John Cale
The Velvet Underground's Secret Weapon By Jim AllenVelvet Underground founder went on to an equally influential career as a producer and solo artist
As a young violist, Welshman John Cale went to college in London in the early 1960s, where he fell under the influence of British avant-gardist/future AMM member Cornelius Cardew, and became enthralled with the techniques of American minimalist composers like John Cage and La Monte Young. By 1963, Cale was in New York, playing in La Monte's Theatre of Eternal Music alongside Terry Riley and Tony Conrad, and a couple of years later, he and Lou Reed made rock history by blending the avant garde with rock & roll and Reed's street poetry in the Velvet Underground. After leaving the VU in 1968, Cale began a long, equally influential career as a producer, overseeing albums by The Stooges, Nico, Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers, Patti Smith, Squeeze, and many more. His solo work began with 1970's Vintage Violence, and he would continue releasing dark, quirky, utterly sui generis albums for decades, as well as engaging in collaborations with Reed, Riley, and Brian Eno, among others.
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