Inspiring, relevant and real, the story of Nathaniel Ayers, a schizophrenic but wildly talented Juilliard-trained cellist living on the streets of downtown L.A., captivated Los Angeles Times readers ...

Re two Points West columns, “Violinist Has the World on 2 Strings,” April 17, and “Grace Notes of Caring in a Cold World,” April 27: The Steve Lopez piece about Nathaniel Ayers, the homeless musician, ...

The real-life story behindThe Soloist,the new film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx, began in 2005 when Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez met a homeless guy scratching out a tune on a ...

With a few forgivable missteps and obligatory dramatizations, The Soloist portrays schizophrenic Nathaniel Ayers, or as he prefers it, Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Junior, in a richly nuanced and ...

The unlikely friendship between Steve Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist, and Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless musician, has inspired newspaper columns, a book and now a movie starring Robert Downey Jr.

Nathaniel Ayers is the brilliant, mentally ill musician who was living on the streets in L.A. for many years. L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez has been writing about him for years, including in his ...

“The Soloist,” a book (2008) and movie (2009), is based on the true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless African-American man who made music near a statue of Beethoven. He and Los Angeles Times ...

Back in 2005, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez wrote a series of stories about a homeless man who turned out to possess orchestra-level talent on several stringed instruments. Lopez turned his ...

Nathaniel Ayers and Yo-Yo Ma chat in a dressing room at Walt Disney Concert Hall in October 2006. (Francine Orr) I was driving through Westlake, on my way to pay Nathaniel Anthony Ayers a visit at his ...

If Jamie Foxx had gone looking for the most mentally, physically and emotionally demanding assignment of his career, he probably couldn’t have found a tougher challenge than “The Soloist.” Nothing ...