Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed (1942-2013) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of the Velvet Underground, and his solo career spanned five decades. Reed was known for his distinctive deadpan voice, poetic lyrics, and for pioneering and coining the term "ostrich guitar tuning." Laura "Laurie" Anderson is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. She is a graduate of Barnard College and Columbia University, where she obtained an MFA in sculpture. Anderson started dating Reed in 1992, and was married to him from 2008 until his death in 2013.