Nico | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Nico with the Velvet Underground in 1966 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christa Päffgen |
| Born | (1938-10-16)16 October 1938 Cologne, Germany |
| Died | 18 July 1988(1988-07-18) (aged 49) Ibiza, Spain |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1955–1988 |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | The Velvet Underground |
Christa Päffgen (German pronunciation:[ˈkʁɪstaˈpɛfɡn̩]; 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988),[1][2][3] known by herstage nameNico, was a German singer, songwriter, actress, and model.
Nico had roles in several films, includingFederico Fellini'sLa Dolce Vita (1960) andAndy Warhol'sChelsea Girls (1966). At the insistence of Warhol, she sang lead on three songs ofthe Velvet Underground's debut albumThe Velvet Underground & Nico (1967). At the same time, she started a solo career and releasedChelsea Girl (1967). Her friendJim Morrison suggested that she start writing her own material. She then composed songs on aharmonium, not traditionally arock instrument.John Cale of the Velvet Underground became her musical arranger and producedThe Marble Index (1968),Desertshore (1970),The End... (1974) and other subsequent albums.
In the 1980s, Nico toured extensively in Europe, United States, Australia and Japan. After a concert inBerlin in June 1988, she went on holiday inIbiza, where she died from acerebral haemorrhage while cycling in extremely hot weather.[4]
Nico was born Christa Päffgen inCologne to Wilhelm and Margarete "Grete" Päffgen (née Schulz, 1910–1970).[3] Wilhelm was born into the wealthyPäffgen Kölsch master brewer family dynasty in Cologne and wasCatholic, while Grete came from a lower-class background and wasProtestant.[5] When Nico was two years old, she moved with her mother and grandfather to theSpreewald forest outsideBerlin to escape theWorld War IIbombardments of Cologne.[6]
Her father was conscripted into theWehrmacht at the onset of the war, but there are several conflicting accounts as to when and how he died. According to biographerRichard Witts in his 1995 bookNico: 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.[5] Another story is that he sustained head injuries that caused severebrain damage, and spent the rest of his life in apsychiatric institution.[7] According to unproven rumours, he was variously said to have died in aconcentration camp,[8][9] or to have faded away as a result ofshell shock.[10]
In 1946, Nico and her mother relocated to Berlin, where Grete worked as aseamstress. Nico attended school until the age of 13, and began selling lingerie in the exclusive department storeKaDeWe, eventually getting modelling jobs in Berlin.[9] At 5 ft 10 in (178 cm), and with chiseled features and pale skin, Nico rose to prominence as a fashion model when still a teenager.[11]
Nico was discovered at 16 by photographerHerbert 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, filmmakerNikos Papatakis, and she used it for the rest of her life.[12] She moved toParis and began working forVogue,Tempo,Vie Nuove,Mascotte Spettacolo,Camera,Elle, and other fashion magazines. Around this time, she dyed her brown hair blonde, later claiming she was inspired to do so byErnest Hemingway.[13] At age 17, she was contracted byCoco Chanel to promote their products, but she fled to New York City and abandoned the job. Through her travels, she learned to speakEnglish,Spanish, andFrench.
In 1959 she had an uncredited speaking part inMario Lanza's last filmFor the First Time.[14][15] In the same year she was invited to the set ofFederico Fellini'sLa 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 inNew York and taking acting classes withLee Strasberg.[9]
After a role in the 1961Jean Paul Belmondo filmA Man Named Rocca, she appeared as the cover model onjazz pianistBill Evans' 1962 album,Moon Beams.[16] After splitting her time between New York and Paris, she got the lead role inJacques Poitrenaud'sStrip-Tease (1963). She recorded the title track, which was written bySerge Gainsbourg but not released until 2001, when it was included in the compilationLe Cinéma de Serge Gainsbourg.
In New York, Nico first met Greek filmmakerNico Papatakis, whose name she had adopted as her stage name several years earlier. The two lived together between 1959 and 1961.[17] 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.[18]
In 1965, Nico metthe Rolling Stones guitaristBrian Jones and recorded her first single, "I'm Not Sayin'", with the B-side "The Last Mile", produced byJimmy Page forAndrew Loog Oldham'sImmediate label. ActorBen Carruthers introduced her toBob Dylan in Paris that summer. In 1967, Nico recorded his song "I'll Keep It with Mine" for her first album,Chelsea Girl.[1]
After being introduced by Brian Jones, she began working in New York withAndy Warhol andPaul Morrissey on theirexperimental films, includingChelsea Girls,The Closet,Sunset andImitation of Christ. Warhol began managingthe Velvet Underground, a New York City rock band and he proposed that the group take on Nico as a "chanteuse", an idea to which they consented, reluctantly for both personal and musical reasons.[19][20]
The group became the centerpiece of Warhol'sExploding Plastic Inevitable, amultimedia performance featuringmusic,lighting,film anddance. Nico sang lead vocals on three songs ("Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties", "I'll Be Your Mirror"), and backing vocal on "Sunday Morning", on the band's debut album,The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967).[1] ReviewerRichard 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".[21]
Nico's tenure with the Velvet Underground was marked by personal and musical difficulties. Multi-instrumentalistJohn Cale wrote that Nico's long dressing room preparations, and pre-performance ritual of burning a candle, often held up performances, which especially irritated songwriterLou Reed. Nico's partial deafness sometimes caused her to veer off key, for which she was ridiculed by other band members.[22] The album became a classic, ranked 13th onRolling Stone's500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[23] though it was poorly received at the time of its release.[24]
Immediately following her musical work with the Velvet Underground, Nico began work as a solo artist, performing regularly atThe 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 andJackson Browne.
For her debut album, 1967'sChelsea Girl, she recorded songs byBob Dylan,Tim Hardin, andJackson Browne, among others. Velvet Underground membersLou Reed,John Cale andSterling Morrison contributed to the album, with Nico, Reed and Cale co-writing one song, "It Was a Pleasure Then."[25]Chelsea Girl is a traditional chamber-folk album, withstrings and flute arrangements by producerTom 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."[26] In California, Nico spent time withJim Morrison ofthe Doors, who encouraged her to write her own songs.[27]
ForThe Marble Index, released in 1968, Nico wrote the lyrics and music. Nico'sharmonium 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-Europeanfolk 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 thegothic rock scene that would emerge in subsequent years.[28]
A promotional film for the song "Evening of Light" was filmed by Francois de Menil. This video featured the now red-haired Nico andIggy Pop ofthe Stooges.
Returning to live performance in the early 1970s, Nico (accompanying herself on harmonium) gave concerts inAmsterdam as well asLondon, where she and John Cale opened forPink Floyd. 1972 saw a one-off live reunion of Nico, Cale andLou Reed at theBataclan in Paris.
Nico released two more solo albums in the 1970s,Desertshore (1970) andThe 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... featuredBrian Eno on synthesizer andPhil Manzanera on guitar, both fromRoxy Music. She appeared at theRainbow Theatre, in London, with Cale, Eno, andKevin Ayers. The albumJune 1, 1974 resulted from this concert. Nico performed a version of the Doors' "The End", which was the catalyst forThe End... later that year.
Between 1970 and 1979, Nico made about seven films with French directorPhilippe Garrel. She met Garrel in 1969 and contributed the song "The Falconer" to his filmLe 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 filmsAthanor (1972); thesilentJean Seberg featureLes Hautes Solitudes, released in 1974;Un ange passe (1975);Le Berceau de cristal (1976), starringPierre Clémenti, Nico andAnita Pallenberg; andVoyage au jardin des morts (1978). His 1991 filmJ'entends Plus la Guitare is dedicated to Nico.[29]
On 13 December 1974, Nico opened forTangerine Dream's concert atReims Cathedral inReims, France.[30] Around this time, Nico became involved with Berliner musician Lutz Ulbrich, guitarist forAsh 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.[31] Nico andIsland Records allegedly had many disputes during this time, and in 1975 Island dropped her from their roster.[32]
In September 1978, Nico performed at the Canet Roc '78 festival in Spain.[33] Also performing at this event wereBlondie,Kevin Ayers, andUltravox. She made a vocal contribution toNeuronium's second album,Vuelo Químico, as she was at the studio, by chance, while it was being recorded inBarcelona in 1978 by Michel Huygen,Carlos Guirao and Albert Gimenez. She read excerpts from "Ulalume" byEdgar 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 forSiouxsie and the Banshees, one of manypost-punk bands who namechecked her.[34] 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 atCBGB (accompanied by John Cale and Lutz Ulbrich) was reviewed positively inThe New York Times. She began playing regularly at theSquat Theatre and other venues with Jim Tisdall accompanying her on harp andGittler 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 byCheetah 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.[1] 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" andDavid Bowie's "'Heroes'".Drama of Exile was released twice, in two different versions, the second appearing in 1983.[30]
After relocating toManchester, England, in the early 1980s, Nico acquired a manager,Factory Records executive and promoter Alan Wise,[35][36] and began working with a variety of backing bands for her many live performances. These bands chronologically includedBlue 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 byMartin Hannett and featuringthe Invisible Girls. Included on the "Procession" single was a new version ofthe Velvet Underground's "All Tomorrow's Parties".
Nico toured in 1982 withpost-punk band Blue Orchids as her backing band.[4] At the time, her work impacted the emerginggothic rock scene. AtSalford University in 1982, she joinedBauhaus for a performance of "I'm Waiting for the Man". That same year, Nico's supporting acts includedthe Sisters of Mercy andGene Loves Jezebel. In September 1982, Nico performed at theDeeside Leisure Centre for theFuturama Festival. The line-up for this show also includedthe Damned,Dead or Alive,Southern Death Cult,Danse Society andthe Membranes. After the end of her work with the Blue Orchids, she hired musical arrangerJames Young and his band the Faction for her concerts.[4]
The live compilations1982 Tour Diary andEn Personne En Europe were released in November 1982 on the 1/2 Records cassette label in France; theROIR 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, in 1985, with the Faction (James Young and Graham "Dids" Dowdall). Produced by John Cale, it featured Nico's version of theRichard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart song "My Funny Valentine". The album's closing song was an updated version of "König", which she had previously recorded forLa 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 atThe Fridge inBrixton.
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'sHeroine,Nico in Tokyo, andBehind 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 divaOum Kalthoum. Young stated that the new material was "good enough to be a springboard to a new record" with an Egyptian orchestra.[4] The Berlin concert ended with a song fromThe End..., "You Forget to Answer".
A duet called "Your Kisses Burn" with singerMarc Almond was her last studio recording (about a month before her death). It was released a few months after her death on Almond's albumThe Stars We Are. The recording of the 1988 Berlin concert, was later released with the titleNico's Last Concert: Fata Morgana.
On 11 August 1962, she gave birth to her son,Christian Aaron Boulogne, whom she called Ari.[9] She was living with Nicos Papatakis in 1962 but told him thatAlain 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.[37][38] Ari became a photographer and actor.[39] He died of a heroin overdose, aged 60, in Paris in 2023.[40][41]
Nico saw herself as part of a tradition ofbohemian artists, which she traced back to theRomanticism 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 andManchester.[35]
In 1965 she became pregnant during a three-month affair with Brian Jones but decided to have an abortion in London that same year. This event prompted her to seek out a closer relationship with her son Ari.[42]
Nico was aheroin addict for over 15 years. In the bookSongs They Never Play on the Radio,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 directorPhilippe Garrel in the 1970s.[43]
The final years of her life were mainly spent in thePrestwich[35] andSalford areas of Greater Manchester. Although she was still struggling with addiction, she became interested in music again.[35] For a few months in the 1980s, she shared an apartment in Brixton, London, with punk poetJohn Cooper Clarke[35] but not as a couple.[44]
In his autobiography, musicianCheetah Chrome depicted his friendship with a strung-out Nico in the 1980s and their mutual dependency.[45] Shortly before her death, Nico stopped using heroin and beganmethadone replacement therapy as well as a regimen of bicycle exercise and healthy eating.[citation needed]
Nico's friendDanny Fields, the American journalist who helped her sign toElektra Records, described her as "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.'"[46] According to Fields, in the early 1970s, Nico attacked a mixed-race woman at theChelsea Hotel with a smashed wine glass, sticking it in her eye while saying, "I hate black people."[46]Island Records dropped Nico after she told an interviewer that she did not like "Negroes" and that they had "features like animals".[47] Nico said she had been raped at the age of thirteen by a black American soldier who had been court-martialed and executed; the biographerRichard Witts could find no record of this, even when similar incidents were "assiduously documented", while biographerJennifer Otter Bickerdike uncovered personal documents that support the story.[47][48] According to Witts, Nico hadmisogynistic tendencies, describing women as poison.[47]
In 2019, Nigel Bagley, Nico's co-manager and promoter in Manchester, said he never saw Nico express racist views, and that she lived in a multicultural city and was friendly with their American-Jamaican doorman. Her drummer, Graham Dowdall, noted that Nico had usedIndian instruments and worked withnorth 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.[49]
On 18 July 1988, during a holiday with Ari on the Spanish island ofIbiza, 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 severecerebral hemorrhage as the cause of death.[9] Her son later said of the incident:
In the late morning of July 17, 1988, my mother told me she needed to go downtown to buymarijuana. 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.[50]
Nico'scremated remains are buried in her mother's plot inGrunewald, a forest cemetery inBerlin. Friends played a tape of "Mütterlein", a song fromDesertshore, at her funeral.[43]
Nico directly inspired many musicians, includingSiouxsie and the Banshees,the Cure,Morrissey,Elliott Smith, andBjörk. 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".[51] The Cure's leaderRobert Smith has citedDesertshore as one of his favourite records,[52] as has Björk.[53][54]Joy Division andNew Order'sPeter Hook citedChelsea Girl as one of his favourite albums.[55] Bauhaus singer,Peter Murphy, considered that "Nico recorded the first truly Gothic album,Marble lndex orThe End. Nico was Gothic, but she wasMary Shelley to everyone else'sHammer Horror. They both didFrankenstein, but Nico's was real."[56] 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."[57] Morrissey also said of the song "Innocent and Vain", "This is my youth in one piece of music."[58] Elliott Smith covered "Chelsea Girls" and "These Days" inPortland, Oregon in October 1999; he also citedThe Marble Index as one of his perfect 2.45am albums.[59]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."[60]Marianne Faithfull recorded "Song For Nico" on her LPKissin' Time in 2002.Michael Gira also recorded an homonymous song for theAngels of Light albumHow I Loved You, and citedDesertshore andThe Marble Index among his favorite albums.[61] Patti Smith did a concert tribute to Nico in 2014 in which she covered "I Will Be Seven".[62]Low wrote a song titled "Those Girls (Song For Nico)" andNeko Case covered "Afraid" in 2013.[63]
Two of Nico's songs fromChelsea Girl, "The Fairest of the Seasons" and "These Days", both written by Jackson Browne, were featured inWes Anderson's filmThe Royal Tenenbaums.[64]
Several biographical works on Nico have appeared, both in print and film. The first, in 1992, wasSongs 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 musicologistRichard Witts covered Nico's entire life and career. The 1995 documentaryNico 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, publishedNico: In the Shadow of the Moon Goddess, an account of his time with Nico. In the 2018 biopicNico, 1988 directed bySusanna Nicchiarelli,Trine Dyrholm portrays Nico on a journey across Europe during her last tour.
In 2019,Manchester International Festival put on a production calledThe Nico Project.[65] It was a theatrical re-telling of Nico's 1968 albumThe Marble Index starringMaxine Peake.[66][67]
Several concerts to honour Nico's career were organized over the years with multiple singers revisiting her repertoire. In 1981 Texas punk bandReally Red released an original song in tribute to Nico. In 2005, alternative rock bandAnberlin 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 (ofManic Street Preachers),Fyfe Dangerfield ofthe Guillemots,Mark Linkous (ofSparklehorse), Peter Murphy (of Bauhaus),Lisa Gerrard ofDead Can Dance, andMark Lanegan appeared on stage at theRoyal 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 featuredMarianne Rosenberg,Soap&Skin, Marianne Enzensberger, andJames Young, the keyboardist from The Faction, Nico's last band.
Shearwater's 2006 albumPalo Santo was dedicated to Nico, and was loosely based on her life.[68]
Performance artistTammy Faye Starlite (Tammy Lang) enjoyed success in 2011 with her one-woman showNico: 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.[69]
In 2012, X-TG (featuring members of industrial bandThrobbing Gristle) released a re-interpretation of theDesertshore album.[70]
In January 2013, John Cale organized a tributeA Life Along the Borderline at theBrooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. Performers included Cale,Kim Gordon withBill Nace,Sharon Van Etten,Meshell Ndegeocello,Stephin Merritt,Peaches,Alison Mosshart,Joan As Police Woman,Greg Dulli,Yeasayer, andMercury Rev.[71]
The song "Last Ride" onBeach House's 2018 album7 "was inspired by" Nico, according to lead singerVictoria Legrand.[72]
According toThe Great Rock Discography:[1]
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1967 | The Velvet Underground & Nico (US No. 129, UK No. 59,IRL No. 56,ITA No. 76) |
| 1967 | Chelsea Girl |
| 1968 | The Marble Index |
| 1970 | Desertshore |
| 1974 | The End... |
| 1981 | Drama of Exile |
| 1985 | Camera Obscura |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1977 | The Peel Sessions(Recorded 1971 and 1974) |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1972 | Le Bataclan '72(Together with John Cale and Lou Reed) |
| 1974 | June 1, 1974 |
| 1982 | Do or Die: Nico in Europe(Live recordings from 1982 European tour) |
| 1983 | Live in Denmark(tracks 01-09 recorded live 1982-10-06, at the Club Paramount, Eriksvej 40, Roskilde, Denmark) |
| 1985 | Nico Live in Pécs |
| 1986 | Behind the Iron Curtain |
| 1989 | Nico in Tokyo(tracks 01-11 recorded live 11 April 1986, Tokyo) |
| 1990 | Hanging Gardens |
| 1992 | Chelsea Girl / Live(recorded live June 1985,Chelsea Town Hall) |
| 1994 | Heroine |
| 2022 | Live at the Hacienda '83(recorded live in Manchester, 24 February 1983) |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1984 | Live Heroes |
| 1998 | Nico: The Classic Years |
| 2003 | Femme Fatale – The Aura Anthology. (Re-issue ofDrama of Exile with bonus tracks plusLive at Chelsea Town Hall 9.8.85.) |
| 2007 | The Frozen Borderline – 1968–1970. (The Marble Index andDesertshore re-issued with bonus tracks.) |
In 2002, Faust Records released two collections of obscure Nico tracks,Reich der Träume (Realm of Dreams) andWalpurgis-Nacht (Walpurgis Night).[73][74]
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1965 | "I'm Not Sayin'" / "The Last Mile" |
| 1981 | "Saeta" / "Vegas" – Flicknife Records FLS 206 |
| 1982 | "Procession" / "All Tomorrow's Parties" (Recorded withthe Invisible Girls &Martin Hannett) |
| 1983 | "Heroes" / "One More Chance" |
| 1985 | "My Funny Valentine" / "My Heart Is Empty" |
Nico (original name Christa Päffgen; b. October 16, 1938, Cologne, Germany—d. July 18, 1988, Ibiza, Spain)
She was related to Hermann Päffgen, a dynastic master brewer who founded the Päffgen brewery in 1883 in Cologne.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: year (link)She had just undergone an abortion in London, having discovered she was pregnant by Brian Jones.
Desertshore Nico 'I like to remember to it'
