Reed, Lou (orig. Louis Firbank)

1942 – He was born on the 2nd day of March this year in Brooklyn, New York.

1963 – He moved to New York City, and began working as an in-house songwriter for Pickwick Records.

1964 - He scored a minor hit with "The Ostrich", a parody of then-popular dances.

1965 - His first found prominence as the guitarist and principal singer-songwriter of The Velvet Underground.

1970 – He took a job at his father's tax accounting firm as a typist, by his own account earning a $40 a week.

1971 - He began a long and eclectic solo career.

1974 - He received shock treatment at an early age, as evidenced here and in his dark song, "Kill Your Sons".

1975 – He responded to his glam rock success with a commercial failure, a double album of electronically generated audio feedback, Metal Machine Music.

1980 - He had won wide recognition as an elder statesman of rock.

1983 - He also provided the singing voice for the character Mok in the film Rock & Rule, and wrote the songs "My Name Is Mok" and "Triumph" for the film's soundtrack.

1987 - He again collaborated with John Cale on 1990's Songs for Drella (Drella - Warhol's nickname - is a portmanteau from the words "Dracula" and "Cinderella").

1990 – He and his band reformed for a Cartier benefit in France.

1993 - His the band again reunited and toured throughout Europe, though plans for a North American tour were cancelled following another falling out between him and Cale.

1996 – His band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

2000 - He has since been nominated for the Rock Hall as a solo artist twice this year and 2001, but has not been inducted.

2001 - He made a cameo appearance in the movie adaptation of Prozac Nation.

2003 - He released a 2-CD set, The Raven, based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

2007 - After he had signed a new record deal with Sanctuary Records.