Nico (born Christa Päffgen, 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988) was a German singer-songwriter, fashion model, actress, and Warhol Superstar. She is renowned for both her tenure in The Velvet Underground and for her work as a solo artist between the 1960s and early 1980s. While she is most prominently known for her musical work, she also had a small handful of film roles, including a bit part in Federico Fellini's acclaimed 1960 film La Dolce Vita. A close friend of and artistic collaborator with Andy Warhol, she also starred in various roles in his experimental art films, most notably in 1966's Chelsea Girls, after which she named her solo debut album. She died in July 1988, as a result of a cycling accident. She is related to Hermann Päffgen, who founded the Päffgen brewery in 1883 in Cologne.
Her adopted name, Nico, which she went by for most of her life, supposedly was given to her by photographer Herbert Tobias, who was photographing her on a modeling job. He supposedly named her this after his ex-boyfriend, filmmaker Nikos Papatakis. She soon 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 to have been briefly hired by Coco Chanel. Though a native German speaker, through her travels Nico became fluent in English, Italian, Spanish, and French.
In 1959, she was invited to the set of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita and attracted the attention of the acclaimed director, who gave her a minor role in the film. By this time, she had moved to New York to take acting classes under the guidance of Lee Strasberg.
She appears as the cover model on jazz pianist Bill Evans' 1962 album Moon Beams. After splitting her time between New York and Paris, she landed 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 on CD as part of the French compilation Le Cinéma de Serge Gainsbourg.
After being introduced by Bob Dylan, she began working with Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey on their experimental films, including Chelsea Girls, The Closet, Sunset, and Imitation of Christ.
Nico sang lead vocals on three songs ("Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties", and "I'll Be Your Mirror") and backing vocals on another ("Sunday Morning") on the band's debut record, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Released in 1967, the album went on to prove influential to many future genres, including punk rock and New Wave.
Chelsea Girl is a traditional chamber-folk album that influenced the style of artists such as Leonard Cohen, with strings and flute arrangements superimposed by its producer. Nico was not satisfied with the finished album and had little say in production matters.
Arts & Culture
