John Davies Cale was born on 9 March 1942 in the coal-mining village of Garnant, Carmarthenshire, the son of a miner father and a schoolteacher mother. Welsh was his first language, and he later described some tension in his household as a result, since his father spoke only English. A prodigiously talented child, Cale performed an original piano composition on the BBC before his teens, played organ at a local chapel, and joined the National Youth Orchestra of Wales on viola aged just thirteen.
Cale went on to study music at Goldsmiths College, University of London, before moving toward the avant-garde and winning a scholarship, supported by Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, to study in the United States. He relocated to New York in 1963 and became immersed in the city's experimental music scene, taking part in an eighteen-hour piano marathon with composer John Cage. In 1965 he co-founded The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed, playing viola, bass and keyboards on the band's first three albums and helping shape one of the most influential sounds in modern rock before leaving the group in 1968.
After The Velvet Underground, Cale built a prolific solo career and became one of rock's most respected producers, working on landmark records by Patti Smith, the Stooges, the Modern Lovers and Nico. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Velvet Underground in 1996, and remains widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians Wales has produced.