Rock legend Lou Reed has died at the age of 71, five months after receiving a liver transplant.

The exact cause of death was not available as Wenn went to press, but reports suggest the former Velvet Underground frontman passed away on Sunday (27Oct13).

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1942, he formed the Primitives and the Warlocks with Welsh musician John Cale. The duo teamed up again to create the Velvet Underground with Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker, and the group became a staple of the late 1960s New York City music and art scene, attracting artist Andy Warhol as a mentor and producer.

The band's 1967 debut The Velvet Underground & Nico is considered one of the most important albums of the 20th century.

Reed, real name Lewis Allan Reed, enjoyed a solo career after splitting with the group in 1970, recording another landmark album - 1972's Transformer, with David Bowie as his producer.

The late rocker also recorded groundbreaking albums Lou Reed, Berlin, Sally Can't Dance and Coney Island Baby, as well as the hits Walk On the Wild Side, Perfect Day and Satellite of Love.

He reunited with Cale in 1991 for the acclaimed Warhol tribute album Songs For Drella and regrouped the Velvet Underground in 1992 for a series of European gigs, including a set at the Glastonbury festival in England.

In the past decade, Reed, a famous student of martial art T'ai Chi, released the double album The Raven, which was based on the work of horror writer Edgar Allen Poe, and, in 2010, he teamed up with heavy rockers Metallica to record 2011's critically-savaged Lulu album.

Famous for his moody, often disagreeable nature, Reed will go down in music history as one of rock's most influential artists. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Velvet Underground in 1996.

He leaves behind his wife, performance artist and songwriter Laurie Anderson.