Editing Nico (section)

==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>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdPCoMGSD_o YouTube Mario Lanza sings ''Come Prima'']</ref><ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052817/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm IMDb For the First Time (1959): Full Cast & Crew]</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 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, 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 music|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.<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|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/972429558|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]]''.