On August 23, 1970, Lou Reed, lead singer and primary songwriter of the alt-rock band the Velvet Underground, had his final live performance with the band at the Manhattan rock club Max’s Kansas City.
The Velvet Underground is a ’60s American band. Influenced by avant-garde art and modern literature, the band inspired the punk and alternative rock movements of the ’70s and ’80s.
Reed made his first recording as a teenager. He studied literature and was trained as a classical musician in London.
The Velvet Underground started in New York in 1964 when Reed and John Cale met through a temporary pop project put together by Pickwick Records. When the project ended, Reed and Cale decided to keep working together. Then, after their very first paying gig at a high school dance in Summit, New Jersey, they chose the name The Velvet Underground. Two years later, Andy Warhol became their manager. He gave them a place at his studio, The Factory, and helped produce their debut album
After a while, Reed felt like he didn’t belong in the Velvet Underground, and he wanted to go it alone in an attempt to break out commercially.
“Did I want to do it myself? Did I want to have a band? Did I just want to do songwriting, not even get onstage? I’m the last person in the world I’d have thought should be on a stage. Some people really like having a spotlight on them. I don’t. What I like is the song and performing it. Doing it for people who like it.” Reed said
After his last show with the band, Reed went back to live with his parents, started a job as a typist at his father’s company, and spent most of his time writing poetry instead of songs.
“When I left the Velvet Underground, I just packed up. I’d had it. So I was a typist for two years. My mother always told me in high school, ‘You should take typing. It gives you something to fall back on.’ She was right.” Reed explained to Rolling Stone in 1989.
On June 15, 1990, at a celebration of Warhol’s art and life in France, Reed, Cale, Morrison, and Tucker performed together for the first time after Reed’s last show with the band.
In 1996, the Velvet Underground was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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