John Cale

John Davies Cale was born on 9 March 1942 in the coal mining village of Garnant, Carmarthenshire, Wales, to Will Cale, a miner, and Margaret Davies, a primary school teacher. His father spoke only English, while his mother also spoke and taught Welsh to Cale. He began learning English at primary school, at around the age of seven. He played organ at Ammanford church. The BBC recorded Cale playing a toccata he composed, which some commentators compared to the work of Aram Khachaturian. Having discovered a talent for viola, Cale joined the National Youth Orchestra of Wales (NYOW) at age 13. Receiving a scholarship, he then studied music at Goldsmiths College, University of London. who recommended him for Tanglewood. Upon arriving in New York City, Cale met a number of influential composers. On 9 September 1963, he participated, along with John Cage and several others, in an 18-hour and 40 minute piano-playing marathon that was the first full-length performance of Erik Satie's "Vexations". After the performance Cale appeared on the television panel show ''I've Got a Secret''. Cale's secret was that he had performed in an 18-hour concert, and he was accompanied by Karl Schenzer, whose secret was that he was the only member of the audience who had stayed for the duration. Cale would later attribute his own "relaxed" artistic outlook to Cage, having hitherto been raised to believe that European composers were obliged to justify their work. During this period, Cale also played in composer La Monte Young's Theatre of Eternal Music. The drone-based music he played there influenced aspects of his later work with the Velvet Underground. One of his collaborators on these recordings was the future Velvet Underground guitarist Sterling Morrison. Three albums of Cale's early experimental work from this period were released in 2001. == The Velvet Underground (1964–1968) ==

Cale had enjoyed and followed rock music as well as avant-garde and European art music from a young age. Earlier that year, he co-founded the Velvet Underground with Lou Reed, recruiting his flatmate Angus MacLise and Reed's college friend Sterling Morrison to complete the initial line-up. Just before the band's first paying gig for $75 at Summit High School in New Jersey, MacLise abruptly quit the band because he viewed accepting money for art as selling out; he was replaced by Moe Tucker as the band's drummer. Initially hired to play that one show, she soon became a permanent member and her style became an integral part of the band's music, despite the initial objections of Cale to the band having a female drummer. On a visit to Britain in 1965, Cale procured records by the Kinks, the Who and the Small Faces that had remained unavailable in the United States and shopped a crudely recorded acoustic Velvet Underground demo tape to several luminaries in the British rock scene (including Marianne Faithfull) with the intention of securing a recording contract. In September 1968, Cale played his final gig with the Velvet Underground at the Boston Tea Party. According to Tucker, "When John left, it was really sad. I felt really bad. And of course, this was gonna really influence the music, 'cause, John's a lunatic (laughs). I think we became a little more normal, which was fine, it was good music, good songs, it was never the same though. It was good stuff, a lot of good songs, but, just, the lunacy factor was... gone." After his dismissal from the band, Cale was replaced by Boston-based musician Doug Yule, who played bass guitar and keyboards and would soon share lead vocal duties in the band with Reed. Michael Carlucci, who was friends with Robert Quine, has given this explanation about Cale's dismissal, "Lou told Quine that the reason why he had to get rid of Cale in the band was Cale's ideas were just too out there. Cale had some wacky ideas. He wanted to record the next album with the amplifiers underwater, and [Lou] just couldn't have it. He was trying to make the band more accessible." Some commentators argue that frictions between Cale and Reed influenced the band's early sound. The pair often had heated disagreements about the direction of the band, and this tension was central to their later collaborations. When Cale left, he seemed to take the more experimental tendencies with him, as is noticeable in comparing the proto-noise rock of White Light/White Heat (which Cale co-created) to the comparatively dulcet, folk rock–influenced The Velvet Underground (1969), recorded after his departure. Cale has favorably compared the dissonance of his Velvet Underground compositions to the indecipherable lyricism of certain strains of Southern hip-hop: "If I can use out-of-tune stuff, [rappers] don't need words to make sense. There's definitely a lineage". Cale briefly returned to the Velvet Underground in 1970, albeit in the studio only: he played organ on the track "Ocean" during the practice sessions to produce demos for the band's fourth studio album Loaded, nearly two years after he left the band. Although he does not appear on the finished album, the demo recording of "Ocean" was included in the 1997 Loaded: Fully Loaded Edition CD re-issue. Finally, five previously unreleased tracks recorded in late 1967 and early 1968 were included on the compilation albums VU (1985) and Another View (1986). == Solo career ==

1970s After leaving the Velvet Underground, Cale worked as a record producer and arranger on a number of studio albums, most notably the Stooges' highly influential 1969 self-titled debut and a trilogy by Nico, including The Marble Index (1968), Desertshore (1970) and The End... (1974). While affiliated with the label, he produced studio albums by Jennifer Warnes (her third, Jennifer), Chunky, Novi & Ernie, and the self-titled debut of the Modern Lovers, which Reprise chose not to release; it subsequently appeared on Beserkley Records, the latest in a series of important Cale-produced proto-punk records. In 1974, he signed a recording contract with Island Records as an artist, while continuing to produce a variety of artists, mostly for other labels, including Squeeze, Patti Smith and Sham 69. He worked as a talent scout with Island's A&R department. 1974–1979 , Kevin Ayers, and Brian Eno performing at London's Rainbow Theatre, 1 June 1974 In 1974, Cale moved back to London. Cale released Animal Justice in 1977, an extended play (EP) notable particularly for the epic "Hedda Gabler" based very loosely on the 1891 play of the same name by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. His loud, abrasive and confrontational live performances fitted well with the punk rock scene developing on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Cale took to wearing a hockey goaltender mask onstage (as evinced by the cover of his 1977 compilation album Guts,, Ontario, Canada, 1977Also in 1977, Cale produced "I Don't Wanna", the debut single by punk rock band Sham 69. In 1978, Cale produced the majority of Squeeze's debut studio album Squeeze, with Cale instructing the band to discard all of the songs that the band had written up until that point, and to write new songs instead, with Glenn Tilbrook, and Chris Difford finding the process of working with Cale both frustrating and challenging. Also that year he played keyboards on Julie Covington's cover version of Alice Cooper's 1975 song "Only Women Bleed", which peaked at No. 12 on the UK singles chart. In 1979, he began a relationship with Austin, Texas-based groupie and journalist Margaret Moser. Cale named the group of women that Moser hung out with the Texas Blondes. His relationship with Moser lasted about five years, overlapping with the beginning of his third marriage. Andy Warhol provided the cover art, in black and white, but against Warhol's wishes, Cale colourised it. However, it received negative reviews from critics, and has never been released on CD. A live album, John Cale Comes Alive (1984), followed Caribbean Sunset and included two new studio songs, "Ooh La La" In 1992, he performed vocals on two songs, "Hunger" and "First Evening", on French composer and record producer Hector Zazou's concept album, Sahara Blue. All lyrics on the album were based on the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud. In 1994, Cale performed a spoken-word duet with folk rock singer Suzanne Vega on the song "The Long Voyage" on Zazou's studio album Chansons des mers froides. The lyrics were based on the poem "Les Silhouettes" by the Irish author Oscar Wilde, and Cale co-wrote the music with Zazou. It was later released as a single (retitled "The Long Voyages" as it featured several remixes by Zazou, Mad Professor and more). In 1996, he played piano on "Love to Die For" by Marc Almond of Soft Cell, from his ninth solo studio album Fantastic Star. He also produced Scottish alternative rock band Goya Dress's debut studio album Rooms. That same year, Cale released Walking on Locusts The concert was shown on Dutch national television and featured a song specially composed for the event and still unreleased, "Murdering Mouth", sung in duet with Siouxsie and her second band the Creatures. Cale and Siouxsie then did a double bill tour in the US for two months from late June until mid-August, both artists collaborating on stage on several songs including a version of the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs". It was used in the 2001 animated film Shrek, although it did not appear on the film's soundtrack album due to licensing issues. In 2002, Cale played piano and sang vocals on the track "Don't Pretend" by Gordon Gano of Violent Femmes, from his debut solo studio album Hitting the Ground. Signing to EMI Records in 2003 with the EP 5 Tracks and studio album HoboSapiens, Cale again returned as a regular recording artist, this time with music influenced by modern electronica and alternative rock. The well-received album was co-produced with Nick Franglen of Lemon Jelly. It was followed by his 2005 studio album blackAcetate. , Belgium, 2006 In 2005, Cale produced Austin, Texas singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo's eighth studio album, The Boxing Mirror, which was released in May 2006. In June 2006, Cale released a radio and digital single, "Jumbo in tha Modernworld", which was a standalone single. A music video was created for the song as well. In February 2007, a 23-song live retrospective, Circus Live, was released in Europe. This two-disc album, composed of recordings from both the 2004 and 2006 tours, featured new arrangements and reworkings of songs from his entire career. Of particular interest is the Amsterdam Suite, a set of songs from a performance at the Amsterdam Paradiso in 2004. A studio-created drone has been edited into these songs. The set also included a DVD, featuring electric rehearsal material and a short acoustic set, as well as the video for "Jumbo in tha Modernworld", a 2006 single. In May 2007, Cale contributed a cover version of the song "All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem to the vinyl and digital single releases of the LCD Soundsystem original. Cale has continued to work with other artists, contributing viola to Replica Sun Machine, the Danger Mouse-produced second studio album by London alternative pop trio the Shortwave Set and producing the second studio album of American indie band Ambulance LTD. On 11 October 2008, Cale hosted an event to pay tribute to Nico called Life Along the Borderline in celebration of what, five days later, would have been her 70th birthday. The event was reprised at the Teatro Communale in Ferrara, Italy on 10 May 2009. Cale represented Wales at the 2009 Venice Biennale exhibition, collaborating with artists, filmmakers, and poets, and focusing the artwork on his relationship with the Welsh language. 2010s In January 2010, Cale was invited to be the first Eminent Art in Residence (EAR) at the Mona Foma festival curated by Brian Ritchie of the Violent Femmes held in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. His work for the 2009 Venice Biennale 'Dyddiau Du (dark days)' was shown at the festival, along with a number of live performances at venues around Hobart. The Paris 1919 (1973) studio album was performed, in its entirety, at the Coal Exchange in Cardiff on 21 November 2009, at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 5 March 2010, and the Theatre Royal in Norwich on 14 May 2010. These performances were reprised in Paris, France, on 5 September 2010; Brescia, Italy, on 11 September 2010; Los Angeles, California, on 30 September 2010 at UCLA's Royce Hall; Melbourne, Australia, on 16 October 2010; Barcelona, Spain, on 28 May 2010 and Essen, Germany, on 6 October 2011.'s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California, 2010|leftIn October 2010, Cale released the two-disc live album Live at Rockpalast, recorded during his two shows for German music television show Rockpalast on 14 October 1984 at Grugahalle, Essen (first disc; with full band) and 6 March 1983 at Zeche, Bochum (second disc; Cale solo with guitar and piano). This concert is missing "Risé, Sam and Rimsky-Korsakov" (Cale, Shepard) narrated by his then-wife Risé Irushalmi. In February 2011, Cale signed a recording contract with Domino Records subsidiary Double Six and released an EP, Extra Playful, in September 2011. In May 2011, he and his band appeared at the Brighton Festival, performing songs to the theme of Émigré/Lost & Found. Cale appeared at the invitation of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was the festival's guest director. In the autumn of 2012, Cale released Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood, his first studio album since 2005. The album features a collaboration with Danger Mouse, "I Wanna Talk 2 U". Critical reception of the album was mixed to positive, with The Guardian newspaper describing it as "an album that combines the 70-year-old's experience with the glee of a small child." In 2014, he appeared as vendor in an episode "Sorrowsworn" of the crime drama television series The Bridge. Cale released his sixteenth solo studio album M:FANS in January 2016. It features new versions of songs from his 1982 studio album Music for a New Society. In July 2016, Cale performed the songs "Valentine's Day", "Sorrow" and "Space Oddity" at a late-night BBC Prom concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, celebrating the music of David Bowie who had died earlier that year. At the 2017 Grammy Salute to Music Legends ceremony, Cale performed with, amongst others, Moe Tucker, two Velvet Underground classics, "Sunday Morning" and "I'm Waiting for the Man". The Velvet Underground were also the recipients of the 2017 Merit Award. In February 2019, Cale collaborated with Marissa Nadler on her new single "Poison". In September 2019, he gave three concerts titled 2019–1964: Futurespective at the Paris' Philharmonie, inviting his compatriot Cate Le Bon to join the band. 2020s Cale features on the track "Corner of My Sky" from Welsh electronic musician Kelly Lee Owens' second studio album Inner Song (2020). On 6 October 2020, Cale released a standalone single and accompanying music video called "Lazy Day". In February 2022, Cale announced his first full UK tour in almost a decade. Cale's tour was to begin in Liverpool at the Philharmonic Hall on 15 July, before calling at Whitley Bay, York, Bexhill, Cambridge and the London Palladium, before closing out the run at Birmingham Town Hall on 25 July. However, the tour was postponed to the fall of 2022 due to some bandmembers contracting COVID-19. In August 2022, Cale released the new track "Night Crawling", accompanied by an official animated music video by Mickey Miles. The song is a reminiscence about his friendship with David Bowie who had died in 2016. "It's been a helluva past two years and I'm glad to finally share a glimpse of what's coming ahead," Cale said in a statement. "There was this period around mid-late Seventies when David and I would run into each other in New York. There was plenty of talk about getting some work done but of course we'd end up running the streets, sometimes until we couldn't keep a thought in our heads, let alone actually get a song together!" Cale played synthesizers, bass guitar, piano and drums on the track assisted by Mars Volta drummer Deantoni Parks and guitarist Dustin Boyer. On 19 October 2022, Cale released another track, titled "Story of Blood", featuring the American chamber pop singer Weyes Blood. "Noise of You" was released as the third track on 11 January 2023. All tracks are from his seventeenth studio album Mercy. The album was released on 20 January 2023. After further postponements, Cale finished his UK tour in 2023, adding two extra dates for Manchester, and Stroud later that year. Cale released an official music video for "Pretty People" on 5 February 2024. The song is one of the 7" vinyl bonus tracks from the 2023 released Mercy album. The video was directed by Abigail Portner. The songs are from his eighteenth studio album Poptical Illusion, which was released on 14 June 2024. On 10 November 2025, the song "House" by Charli XCX was released, in which Cale featured and co-wrote. It was produced by Finn Keane. This was the first single from XCX's 2026 album Wuthering Heights, a soundtrack album to Emerald Fennell's film of the same name (itself an adaptation of the 1847 Emily Brontë novel Wuthering Heights). == Honours and legacy ==

Cale was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Velvet Underground in 1996. At the ceremony, Cale, Reed, and Tucker performed a song titled "Last Night I Said Goodbye to My Friend", dedicated to Sterling Morrison, who had died the previous August due to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In 2000, Cale was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Antwerp, Belgium, for "his influential and groundbreaking work in contemporary music, ballet and film music, and for his eminent contribution to the development of contemporary art." Cale was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours for services to Music and to the Arts. == Personal life ==

Cale married American fashion designer Betsey Johnson in 1968. The couple divorced in 1971 having been married for three years. In 1971, Cale met Cynthia "Cindy" Wells (1952–1997), better known as Miss Cinderella or Miss Cindy of the GTOs, and they married soon afterwards. Their marriage was rocky and they divorced in 1975. On 6 December 1981, Cale married his third wife, Risé Irushalmi and they had a daughter. They divorced in 1997. For his 2004 appearance on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs Cale chose "She Belongs to Me" by Bob Dylan as his favourite track; he also selected Repetition (2001) by Alain Robbe-Grillet as his chosen book and an espresso coffee machine as his luxury item. Substance abuse As a child, Cale suffered from severe bronchitis, which led to a doctor prescribing him opiates. He came to rely on the drugs to fall asleep. He is said to have "taken most of the available drugs in the United States." Cale has said that, "In the '60s, for me, drugs were a cool experiment... In the '70s, I got in over my head". == Discography ==

The Velvet Underground • The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) • White Light/White Heat (1968) Studio albums • Vintage Violence (1970) • The Academy in Peril (1972) • Paris 1919 (1973) • Fear (1974) • Slow Dazzle (1975) • Helen of Troy (1975) • Honi Soit (1981) • Music for a New Society (1982) • Caribbean Sunset (1984) • Artificial Intelligence (1985) • Words for the Dying (1989) • Walking on Locusts (1996) • HoboSapiens (2003) • blackAcetate (2005) • Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood (2012) • M:FANS (2016) • Mercy (2023) • Poptical Illusion (2024) • MiXology (Volume 1) (2025) Live albums • June 1, 1974 (with Kevin Ayers, Brian Eno, Nico) 1974 • Sabotage/Live (1979) • John Cale Comes Alive (1984) • Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1991) • Fragments of a Rainy Season (1992) • Circus Live (2007) • Live at Rockpalast (2010) Collaborative albums • Church of Anthrax (1971) (with Terry Riley) • Songs for Drella (1990) (with Lou Reed) • Wrong Way Up (1990) (with Brian Eno) • Last Day on Earth (1994) (with Bob Neuwirth) Soundtracks and scores • Straight and Narrow (Short) (1970) • Women in Revolt (1971) • Heat (1972) • Caged Heat (1974) • American Playhouse (TV Series) (1 episode)- Who Am I This Time? (1982) • Something Wild (1986) • The Houseguest (short) (1989) • Dick: A Film by Jo Menell (Documentary short) (1989) • Songs for Drella (Video) (1990) • Paris Awakens (1991) • Healing Hurts (1991) • Primary Motive (1992) • The Birth of Love (1993) • Life Underwater (1994) • Ah Pook Is Here (short) (1994) • ''Don't Forget You're Going to Die/N'oublie pas que tu vas mourir'' (1995) • Antarctica (1995) • I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) • Basquiat (1996) • Rhinoceros Hunting in Budapest (1997) • Somewhere in the City (1998) • Night Wind (1999) • Wisconsin Death Trip (1999) • The Virgin (1999) • American Psycho (2000) • Love Me (2000) • ''The King's Daughters / Saint-Cyr'' (2000) • ''The Farewell: Brecht's Last Summer'' (2000) • Y Mabinogi / Otherworld (2003) • New Scenes from America (2003) • Paris (2003) • Process (2004) • About Face: The Story of the Jewish Refugee Soldiers of World War II (2005) • A Burning Hot Summer (2011) • Of Women and Horses (2011) • Paul Sanchez Is Back! (2018) == Filmography ==