Longtime music writer and Rolling Stone critic Anthony DeCurtis is writing a biography of Lou Reed.

Little, Brown and Co. announced Thursday that it had acquired a book by DeCurtis. The writer interviewed Reed numerous times and wrote the liner notes for an anthology of songs by the group Reed led in the 1960s, the Velvet Underground.

Little, Brown bills the biography as offering "the inside story" of the brilliant and contentious artist. The book is currently untitled and doesn't yet have a release date.

Reed, one of the most influential musicians of the past 50 years, died Oct. 27 at age 71. He was known for such songs as "Walk On the Wild Side," ''Heroin" and "Pale Blue Eyes."