View source for Nico

{{Short description|German singer and actress (1938–1988)}}
{{About|the German rock singer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| image             = Velvet Underground & Nico publicity photo (retouched) (cropped).jpg
| alt               = Publicity photo of Nico with Velvet Underground in 1966
| caption           = Nico with the Velvet Underground in 1966
| birth_name        = Christa Päffgen
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|df=yes|1938|10|16}}
| birth_place       = [[Cologne]], Germany
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1988|7|18|1938|10|16}}
| death_place       = [[Ibiza]], Spain
| genre             = {{hlist|[[Avant-garde music|Avant-garde]]|[[gothic rock]]|[[art rock]]|[[folk rock]]}}
| occupation        = {{hlist|Singer|songwriter|actress|model}}<!--Please do not add to this list without first discussing your proposal on the talk page. -->
| instrument        = {{hlist|Vocals|keyboards|[[Pump organ|harmonium]]|[[tambourine]]}}<!--- If you think an instrument should be listed or removed, a discussion to reach consensus is needed first per: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Infobox_musical_artist#instrument--->
| years_active      = 1955–1988
| label             = {{hlist|[[Verve Records|Verve]]|[[Elektra Records|Elektra]]|[[Reprise Records|Reprise]]|[[Island Records|Island]]|[[Beggars Banquet Records|Beggars Banquet]]}}
| past_member_of    = [[The Velvet Underground]]
}}

'''Christa Päffgen''' ({{IPA|de|ˈkʁɪsta ˈpɛfɡn̩}}; 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988),<ref name="The Great Rock Discography" /><ref name="knockingonheaven">{{cite book |last=Talevski |first=Nick |page=462 |year=2006 |title=Knocking on Heaven's Door: Rock Obituaries |location=London, UK |publisher=[[Omnibus Press]] |isbn=1846090911}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/the-Velvet-Underground|title=The Velvet Underground {{!}} American rock group|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2019-10-26|quote=Nico (original name Christa Päffgen; b. October 16, 1938, Cologne, Germany—d. July 18, 1988, Ibiza, Spain)}}</ref> known by her [[stage name]] '''Nico''', was a German singer, songwriter, actress, and model.

Nico had roles in films including [[Federico Fellini]]'s ''[[La Dolce Vita]]'' (1960) and [[Andy Warhol]]'s ''[[Chelsea Girls]]'' (1966). At the insistence of Warhol, she sang lead on three songs of [[the Velvet Underground]]'s debut album, ''[[The Velvet Underground & Nico]]'' (1967). At the same time, she released her debut album, ''[[Chelsea Girl (album)|Chelsea Girl]]'' (1967), composed of songs written by other musicians. At the suggestion of her friend [[Jim Morrison]], she started writing her own material, using a [[harmonium]], not traditionally a [[Rock music|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 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, where she died from a [[cerebral haemorrhage]] following a bicycling accident.<ref name=stephen>{{cite web |author=Stephen Yardwood|url=http://www.btinternet.com/~stephen.yarwood/JY_int.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811205904/http://www.btinternet.com/~stephen.yarwood/JY_int.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-08-11|title=An Interview with James Young|date=March 2004 |access-date=8 August 2018}}</ref>

==Early life==
Nico was born Christa Päffgen in [[Cologne]] to Wilhelm and Margarete "Grete" Päffgen (née Schulz, 1910–1970).<ref name=":0" /> Wilhelm was born into the wealthy [[w:de:Päffgen Kölsch|Päffgen Kölsch]] master brewer family dynasty in Cologne and was [[Catholic Church in Germany|Catholic]], while Grete came from a lower-class background and was [[Protestantism in Germany|Protestant]].<ref name="Witts">{{Cite book |title=Nico: The Life and Lies of an Icon |last=Witts |first=Richard |publisher=Virgin Books |year=1995 |isbn=978-0863696558|location=London}}</ref> 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]] [[Bombing of Cologne in World War II|bombardments of Cologne]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone: The Biography of Nico |first=Jennifer |last=Otter Bickerdike |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmUBEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT14 |author-link=Jennifer Otter Bickerdike |year=2021 |page=14 |publisher=Faber & Faber |isbn=978-1549167270}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Witts" /> Another story is that he sustained head injuries that caused severe [[brain damage]], and spent the rest of his life in a [[psychiatric institution]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Gabe |last=Mirkin |date=28 September 2016 |title=Nico died senseless death after falling from bicycle without helmet |url=https://www.villages-news.com/2016/09/28/nico-died-senseless-death-falling-bicycle-without-helmet/ |newspaper=[[The Village News]] |access-date=13 November 2021}}</ref> According to unproven rumours, he was variously said to have died in a [[concentration camp]],<ref name="heroine">{{cite AV media notes |title=Heroine |others=Nico |date=29 August 1994 |first=Pat |last=Gilbert |type=CD booklet |publisher=Anagram Records |id=CDMGRAM85 |location=United Kingdom |quote=She was related to Hermann Päffgen, a dynastic master brewer who founded the Päffgen brewery in 1883 in Cologne.}}</ref><ref name="shortbio" /> or to have faded away as a result of [[shell shock]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Reynolds |url=http://reynoldsretro.blogspot.com/2007/12/nico-inner-scar-directors-cut-guardian.html |title=Nico: The Inner Scar director's cut |newspaper=The Guardian |date=16 March 2007 |access-date=27 October 2013 |via=ReynoldsRetro}}</ref>

In 1946, Nico and her mother relocated to 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.<ref name="shortbio" /> At {{convert|5|ft|10|in|cm|abbr=on}}, and with chiseled features and pale skin, Nico rose to prominence as a fashion model when still a teenager.<ref>{{Cite book |title=White Light/ White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day |last=Unterberger |first=Richie |author-link=Richie Unterberger |publisher=Jawbone |year=2009 |isbn=978-1906002220 |location=London |page=9}}</ref>

==Career==
===Acting and modelling (1955–1964)===
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.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.praguepost.com/print/3725-life-among-the-ruins.html |title=Life among the ruins; Poignant moments of love and loneliness in postwar Europe |last=Rogers |first=Mimi Fronczak |date=3 March 2010 |newspaper=[[The Prague Post]] |access-date=25 May 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100903124404/http://www.praguepost.com/print/3725-life-among-the-ruins.html |archive-date=3 September 2010}}</ref> She moved to [[Paris]] and began working for ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]'', ''Tempo'', ''Vie Nuove'', ''Mascotte Spettacolo'', ''Camera'', ''[[Elle (magazine)|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]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/07/30/nico-beyond-the-icon/|title=Nico: Beyond the Icon|first=Michael|last=LaPointe|date=30 July 2018}}</ref> 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 language|English]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[French language|French]].

In 1959 she had an uncredited speaking part in [[Mario Lanza]]'s last film [[For the First Time (1959 film)|''For the First Time'']].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdPCoMGSD_o|title=Mario Lanza sings Come Prima|date=12 October 2014|access-date=16 October 2025|via=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052817/fullcredits/|title=For the First Time (1959) - Full cast & crew |website=IMDb.com|access-date=16 October 2025}}</ref> 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 City|New York]] and taking acting classes with [[Lee Strasberg]].<ref name="shortbio" />

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]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/whos-the-bill-evans-cover-girl/ |title=Who's the Bill Evans Cover Girl? |last=Johnson |first=David |date=16 December 2007 |website=Night Lights |access-date=25 May 2018}}</ref> 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===
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.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2S0QQpQEog&ab_channel=demozeno | title=Niko on Nico: Papatakis recalls Velvet Underground singer | website=[[YouTube]] | date=16 April 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/solitary-anarchist | title='The Solitary Anarchist' &#124; Commonweal Magazine | date=18 December 2021}}</ref>

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 Records|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 (album)|Chelsea Girl]]''.<ref name="The Great Rock Discography" />

===The Velvet Underground (1966–67)===
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 (film)|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 "[[wikt:chanteuse|chanteuse]]", an idea to which they consented, reluctantly for both personal and musical reasons.<ref>{{cite book |last=Joe |first=Harvard |date=2004 |title=The Velvet Underground and Nico |location=London |publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-0-8264-1550-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/velvetundergroun00harv}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McNeil |first1=Legs |author-link1=Legs McNeil |last2=McCain |first2=Gillian |author-link2=Gillian McCain |date=1996 |title=Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk |location=London |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/pleasekillmeunce00legs_0/page/9 9] |isbn=978-0-14026-690-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/pleasekillmeunce00legs_0/page/9}}</ref>

The group became the centerpiece of Warhol's ''[[Exploding Plastic Inevitable]]'', a [[multimedia]] performance featuring [[music]], [[lighting]], [[film]] and [[modern dance|dance]]. Nico sang lead vocals on three songs ("[[Femme Fatale (The Velvet Underground song)|Femme Fatale]]", "[[All Tomorrow's Parties (song)|All Tomorrow's Parties]]", "[[I'll Be Your Mirror]]"), and backing vocal on "[[Sunday Morning (The Velvet Underground song)|Sunday Morning]]", on the band's debut album, ''[[The Velvet Underground & Nico]]'' (1967).<ref name="The Great Rock Discography" /> Reviewer [[Richard Goldstein (writer born 1944)|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".<ref name="Lindberg 2005 115">{{cite book |first=Ulf |last=Lindberg |title=Rock Criticism from the Beginning: Amusers, Bruisers, and Cool-headed Cruisers |publisher=Peter Lang |year=2005 |isbn=978-0820474908 |page=115}}</ref>

[[File:Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable with Nico.png|thumb|left|upright|Nico performing with Andy Warhol's ''[[Exploding Plastic Inevitable]]'' in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1966]]
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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=What's Welsh For Zen?: The Autobiography of John Cale |first1=John |last1=Cale |last2=Bockris |first2=Victor |author-link2=Victor Bockris |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=1999 |isbn=1582340684 |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/whatswelshforzen00cale}}</ref> The album became a classic, ranked 13th on ''[[Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]],<ref name="Rolling Stone 500">{{cite web | title=13. The Velvet Underground and Nico, 'The Velvet Underground' |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=31 May 2012 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/the-velvet-underground-and-nico-the-velvet-underground-20120524}}</ref> though it was poorly received at the time of its release.<ref>Harvard, J. (2004), p.5.</ref>

===Early solo career (1967–1977)===
Immediately following her musical work with the Velvet Underground, Nico began work as a solo artist, performing regularly at [[Electric Circus (nightclub)|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 (album)|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."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Gross |first=Joe |title=Nico: Biography |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/nico/biography |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=11 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622105119/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/nico/biography |archive-date=22 June 2008}}</ref> ''Chelsea Girl'' is a traditional chamber-folk album, with [[string instrument|strings]] and flute arrangements added by producer [[Tom Wilson (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."<ref>Nico quoted in Dave Thompson's [[liner note]]s for the 2002 ''Deluxe'' re-issue of ''[[The Velvet Underground & Nico]]'', which includes all five Velvet collaborations for ''Chelsea Girl''.</ref> In California, Nico spent time with [[Jim Morrison]] of [[the Doors]], who encouraged her to write her own songs.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/mar/16/popandrock3 |title=From the Velvets to the Void |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Reynolds |date=16 March 2007 |magazine=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=30 March 2021}}</ref>

For ''[[The Marble Index]]'', released in 1968, Nico wrote the lyrics and music. Nico's [[Pump organ|harmonium]] anchored the accompaniment, and harmonium became her signature instrument for the rest of her career. John Cale arranged the album, adding an array of folk and classical instruments. The album has a [[20th-century classical music| European “classical”]] [[Avant-garde music|avant-garde]]<ref name="Unterberger">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-marble-index-mw0000309995 |title=''The Marble Index''&nbsp;– Nico|last=Unterberger |first=Richie |author-link=Richie Unterberger |website=[[AllMusic]] |publisher=[[Rovi Corporation]] |access-date=5 May 2014}}</ref><ref name="uncut">{{cite web |url=http://www.uncut.co.uk/features/nico-and-the-marble-index-she-hated-the-idea-of-being-beautiful-71286|title=Nico and The Marble Index: "She hated the idea of being beautiful"|last1=Pinnock|first1=Tom|date=October 16, 2015|work=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|publisher=[[Time Inc.]]|access-date=November 28, 2015}}</ref> sound, often described as bleak, difficult or frightening. 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.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Thompson |first1=Dave |last2=Greene |author-link1=Dave Thompson (author) |first2=Jo-Ann |date=November 1994 |title=Undead Undead Undead |url=http://www.umbraum.com/original_undead.htm |magazine=[[Alternative Press (music magazine)|Alternative Press]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111146/http://www.umbraum.com/original_undead.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

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 (theatre)|Bataclan]] in Paris.

[[File:Nico Harmonium1974.png|thumb|upright|Nico playing harmonium at Free Concert, Hyde Park, 1974]]
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 ''Athanor'' (1972); the [[silent film|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.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nysun.com/arts/unfolding-garrels-love-letter/72497/ |title=Unfolding Garrel's Love Letter |date=7 March 2008 |access-date=26 August 2015 |newspaper=[[The New York Sun]] |last=Jahn |first=Anne-Sophie}}</ref>

On 13 December 1974, Nico opened for [[Tangerine Dream]]'s concert at [[Reims Cathedral]] in [[Reims]], France.<ref name=Drama>{{cite web |url=http://www.rakosrecords.cz/html/nico.htm |title=Nico, The Drama of Exile |last=Pasquier |first=Jacques |date=10 April 2008 |access-date=23 September 2016 |website=Rakosrecords.cz |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319144007/http://www.rakosrecords.cz/html/nico.htm |archive-date=19 March 2008}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Boch|first=Richard|title=The Mudd Club|publisher=[[Feral House]]|year=2017|isbn=978-1-62731-051-2|location=Port Townsend, WA|pages=206|oclc=972429558}}</ref> Nico and [[Island Records]] allegedly had many disputes during this time, and in 1975 Island dropped her from their roster.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Rough Guide to the Velvet Underground |last=Hogan |first=Peter |publisher=Rough Guides |year=2007 |isbn=978-1843535881 |location=London |page=73}}</ref>

===Later solo career (1978–1988)===
In September 1978, Nico performed at the Canet Roc '78 festival in Spain.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lwsn.net/article/canet-rock-1978 |title=Festival Canet Rock 1978 |date=21 November 2017 |website=La Web Sense Nom |language=ca |access-date=27 May 2018}}</ref> Also performing at this event were [[Blondie (band)|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 (musician)|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.<ref>{{cite web |first=Andrew |last=Watson |url=https://twitter.com/sussexsedition/status/1147107207189843970?ang |title=Post |date=5 July 2019 |via=[[Twitter]] |access-date=13 November 2021}}</ref> 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.<ref name="The Great Rock Discography"/> 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" (David Bowie song)|{{-'}}Heroes{{'-}}]]". ''Drama of Exile'' was released twice, in two different versions, the second appearing in 1983.<ref name=Drama/>

After relocating to [[Manchester]], England, in the early 1980s, Nico acquired a manager, [[Factory Records]] executive and promoter Alan Wise,<ref name="guardian-simpson">{{cite news|first1=Dave|last1=Simpson|access-date=2019-07-05|title=Nico in Manchester: 'She loved the architecture – and the heroin'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jul/05/nico-in-manchester-she-loved-the-architecture-and-the-heroin|newspaper=The Guardian|date=5 July 2019|issn=0261-3077|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Fitzgerald|first=Todd|date=2016-06-02|title=Legendary music mogul Alan Wise - father of tragic Natasha Wise - dies aged 63|url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/alan-wise-dead-factory-natasha--11418317|access-date=2020-09-13|website=Manchester Evening News}}</ref> 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.<ref name=stephen /> At the time, her work impacted the emerging [[gothic rock]] scene. At [[Salford University]] in 1982, she joined [[Bauhaus (band)|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 (band)|the Damned]], [[Dead or Alive (band)|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 (British musician)|James Young]] and his band the Faction for her concerts.<ref name=stephen />

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 (album)|Camera Obscura]]'', in 1985, with the Faction ([[James Young (British musician)|James Young]] and Graham "Dids" Dowdall). 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 (nightclub)|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 (album)|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.<ref name=stephen /> 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==
On 11 August 1962, she gave birth to her son, [[Christian Aaron Boulogne]], whom she called Ari.<ref name="shortbio" /> She was living with Nicos Papatakis in 1962 but told him that [[Alain Delon]] was the father of her child. Delon always denied it, and it has not been verified. Unable to raise her child, she left Ari to be raised by Delon's mother and his stepfather.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/02/02/nico-shows-ex-models-disintegration/|newspaper= Chicago Tribune |title='Nico' Shows Ex-model's Disintegration|first= Michael|last=Willmington|date=2 February 1996|access-date=24 July 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2001/0522/blickpunkt/0001/index.html |title=Der Muttersohn |date=22 May 2001 |newspaper=[[Berliner Zeitung]] |language=de |access-date=3 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080304061858/http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2001/0522/blickpunkt/0001/index.html |archive-date=4 March 2008}}</ref> Ari became a photographer and actor.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sanjek|first=David|date=September 1996|title=Film review|journal=Popular Music and Society|volume=20|issue=3|pages=171–172|doi=10.1080/03007769608591640|issn=0300-7766}}</ref> He died of a heroin overdose, aged 60, in Paris in 2023.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thelocal.fr/20230521/french-man-who-claimed-to-be-son-of-alain-delon-found-dead | title=French man who claimed to be son of Alain Delon found dead | date=21 May 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://newsrebeat.com/world-news/169511.html | title=Photographer Ari Boulogne, who claimed to be the son of Alain Delon, has been found dead - News Rebeat | date=20 May 2023}}</ref>

Nico saw herself as part of a tradition of [[bohemianism|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 US, and lived in London in the early 1960s and again in the 1980s, when she moved between London and [[Manchester]].<ref name="guardian-simpson"/> In 1965, Nico became pregnant during a three-month affair with Brian Jones and had an abortion. The event prompted her to seek a closer relationship with her son Ari.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Nico: Life And Lies Of An Icon |last=Witts |first=Richard |publisher=Ebury Publishing |year=1993 |isbn=9780863696558 |pages=122 |quote=She had just undergone an abortion in London, having discovered she was pregnant by Brian Jones.}}</ref>

Nico was a [[heroin addict]] for over 15 years. In the book ''Songs They Never Play on the Radio'', [[James Young (British musician)|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.<ref name="songsnever">{{cite book |last=Young |first=James |title=Songs They Never Play on the Radio: Nico, the Last Bohemian |year=1992 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |isbn=0-7475-1194-2 |page=150}}</ref>

Nico spent most of the final years of her life in the [[Prestwich]]<ref name="guardian-simpson"/> and [[City of Salford|Salford]] areas of Greater Manchester. Although she was still struggling with addiction, she became interested in music again.<ref name="guardian-simpson"/> For a few months in the 1980s, she shared an apartment in Brixton, London, with the punk poet [[John Cooper Clarke]]<ref name="guardian-simpson"/> but not as a couple.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/may/29/john-cooper-clarke-punk-poet-interview|newspaper= The Guardian |title=John Cooper Clarke: 'It's diabolical how poor I am'|first= Simon|last=Hattenstone|date=29 May 2012|access-date=24 July 2018}}</ref> In his autobiography, musician [[Cheetah Chrome]] depicted his friendship with a strung-out Nico in the 1980s and their mutual dependence.<ref name="Cheetah Chrome">{{cite book |last=Chrome |first=Cheetah |title=Cheetah Chrome: A Dead Boy's Tale: From the Front Lines of Punk Rock |year=2010 |publisher=Voyageur Press |location=Minneapolis |isbn=9780760337738 |page=288}}</ref> Shortly before her death, Nico stopped using heroin and began [[Opioid replacement therapy|methadone replacement therapy]] as well as a regimen of bicycle exercise and healthy eating.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Nico's friend [[Danny Fields]], the American journalist who helped her sign to [[Elektra Records]], described her as "[[Nazism|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.'"<ref name="guardian" /> According to Fields, in the early 1970s, Nico attacked a mixed-race woman at the [[Hotel Chelsea|Chelsea Hotel]] with a smashed wine glass, sticking it in her eye while saying, "I hate black people."<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/mar/16/popandrock3 |title=From the Velvets to the void |first=Simon |last=Reynolds |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=16 March 2007 |access-date=6 December 2013}}</ref> [[Island Records]] dropped Nico after she told an interviewer that she did not like "[[Negro]]es" and that they had "features like animals".<ref name="laPointe">{{cite news|last=LaPointe|first=Michael|date=July 30, 2018|title=Nico: Beyond the Icon|work=[[The Paris Review]]|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/07/30/nico-beyond-the-icon/|access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref> 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." The biographer [[Jennifer Otter Bickerdike]] claims that "personal documents" have been uncovered that support the story but does not supply details or proof.<ref name="laPointe" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine| issn = 0028-792X| last = Dillon| first = Brian| title = The Misunderstood Voice of Nico| magazine = [[The New Yorker]]| access-date = 2023-10-01| date = 2022-04-08| url = https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-misunderstood-voice-of-nico}}</ref> According to Witts, Nico had [[misogynist]]ic tendencies, describing women as poison.<ref name="laPointe" />

In 2019, Nigel Bagley, Nico's co-manager and promoter in Manchester, said he never saw Nico express racist views and said she lived in a multicultural city and was friendly with their American-[[Jamaica]]n 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.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Simpson|first=Dave|date=2019-07-05|title=Nico in Manchester: 'She loved the architecture – and the heroin'|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jul/05/nico-in-manchester-she-loved-the-architecture-and-the-heroin|access-date=2020-03-18|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

==Death and funeral==
[[File:Nico1 -Mutter Erde fec.jpg|thumb|Nico's grave in Berlin]]
On 18 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. X-rays later revealed a severe [[cerebral hemorrhage]] as the cause of death.<ref name="shortbio">{{cite web |url=http://smironne.free.fr/NICO/bio.html |title=Nico: A Short Biography |first=Serge |last=Mironneau |access-date=8 August 2011}}</ref> Her son later said of the incident:

{{blockquote|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.<ref>McNeil & McCain (1996), Vol.2.</ref>}}

Nico's [[cremated]] remains are buried in her mother's plot in [[Grunewald (forest)|Grunewald]], a forest cemetery in [[Berlin]]. Friends played a tape of "Mütterlein", a song from ''Desertshore'', at her funeral.<ref name="songsnever" />

==Legacy==
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".<ref>{{cite book |last=Paytress |first=Mark |title=Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Authorised Biography |publisher=Sanctuary |year=2003 |isbn=1-86074-375-7}}</ref> The Cure's leader [[Robert Smith (musician)|Robert Smith]] has cited ''Desertshore'' as one of his favourite records,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Fallout Favorites [Robert Smith chooses the records he'd take into the bunker after the big bang] |journal=[[Flexipop]] |date=April 1982|quote=''Desertshore'' Nico 'I like to remember to it'}}</ref> as has Björk.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/15/bjork-delta-archives-alex-ross |title=How Björk broke the sound barrier |newspaper=The Guardian |author=Alex Ross|date=15 February 2015|access-date=8 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.therestisnoise.com/2011/11/my-favorite-records-bj%C3%B6rk.html|title=My Favorite Records: Björk|publisher=Therestisnoise.com|date=13 November 2011|access-date=8 August 2018}}</ref> [[Joy Division]] and [[New Order (band)|New Order]]'s [[Peter Hook]] cited ''Chelsea Girl'' as one of his favourite albums.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pedestrian.tv/music/peter-hook-talks-lost-joy-division-tapes-how-not-to-run-a-club-and-ian-curtis-legacy/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180813234552/https://www.pedestrian.tv/music/peter-hook-talks-lost-joy-division-tapes-how-not-to-run-a-club-and-ian-curtis-legacy/|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 August 2018|title=Peter Hook Talks Lost Joy Division Tapes|publisher=pedestrian.tv|date=30 June 2010|access-date=8 August 2018}}</ref> Bauhaus singer, [[Peter Murphy (musician)|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."<ref>{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Thompson (author) |year=2002 |title=The Dark Reign of Gothic Rock |publisher=Helter Skelter |isbn=978-1900924481}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.true-to-you.net/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125015857/http://www.true-to-you.net/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 November 2005 |title=Morrissey News Questions answered |publisher=True-to-you.net |date=20 November 2005|access-date=8 August 2018}}</ref> Morrissey also said of the song "Innocent and Vain", "This is my youth in one piece of music."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Harrison |first=Andrew |title=Hand in Glove |magazine=[[Select (magazine)|Select]] |date=May 1994 |page=78}}</ref> Elliott Smith covered "Chelsea Girls" and "[[These Days (Jackson Browne song)|These Days]]" in [[Portland, Oregon]] in October 1999; he also cited ''The Marble Index'' as one of his perfect 2.45am albums.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/elliott-smith-archive-interview-there-has-to-be-darkness-in-my-songs-782397 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111001637/https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/elliott-smith-archive-interview-there-has-to-be-darkness-in-my-songs-782397 |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 January 2017 |title=Elliott Smith Archive Interview March 2000 – 'There Has To Be Darkness In My Songs' |work=NME|access-date=8 August 2018}}</ref> [[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."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Marc Almond on Desertshore |last=Turner |first=Luke |magazine=[[The Quietus]] |date=19 November 2012}}</ref> [[Marianne Faithfull]] recorded "Song For Nico" on her LP ''Kissin' Time'' in 2002. [[Michael Gira]] also recorded an homonymous song for the [[Angels of Light]] album [[How I Loved You]], and cited ''Desertshore'' and ''The Marble Index'' among his favorite albums.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-12-19 |title=Readers{{sic |nolink=yes}} Digest - Michael Gira: Records that changed my life |url=https://younggodrecords.com/blogs/press/readers-digest-michael-gira-records-that-changed-my-life |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=YOUNG GOD RECORDS}}</ref> Patti Smith did a concert tribute to Nico in 2014 in which she covered "I Will Be Seven".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Grow |first=Kory |title=Hear Patti Smith Sing Ambient Nico Song 'I Will Be Seven |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=30 August 2016}}</ref> [[Low (band)|Low]] wrote a song titled "Those Girls (Song For Nico)" and [[Neko Case]] covered "Afraid" in 2013.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/the-worse-things-get-the-harder-i-fight-the-harder-i-fight-the-more-i-love-you-20130903 |title=The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You |last1=Hermes |first1=Will |date=3 September 2013 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref>

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]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-royal-tenenbaums-soundtrack-is-the-film-dork-s-secr-1798255439 |title=The Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack is the film dork's secret musical weapon |last1=Hughes |first1=William |date=12 December 2016 |publisher=Rolling Stone |access-date=18 August 2014 |archive-date=23 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123152554/https://film.avclub.com/the-royal-tenenbaums-soundtrack-is-the-film-dork-s-secr-1798255439 |url-status=live}}</ref>

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''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://mif.co.uk/whats-on/the-nico-project/ | title=The Nico Project}}</ref> It was a theatrical re-telling of Nico's 1968 album ''The Marble Index'' starring [[Maxine Peake]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maxine Peake – A long talk with the British actor about becoming Nico |url=https://www.loudandquiet.com/interview/maxine-peake-a-long-talk-with-the-british-actor-about-becoming-nico/ |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=Loud And Quiet}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-06-14 |title=Maxine Peake: 'The truth seems slippery with Nico' |url=http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/jun/14/maxine-peake-nico-project-manchester-international-festival |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=the Guardian}}</ref>

===Tributes===
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 (British musician)|James Young]], the keyboardist from The Faction, Nico's last band.

[[Shearwater (band)|Shearwater]]'s 2006 album ''[[Palo Santo (Shearwater album)|Palo Santo]]'' was dedicated to Nico, and was loosely based on her life.<ref>{{cite web |title=DiS meets Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater |url=https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4138836-dis-meets-jonathan-meiburg-of-shearwater |website=drownedinsound.com |access-date=3 December 2024 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616232348/https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4138836-dis-meets-jonathan-meiburg-of-shearwater |archive-date=16 June 2021}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/a-femme-fatale-reborn-nicos-life-and-songs-come-alive-in-new-york-cabaret-show-20111012 |title=A Femme Fatale Reborn: Nico's Life and Songs Come Alive in New York Cabaret Show |last=Fricke |first=David |date=12 October 2011 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=27 May 2018}}</ref>

In 2012, X-TG (featuring members of industrial band [[Throbbing Gristle]]) released a re-interpretation of the ''Desertshore'' album.<ref>{{cite web |title=Desertshore / The Final Report |url=http://www.throbbing-gristle.com/X-INDUSTRIAL/x-tg/desertshore.html |website=Throbbing Gristle.com |access-date=10 January 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110230311/http://www.throbbing-gristle.com/X-INDUSTRIAL/x-tg/desertshore.html |archive-date=10 November 2013}}</ref>

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 (musician)|Peaches]], [[Alison Mosshart]], [[Joan As Police Woman]], [[Greg Dulli]], [[Yeasayer]], and [[Mercury Rev]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bam.org/music/2013/a-tribute-to-nico |title=Life Along the Borderline: A Tribute to Nico |website=BAM |date=16 January 2013 |access-date=3 September 2013 |archive-date=7 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807191434/https://www.bam.org/music/2013/a-tribute-to-nico |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The song "Last Ride" on [[Beach House]]'s 2018 album ''[[7 (Beach House album)|7]]'' "was inspired by" Nico, according to lead singer [[Victoria Legrand]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.crfashionbook.com/culture/a20162657/beach-house-seven-album/ |title=Beach House's Victoria Legrand on eternal muse Edie Sedgwick |website=CR Fashion Book |date=11 May 2018 |access-date=17 April 2020 |archive-date=27 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127165452/https://www.crfashionbook.com/culture/a20162657/beach-house-seven-album/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Discography==
According to ''The Great Rock Discography'':<ref name="The Great Rock Discography">{{Cite book |first=Martin C. |last=Strong |year=2000 |title=The Great Rock Discography |edition=5th |publisher=[[Mojo Books]] |location=Edinburgh |pages=696–697 |isbn=1-84195-017-3}}</ref>

===Studio albums===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Title
|-
|1967
|''[[The Velvet Underground & Nico]]'' (US No. 129, UK No. 59, [[Republic of Ireland|IRL]] No. 56, [[Italy|ITA]] No. 76)
|-
|1967
|''[[Chelsea Girl (album)|Chelsea Girl]]''
|-
|1968
|''[[The Marble Index]]''
|-
|1970
|''[[Desertshore]]''
|-
|1974
|''[[The End...]]''
|-
|1981
|''[[Drama of Exile]]''
|-
|1985
|''[[Camera Obscura (album)|Camera Obscura]]''
|}

===EPs===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Title
|-
| 1977
| ''[[List of Peel sessions#N|The Peel Sessions]]'' <small>(Recorded 1971 and 1974)</small>
|}

===Live albums===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Title
|-
| 1972
| ''[[Le Bataclan '72]]'' <small>(Together with John Cale and Lou Reed)</small>
|-
| 1974
| ''[[June 1, 1974]]''
|-
| 1982
| ''[[Do or Die: Nico in Europe]]'' <small>(Live recordings from 1982 European tour)</small>
|-
| 1983
| ''Live in Denmark'' <small>(tracks 01-09 recorded live 1982-10-06, at the Club Paramount, Eriksvej 40, Roskilde, Denmark)</small>
|-
| 1985
| ''Nico Live in Pécs''
|-
| 1986
| ''[[Behind the Iron Curtain (album)|Behind the Iron Curtain]]''
|-
| 1989
| ''Nico in Tokyo'' <small>(tracks 01-11 recorded live 11 April 1986, Tokyo)</small>
|-
| 1990
| ''Hanging Gardens''
|-
| 1992
| ''Chelsea Girl / Live'' <small>(recorded live June 1985, [[Chelsea Town Hall]])</small>
|-
| 1994
| ''Heroine''
|-
| 2022
| ''Live at the Hacienda '83'' <small>(recorded live in Manchester, 24 February 1983)</small>
|}

===Compilation albums===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Title
|-
|1984
|''[[Live Heroes]]''
|-
|1998
|''Nico: The Classic Years''
|-
|2003
|''Femme Fatale&nbsp;– 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===
In 2002, Faust Records released two collections of obscure Nico tracks, ''[[Reich der Träume]]'' (Realm of Dreams) and ''Walpurgis-Nacht'' (Walpurgis Night).<ref>{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r652094|pure_url=yes}} |website=AllMusic |title=Reich Der Träume |access-date=27 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r652067|pure_url=yes}} |website=AllMusic |title=Walpurgis-Nacht |access-date=27 May 2018}}</ref>

===Singles===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!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==
*''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''<ref>Reissued numerous times over the years with recognizable variant titles (''Nico – Songs They Never Play on the Radio'' or ''Nico – The End'')</ref> by [[James Young (British musician)|James Young]], [[Bloomsbury Publishing|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}}.

==Films and plays==
*''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.
* ''[https://mif.co.uk/whats-on/the-nico-project/ The Nico Project]'' (2019), co-created by [[Sarah Frankcom]] (director) and [[Maxine Peake]] (performer), performed at [[Manchester International Festival]] 2019.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons|Nico (Christa Päffgen)}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040823224649/http://www.habitsofwaste.wwu.edu/issues/2/iss2art5a.shtml Habits of Waste, Pt. 1] Evaluation of Nico's early work
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041029230922/http://www.habitsofwaste.wwu.edu/issues/3/iss3art4a.shtml Habits of Waste, Pt. 2] Evaluation of Nico's later work
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5044641 Nico, the Voice of Disaffected Youth] – Audio story from [[National Public Radio]]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/01/2007_35_thu.shtml Nico] (BBC Radio 4 ''Woman's Hour'' audio item)
* {{Discogs artist|Nico (3)|Nico}}
* {{MusicBrainz artist|id=37c61bf2-5fb1-47ae-9605-80025d956958|name=Nico}}
* {{IMDb name|0630113}}
* [http://www.realeyz.tv/en/nico-in-memoriam.html Nico – In Memoriam] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403060113/https://www.realeyz.tv/en/nico-in-memoriam.html |date=3 April 2016}} Video on demand link to 1988 concert documentary

{{Nico}}
{{The Velvet Underground}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nico}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:1988 deaths]]
[[Category:German women rock singers]]
[[Category:German rock musicians]]
[[Category:German film actresses]]
[[Category:German female models]]
[[Category:The Velvet Underground members]]
[[Category:Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni]]
[[Category:Cycling road incident deaths]]
[[Category:Protopunk musicians]]
[[Category:Harmonium players]]
[[Category:Immediate Records artists]]
[[Category:Verve Records artists]]
[[Category:Elektra Records artists]]
[[Category:Reprise Records artists]]
[[Category:Island Records artists]]
[[Category:Beggars Banquet Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century German actresses]]
[[Category:German expatriates in Italy]]
[[Category:German expatriates in France]]
[[Category:German expatriate actors in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:German expatriate actresses]]
[[Category:German expatriates in Spain]]
[[Category:German expatriate actresses in the United States]]
[[Category:German organists]]
[[Category:German rock keyboardists]]
[[Category:German women keyboardists]]
[[Category:Tambourine players]]
[[Category:German composers]]
[[Category:German women composers]]
[[Category:Actresses from Berlin]]
[[Category:Musicians from Berlin]]
[[Category:Art rock musicians]]
[[Category:Folk rock musicians]]
[[Category:German folk musicians]]
[[Category:German experimental musicians]]
[[Category:Avant-garde singers]]
[[Category:Avant-garde composers]]
[[Category:Avant-garde keyboardists]]
[[Category:Avant-garde musicians]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Spain]]
[[Category:20th-century American composers]]
[[Category:German women organists]]
[[Category:20th-century German women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American drummers]]
[[Category:People associated with The Factory]]
[[Category:20th-century American women composers]]
[[Category:German contraltos]]
[[Category:German women punk rock singers]]
[[Category:Actresses from Cologne]]
[[Category:Models from Berlin]]
[[Category:Models from Cologne]]
[[Category:20th-century German musicians]]
[[Category:English-language singers from Germany]]