(CNN) -- Lou Reed, who took rock 'n' roll into dark corners as a songwriter, vocalist and guitarist for the Velvet Underground and as a solo artist, has died at the age of 71, his publicist said Sunday.
"It is now officially confirmed that Lou Reed did pass away several hours ago," Peter Noble said.
Noble didn't disclose details of Reed's death.
Reed was a rock pioneer who went from record label songwriter to a member of a short-lived, but innovative and influential band.
"Glam, punk and alternative rock are all unthinkable without his revelatory example," wrote Jon Dolan in Rolling Stone, which first reported his death.
A look back at those we have lost in 2013.
Photos: People we lost in 2013
Reed, violist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Maureen Tucker played their first show as the Velvet Underground in 1965.
"The world has lost a fine songwriter and poet. I've lost my 'school-yard buddy,' " Cale wrote on Twitter.
The Velvets tackled taboo topics like drug addiction, paranoia and sexual deviancy, according to their bio page on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame site.
Rock mythology has it that even though they were around only for a few years, everyone who went to a Velvet Underground concert went out and started a band.
Rolling Stone ranks the group's debut album, "The Velvet Underground and Nico" as the 13th greatest of all time.
And performers from David Bowie to R.E.M. and U2 have cited them as inspiration.
In 1970, Reed left the Velvets for a long solo career turning out classics like "Walk on the Wild Side" and "Sweet Jane."
"People say rock 'n' roll is constricting, but you can do anything you want, any way you want. And my goal has been to make an album that would speak to people the way Shakespeare speaks to me, the way Joyce speaks to me. Something with that kind of power; something with bite to it,'' Reed told the New York Times in 1982 while promoting his album "The Blue Mask."
Reed's wife, Laurie Anderson, told The Times of London this summer, that Reed had a life-saving liver transplant in May.
"R.I.P. LOU REED....A LEGEND," the Pixies wrote on their Twitter page.
Iggy Pop wrote simply: "Devastating news." People we lost in 2013
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