Anthony DeCurtis is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, where his work has appeared for more than thirty-five years, and a distinguished lecturer in the creative writing program at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of In Other Words and Rocking My Life Away and co-wrote Clive Davis's autobiography, The Soundtrack of My Life, a New York Times bestseller.
DeCurtis is a Grammy Award winner and has served as a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee for twenty-five years.He holds a PhD in American literature and lives in New York City.
"Lou Reed is Lou Reed!" -- Iggy Pop
"Among the first ambitious posthumous biographies of the sexually
fluid queer icon, who died in 2013 at the age of 71. DeCurtis
strives to take Reed's deep flaws into account along with his
transgressive genius."--W Magazine
"An eloquent account of a harrowing life transformed by love in the
end. Anthony DeCurtis does a brilliant job of synthesizing the
disparate parts of Lou Reed's life into an insightful, moving
narrative. I highly recommend it."--Suzanne Vega
"Anthony DeCurtis captures the soul and the essence of Lou Reed in
his terrific new biography of the brilliant, culture-shaping
musician. DeCurtis' great gift of storytelling gives fascinating
insight and perspective to Reed's complex personality and
cutting-edge musical talent. This is a must read."-- Clive
Davis
"A Life is comprehensive and sympathetic... For Mr. DeCurtis,
Reed's biographical Rosebud was homosexual shame deriving from his
upbringing. In the end, he didn't want to be the first gay rock
star."--Wall Street Journal
"A fascinating portrait. The unsurpassed voice of New York has
found a worthy biographer."-- Philip Norman, New York
TimesBestselling author of Paul McCartney andJohn Lennon
"An absorbing read, full of new insights delivered masterfully by
DeCurtis."--Pitchfork
"Anthony DeCurtis was one of the few music critics Lou Reed read
and whose company he enjoyed. After reading this sublime and subtle
book, the mystery of Lou's respect for Anthony is revealed. Anthony
is a great story teller, a writer's writer, turning pain into
beauty the way Lou did in his songs."-- Bono
"DeCurtis has given us a thorough and vivid portrait of an artist
who, he shows us, was even darker than we knew."--The New York
Review of Books
"DeCurtis' biography makes a case for Reed's influence that's as
durable as black leather."--San Francisco Chronicle
"Even though he counted Reed among his friends in the music
business, DeCurtis pulls no punches; for example, he talks about
Reed's early sexual promiscuity in highly critical terms and is
equally frank in discussing Reed's drug and alcohol abuse. This is
a rough-edged, straight-talking biography of a man who became a
legend as much for his offstage life as for his musical
skills."--Booklist
"Focusing on the music as much as the singer's often dissolute
lifestyle and controversial opinions, the author makes a good case
for Reed's lasting significance. ... A well-written, valuable
document of a major figure in the American rock scene, putting a
human face on a man who often seemed impossibly remote. Essential
reading for Reed fans and strongly recommended for anyone
interested in rock as art."--Kirkus (Starred Review)
"How did a middle-class suburban boy grow up to be king of
Manhattan's wild side? Thanks to this groundbreaking biography, now
we know. Anthony DeCurtis handles Reed's often-misunderstood
bisexuality and curiosity about transsexualism with particular
sensitivity, candor, and sophistication. A must-read for fans of
rock and roll, New York City, or sex."--Ada Calhoun, author of
St.Marks Is Dead
"I am personally familiar with the depth, seriousness and
sensitivity of Anthony DeCurtis's writing, and, of course, knew Lou
Reed and felt the impact of his coruscating work. A brilliant
artist has found a biographer with the insight to, as Lou said,
"pass through fire" and be a definitive interpreter of both his
music and his life."--Sting
"If the goal of a biography is to bring its subject back to life,
Lou Reed, DeCurtis's sympathetic but never fawning book,
succeeds...Carefully researched and thoughtfully written, Lou Reed
is the best Reed biography to date."--New York Times Book
Review
"Lou Reed was one of music's most brilliant and complicated
figures-an explorer, a provocateur, and always a true artist. With
grace and grit, Anthony DeCurtis has delivered a revelatory and
insightful chronicle of this most challenging rock & roll icon, and
Lou Reed gets the biographer he deserves."-- Alan Light, author of
The Holy or the Broken
"The Reed of DeCurtis' exhaustively reported book is a brilliant
artist who helped define hipness and the outer limits of rock for
generations."--Rolling Stone
"When most people think of Lou Reed, they picture the black,
rotting heart of rock and roll, full of dissonance, decadence and
decay. But as Anthony DeCurtis makes clear in his new book, behind
the image and the rumors, Lou was one thing: a writer, a man who
spent his life telling the absolute, painful truth in his songs -
the truth about himself, the scenes he observed, and the world at
large. His words were so powerful that the Velvet Underground had
to invent a new musical language to match them. I'm not the first
musician to pledge allegiance to Lou and the Velvets, and I won't
be the last. Read this book, and explore the f*cking genius that
was Lou Reed."--Peter Buck, co-founder and lead guitarist of R.E.M.
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