Velvet Underground Drummer Moe Tucker Mourns Lou Reed

Maureen ‘Moe’ Tucker has expressed her sadness at the death of her former Velvet Underground bandmate Lou Reed.

Reed died in October at the age of 71 and Tucker has written an obituary in The Guardian mourning his loss.

“He was a good friend through everything,” said Tucker. “We had this brother-sister type relationship in the group, and it lasted long after the group split.

“We would always exchange Christmas cards, Valentine cards. It was one of those friendships where it didn’t matter if you didn’t see each other a lot.

“We’d meet up after two years or five years and it would be like we’d seen each other last week.”

She added: “Now Andy [Warhol]’s gone, Sterling [Morrison]’s gone, Nico’s gone and Lou’s gone. It feels strange. I miss them all, but I really miss Lou.

“He was a great songwriter who pushed the boundaries in terms of what he was writing about, but more importantly, he was a good and loyal friend. It doesn’t seem right that I won’t be sending him a Christmas card.”

Tucker replaced Angus Maclise in The Velvet Underground in 1965. As well as drumming she sang on ‘After Hours’, ‘The Murder Mystery’ and posthumously-released outtake ‘I’m Sticking With You’.

She missed the recording of the band’s fourth album Loaded when pregnant with her first child, but returned to the Reed-less group in late 1970.

Tucker released several solo albums in the 1980s and reunited with Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison for The Velvet Underground’s 1992-3 live reunion.