John Cale

John Cale, born in Garnant, Wales, in 1942, is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer, classically trained and drawn early to the avant-garde: in New York he played in La Monte Young's Theatre of Eternal Music, whose sustained drones he carried into rock. In 1964 he co-founded the Velvet Underground with Lou Reed, and his viola, bass and organ gave the band its dissonant, hypnotic edge until he left in 1968.