Profile of Nico on Famous Like Me

Christa Päffgen (October 16, 1938 – July 18, 1988) was a singer-songwriter, fashion model, actress and Warhol superstar, best known by her pseudonym Nico. She is remembered as the female lead vocalist (along with male lead Lou Reed) on The Velvet Underground and Nico, the 1967 collaboration between her and the American rock and roll band, The Velvet Underground.

The date and location of Nico's birth are disputed. Most sources state October 16, 1938, Cologne, Germany. However, at least two other sources have put her birth date at March 15, 1943, in Budapest, Hungary.

Career

Modelling

Nico made her early fame as a fashion model for various publications across the globe. As a young girl she moved to Paris and met the famed photographer Tobias, who christened her "Nico" after his ex-boyfriend, filmmaker Nico Papatakis. Nico worked for Vogue, Tempo, Vie Nuove, Mascotte Spettacolo, Camera, ELLE, and various other fashion magazines in the late 1950s. She was also hired by Coco Chanel.

La Dolce Vita

After appearing in several television commercials, Nico landed a tiny role in Alberto Lattuada's La Tempesta (1958), and then appeared in Rudolph Maté's For the First Time with Mario Lanza later that year. In 1959, she was invited to the set of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita and attracted the attention of the acclaimed director, who promptly gave her a sizable role in his film. By this time, Nico had moved to New York to take acting classes with Lee Strasberg. After splitting her time between New York and Paris, she landed the lead role in Jacques Poitrenaud's Strip-Tease (1963). For that film, Nico recorded the title track, which was produced by Serge Gainsbourg but not released. During this period she had a son, Ari (born 1962), with actor Alain Delon.

Early films with Warhol

In 1964, Nico met The Rolling Stones' Brian Jones and recorded her first single, "I'm Not Sayin'" for Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label. Actor Ben Carruthers introduced her to Bob Dylan in Paris that summer; Dylan wrote a song about her, "I'll Keep It With Mine" shortly afterwards. She began working with Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey on their experimental films, including Chelsea Girls, The Closet, Sunset, and Imitation of Christ.

The Velvet Underground and Nico

While appearing in the Factory films of Warhol, Nico was introduced to The Velvet Underground, at that time the backing group for Warhol's Exploding. Plastic. Inevitable., a multimedia performance featuring film, music, lights and dancers in a sort of total experience theatre. After Nico was brought into the Factory fold, she gradually began to work with the Velvets and sang on four songs on The Velvet Underground and Nico, the first album either she or the band had made. Released in 1967, the album went on to become highly influential and critically lauded within rock music circles. Nico had a short-lived romantic relationship with the Velvet Underground's main singer and songwriter, Lou Reed, at this time, one of her several romances with prominent musicians including fellow Velvet John Cale, Jim Morrison, Jackson Browne, Brian Jones and Tim Buckley.

Shortly after the Exploding. Plastic. Inevitable. tour drew to a close in the spring of 1967, Nico and The Velvet Underground parted ways as a professional working group. The exact reasons for her departure have not been made clear, though both Lou Reed and the Velvet's multi-instrumentalist John Cale played significant parts in various aspects of Nico's solo career. Over the course of the next twenty years she recorded a series of critically acclaimed albums, working with the likes of Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera. Cale was particularly involved in Nico's music, producing four of her albums as well as arranging and playing various instruments on the recordings.

Solo

The Sixties

For her debut album, 1967's Chelsea Girl, Nico recorded songs by, among others, Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin, Jackson Browne and Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison. Chelsea Girl is largely a traditional chamber-folk album in the vein of Leonard Cohen, complete with strings and flute arrangements superimposed by its producer. Nico was not wholly satisfied with the finished album but had little say in production matters.

For her seminal LP, The Marble Index, released in 1969, Nico wrote all the lyrics and music. John Cale produced the album, which he considered to be the first rock album to completely abandon conventional structures and instrumentation. For this album, Nico played and recorded upon a harmonium, which became her signature instrument for much of the rest of her career. The album combines classical elements with a European folk sound.

The Seventies

Cale also produced both 1970's Desertshore and 1973's The End. Nico continued to employ the harmonium on these albums, as well as spare, avant-garde arrangements, and philosophical lyrics that conveyed images of isolation, power, masculine heroism, and grief affixed to desire. This is perhaps best exemplified in her song, "Valley of the Kings" from The End . In 1974, she recorded the live album June 1, 1974 with Brian Eno, Kevin Ayers, and John Cale. That year she also sang on Ayers' album, The Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories. For most of the remainder of the decade, Nico split her time between performing, making movies, and occasionally visiting with her son Ari (by actor Alain Delon, born 1962, later to become actor and photographer Christian Aaron Boulogne). A progressively more demanding heroin habit became a pressing focus as the 1970s drew to a close; Nico's junkie aesthetic has been well documented by her biographers.

The Eighties

Nico recorded her next studio album, Drama of Exile, in 1981. It was a departure from her earlier work with John Cale and featured a mixture of rock and Middle Eastern arrangements. She recorded her final solo album, Camera Obscura, in 1985, a highly experimental collection that implemented jazz instrumentation and featured Nico's version of the Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart song, "My Funny Valentine". A substantial number of Nico's performances towards the end of her life were recorded and have been released. Most noteworthy of these are 1982's Heroine, 1986's Behind the Iron Curtain, and her final concert, Fata Morgana, recorded on June 6, 1988.

Philippe Garrel

Between 1972 and 1979, Nico made seven films with French director Philippe Garrel. She met Garrell 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. Her participation diminished with later films, which included the silent Jean Seberg biopic, Les Hautes Solitudes, released in 1974.

Nico also formed a 'domestic partnership' with John Cooper Clarke at this time.

"The End"

On July 18, 1988, Nico was injured while riding her bicycle near her home in Ibiza. She hit her head and was admitted to a local hospital. X-rays revealed severe bleeding in her brain, and she died several hours later.

Recordings

Books

• 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 by James Young, (Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd: London, 1992).

Film

• Nico Icon (1995), documentary directed by Susanne Ofteringer
  

(A more complete filmography.)

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