Nico
- For the prequel to Ico, see Shadow of the Colossus.
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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 best remembered for a collaboration with The Velvet Underground in 1967. She is considered by many fashion experts and other models to be the German equivalent to Marilyn Monroe.[citation needed]
The date and location of her 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
Modeling
Nico made her early fame as a model. After leaving school at 13, she started selling lingerie and soon was spotted by fashion people. A year later, her mother found her work as a model in Berlin. While on a modelling assignment in Ibiza, she met the photographer Tobias, who christened her "Nico" after his ex-boyfriend, filmmaker Nico Papatakis. She later moved to Paris and worked for Vogue, Tempo, Vie Nuove, Mascotte Spettacolo, Camera, ELLE, and other fashion magazines in the late 1950s. She also claimed she was briefly hired by Coco Chanel. Even after dropping out of school very early, Nico spoke German, English, Italian, Spanish, and French fluently, due to working all over the world.
La Dolce Vita
After appearing in several television commercials, Nico landed a tiny role in Alberto Lattuada's film 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, who for many years denied paternity.
Early films with Warhol
In 1965, 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. Once Nico joined the Factory crowd, she gradually began to work with the Velvets, singing lead vocals on three songs ("All Tomorrow's Parties", "Femme Fatale", and "I'll Be Your Mirror") and backing vocals on another ("Sunday Morning") on their debut LP The Velvet Underground and Nico. Released in 1967, the same year as her own solo debut LP named for Warhol's film Chelsea Girls (with the title-track penned by the Velvets), The VU & Nico album and its iconic Warhol cover-art, went on to become highly influential and critically lauded within rock music and art 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, The Doors' icon Jim Morrison, Jackson Browne, Rolling Stones' founder Brian Jones, Tim Buckley and The Stooges' Iggy Pop.
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 [1], Nico recorded songs by, among others, Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin, Jackson Browne and Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison, co-writing only one song ("It Was a Pleasure Then", with Reed and Cale). 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. Jim Morrison is supposed to have helped her with her first solo album, but this is debatable.
For her seminal LP, The Marble Index, released in 1969 [2], Nico wrote all the lyrics and the bare bones of the music, mainly consisting of see-sawing Harmonium chords. The arrangements were written by John Cale, who fleshed out Nico's songs with an array of instruments from the folk and classical vein. Frazier Mohawk produced the album, which was widely considered to be the first rock album to completely abandon conventional structures and instrumentation. For this album, Nico played 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
Nico released three albums in the 1970s: Desertshore (1970) [3], The End (1973) [4] and June 1, 1974 [5]. They were produced by John Cale, who also played on each of the albums. On Desertshore, Cale plays most of the instruments. Nico wrote the music, sang, and played the harmonium. On The End, Cale plays a wide range of instruments including xylophone, synthesizer, acoustic guitar, and electric piano. That album featured Brian Eno, who played on the June 1, 1974 live album with Nico, Cale and Kevin Ayers.
On December 13, 1974, Nico was the support act at Tangerine Dream's infamous concert at Rheims Cathedral in northeast France—infamous due to some fans urinating on the floor or against pillars. The Catholic Church denounced these actions, ordered the rededication of the cathedral and banned future gigs on church property.
The Eighties
Nico returned to New York in late 1979 where her comeback concert at CBGB in early 1980 was glowingly reviewed in the New York Times. She began playing regularly at the Mudd Club and other venues with Jim Tisdall accompanying her on harp and Gittler electric guitar, and they went on a sold-out tour of twelve cities in the East and Midwest. The Chicago appearance was voted best concert of the year by the alternative music press.
Nico recorded her next studio album, Drama of Exile, in 1981.[6] 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 [7], a highly experimental collection that implemented jazz instrumentation and featured Nico's version of the Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart song, "My Funny Valentine".
Nico lived in Salford, Greater Manchester sharing a house with two college students (Steve Turley and Neil Henney) from Sheffield, and later formed a 'domestic partnership' with John Cooper Clarke at this time[8], although this 'partnership' was little more than simply sharing accommodation - the steamier aspects being played up by their manager, Alan Wise, for purposes of publicity. 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 1970 and 1979, Nico made 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. Her participation diminished with later films, which included the silent Jean Seberg biopic, Les Hautes Solitudes, released in 1974.
Death
For over 20 years Nico had been an on-and-off (though mostly on) heroin addict. In his book Nico—Songs They Never Played on the Radio, James Young, a member of her band in the 80's, recalls many examples of Nico's almost fiendish behaviour due to her addiction. Ironically, just before her death, she had managed to kick the habit and had embarked on a regime of exercise and healthy eating.
On July 18, 1988, Nico was injured riding her bicycle while vacationing with her son, Ari, in her favorite haunt of previous years, Ibiza. Supposedly she had a minor heart attack while riding her bicycle and hit her head as she fell. Found unconscious by passersby, she was admitted to a local hospital, and x-rays revealed severe bleeding in her brain; she died several hours later.
She was buried in her mother's grave in Grunewald Forest Cemetery in Berlin. A few friends played a song from her album Desertshore on a cassette recorder.
Legacy
Nico has been influential to many Alternative Music acts. Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Coil, Jocelyn Pook, Dead Can Dance as well as numerous contemporary goth bands have all cited Nico as a seminal influence. Nico is featured in Wes Anderson's film The Royal Tenenbaums with two songs, "The Fairest of the Seasons" and "These Days," both featured on Chelsea Girl (the latter of which was written for her by Jackson Browne).
The Song "Dance, Dance, Christa Paffgen" by Anberlin was inspired by her beauty, captivation, and lifestyle.
Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon named his daughter Nico Blue partly after Nico. Blind Melon's album Nico was released after Hoon's death.
Discography
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1963 | Strip-Tease (French Recording) UNRELEASED |
| 1965 | I'm Not Sayin'/The Last Mile (45 RPM Single) |
| 1967 | The Velvet Underground and Nico |
| 1967 | Chelsea Girl |
| 1969 | The Marble Index |
| 1970 | Desertshore |
| 1973 | The End |
| 1974 | June 1, 1974 |
| 1981 | Drama of Exile |
| 1982 | Do or Die: Nico in Europe (tour diary) |
| 1985 | Nico Live in Pécs |
| 1985 | Camera Obscura |
| 1986 | Live Heroes |
| 1986 | Behind the Iron Curtain |
| 1987 | Nico in Tokyo |
| 1988 | Fata Morgana (Nico's Last Concert) |
| 1989 | Hanging Gardens |
| 1994 | Heroine |
| 2002 | Innocent & Vain |
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).
- Nico: Photographies by Antoine Giacomoni, (Dragoon: Paris, 2002).
Film
- Nico Icon (1995), documentary directed by Susanne Ofteringer
(A more complete filmography.)
External links
- Nico Website
- Habits of Waste, Pt. 1, evaluation of Nico's early work
- Habits of Waste, Pt. 2, evaluation of Nico's later work
- Visit her burial place in Berlin, Grunewald Forest Cemetry, Grave 81
- Nico, the Voice of Disaffected Youth - Audio story from National Public Radio
- Cartoon biography/tribute to Nico at Pretty Fakes.