John Cale
b. 9 March 1942, Crynant, West Glamorgan, Wales. Cale was a student of viola and keyboards at London's Goldsmith's college when introduced to electronic music. In 1963 he won a Leonard Bernstein scholarship to study modern composition at the Eastman Conservatory in Massachusetts, but later moved to New York where he joined the Dream Syndicate, an avant garde ensemble founded by LaMonte Young. It was during this period that Cale began playing rock and the following year he met Lou Reed through a mutual association with Pickwick Records. Sceptical of the company's desire for exploitative releases, the duo left to form a group which would evolve into the Velvet Underground. Cale remained with this highly influential act until 1968 during which time his experimental predisposition combined with Reed's grasp of pop's traditions to create a truly exciting lexicon, embodied to perfection in Sister Ray from WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT. Cale's contribution to the group should not be under-emphasized, a fact enhanced by the shift in style which followed his summary dismissal from the line-up. He produced THE MARBLE INDEX for Nico, the first of several collaborations with the former Velvet's chanteuse, and the Stooges, before embarking on a solo career with VINTAGE VIOLENCE. Those anticipating a radical set were pleasantly surprised by the melodic flair which marked its content. However, CHURCH OF ANTHRAX, a rather unsatisfactory pairing with Terry Riley, and the imaginative THE ACADEMY IN PERIL, re-affirmed his experimental reputation. Whilst working for the Warner Brothers label in studio production and A&R, he assembled a backing band which included the services of Little Feat members Lowell George and Richard Hayward. Together they recorded the haunting PARIS 1919, which continued the popular style of Cale's debut and remains, for many, the artist's finest work. Cameos on albums by Nick Drake and Mike Heron preceded a spell with UK-based Island Records. Cale's first album for the label, FEAR, featured and included a selection of compositions both overpoweringly dense and also light-hearted. It also featured Brian Eno, who also contributed to the follow-up SLOW DAZZLE and appeared with Cale, Nico and Kevin Ayers (as ACNE) on JUNE 1 1974. Such a punishing schedule undermined Cale's creativity, a fact exemplified in the disappointing HELEN OF TROY, but his production on Patti Smith's HORSES nonetheless enhanced the urgency of this exemplary work. Now fêted by the punk audience, Cale's own recordings increasingly borrowed ideas rather than introducing them and he reached an artistic torpor with the onstage beheading of a chicken, resulting in his band walking out on him. However, MUSIC FOR A NEW SOCIETY marked a renewed sense of adventure, adeptly combining the popular and cerebral. The personal tribulations of the '70s now behind him, Cale continued to offer innovative music and WORDS FOR THE DYING matched his initial work for purpose and imagination. SONGS FOR ‘DRELLA, a 1990 collaboration with Lou Reed as a tribute to their recently deceased former mentor, Andy Warhol, was rightly lauded by critics and audiences alike.