John Cale has enjoyed one of the most diverse and adventurous careers in rock music, building a bridge between the avant-garde, contemporary classical and art music, and the more imaginative wings of pop and rock. Cale's work as a founding member of the Velvet Underground would be enough to earn him an esteemed place in music history, but he's also celebrated as an important solo artist, a gifted songwriter and composer, a skilled instrumentalist, and a thoughtful producer who helmed seminal albums by Patti Smith, the Stooges, and the Modern Lovers.