The Velvet Underground

The group performed under several names before settling on the Velvet Underground in 1965, taken from the title of a 1963 book on atypical sexual behavior. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionist Moe Tucker. In 1966, pop artist Andy Warhol became their official manager. They served as the house band at Warhol's studio, The Factory, and performed with his traveling multimedia show, Exploding Plastic Inevitable, from 1966 to 1967. Their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), featuring the German singer and model Nico, was released to critical indifference and poor sales, although it has since been hailed as one of the greatest albums in music history.
In 1968, the band released their second album, the noise-saturated White Light/White Heat, after which Cale was replaced with Doug Yule. Aiming for mainstream success, the two following albums, The Velvet Underground (1969) and Loaded (1970), sold below the expectations of record labels and de facto group leader Reed. In the early 1970s, all but Yule left the band and a final album was released under the Velvet Underground name in 1973, Squeeze, recorded mostly by Yule with Ian Paice of Deep Purple and other session musicians in London. The Velvet Underground dissolved shortly after.
The former band members collaborated on each other's solo work throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and an album of long lost recordings of original songs, VU, was released in 1985. Reed, Cale, Tucker and Morrison reunited for a series of well-received shows in 1993, and released a live album from the tour, Live MCMXCIII, later that year. After Morrison's death in 1995, the remaining members performed at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1996. In 2004, the Velvet Underground were ranked number 19 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Following Reed's death in 2013, the group received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.