Lou Reed would have loved Rock Hall honour

Lou Reed’s sister says the late Velvet Underground mainman would have been delighted with his induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame – but he’d never have let on.

He died in 2013, aged 71, after suffering liver disease. He was honoured at the 30th annual ceremony in Cleveland last night, alongside Green Day, Joan Jett, Ringo Starr, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Bill Withers.

Sibling Merrill Reed Weiner tells Billboard: “For him to be honoured by his peers in this way, I know how much it would have meant to him – not that he would have let you know it.

“He wouldn’t be smiling the way I am. I think he’d be amused. I think he’d be sardonic, but he’d be secretly really, really delighted.

“Music meant the world to him and I wish he were here to see it.”

Reed was inducted by Patti Smith, who said: “True poets must often stand alone. As a poet, he must be counted as a solitary artist. Thank you for brutally and benevolently injecting your poetry into music.”

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Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.