Rock enthusiasts conversant with obscure facts often identify Willie "Loco" Alexander as the solution to a familiar brain-teaser about Lou Reed’s successor in the Velvet Underground, even though his renown stays largely confined to Boston. Philadelphia was the site of his birth in 1943; during the 1960s he moved to Boston and there assembled the folk duo Baba & Willie Loco. In 1964 he started the Lost, then among the city’s most popular garage bands, and cut sides for Capitol in the middle of the decade. By 1967 he was performing in Glass Menagerie alongside Doug Yule, who replaced John Cale in the Velvet Underground the following year. After Lou Reed left in 1970, Alexander received an invitation to join the group; he contributed keyboards and vocals until Doug Yule and the remaining members disbanded the skeletal lineup in 1972 following the album Squeeze.
Beginning in 1975 he issued three solo singles and, the next year, assembled the punk-oriented Boom Boom Band. The ensemble cut two albums for MCA before dissolving in 1978. Alexander delivered Solo Loco in 1982 and subsequently launched the Confessions, who produced the albums A Girl Like You and Autre Chose. He maintained a solo career through the rest of the 1980s yet organized the Persistence of Memory Orchestra in 1991. Several best-of compilations now document both his solo output and his work with the various groups.
