Nico
Nico | |
---|---|
![]() Nico with the Velvet Underground in 1966 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Christa Päffgen |
Born | Cologne, Germany | 16 October 1938
Died | 18 July 1988 Ibiza, Spain | (aged 49)
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
|
Instruments |
|
Years active | 1954–1988 |
Labels | |
Formerly of | The Velvet Underground |
Christa Päffgen ([ˈkʁɪsta ˈpɛfɡən]; 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988),[1][2][3] known by her stage name Nico, was a German singer, songwriter, actress, and model. She had roles in several films, including Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) and Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls (1966). Reviewer Richard Goldstein describes Nico as "half goddess, half icicle" and writes that her distinctive voice "sounds something like a cello getting up in the morning."[4]
At the insistence of Warhol, Nico sang lead on three songs of the Velvet Underground's debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967). At the same time, she started a solo career and released Chelsea Girl (1967). Nico's friend, Jim Morrison, suggested that she start writing her own material. She then composed songs on a harmonium, not traditionally a rock instrument. John Cale of the Velvet Underground became her musical arranger and produced The Marble Index (1968), Desertshore (1970), The End... (1974) and other subsequent albums.
In the 1980s, Nico toured extensively in Europe, United States, Australia and Japan. After a concert in Berlin in June 1988, she went on holiday in Ibiza to rest and died as the result of a cerebral haemorrhage while cycling in extremely hot weather.[5]
Early life
[edit]Nico was born Christa Päffgen in Cologne to Wilhelm and Margarete "Grete" Päffgen (née Schulz, 1910–1970).[3] Wilhelm was born into the wealthy Päffgen Kölsch master brewer family dynasty in Cologne and was Catholic, while Grete came from a lower-class background and was Protestant.[6] When Nico was two years old, she moved with her mother and grandfather to the Spreewald forest outside Berlin to escape the World War II bombardments of Cologne.[7]
Her father was conscripted into the Wehrmacht at the onset of the war, but there are several conflicting accounts as to when and how he died. According to biographer Richard Witts in his 1995 book Nico: The Life and Lies of an Icon, Wilhelm Päffgen was gravely wounded in 1942 after having been shot in the head by a French sniper. With no certainty that he would survive, his commanding officer, following standing orders, ended Päffgen's life by gunshot.[6] Another story is that he sustained head injuries that caused severe brain damage, and spent the rest of his life in a psychiatric institution.[8] According to unproven rumours, he was variously said to have died in a concentration camp,[9][10] or to have faded away as a result of shell shock.[11]
In 1946, Nico and her mother relocated to downtown Berlin, where Grete worked as a seamstress. Nico attended school until the age of 13, and began selling lingerie in the exclusive department store KaDeWe, eventually getting modelling jobs in Berlin.[10] At 5 ft 10 in (178 cm), and with chiseled features and pale skin, Nico rose to prominence as a fashion model when still a teenager.[12] At the age of 15 while working as a temp for the US Air Force, she was allegedly raped by an American sergeant and she gave evidence at the trial which led to the perpetrator being court-martialed. The incident was referenced in her song "Secret Side". However, biographers such as Richard Witts have debated the validity of the story as no public records of the case have been documented.[13]
Career
[edit]Acting and modelling (1954–1964)
[edit]Nico was discovered at 16 by photographer Herbert Tobias while both were working at a KaDeWe fashion show in Berlin. He gave her the name "Nico" after a man he had fallen in love with, filmmaker Nikos Papatakis, and she used it for the rest of her life.[14] She moved to Paris and began working for Vogue, Tempo, Vie Nuove, Mascotte Spettacolo, Camera, Elle, and other fashion magazines. Around this time, she dyed her brown hair blonde, later claiming she was inspired to do so by Ernest Hemingway.[15] At age 17, she was contracted by Coco Chanel to promote their products, but she fled to New York City and abandoned the job. Through her travels, she learned to speak English, Spanish, and French.
In 1959 she had an uncredited speaking part in Mario Lanza's last film For the First Time.[16][17] In the same year she was invited to the set of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, where she attracted the attention of the acclaimed director, who gave her a minor role in the film as herself. By that time, she was living in New York and taking acting classes with Lee Strasberg.[10]
After a role in the 1961 Jean Paul Belmondo film A Man Named Rocca, she appeared as the cover model on jazz pianist Bill Evans' 1962 album, Moon Beams.[18] After splitting her time between New York and Paris, she got the lead role in Jacques Poitrenaud's Strip-Tease (1963). She recorded the title track, which was written by Serge Gainsbourg but not released until 2001, when it was included in the compilation Le Cinéma de Serge Gainsbourg.
Early singing work
[edit]In New York, Nico first met Greek filmmaker Nico Papatakis, whose name she had adopted as her stage name several years earlier. The two lived together between 1959 and 1961.[19] After noticing her singing around the apartment, Papatakis asked her if she had ever considered a career in music and ended up enrolling her in her first singing lessons.[20]
In 1965, Nico met the Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones and recorded her first single, "I'm Not Sayin'", with the B-side "The Last Mile", produced by Jimmy Page for Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label. Actor Ben Carruthers introduced her to Bob Dylan in Paris that summer. In 1967, Nico recorded his song "I'll Keep It with Mine" for her first album, Chelsea Girl.[1]
The Velvet Underground (1966–67)
[edit]After being introduced by Brian Jones, she began working in New York with Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey on their experimental films, including Chelsea Girls, The Closet, Sunset and Imitation of Christ. Warhol began managing the Velvet Underground, a New York City rock band and he proposed that the group take on Nico as a "chanteuse", an idea to which they consented, reluctantly for both personal and musical reasons.[21][22]
The group became the centerpiece of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a multimedia performance featuring music, lighting, film and dance. Nico sang lead vocals on three songs ("Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties", "I'll Be Your Mirror"), and backing vocal on "Sunday Morning", on the band's debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967).[1] Reviewer Richard Goldstein describes Nico as "half goddess, half icicle" and writes that her Velvet Underground vocal "sounds something like a cello getting up in the morning".[4]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Warhol%27s_Exploding_Plastic_Inevitable_with_Nico.png/170px-Warhol%27s_Exploding_Plastic_Inevitable_with_Nico.png)
Nico's tenure with the Velvet Underground was marked by personal and musical difficulties. Multi-instrumentalist John Cale wrote that Nico's long dressing room preparations, and pre-performance ritual of burning a candle, often held up performances, which especially irritated songwriter Lou Reed. Nico's partial deafness sometimes caused her to veer off key, for which she was ridiculed by other band members.[23] The album became a classic, ranked 13th on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[24] though it was poorly received at the time of its release.[25]
Early solo career (1967–1977)
[edit]Immediately following her musical work with the Velvet Underground, Nico began work as a solo artist, performing regularly at The Dom in New York City. At these shows, she was accompanied by a revolving cast of guitarists, including members of the Velvet Underground, Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Jackson Browne.
For her debut album, 1967's Chelsea Girl, she recorded songs by Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin, and Jackson Browne, among others. Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison contributed to the album, with Nico, Reed and Cale co-writing one song, "It Was a Pleasure Then."[26] Chelsea Girl is a traditional chamber-folk album, with strings and flute arrangements by producer Tom Wilson. Nico had little say in its production, and was disappointed with the result; she said in 1981: "I still cannot listen to it, because everything I wanted for that record, they took it away. I asked for drums, they said no. I asked for more guitars, they said no. And I asked for simplicity, and they covered it in flutes! ... They added strings, and— I didn't like them, but I could live with them. But the flute! The first time I heard the album, I cried and it was all because of the flute."[27] In California, Nico spent time with Jim Morrison of the Doors, who encouraged her to write her own songs.[28]
For The Marble Index, released in 1968, Nico wrote the lyrics and music. Nico's harmonium anchored the accompaniment, while John Cale added an array of folk and classical instruments, and arranged the album. The harmonium became her signature instrument for the rest of her career. The album has a classical-cum-European folk sound. The album also marked a radical change in Nico's appearance and image. She once again dyed her hair, this time from blonde to red, and began dressing mostly in black, a look that would be considered a visual prototype for the gothic rock scene that would emerge in subsequent years.[29]
A promotional film for the song "Evening of Light" was filmed by Francois de Menil. This video featured the now red-haired Nico and Iggy Pop of the Stooges.
Returning to live performance in the early 1970s, Nico (accompanying herself on harmonium) gave concerts in Amsterdam as well as London, where she and John Cale opened for Pink Floyd. 1972 saw a one-off live reunion of Nico, Cale and Lou Reed at the Bataclan in Paris.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Nico_Harmonium1974.png/170px-Nico_Harmonium1974.png)
Nico released two more solo albums in the 1970s, Desertshore (1970) and The End... (1974). She wrote the music, sang, and played the harmonium. Cale produced and played most of the other instruments on both albums. The End... featured Brian Eno on synthesizer and Phil Manzanera on guitar, both from Roxy Music. She appeared at the Rainbow Theatre, in London, with Cale, Eno, and Kevin Ayers. The album June 1, 1974 resulted from this concert. Nico performed a version of the Doors' "The End", which was the catalyst for The End... later that year.
Between 1970 and 1979, Nico made about seven films with French director Philippe Garrel. She met Garrel in 1969 and contributed the song "The Falconer" to his film Le Lit de la Vierge. Soon after, she was living with Garrel and became a central figure in his cinematic and personal circles. Nico's first acting appearance with Garrel occurred in his 1972 film, La Cicatrice Intérieure. Nico also supplied the music for this film and collaborated closely with the director. She also appeared in the Garrel films Anathor (1972); the silent Jean Seberg feature Les Hautes Solitudes, released in 1974; Un ange passe (1975); Le Berceau de cristal (1976), starring Pierre Clémenti, Nico and Anita Pallenberg; and Voyage au jardin des morts (1978). His 1991 film J'entends Plus la Guitare is dedicated to Nico.[30]
On 13 December 1974, Nico opened for Tangerine Dream's concert at Reims Cathedral in Reims, France.[31] Around this time, Nico became involved with Berliner musician Lutz Ulbrich, guitarist for Ash Ra Tempel. Ulbrich would accompany Nico on guitar at many of her subsequent concerts through the rest of the decade. Also in this time period, Nico let her hair return to its natural brown color but continued wearing mostly black. This would be her public image from then on.[32] Nico and Island Records allegedly had many disputes during this time, and in 1975 Island dropped her from their roster.[33]
Later solo career (1978–1988)
[edit]In September 1978, Nico performed at the Canet Roc '78 festival in Spain.[34] Also performing at this event were Blondie, Kevin Ayers, and Ultravox. She made a vocal contribution to Neuronium's second album, Vuelo Químico, as she was at the studio, by chance, while it was being recorded in Barcelona in 1978 by Michel Huygen, Carlos Guirao and Albert Gimenez. She read excerpts from "Ulalume" by Edgar Allan Poe. She said that the music deeply moved her, so she could not help but make a contribution. During the same year, Nico briefly toured as supporting act for Siouxsie and the Banshees, one of many post-punk bands who namechecked her.[35] In Paris, Patti Smith bought a new harmonium for Nico after her original was stolen.
Nico returned to New York in 1979 where her comeback concert at CBGB (accompanied by John Cale and Lutz Ulbrich) was reviewed positively in The New York Times. She began playing regularly at the Squat Theatre and other venues with Jim Tisdall accompanying her on harp and Gittler guitar. They played together on a sold-out tour of twelve cities in the East and Midwest. At some shows, she was accompanied on guitar by Cheetah Chrome (the Dead Boys).
In France, Nico was introduced to photographer Antoine Giacomoni. Giacomoni's photos of Nico would be used for her next album, and would eventually be featured in a book (Nico: Photographies, Horizon Illimite, Paris, 2002). Through Antoine Giacomoni, she met Corsican bassist Philippe Quilichini. Nico recorded her next studio album, Drama of Exile, in 1981.[1] produced by Philippe Quilichini. Mahamad Hadi aka Mad Sheer Khan played oriental rock guitar and wrote all the oriental production. It was a departure from her earlier work with John Cale, featuring a mixture of rock and Middle Eastern arrangements. For this album, in addition to originals like "Genghis Khan" and "Sixty Forty", Nico recorded covers of the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man" and David Bowie's "'Heroes'". Drama of Exile was released twice, in two different versions, the second appearing in 1983.[31]
After relocating to Manchester, England, in the early 1980s, Nico acquired a manager, the influential Factory Records executive and promoter Alan Wise,[36][37] and began working with a variety of backing bands for her many live performances. These bands chronologically included Blue Orchids, the Bedlamites and the Faction.
In 1981, Nico released the Philippe Quilichini-produced single "Saeta"/"Vegas" on Flicknife Records. The following year saw another single, "Procession", produced by Martin Hannett and featuring The Invisible Girls. Included on the "Procession" single was a new version of The Velvet Underground's "All Tomorrow's Parties".
Nico toured in 1982 with post-punk band Blue Orchids as her backing band.[5] At the time, her work impacted the emerging gothic rock scene. At Salford University in 1982, she joined Bauhaus for a performance of "I'm Waiting for the Man". That same year, Nico's supporting acts included The Sisters of Mercy and Gene Loves Jezebel. In September 1982, Nico performed at the Deeside Leisure Centre for the Futurama Festival. The line-up for this show also included The Damned, Dead or Alive, Southern Death Cult, Danse Society and The Membranes. After the end of her work with the Blue Orchids, she hired musical arranger James Young and his band the Faction for her concerts.[5]
The live compilations 1982 Tour Diary and En Personne En Europe were released in November 1982 on the 1/2 Records cassette label in France; the ROIR cassette label reissued the former under the revised title "Do Or Die!" in 1983. These releases were followed by more live performances throughout Europe over the next few years.
She recorded her final solo album, Camera Obscura, in 1985, with the Faction (James Young and Graham Dids). Produced by John Cale, it featured Nico's version of the Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart song "My Funny Valentine". The album's closing song was an updated version of "König", which she had previously recorded for La cicatrice interieure. This was the only song on the album to feature only Nico's voice and harmonium. A music video for "My Heart Is Empty" was filmed at The Fridge in Brixton.
The next few years saw frequent live performances by Nico, with tours of Europe, Japan and Australia (usually with the Faction or the Bedlamites). A number of Nico's performances towards the end of her life were recorded and released, including 1982's Heroine, Nico in Tokyo, and Behind the Iron Curtain.
In March 1988, she and Young hired new guitarist Henry Olsen: together, they composed new songs to be premiered at a festival organized by Lutz Ulbrich at the Berlin Planetarium in June. Nico was then inspired by Egyptian music and Egyptian singer and diva Oum Kalthoum. Young stated that the new material was "good enough to be a springboard to a new record" with an Egyptian orchestra.[5] The Berlin concert ended with a song from The End..., "You Forget to Answer".
A duet called "Your Kisses Burn" with singer Marc Almond was her last studio recording (about a month before her death). It was released a few months after her death on Almond's album The Stars We Are. The recording of the 1988 Berlin concert, was later released with the title Nico's Last Concert: Fata Morgana.
Personal life
[edit]On 11 August 1962, she gave birth to her son, Christian Aaron Boulogne, whom she called Ari.[10] She was living with Nicos Papatakis in 1962 but told him that Alain Delon would be the father of her child. Delon always denied it (which has never been proved). Unable to raise her child, Ari was raised by Delon's mother and his stepfather.[38][39] Ari became a photographer and actor.[40] He died, aged 60, in Paris in 2023.[41][42]
Nico saw herself as part of a tradition of bohemian artists, which she traced back to the Romanticism of the early 19th century. She led a nomadic life, living in different countries. Apart from Germany, where she grew up, and Spain, where she died, Nico lived in Italy and France in the 1950s, spent most of the 1960s in the USA, and lived in London in the early 1960s and again in the 1980s, when she moved between London and Manchester.[36]
In 1965 she became pregnant during a three month affair with Brian Jones but decided to have an abortion in London that same year. This event prompted her to seek out a closer relationship with her son Ari.[43]
The final years of her life were mainly spent in the Prestwich[36] and Salford areas of Greater Manchester. Although she was still struggling with addiction, she became interested in music again.[36] For a few months in the 1980s, she shared an apartment in Brixton, London, with punk poet John Cooper Clarke[36] but not as a couple.[44]
Nico was a heroin addict for over 15 years. In the book Songs They Never Play on the Radio, James Young, a member of her band in the 1980s, recalls many examples of her troubling behaviour due to her "overwhelming" addiction – and that Nico claimed never to have taken the drug while in the Velvets/Factory scene but only began using during her relationship with French film director Philippe Garrel in the 1970s.[45]
In his autobiography, musician Cheetah Chrome depicted his friendship with a strung-out Nico in the 1980s and their mutual dependency.[citation needed] Shortly before her death, Nico stopped using heroin and began methadone replacement therapy as well as a regimen of bicycle exercise and healthy eating.[citation needed]
Nico's friend Danny Fields, the American journalist who helped her sign to Elektra Records, described her as "Nazi-esque", saying, "Every once in a while there'd be something about Jews and I'd be, 'But Nico, I'm Jewish,' and she was like 'Yes, yes, I don't mean you.'"[46] According to Fields, in the early 1970s, Nico attacked a mixed-race woman at the Chelsea Hotel with a smashed wine glass, sticking it in her eye while saying, "I hate black people."[46] Island Records dropped Nico after she told an interviewer that she did not like "Negroes" and that they had "features like animals".[47] Nico said she had been raped at the age of thirteen by a black American soldier who had been court-martialed and executed; the biographer Richard Witts could find no record of this, even when similar incidents were "assiduously documented".[47] According to Witts, Nico had misogynistic tendencies, describing women as poison.[47]
In 2019, Nigel Bagley, Nico's co-manager and promoter in Manchester, said he never saw Nico express racist views, and that she lived in a multicultural city and was friendly with their American-Jamaican doorman. Her drummer, Graham Dowdall, noted that Nico had used Indian instruments and worked with north Africans. He said she was "certainly capable of very casual racism" about her promoter, Alan Wise, who was Jewish, but that this was her way of "having a go" at him.[48]
Death
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Nico1_-Mutter_Erde_fec.jpg/220px-Nico1_-Mutter_Erde_fec.jpg)
On 17 July 1988, during a holiday with Ari on the Spanish island of Ibiza, Nico hit her head when she fell off her bicycle. A passing taxi driver found her unconscious, but had difficulty getting her admitted to local hospitals. She was misdiagnosed as suffering from heat exposure and was declared dead at 20:00 hrs. X-rays later revealed a severe cerebral hemorrhage as the cause of death.[10] Her son later said of the incident:
In the late morning of July 17, 1988, my mother told me she needed to go downtown to buy marijuana. She sat down in front of the mirror and wrapped a black scarf around her head. My mother stared at the mirror and took great care to wrap the scarf appropriately. Down the hill on her bike: "I'll be back soon." She left in the early afternoon on the hottest day of the year.[49]
Nico's cremated remains are buried in her mother's plot in Grunewald, a forest cemetery in Berlin. Friends played a tape of "Mütterlein", a song from Desertshore, at her funeral.[45]
Legacy
[edit]Nico directly inspired many musicians, including Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cure, Morrissey, Elliott Smith, and Björk. Siouxsie and the Banshees invited her as special guest on their first major UK tour in 1978; they also later covered "All Tomorrow's Parties".[50] The Cure's leader Robert Smith has cited Desertshore as one of his favourite records,[51] as has Björk.[52][53] Joy Division's Peter Hook cited Chelsea Girl as one of his favourite albums.[54] Bauhaus singer, Peter Murphy, considered that "Nico recorded the first truly Gothic album, Marble lndex or The End. Nico was Gothic, but she was Mary Shelley to everyone else's Hammer Horror. They both did Frankenstein, but Nico's was real."[55] Morrissey cited Nico when asked to name artists who had a lasting influence on him: "The royal three remain the same: the New York Dolls, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, with Nico standing firm as first reserve."[56] Morrissey also said of the song "Innocent and Vain", "This is my youth in one piece of music."[57] Elliott Smith covered "Chelsea Girls" and "These Days" in Portland, Oregon in October 1999; he also cited The Marble Index as one of his perfect 2.45am albums.[58] Marc Almond recorded a cover version of "The Falconer": she was one of the "things I was obsessed about at school" due to her "wonderful intriguing voice, icy and remote yet warm at the same time."[59] Marianne Faithfull recorded "Song For Nico" on her LP Kissin' Time in 2002. Patti Smith did a concert tribute to Nico in 2014 in which she covered "I Will Be Seven".[60] Low wrote a song titled "Those Girls (Song For Nico)" and Neko Case covered "Afraid" in 2013.[61]
Two of Nico's songs from Chelsea Girl, "The Fairest of the Seasons" and "These Days", both written by Jackson Browne, were featured in Wes Anderson's film The Royal Tenenbaums.[62]
Several biographical works on Nico have appeared, both in print and film. The first, in 1992, was Songs They Never Play on the Radio, a book by James Young that draws on his association with Nico in her last years. In 1993, Nico: The Life and Lies of an Icon by musicologist Richard Witts covered Nico's entire life and career. The 1995 documentary Nico Icon by Susanne Ofteringer examined the many facets of Nico's life with contributions from people who knew her, including her colleagues Reed and Cale. In 2015, Lutz Graf-Ulbrich, Nico's former partner and accompanist in the late 1970s, published Nico: In the Shadow of the Moon Goddess, an account of his time with Nico. In the 2018 biopic Nico, 1988 directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli, Trine Dyrholm portrays Nico on a journey across Europe during her last tour.
In 2019, Manchester International Festival put on a production called The Nico Project.[63] It was a theatrical re-telling of Nico's 1968 album The Marble Index starring Maxine Peake.[64][65]
In 2021, the book You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone: The Biography of Nico, by Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, was released.
Tributes
[edit]Several concerts to honour Nico's career were organized over the years with multiple singers revisiting her repertoire. In 1981 Texas punk band Really Red released an original song in tribute to Nico. In 2005, alternative rock band Anberlin released their second studio album, Never Take Friendship Personal, which includes the song "Dance, Dance Christa Päffgen", inspired by Nico, whose given name was Christa Päffgen. The song references her struggle with drugs and unrelated death. Two Nico tribute concerts took place in Europe in the autumn of 2008 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Nico's birth and the 20th anniversary of her death. On 11 October 2008, John Cale, James Dean Bradfield (of Manic Street Preachers), Fyfe Dangerfield of the Guillemots, Mark Linkous (of Sparklehorse), Peter Murphy (of Bauhaus), Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance, and Mark Lanegan appeared on stage at the Royal Festival Hall in London. On 17 October 2008 at the Volksbuehne in Berlin, Nico's ex-boyfriend Lutz Ulbrich, who was her musical collaborator in the late 1970s, presented another tribute concert, which featured Marianne Rosenberg, Soap&Skin, Marianne Enzensberger, and James Young, the keyboardist from The Faction, Nico's last band.
Performance artist Tammy Faye Starlite (Tammy Lang) enjoyed success in 2011 with her one-woman show Nico: Chelsea Mädchen, in which she impersonated the singer and delivered spoken material based on an interview Nico gave in the mid-Eighties, during an Australian tour.[66]
In 2012, X-TG (featuring members of industrial band Throbbing Gristle) released a re-interpretation of the Desertshore album.[67]
In January 2013, John Cale organized a tribute A Life Along the Borderline at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. Performers included Cale, Kim Gordon with Bill Nace, Sharon Van Etten, Meshell Ndegeocello, Stephin Merritt, Peaches, Alison Mosshart, Joan As Police Woman, Greg Dulli, Yeasayer, and Mercury Rev.[68]
The song "Last Ride" on Beach House's 2018 album 7 "was inspired by" Nico, according to lead singer Victoria Legrand.[69]
Discography
[edit]According to The Great Rock Discography:[1]
Studio albums
[edit]Year | Title |
---|---|
1967 | The Velvet Underground & Nico (US No. 129, UK No. 59, IRL No. 56, ITA No. 76) |
1967 | Chelsea Girl |
1968 | The Marble Index |
1970 | Desertshore |
1974 | The End... |
1981 | Drama of Exile |
1985 | Camera Obscura |
EP
[edit]Year | Title |
---|---|
1977 | The Peel Sessions (Recorded 1971 and 1974) |
Live albums
[edit]Year | Title |
---|---|
1972 | Le Bataclan '72 (Together with John Cale and Lou Reed) |
1974 | June 1, 1974 |
1982 | Do or Die: Nico in Europe (Live recordings from 1982 European tour) |
1983 | Live in Denmark (tracks 01-09 recorded live 1982-10-06, at the Club Paramount, Eriksvej 40, Roskilde, Denmark) |
1985 | Nico Live in Pécs |
1986 | Behind the Iron Curtain |
1989 | Nico in Tokyo (tracks 01-11 recorded live 11 April 1986, Tokyo) |
1990 | Hanging Gardens |
1992 | Chelsea Girl / Live (recorded live June 1985, Chelsea Town Hall) |
1994 | Heroine |
2022 | Live at the Hacienda '83 (recorded live in Manchester, 24 February 1983) |
Compilation albums
[edit]Year | Title |
---|---|
1984 | Live Heroes |
1998 | Nico: The Classic Years |
2003 | Femme Fatale – The Aura Anthology. (Re-issue of Drama of Exile with bonus tracks plus Live at Chelsea Town Hall 9.8.85.) |
2007 | The Frozen Borderline – 1968–1970. (The Marble Index and Desertshore re-issued with bonus tracks.) |
Unofficial releases
[edit]In 2002, Faust Records released two collections of obscure Nico tracks, Reich der Träume (Realm of Dreams) and Walpurgis-Nacht (Walpurgis Night).[70][71]
Singles
[edit]Year | Title |
---|---|
1965 | "I'm Not Sayin'" / "The Last Mile" |
1981 | "Saeta" / "Vegas" – Flicknife Records FLS 206 |
1982 | "Procession" / "All Tomorrow's Parties" (Recorded with the Invisible Girls & Martin Hannett) |
1983 | "Heroes" / "One More Chance" |
1985 | "My Funny Valentine" / "My Heart Is Empty" |
Bibliography
[edit]- Nico: The Life and Lies of an Icon by Richard Witts (Virgin Books: London, 1992).
- Up-tight: the Velvet Underground Story by Victor Bockris and Gerard Malanga (Omnibus Press: London, 1995 reprint).
- Songs They Never Play on the Radio: Nico, the Last Bohemian [72] by James Young, Bloomsbury, London 1992 ISBN 0-7475-1194-2
- Nico: Photographies by Antoine Giacomoni, (Dragoon: Paris, 2002).
- Nico: Cible mouvante. Chansons, Poèmes, Journal by Nico, Jacques Pauvert and Ari Boulogne, (Pauvert: Paris, 2001).
- L'amour n'oublie jamais by Ari Boulogne, (Pauvert: Paris, 2001).
- Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian Mccain, (Grove Press: New York, 1996).
- Lüül: Ein Musikerleben zwischen Agitation Free, Ashra, Nico, der Neuen Deutschen Welle und den 17 Hippies by Lutz Ulbrich (Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf: Berlin, 2007).
- Nico - In The Shadow of the Moon Goddess by Lutz Graf-Ulbrich (E-book, Amazon Digital Services, 2015).
- You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone: The Biography of Nico, by Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, Faber (2021), ISBN 978-0-571-35001-8 , 512 pp.
Films and plays
[edit]- Nico – In Memoriam (1988), documentary directed by Bernd Gaul
- Nico Icon (1995), documentary directed by Susanne Ofteringer
- Nico Icon Play, play by Stella Grundy, premièred at Studio Salford on 5 September 2007
- Nico. Sphinx aus Eis (2005), by Werner Fritsch
- Nico, 1988 (2018), directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli with actress Trine Dyrholm as Nico.
- The Nico Project (2019), co-created by Sarah Frankcom (director) and Maxine Peake (performer), performed at Manchester International Festival 2019.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 696–697. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
- ^ Talevski, Nick (2006). Knocking on Heaven's Door: Rock Obituaries. London, UK: Omnibus Press. p. 462. ISBN 1846090911.
- ^ a b "The Velvet Underground | American rock group". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
Nico (original name Christa Päffgen; b. October 16, 1938, Cologne, Germany—d. July 18, 1988, Ibiza, Spain)
- ^ a b Lindberg, Ulf (2005). Rock Criticism from the Beginning: Amusers, Bruisers, and Cool-headed Cruisers. Peter Lang. p. 115. ISBN 978-0820474908.
- ^ a b c d Stephen Yardwood (March 2004). "An Interview with James Young". Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ a b Witts, Richard (1995). Nico: The Life and Lies of an Icon. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0863696558.
- ^ Otter Bickerdike, Jennifer (2021). You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone: The Biography of Nico. Faber & Faber. p. 14. ISBN 978-1549167270.
- ^ Mirkin, Gabe (28 September 2016). "Nico died senseless death after falling from bicycle without helmet". The Village News. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- ^ Gilbert, Pat (29 August 1994). Heroine (CD booklet). Nico. United Kingdom: Anagram Records. CDMGRAM85.
She was related to Hermann Päffgen, a dynastic master brewer who founded the Päffgen brewery in 1883 in Cologne.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ a b c d e Mironneau, Serge. "Nico: A Short Biography". Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ^ Reynolds, Simon (16 March 2007). "Nico: The Inner Scar director's cut". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2013 – via ReynoldsRetro.
- ^ Unterberger, Richie (2009). White Light/ White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day. London: Jawbone. p. 9. ISBN 978-1906002220.
- ^ Dillon, Brian (8 April 2022). "The Misunderstood Voice of Nico". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
- ^ Rogers, Mimi Fronczak (3 March 2010). "Life among the ruins; Poignant moments of love and loneliness in postwar Europe". The Prague Post. Archived from the original on 3 September 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
- ^ LaPointe, Michael (30 July 2018). "Nico: Beyond the Icon".
- ^ YouTube Mario Lanza sings Come Prima
- ^ IMDb For the First Time (1959): Full Cast & Crew
- ^ Johnson, David (16 December 2007). "Who's the Bill Evans Cover Girl?". Night Lights. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
- ^ "Niko on Nico: Papatakis recalls Velvet Underground singer". YouTube. 16 April 2011.
- ^ "'The Solitary Anarchist' | Commonweal Magazine". 18 December 2021.
- ^ Joe, Harvard (2004). The Velvet Underground and Nico. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8264-1550-9.
- ^ McNeil, Legs; McCain, Gillian (1996). Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. London: Penguin Books. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-14026-690-0.
- ^ Cale, John; Bockris, Victor (1999). What's Welsh For Zen?: The Autobiography of John Cale. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582340684.
- ^ "13. The Velvet Underground and Nico, 'The Velvet Underground'". Rolling Stone. 31 May 2012.
- ^ Harvard, J. (2004), p.5.
- ^ Gross, Joe. "Nico: Biography". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
- ^ Nico quoted in Dave Thompson's liner notes for the 2002 Deluxe re-issue of The Velvet Underground & Nico, which includes all five Velvet collaborations for Chelsea Girl.
- ^ Reynolds, Simon (16 March 2007). "From the Velvets to the Void". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Thompson, Dave; Greene, Jo-Ann (November 1994). "Undead Undead Undead". Alternative Press. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
- ^ Jahn, Anne-Sophie (7 March 2008). "Unfolding Garrel's Love Letter". The New York Sun. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
- ^ a b Pasquier, Jacques (10 April 2008). "Nico, The Drama of Exile". Rakosrecords.cz. Archived from the original on 19 March 2008. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
- ^ Boch, Richard (2017). The Mudd Club. Port Townsend, WA: Feral House. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-62731-051-2. OCLC 972429558.
- ^ Hogan, Peter (2007). The Rough Guide to the Velvet Underground. London: Rough Guides. p. 73. ISBN 978-1843535881.
- ^ "Festival Canet Rock 1978". La Web Sense Nom (in Catalan). 21 November 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
- ^ Watson, Andrew (5 July 2019). "Post". Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c d e Simpson, Dave (5 July 2019). "Nico in Manchester: 'She loved the architecture – and the heroin'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 July 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ Fitzgerald, Todd (2 June 2016). "Legendary music mogul Alan Wise - father of tragic Natasha Wise - dies aged 63". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
- ^ Willmington, Michael (2 February 1996). "'Nico' Shows Ex-model's Disintegration". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
- ^ "Der Muttersohn". Berliner Zeitung (in German). 22 May 2001. Archived from the original on 4 March 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- ^ Sanjek, David (September 1996). "Film review". Popular Music and Society. 20 (3): 171–172. doi:10.1080/03007769608591640. ISSN 0300-7766.
- ^ https://www.thelocal.fr/20230521/french-man-who-claimed-to-be-son-of-alain-delon-found-dead [bare URL]
- ^ "Photographer Ari Boulogne, who claimed to be the son of Alain Delon, has been found dead - News Rebeat". 20 May 2023.
- ^ Witts, Richard (1993). Nico: Life And Lies Of An Icon. Ebury Publishing. p. 122. ISBN 9780863696558.
She had just undergone an abortion in London, having discovered she was pregnant by Brian Jones.
- ^ Hattenstone, Simon (29 May 2012). "John Cooper Clarke: 'It's diabolical how poor I am'". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
- ^ a b Young, James (1992). Songs They Never Play on the Radio: Nico, the Last Bohemian. London: Bloomsbury. p. 150. ISBN 0-7475-1194-2.
- ^ a b Reynolds, Simon (16 March 2007). "From the Velvets to the void". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
- ^ a b c LaPointe, Michael (30 July 2018). "Nico: Beyond the Icon". The Paris Review. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
- ^ Simpson, Dave (5 July 2019). "Nico in Manchester: 'She loved the architecture – and the heroin'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ McNeil & McCain (1996), Vol.2.
- ^ Paytress, Mark (2003). Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Authorised Biography. Sanctuary. ISBN 1-86074-375-7.
- ^ "Fallout Favorites [Robert Smith chooses the records he'd take into the bunker after the big bang]". Flexipop. April 1982.
Desertshore Nico 'I like to remember to it'
- ^ Alex Ross (15 February 2015). "How Björk broke the sound barrier". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ "My Favorite Records: Björk". Therestisnoise.com. 13 November 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ "Peter Hook Talks Lost Joy Division Tapes". pedestrian.tv. 30 June 2010. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ Thompson, Dave (2002). The Dark Reign of Gothic Rock. Helter Skelter. ISBN 978-1900924481.
- ^ "Morrissey News Questions answered". True-to-you.net. 20 November 2005. Archived from the original on 25 November 2005. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ Harrison, Andrew (May 1994). "Hand in Glove". Select. p. 78.
- ^ "Elliott Smith Archive Interview March 2000 – 'There Has To Be Darkness In My Songs'". NME. Archived from the original on 11 January 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ Turner, Luke (19 November 2012). "Marc Almond on Desertshore". The Quietus.
- ^ Grow, Kory (30 August 2016). "Hear Patti Smith Sing Ambient Nico Song 'I Will Be Seven". Rolling Stone.
- ^ Hermes, Will (3 September 2013). "The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
- ^ Hughes, William (12 December 2016). "The Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack is the film dork's secret musical weapon". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
- ^ "The Nico Project".
- ^ "Maxine Peake – A long talk with the British actor about becoming Nico". Loud And Quiet. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
- ^ "Maxine Peake: 'The truth seems slippery with Nico'". the Guardian. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
- ^ Fricke, David (12 October 2011). "A Femme Fatale Reborn: Nico's Life and Songs Come Alive in New York Cabaret Show". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
- ^ "Desertshore / The Final Report". Throbbing Gristle.com. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- ^ "Life Along the Borderline: A Tribute to Nico". BAM. 16 January 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- ^ "Beach House's Victoria Legrand on eternal muse Edie Sedgwick". CR Fashion Book. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- ^ "Reich Der Träume". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
- ^ "Walpurgis-Nacht". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
- ^ Reissued numerous times over the years with recognizable variant titles (Nico – Songs They Never Play on the Radio or Nico – The End)
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- Habits of Waste, Pt. 1 Evaluation of Nico's early work
- Habits of Waste, Pt. 2 Evaluation of Nico's later work
- Nico, the Voice of Disaffected Youth – Audio story from National Public Radio
- Nico (BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour audio item)
- Nico discography at Discogs
- Nico discography at MusicBrainz
- Nico at IMDb
- Nico – In Memoriam Video on demand link to 1988 concert documentary
- 1938 births
- 1988 deaths
- Women rock singers
- German rock musicians
- German film actresses
- German female models
- The Velvet Underground members
- Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni
- Cycling road incident deaths
- Protopunk musicians
- Harmonium players
- Immediate Records artists
- Verve Records artists
- Elektra Records artists
- Reprise Records artists
- Island Records artists
- Beggars Banquet Records artists
- 20th-century German actresses
- German expatriates in Italy
- German expatriates in France
- German expatriates in the United Kingdom
- German expatriates in Spain
- German expatriate actresses in the United States
- German organists
- German keyboardists
- Tambourine players
- German composers
- German women composers
- Actresses from Berlin
- Musicians from Berlin
- Art rock musicians
- Folk rock musicians
- German folk musicians
- German experimental musicians
- Avant-garde composers
- Avant-garde keyboardists
- Avant-garde musicians
- Rock keyboardists
- Road incident deaths in Spain
- 20th-century American composers
- German women organists
- 20th-century German women singers
- 20th-century American drummers
- People associated with The Factory
- 20th-century American women composers
- German contraltos
- Women punk rock singers
- Actresses from Cologne
- Models from Berlin
- Models from Cologne
- 20th-century German musicians