed in 1985.

On September 22, 1985, Reed performed at the first Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois. He performed "Doin' The Things That We Want To", "I Love You, Suzanne", "New Sensations" and "Walk on The Wild Side".

In 1986, he joined Amnesty International's A Conspiracy of Hope Tour and was outspoken about New York's political issues and personalities on the 1989 album New York, commenting on crime, AIDS, Jesse Jackson, Kurt Waldheim, and Pope John Paul II.

Following Warhol's death after routine surgery in 1987, Reed again collaborated with John Cale on the biographical Songs for Drella, Warhol's nickname. The album marked an end to a 22-year estrangement from Cale. On the album, Reed sings of his love for his late friend, but also criticizes both the doctors who were unable to save Warhol's life and Warhol's would-be assassin, Valerie Solanas.

1990s[link]

In 1990, following a twenty-year hiatus, the Velvet Underground reformed for a Fondation Cartier benefit in France. Reed released his sixteenth solo record, Magic and Loss, in 1992, an album about mortality, inspired by the death of two close friends from cancer. In 1993, the Velvet Underground again reunited and toured throughout Europe, although plans for a North American tour were cancelled following another falling out between Reed and Cale. In 1994, Reed appeared in A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who, also known as Daltrey Sings Townshend. This was a two-night concert at Carnegie Hall produced by Roger Daltrey in celebration of his fiftieth birthday. In 1994, a CD and a VHS video were issued, and in 1998 a DVD was released. Reed performed a radically rearranged version of "Now And Then" from Psychoderelict.

In 1996, the Velvet Underground were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the induction ceremony, Reed performed a song entitled "Last Night I Said Goodbye to My Friend" alongside former bandmates John Cale and Maureen Tucker, in dedication to Velvet Underground guitarist Sterling Morrison, who had died the previous August. Reed has since been nominated for the Rock Hall as a solo artist twice, in 2000 and 2001, but has not been inducted.^[19]

His 1996 album, Set the Twilight Reeling, met with a lukewarm reception, but 2000's Ecstasy drew praise from most critics, including Robert Christgau. In 1996, Reed contributed songs and music to Time Rocker, an avant-garde theatrical interpretation of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine staged by theater director Robert Wilson. The piece premiered in the Thalia Theater, Hamburg, Germany, and was later also shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.^[20]

In 1998, the PBS TV show American Masters aired Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' feature documentary Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart. This film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. and at the Berlin Film Festival in Germany went on to screen at over 50 festivals worldwide. In 1999, the film and Reed as its subject received a Grammy Award for best long form music video.

Since the late 1990s, Reed has been romantically linked to the musician, multi-media and performance artist Laurie Anderson, and the two have collaborated on a number of recordings together. Anderson contributed to "Call On Me" from Reed's project The Raven, to the tracks "Baton Rouge" and "Rock Minuet" from Reed's Ecstasy, and to "Hang On To Your Emotions" from Reed's Set the Twilight Reeling. Reed contributed to "In Our Sleep" from Anderson's Bright Red and to "One Beautiful Evening" from her Life on a String. They married on April 12, 2008.^[21]

2000s[link]

Reed performing in Málaga, Spain, July 21, 2008.

2000 to 2003[link]

In May 2000, Reed performed before Pope John Paul II at the Great Jubilee Concert in Rome. In 2000, a new collaboration with Robert Wilson called "Poe-Try" was staged at the Thalia Theater in Germany. As with the previous collaboration "Time Rocker," "Poe-Try" was also inspired by the works of a 19th century writer: Edgar Allan Poe. Reed became interested in Poe after producer and long-time friend Hal Willner suggested he read some of Poe's text at a Halloween benefit he was curating at St. Ann's Episcopal Church in Brooklyn.^[22] For this new collaboration, Reed reworked and even rewrote some of Poe's text as well as included some new songs based on the theme explored in the texts. In 2001, Reed made a cameo appearance in the movie adaptation of Prozac Nation. On October 6, 2001, the New York Times published a Reed poem called Laurie Sadly Listening in which he reflects upon the 9/11 terrorist attacks.^[23]

Incorrect reports of Reed's death were broadcast by numerous U.S. radio stations in 2001, caused by a hoax email (purporting to be from Reuters) which said he had died of a drug overdose. In 2003, he released a 2-CD set, The Raven, based on "Poe-Try." Besides Reed and his band, the album featured a wide range of actors and musicians including singers David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Antony Hegarty, saxophonist and long-time idol Ornette Coleman, and actors Elizabeth Ashley, Christopher Walken, Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe, Amanda Plummer, Fisher Stevens and Kate Valk. The album consisted of songs written by Reed and spoken-word performances of reworked and rewritten texts of Edgar Allan Poe by the actors, set to electronic music composed by Reed. At the same time a single disc CD version of the albums, focusing on the music, was also released.

A few months after the release of The Raven, a new 2-CD Best Of-set was released, entitled NYC Man (The Ultimate Collection 1967-2003), which featured an unreleased version of the song "Who am I" and a selection of career spanning tracks that had been selected, remastered and sequenced under Reed's supervision. In April 2003, Reed embarked on a new world tour supporting both new and released material, with a band including cellist Jane Scarpantoni and singer Antony Hegarty. During some of the concerts for this tour, the band was joined by Master Ren Guangyi, Reed's personal T'ai Chi instructor, performing T'ai Chi movements to the music on stage. This tour was documented in the 2004 double-disc live album Animal Serenade, recorded live at The Wiltern in Los Angeles.

In 2003, Reed released his first book of photographs, Emotions in Action. This work actually was made up out of two books, a larger A4-paper sized called Emotions and a smaller one called Actions which was laid into the hard cover of the former. After Hours: a Tribute to the Music of Lou Reed was released by Wampus Multimedia in 2003.

In 2003, Reed was also a judge for the third annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.^[24]

2004 to 2006[link]

In 2004, a Groovefinder remix of his song, "Satellite of Love" (called "Satellite of Love '04") was released. It reached No. 10 in the UK singles chart. Also in 2004, Reed contributed vocals and guitar to the track "Fistful of Love" on I Am a Bird Now by Antony and the Johnsons. In 2005, Reed recorded a spoken word text on Danish rock band Kashmir's album No Balance Palace.

In January 2006, a second book of photographs, Lou Reed's New York, was released.^[25] At the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, Reed performed "White Light/White Heat" with The Raconteurs. Later in the night, while co-presenting the award for Best Rock Video with Pink, he exclaimed, apparently unscripted, that "MTV should be playing more rock n' roll."

In October 2006, Reed appeared at Hal Willner's Leonard Cohen tribute show "Came So Far For Beauty" in Dublin, beside the cast of Laurie Anderson, Nick Cave, Antony, Jarvis Cocker, Beth Orton, and others. According to the reports, he played a heavy metal version of Cohen's "The Stranger Song."^[26] He also performed "One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong" and two duets—"Joan of Arc", with Cohen's former back-up singer Julie Christensen, and "Memories"—in a duet with Anjani Thomas.

In December 2006, Reed played a first series of show at St. Ann's Warehouse, Brooklyn, based on his 1973 Berlin song cycle. Reed was reunited on stage with guitarist Steve Hunter, who played on the original album as well as on Rock 'n' Roll Animal, as well as joined by singers Antony Hegarty and Sharon Jones, pianist Rupert Christie, a horn and string section and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. The show was being produced by Bob Ezrin, who also produced the original album, and Hal Willner. The stage was designed by painter Julian Schnabel and a film about protagonist "Caroline" directed by his daughter, Lola Schnabel, was being projected to the stage. A live recording of these concerts was also published as a film (directed by Schnabel) which was released spring 2008. The show was also played at the Sydney Festival in January 2007 and throughout Europe during June and July 2007. The album version of the concert, entitled Berlin: Live At St. Ann's Warehouse, was released in 2008.

2007 to 2009[link]

In April 2007, he released Hudson River Wind Meditations, his first record of ambient meditation music. The record was released on the Sounds True record label and contains four tracks that were said to have been composed just for himself as a guidance for T'ai Chi exercise and meditation. In May 2007, Reed performed the narration for a screening of Guy Maddin's silent film The Brand Upon the Brain. In June 2007, he performed live at the Traffic Festival 2007 in Turin, Italy, a five-day free event organized by the city.

In August 2007, Reed went into the studio with The Killers in New York City to record "Tranquilize," a duet with Brandon Flowers for The Killers' b-side/rarities album, called Sawdust. During that month, he also recorded guitar for the Lucibel Crater song "Threadbare Funeral," which appears on their full-length CD The Family Album. In October 2007, Reed gave a special performance in the Recitement song "Passengers." The album combines music with spoken word. The album was composed by Stephen Emmer and produced by Tony Visconti. Hollandcentraal was inspired by this piece of music and literature, which spawned a concept for a music video. On October 1, 2008, Reed joined Richard Barone via projected video on a spoken/sung duet of Reed's "I'll Be Your Mirror," with cellist Jane Scarpantoni, in Barone's FRONTMAN: A Musical Reading at Carnegie Hall.

Reed performing the Berlin album in Stockholm, Sweden, 2008.

On October 2 and 3, 2008, he premiered his new group, which later was named Metal Machine Trio, at REDCAT (Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex, Los Angeles). The live recordings of the concerts were released under the title The Creation of the Universe. The Trio features Ulrich Krieger (saxophone) and Sarth Calhoun (electronics), and plays free improvised instrumental music inspired by Reed's 1975 album Metal Machine Music. The music ranges from ambient soundscapes to free rock to contemporary noise. The trio played further shows at New York's Gramercy Theater in April 2009, and appeared as part of Reed's band at the 2009 Lollapalooza, including a ten minute free trio improvisation.^[27] At Lollapalooza, held in Chicago's Grant Park, Reed played "Sweet Jane" and "White Light/White Heat" with Metallica at Madison Square Garden as part of the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on October 30, 2009.^[28][29] Reed's recent activity in films include providing the voice of Maltazard, the villain in the forthcoming Luc Besson animated film, Arthur and the Vengeance of Maltazard, and playing the role of himself in Wim Wenders' movie Palermo Shooting (2008).

In 2009, Reed became an active member of the Jazz Foundation of America (JFA).^[30] He was a featured performer at the JFA's annual benefit "A Great Night in Harlem" in May 2009.^[31]

2010s[link]

Reed has remained active doing benefits and composing music. He has contributed vocals on the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, on the song "Some Kind Of Nature" and co-wrote and performed backup music for a Chen Style T'ai Chi instructional DVD.^[32] He has a co-production credit on Laurie Anderson's Homeland.

Lou Reed performed a cover of the Buddy Holly song "Peggy Sue" which is featured on the tribute album Rave On Buddy Holly.

Reed also began touring with the Metal Machine Trio, which was widely viewed as a return to his exploration of noise and sound. In 2011, heavy metal band Metallica recorded a full length collaboration with Lou Reed entitled Lulu, released November 1 in North America and October 31 everywhere else.^[33] After he initially refused Susan Boyle the right to perform "Perfect Day" on an American television special ("America's Got Talent"), he subsequently agreed to direct her video rendition.^[34]

In January, 2012, Reed and John Cale sued the Andy Warhol Foundation for the license to use the yellow banana image from Warhol's art for The Velvet Underground & Nico album.^[35]

Reed contributed vocals to the track "Wanderlust" on Metric's 2012 album Synthetica.

Discography[link]

With the Velvet Underground[link]

As a solo artist[link]

Collaborations[link]

• Songs for Drella (with John Cale) (1990)
• Tranquilize (with The Killers) (2007)
• The Stone: Issue Three (with John Zorn and Laurie Anderson) (2008)
• The Creation of the Universe (with the Metal Machine Trio) (2008)
• Some Kind of Nature (with Gorillaz) (2010)
• Lulu (with Metallica) (2011)

Guest appearances[link]

• The Road from Memphis - Booker T. Jones (2011) "The Bronx"
• Synthetica - Metric (2012) "The Wanderlust"

Appearances in film[link]

• One Trick Pony (1980) as Steve Kunelian
• Get Crazy (1983) as Auden
• Permanent Record (1988) as himself
• Faraway, So Close! (1993) as himself
• Blue in the Face (1995) as "Man with Strange Glasses"
• Closure (1997) as himself
• Prozac Nation (2001) as himself
• Berlin: Live At St. Ann's Warehouse (2008)
• Palermo Shooting (2008) as himself

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lou Reed

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lou Reed

• Official Lou Reed website
• Comprehensive music biography of Reed by Allmusic

Michelle Obama
First Lady of the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office January 20, 2009
Preceded by	Laura Bush
Personal details
Born	Michelle LaVaughn Robinson (1964-01-17) January 17, 1964 (age 48) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Barack Obama (m. 1992)
Children	Malia (born 1998) Sasha (born 2001)
Residence	Hyde Park, Chicago (private) The White House (official)
Alma mater	Princeton University (A.B.) Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Protestant Christian
Signature

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is the wife of the 44th and incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Obama attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School before returning to Chicago and to work at the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met her future husband. Subsequently, she worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Throughout 2007 and 2008, she helped campaign for her husband's presidential bid and delivered a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She is the mother of two daughters, Malia and Sasha, and is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University. As the wife of a Senator, and later the First Lady, she has become a fashion icon and role model for women, and an advocate for poverty awareness, nutrition and healthy eating.^[1][2]

Family and education[link]

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois, to Fraser Robinson III,^[3] a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian (née Shields), a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store.^[4] Her mother was a full-time homemaker until Michelle entered high school.^[5] The Robinson and Shields families can trace their roots^[6] to pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South. Specifically, her roots can be traced to the Gullah people from South Carolina's Lowcountry region.^[7] Her paternal great-great grandfather, Jim Robinson, was an American slave in the state of South Carolina,^[8][9] where some of her paternal family still reside.^[10][11] Her maternal great-great-great grandmother, Melvinia Shields, also a slave, became pregnant by a white man. His name and the nature of their union have been lost. She gave birth to Michelle's biracial maternal great-great grandfather, Dolphus T. Shields.^[12]

Michelle grew up in a two-story house on Euclid Street in Chicago's South Shore community area. Her parents rented a small apartment on the house's second floor from her great-aunt, who lived downstairs.^{[4][13][14][15]} She was raised in what she describes as a "conventional" home, with "the mother at home, the father works, you have dinner around the table".^[16] The family entertained together by playing games such as Monopoly and by reading.^[17] They attended services at nearby South Shore Methodist Church.^[13] The Robinsons used to vacation in a rustic cabin in White Cloud, Michigan.^[13] She and her brother, Craig (who is 21 months older), skipped the second grade. By sixth grade, Michelle joined a gifted class at Bryn Mawr Elementary School (later renamed Bouchet Academy).^[18]

She attended Whitney Young High School,^[19] Chicago's first magnet high school, where she was a classmate of Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita.^[17] The round trip commute from the Robinsons' South Side home to the Near West Side, where the school was located, took three hours.^[20] She was on the honor roll for four years, took advanced placement classes, a member of the National Honor Society and served as student council treasurer.^[4] Michelle graduated in 1981 as the salutatorian of her class.^[20]

Michelle was inspired to follow her brother to Princeton University;^[5] Craig graduated in 1983. At Princeton, she challenged the teaching methodology for French because she felt that it should be more conversational.^[21] As part of her requirements for graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community."^[22][23] "I remember being shocked," she says, "by college students who drove BMWs. I didn't even know parents who drove BMWs."^[20] While at Princeton, she got involved with the Third World Center (now known as the Carl A. Fields Center), an academic and cultural group that supported minority students, running their day care center which also included after school tutoring.^[24] Robinson majored in sociology and minored in African American studies and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985.^[4][25] She earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988.^[26] At Harvard she participated in demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who were members of minorities^[27] and worked for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, assisting low-income tenants with housing cases.^[28] She is the third First Lady with a postgraduate degree, after her two immediate predecessors, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush.^[29] In July 2008, Obama accepted the invitation to become an honorary member of the 100-year-old black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which had no active undergraduate chapter at Princeton when she attended.^[30]

Barack and Michelle Obama, 2008.

She met Barack Obama when they were among the few African Americans at their law firm, Sidley Austin (she has sometimes said only two, although others have pointed out there were others in different departments),^[31] and she was assigned to mentor him as a summer associate.^[32] Their relationship started with a business lunch and then a community organization meeting where he first impressed her.^[33] The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing.^[34] They married in October 1992,^[33] and have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha, born 2001).^[35] After his election to the U.S. Senate, the Obama family continued to live on Chicago's South Side, choosing to remain there rather than moving to Washington, D.C. Throughout her husband's 2008 campaign for President of the United States, she made a "commitment to be away overnight only once a week — to campaign only two days a week and be home by the end of the second day" for their two children.^[36] She is the first cousin, once removed, of Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr., one of the country’s most prominent black rabbis.

She once requested that her then-fiancé meet her prospective boss, Valerie Jarrett, when considering her first career move.^[16] Now, Jarrett is one of her husband’s closest advisors.^[37][38] The marital relationship has had its ebbs and flows; the combination of an evolving family life and beginning political career led to many arguments about balancing work and family. Barack Obama wrote in his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, that "Tired and stressed, we had little time for conversation, much less romance".^[39] However, despite their family obligations and careers, they continue to attempt to schedule date nights.^[40]

The Obamas' daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a private school.^[41] As a member of the school's board, Michelle fought to maintain diversity in the school when other board members connected with the University of Chicago tried to reserve more slots for children of the university faculty. This resulted in a plan to expand the school.^[5] Malia and Sasha now attend Sidwell Friends School in Washington, after also considering Georgetown Day School.^[42][43] Michelle stated in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that they do not intend to have any more children.^[44] The Obamas have received advice from past first ladies Laura Bush, Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Rodham Clinton about raising children in the White House.^[43] Marian Robinson, Michelle's mother, has moved into the White House to assist with child care.^[45]

Career[link]

Following law school, she was an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley Austin, where she first met her future husband. At the firm, she worked on marketing and intellectual property.^[4] She continues to hold her law license, but as she no longer needs it for her work, it has been on a voluntary inactive status since 1993.^[46]

In 1991, she held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor, and as Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies.^[19] She worked there nearly four years and set fundraising records for the organization that still stood 12 years after she left.^[17]

In 1996, she served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center.^[47] In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs.^[48] She continued to hold the University of Chicago Hospitals position during the primary campaign, but cut back to part time in order to spend time with her daughters as well as work for her husband's election;^[49] she subsequently took a leave of absence from her job.^[50] According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, her salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while her husband had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The Obamas' total income, however, was $991,296, which included $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, and investments and royalties from his books.^[51]

She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS),^[52] a major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007.^[53] She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.^[54]

2008 Presidential election[link]

Oprah Winfrey joins the Obamas on the campaign trail, December 10, 2007

The Obamas fist bump upon his winning the Democratic nomination.

The Obamas, with Joe and Jill Biden at the August 23, 2008 Vice Presidential announcement in Springfield, Illinois.

Obama speaks at the 2008 Democratic convention

Although Obama has campaigned on her husband's behalf since early in his political career by handshaking and fund-raising, she did not relish the activity at first. When she campaigned during her husband's 2000 run for United States House of Representatives, her boss at the University of Chicago asked if there was any single thing about campaigning that she enjoyed; after some thought, she replied that visiting so many living rooms had given her some new decorating ideas.^[55]

At first, Obama had reservations about her husband's presidential campaign, due to fears about a possible negative effect on their daughters.^[56] She says that she negotiated an agreement in which her husband was to give up smoking in exchange for her support of his decision to run.^[57] About her role in her husband's presidential campaign she has said: "My job is not a senior adviser."^[37][58][59] During the campaign, she has discussed race and education by using motherhood as a framework.^[21]

In May 2007, three months after her husband declared his presidential candidacy, she reduced her professional responsibilities by 80 percent to support his presidential campaign.^[16] Early in the campaign, she had limited involvement in which she traveled to political events only two days a week and traveled overnight only if their daughters could come along;^[3] by early February 2008 her participation had increased significantly, attending thirty-three events in eight days.^[38] She made several campaign appearances with Oprah Winfrey.^[60][61] She wrote her own stump speeches for her husband's presidential campaign and generally spoke without notes.^[20]

Throughout the campaign, the media often labeled her as an "angry black woman,"^[62][63][64] and some Web sites attempted to propagate this image,^[65] prompting her to respond: "Barack and I have been in the public eye for many years now, and we've developed a thick skin along the way. When you’re out campaigning, there will always be criticism. I just take it in stride, and at the end of the day, I know that it comes with the territory."^[66] By the time of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in August, media outlets observed that her presence on the campaign trail had grown softer than at the start of the race, focusing on soliciting concerns and empathizing with the audience rather than throwing down challenges to them, and giving interviews to shows like The View and publications like Ladies' Home Journal rather than appearing on news programs. The change was even reflected in her fashion choices, wearing more informal clothes in place of her previous designer pieces.^[55] The View appearance was partly intended to help soften her public image,^[62] and it was widely-covered in the press.^[67]

The presidential campaign was her first exposure to the national political scene; even before the field of Democratic candidates was narrowed to two, she was considered the least famous of the candidates' spouses.^[58] Early in the campaign, she told anecdotes about the Obama family life; however, as the press began to emphasize her sarcasm, she toned it down.^[51][57] New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd wrote:

I wince a bit when Michelle Obama chides her husband as a mere mortal — comic routine that rests on the presumption that we see him as a god ... But it may not be smart politics to mock him in a way that turns him from the glam JFK into the mundane Gerald Ford, toasting his own English muffin. If all Senator Obama is peddling is the Camelot mystique, why debunk this mystique?^[58][68]

On the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Craig Robinson introduced his younger sister.^[69] She delivered her speech, during which she sought to portray herself and her family as the embodiment of the American Dream.^[70] Obama said both she and her husband believed "that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, and you do what you say you're going to do, that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them."^[71] She also emphasized loving her country, in response to criticism for her previous statements about feeling proud of her country for the first time.^[70][72][73] That keynote address was largely well received and drew mostly positive reviews.^[74] A Rasmussen Reports poll found that her favorability among Americans reached 55%.^[75]

On an October 6, 2008 broadcast, Larry King asked her if the American electorate was past the Bradley effect. She stated that her husband's achievement of the nomination was a fairly strong indicator that it was.^[76] The same night she also was interviewed by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show where she deflected criticism of her husband and his campaign.^[77] On Fox News' America's Pulse, E. D. Hill referred to the fist bump shared by the Obamas on the night that he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination as a "terrorist fist jab"; Hill was taken off air and the show itself was cancelled.^[78][79][80]

First Lady of the United States[link]

Then-First Lady Laura Bush sits with Obama in the private residence of the White House.

Michelle Obama wore Isabel Toledo clothes made of St. Gallen Embroidery to the 2009 presidential inauguration.

The Obamas dance at a presidential inaugural ball.

Public image and style[link]

With the ascent of her husband as a prominent national politician, Michelle Obama has become a part of popular culture. In May 2006, Essence listed her among "25 of the World's Most Inspiring Women."^[81][82] In July 2007, Vanity Fair listed her among "10 of the World's Best Dressed People." She was an honorary guest at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball as a "young'un" paying tribute to the 'Legends,' which helped pave the way for African American Women. In September 2007, 02138 magazine listed her 58th of 'The Harvard 100'; a list of the prior year's most influential Harvard alumni. Her husband was ranked fourth.^[81][83] In July 2008, she made a repeat appearance on the Vanity Fair international best dressed list.^[84] She also appeared on the 2008 People list of best-dressed women and was praised by the magazine for her "classic and confident" look.^[85][86]

At the time of her husband's election, some sources anticipated that as a high-profile African-American woman in a stable marriage she would be a positive role model who would influence the view the world has of African-Americans.^[87][88] Her fashion choices were part of the 2009 Fashion week,^[89] but Obama's influence in the field did not have the impact on the paucity of African-American models who participate, that some thought it might.^[90][91]

She has been compared to Jacqueline Kennedy due to her sense of style,^[84] and also to Barbara Bush for her discipline and decorum.^[92][93] Her white, one-shoulder Jason Wu 2009 inaugural gown was said to be "an unlikely combination of Nancy Reagan and Jackie Kennedy".^[94][95] Obama's style is described as populist.^[29] She often wears clothes by designers Calvin Klein, Isabel Toledo, Narciso Rodriguez, Donna Ricco and Maria Pinto,^[96] and has become a fashion trendsetter,^[97][98][99] in particular her favoring of sleeveless dresses that showcase her toned arms.^[100]

She appeared on the cover and in a photo spread in the March 2009 issue of Vogue.^[101][102] Every First Lady since Lou Hoover (except Bess Truman) has been in Vogue,^[101] but only Hillary Clinton had previously appeared on the cover.^[103]

The media have been criticized for focusing more on the first lady's fashion sense than her serious contributions.^[29][104] She has stated that she would like to focus attention as First Lady on issues of concern to military and working families.^{[87][105][106]} U.S.News & World Report blogger, PBS host and Scripps Howard columnist Bonnie Erbe has argued that Obama's own publicists seem to be feeding the emphasis on style over substance.^[107] Erbe has stated on several occasions that she is miscasting herself by overemphasizing style.^[45][108]

Work undertaken and causes promoted[link]

Obama is greeted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, United Kingdom April 1, 2009

Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni

During her early months as First Lady, she visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens.^[109] She also sent representatives to schools and advocated public service.^[109][110] On her first trip abroad in April 2009, she toured a cancer ward with Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.^[111] She has begun advocating on behalf of military families.^[112] Like her predecessors Clinton and Bush, who supported the organic movement by instructing the White House kitchens to buy organic food, Obama has received attention by planting an organic garden and installing bee hives on the South Lawn of the White House, which will supply organic produce and honey to the First Family and for state dinners and other official gatherings.^[113][114]

Obama has become an advocate of her husband's policy priorities by promoting bills that support it. Following the enactment of the Pay equity law, Obama hosted a White House reception for women's rights advocates in celebration. She has pronounced her support for the economic stimulus bill in visits to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and United States Department of Education. Some observers have looked favorably upon her legislative activities, while others have said that she should be less involved in politics. According to her representatives, she intends to visit all United States Cabinet-level agencies in order to get acquainted with Washington.^[115]

She gained growing public support in her early months as first lady.^[109][116] She is notable for her support from military families and some Republicans.^[109][112] As the public is growing accustomed to her, she is becoming more accepted as a role model.^[109] Newsweek described her first trip abroad as an exhibition of her so-called "star power"^[116] and MSN described it as a display of sartorial elegance.^[82] There were questions raised in the American and British media regarding protocol when the Obamas met Queen Elizabeth II,^[117] and Michelle reciprocated a touch on her back by the Queen during a reception, purportedly against traditional royal etiquette.^[117][118] Palace sources denied that any breach in etiquette had occurred.^[119]

Obama and Ellen DeGeneres dance on the second anniversary of Let's Move!.

On June 5, 2009, the White House announced that Michelle Obama was replacing her current chief of staff, Jackie Norris, with Susan Sher, a longtime friend and adviser. Norris will become a senior adviser to the Corporation for National and Community Service.^[120] Then in February 2010, the resignation of White House Social Secretary, Desiree Rogers was announced to be effective the following month.^[121] Rogers had been at odds with other administration officials, such as David Axelrod, and then the White House State Dinner faux pas occurred on November 24, 2009.^[122] Rogers was replaced by Julianna Smoot.^[123]

After a year as First Lady, she undertook her first lead role in an administrationwide initiative. Her goal was to make progress in reversing the 21st century trend of childhood obesity.^[124] She stated that her goal is to make this effort her legacy: "I want to leave something behind that we can say, ‘Because of this time that this person spent here, this thing has changed.’ And my hope is that that’s going to be in the area of childhood obesity."^[124] She has named the movement "Let's Move!".^[125] This effort does not supplant her other efforts: supporting military families, helping working women balance career and family, encouraging national service, promoting the arts and arts education, and fostering healthy eating and healthy living for children and families across the country.^[126] She has earned widespread publicity on the topic of healthy eating by planting the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt served as First Lady.^[124][127]

References[link]