Doug Yule
Encyclopedia
Douglas Alan Yule is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 and singer, most notable for being a member of The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...

 from 1968 to 1973.

Early career

Yule began playing with various bands in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 in the 1960s. In 1968, he was in a band called The Grass Menagerie, along with Walter Powers
Walter Powers
Walter Powers III is an American bass guitarist best known for having been a member of The Velvet Underground from late 1970 until late 1971.Walter Powers was born in Boston, Massachusetts...

 and Willie Alexander
Willie Alexander
For the football player of the same name see Willie Alexander .Willie "Loco" Alexander is an American singer and keyboard player based in Gloucester, Massachusetts....

.

1968–1970

When John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....

 left The Velvet Underground at the behest of Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

 in 1968, Yule (who had befriended the band in 1967) joined the band (then consisting of Reed, Sterling Morrison
Sterling Morrison
Holmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. was one of the founding members of the rock group The Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.-Biography:...

 and Maureen Tucker
Maureen Tucker
Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground.- The Velvet Underground :...

) as Cale's replacement. Yule made his first studio appearance on their third album, The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground (album)
The Velvet Underground is the third album by American rock group The Velvet Underground. It was their first record to feature Doug Yule, John Cale's replacement. It was recorded in 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood, California. This album's softer sound marks a radical shift in approach in style...

(1969), playing bass and organ, as well as singing lead vocals on the ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

 "Candy Says" and co-singing the chorus of the album's penultimate track, "The Murder Mystery," with Maureen Tucker. Yule's contribution to the LP was considerable, and his vocals would later come in handy on the road. When Reed's voice became strained from touring, Yule would sing lead on several songs. While Cale had been a more experimental bass player, Yule was considered more technically proficient on the bass than Cale and his distinct melodic style suited Reed's desire to move into a more mainstream direction. On the band's fourth album, Loaded (1970), Yule's role became even more prominent, singing lead vocals on several songs on the LP ("Who Loves The Sun", "New Age", and "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'"), and playing six instruments (including keyboard and drums). Yule's brother, Billy
Billy Yule
William "Billy" Yule is best known for having been a sit-in drummer for The Velvet Underground during 1970.-1970:When in early 1970, regular Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker became pregnant, a temporary replacement was needed to fulfill the band's live obligations...

, also joined in on the sessions as a drummer, as regular drummer Maureen Tucker was pregnant and therefore absent for most of the recording.

1970–1975

Lou Reed left The Velvet Underground in 1970. Yule, Tucker and Morrison decided to continue performing as the Velvet Underground; Yule took over lead vocals and switched main instrument from bass to guitar, and Walter Powers
Walter Powers
Walter Powers III is an American bass guitarist best known for having been a member of The Velvet Underground from late 1970 until late 1971.Walter Powers was born in Boston, Massachusetts...

 was recruited as the Velvets' new bass guitarist.

Morrison left the group in 1971, and was replaced by Willie Alexander
Willie Alexander
For the football player of the same name see Willie Alexander .Willie "Loco" Alexander is an American singer and keyboard player based in Gloucester, Massachusetts....

 on keyboards, but Tucker, Alexander, and Powers all left the Velvets in 1972. With other musicians, Yule did two more tours as the Velvet Underground in 1972-73 and (with Ian Paice
Ian Paice
Ian Anderson Paice is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the English rock band Deep Purple. As of Jon Lord's departure in 2002, he is the only founding member of the band who never stopped performing with the group, and the only member to appear on every album the band has...

 of Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...

 and some session musicians) recorded the album Squeeze (1973) - in essence a Doug Yule solo album, though released as a Velvet Underground album. After the final tour by the Yule-fronted Velvet Underground in 1973, the name was finally retired.

During an interview for radio on December 26, 1972, Reed was asked if he knew where Doug Yule was, to which he sharply responded, "Dead, I hope." When the interviewer mentioned that he went to high school with Yule and told Reed "You can't say that," Reed retorted that he could and did say it, but that he didn't mean it. (This interview can be found on Reed's American Poet
American Poet (album)
American Poet is an album of an early solo concert by Lou Reed, recorded live at the Hempstead Theatre, New York on Boxing Day - 26 December 1972 during the Transformer tour. The backing band are The Tots. It features material from that album, The Velvet Underground, his 1972 solo debut Lou Reed. ...

live album, released in 2001.) Several years later, Reed had hung up his post-Velvet bitterness enough to contact Yule to play bass on his solo album Sally Can't Dance
Sally Can't Dance
Sally Can't Dance is the fourth solo album by Lou Reed. It is Reed's highest-charting album, reaching the Top 10. It is also the first solo Lou Reed album not to feature any songs originally recorded by Reed's earlier band, The Velvet Underground, as well as the first of Reed's solo studio albums...

(1974). and at Reed's request, Yule joined his band for the subsequent European tour as his guitar player. Following the tour, Yule left the group while Reed resumed work on Metal Machine Music
Metal Machine Music
Metal Machine Music, subtitled *The Amine β Ring, is the fifth solo album by Lou Reed. It was originally released as a double album by RCA Records in 1975...

. The 30th anniversary re-issue of Reed's album Coney Island Baby
Coney Island Baby
Coney Island Baby is the sixth solo album by Lou Reed, released in 1975. It is also the title of a song on that album. The name presumably refers to the Excellents' 1962 doo wop song of the same name, and/or a 1924 Les Appleton barbershop music song of the same name...

includes bonus tracks featuring Yule on guitar and bass, recorded in January 1975.

1976–1978 (session work & American Flyer period)

After a couple of years off from music, in 1976 Yule was tapped to do session guitar work on Night Lights (1976) by Elliott Murphy
Elliott Murphy
Elliott James Murphy is an American rock singer-songwriter, novelist, producer and journalist living in Paris.-Biography:Elliott James Murphy, Jr. was born in Rockville Centre, New York to a show business family...

, and then he joined the band American Flyer
American Flyer (band)
American Flyer was an American folk rock supergroup.They formed in 1976 and released two successful albums on United Artists before disbanding in 1978. They also charted one minor hit, "Let Me Down Easy", which hit #80 on the U.S...

 later that year as their drummer and background singer.

American Flyer
American Flyer (band)
American Flyer was an American folk rock supergroup.They formed in 1976 and released two successful albums on United Artists before disbanding in 1978. They also charted one minor hit, "Let Me Down Easy", which hit #80 on the U.S...

 was an active country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

 band from 1976 to 1978, and the band also featured the guitarist Steve Katz
Steve Katz (musician)
Steve Katz is a guitarist and record producer who is best known as a member of the rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears. Katz was an original member of the rock bands The Blues Project and American Flyer...

 of Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American music group, originally formed in 1967 in New York City. Since its beginnings in 1967, the band has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a multitude of musical styles...

. After securing a major-label contract with United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

, and managing to interest George Martin
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...

 enough to bring him on-board as their producer, American Flyer's debut album "American Flyer" debuted at #87 on the Billboard Top 200, and they even scored a minor hit with their single "Let Me Down Easy" which debuted at #80 in 1976. Despite the promise showed on their first album, their follow-up album "Spirit of a Woman", (also produced by Martin), failed to chart as high, and didn't carry the momentum the label expected, and the band decided to hang it up. After American Flyer disbanded, Yule retired from doing music full-time, and became a cabinetmaker and a luthier of violins.

1990–present

When the Velvet Underground reformed in the early 1993, Sterling Morrison had campaigned for Yule's involvement, but Lou Reed and John Cale ultimately overruled him, thus leaving Yule off the band's short-lived 6 week reunion tour of Europe, and the subsequent live album Live MCMXCIII
Live MCMXCIII
Live MCMXCIII is a live album by The Velvet Underground. It was released simultaneously in single and double CD/Cassette formats on October 26, 1993 by Sire Records. The single CD is an abridged version of the double CD edition: there are no different takes of songs across the two editions...

. Following the continual interest in The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...

, and partly due to the publicity of The Velvet Underground's released box set Peel Slowly and See
Peel Slowly and See
Peel Slowly and See is a five-disc box set of material by The Velvet Underground. It was released in September 1995 by Polydor.-Compilation:...

in 1995, Yule, who had, by then, moved to the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...

 area, returned to public life, again giving interviews to journalists and various fanzines about his time in The Velvet Underground.

He wrote, in one of them, a lengthy obituary
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...

 for Sterling Morrison, who had died that year.

Yule was not included in the line-up for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

 when the Velvet Underground were inducted in 1996, despite his involvement with the band's third album The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground (album)
The Velvet Underground is the third album by American rock group The Velvet Underground. It was their first record to feature Doug Yule, John Cale's replacement. It was recorded in 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood, California. This album's softer sound marks a radical shift in approach in style...

, and Loaded
Loaded
Loaded may refer to:In music:* Loaded * Loaded * Loaded * "Loaded" * "Loaded" * "Loaded"...

, in particular, which caused some controversy amongst purists of the band's history. Despite this, Yule remains a member of the Velvet business partnership, and continued to give the occasional interview about his time in the group. After having taken up the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

, Yule began to record music again in 1997. A song called "Beginning To Get It" appeared on the compilation A Place to Call Home in 1998. He played some concerts in 2000, while the live album Live in Seattle was released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 in 2002. He also featured on Tucker's live album Moe Rocks Terrastock
Moe Rocks Terrastock
Moe Rocks Terrastock is the second live album released by Maureen Tucker. It has only been released in Japan.-Track listing:#"Spam Again" – 5:17#"I Wanna" – 3:08#"I'm Sticking With You" – 2:34#"Crackin' Up" – 4:08#"That's B.A.D." – 6:28...

.

On August 31, 2006, Yule performed for the first time in public in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, in over 30 years, with Mark Gardener
Mark Gardener
Mark Stephen Gardener is an English rock musician, and former singer and guitarist with the shoegazing band, Ride.-Ride:...

 of Ride
Ride (band)
Ride were a British alternative rock band that formed in 1988 in Oxford, England, consisting of Andy Bell, Mark Gardener, Laurence "Loz" Colbert, and Steve Queralt. The band were initially part of the "shoegazing" scene. Following the break-up of the band in 1996, members moved on to various other...

 at Pianos
Pianos
Pianos is a two-story bar/restaurant/live music venue in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan at 158 Ludlow Street.Its stage attracts local and national alternative rock groups as well as DJs, though a more typical performance consists of smaller name local and touring acts...

.

On December 8, 2009, Yule appeared with his former Velvet Underground bandmates Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

 and Maureen Tucker
Maureen Tucker
Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground.- The Velvet Underground :...

 at the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...

, to commemorate the publishing of "The Velvet Underground - New York Art",
which was a collection of rare photographs of the band's first performance in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

's cover designs.
They conducted a Q & A with a sold-out live audience, and David Fricke
David Fricke
David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was managing editor before stepping down.-Background:David Fricke is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania...

 acted as moderator to the event.

Personal life

Yule currently lives in the Ballard
Ballard, Seattle
Ballard is a neighborhood located in the northwestern part of Seattle, Washington. To the north it is bounded by Crown Hill, ; to the east by Greenwood, Phinney Ridge and Fremont ; to the south by the Lake Washington Ship Canal; and to the west by Puget Sound’s Shilshole Bay. The neighborhood’s...

 neighborhood of Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, with his son Dan. He plays fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...

 and builds violins. In 2006, in addition to his appearance with Mark Gardener
Mark Gardener
Mark Stephen Gardener is an English rock musician, and former singer and guitarist with the shoegazing band, Ride.-Ride:...

, he played bass on a brief tour with The Weisstronauts, a Boston surf-rock group. As of 2007, he is a member of an Old Time band called RedDog.

With The Velvet Underground

  • The Velvet Underground
    The Velvet Underground (album)
    The Velvet Underground is the third album by American rock group The Velvet Underground. It was their first record to feature Doug Yule, John Cale's replacement. It was recorded in 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood, California. This album's softer sound marks a radical shift in approach in style...

    (1969)
  • Loaded (1970)
  • Live at Max's Kansas City
    Live at Max's Kansas City
    Live at Max's Kansas City is a live album by The Velvet Underground. It was originally released on May 30, 1972, by Cotillion, a subsidiary label of Atlantic Records.-About the album:...

    (1972)
  • Squeeze (1973)
  • 1969: The Velvet Underground Live
    1969: The Velvet Underground Live
    1969: The Velvet Underground Live is a live album by The Velvet Underground. It was originally released as a double album in September 1974 by Mercury Records. The September 1988 CD re-release was issued as two separate single CD volumes, with one extra track per disc...

    (1974)
  • VU
    VU (album)
    VU is an outtakes compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was released in February 1985 by Verve Records.-Composition and collection:...

    (outtakes compilation, 1985 [1968-1969])
  • Another View
    Another View
    Another View is an outtakes compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was released in 1986 by Verve Records and is comprised of material recorded between 1967 and 1969.-Composition and collection:...

    (outtakes compilation, 1986 [1967-1969])
  • Chronicles
    Chronicles (Velvet Underground album)
    Chronicles is a compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was initially released for the Australian market by Mercury Records in 1991 as part of their "Startrax" series of budget compilations. The album was also made available in Europe....

    (compilation, 1991)
  • Peel Slowly and See
    Peel Slowly and See
    Peel Slowly and See is a five-disc box set of material by The Velvet Underground. It was released in September 1995 by Polydor.-Compilation:...

    (box set, 1995 [1965-1970])
  • Final V.U. 1971-1973
    Final V.U. 1971-1973
    Final V.U. 1971–1973 is a box set by The Velvet Underground, comprising live recordings from after founder and primary songwriter Lou Reed had left the group...

    (live box set, 2001 [1971-1973])
  • Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes
    Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes
    Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes is a triple live album by The Velvet Underground. It was released on October 16, 2001 by Polydor, the record label overseeing The Velvet Underground's Universal Music Group back catalogue....

    (live, 2001 [1969])
  • The Very Best of the Velvet Underground
    The Very Best of the Velvet Underground
    The Very Best of The Velvet Underground is a compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was released in Europe on March 31, 2003, by Polydor, the record label that oversees the band's Universal Music Group back catalogue....

    (best of, 2003 [1966-1970])

With Lou Reed

  • Sally Can't Dance
    Sally Can't Dance
    Sally Can't Dance is the fourth solo album by Lou Reed. It is Reed's highest-charting album, reaching the Top 10. It is also the first solo Lou Reed album not to feature any songs originally recorded by Reed's earlier band, The Velvet Underground, as well as the first of Reed's solo studio albums...

    (1974)
  • Coney Island Baby: 30th Anniversary Edition
    Coney Island Baby
    Coney Island Baby is the sixth solo album by Lou Reed, released in 1975. It is also the title of a song on that album. The name presumably refers to the Excellents' 1962 doo wop song of the same name, and/or a 1924 Les Appleton barbershop music song of the same name...

    (1975)(2005)
  • Between Thought and Expression: The Lou Reed Anthology
    Between Thought and Expression: The Lou Reed Anthology
    Between Thought and Expression: The Lou Reed Anthology is Lou Reed's box set. This 1992 release covers the first 20 years of his solo career, including the unreleased "Downtown Dirt," "Nowhere At All" , a 1978 live "Heroin" featuring jazz great Don Cherry, "Little Sister" , and "America ."The box...

    (1992)

With American Flyer

  • American Flyer (1976)
  • Spirit of a Woman (1977)

Other

  • Elliott Murphy
    Elliott Murphy
    Elliott James Murphy is an American rock singer-songwriter, novelist, producer and journalist living in Paris.-Biography:Elliott James Murphy, Jr. was born in Rockville Centre, New York to a show business family...

    : Night Lights
    Night Lights
    Night Lights: A Collection of Previously Unreleased Songs is a compilation album released by American pop punk band Punchline on December 1, 2009, compiling 20 of the band's b-sides from the past 6–7 years....

    (1976)
  • Maureen Tucker
    Maureen Tucker
    Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground.- The Velvet Underground :...

    : Moe Rocks Terrastock
    Moe Rocks Terrastock
    Moe Rocks Terrastock is the second live album released by Maureen Tucker. It has only been released in Japan.-Track listing:#"Spam Again" – 5:17#"I Wanna" – 3:08#"I'm Sticking With You" – 2:34#"Crackin' Up" – 4:08#"That's B.A.D." – 6:28...

    (2002)
  • Weisstronauts: Instro-tainment (2008)

External links

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