Now Ulrich � whose band collaborated with Reed on the critically slated 2011 album Lulu � tells the Guardian: "We had communicated about a month ago when we were going to come by New York. Lou was going to come to the show and hang out. He didn't make it because his health took a turn for the worse, so I knew things were not good, but I didn't know it was that serious. So I was half shocked and half crushed � shocked that he went so quickly and crushed over the loss."

He accepts the popular description of Reed as a difficult person to work with, but argues that the veteran artist was misunderstood, and his personality changed once people got to know him.