Editing Nico (section)

===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]]''.