Nico: Femme Fatale

(Above: Artwork by Hugh Mendes)

Nico whose real name was Christa Paffgen was born in Cologne in 1938. When she was 7, her family moved to Berlin which Nico described as being "a desert of bricks." At the age of 16 Nico became a model and began working for magazines such as Elle and Vogue. In London in 1965 Nico worked with guitarist Jimmy Page on a single called 'The Last Mile' which was released on Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label. 

Nico began dating Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones and then had an affair with Bob Dylan. She recorded a demo of a song called 'I'll Keep It With Mine', Dylan had not only written the song for her but also played piano on the track.

In the same year Nico met Andy Warhol and his friend the film director Paul Morrissey. 

Andy Warhol described Nico as being an "mystereous moon Goddess." Paul Morrissey thought Nico was "the most beautiful creature that ever lived."

Around this time Morrissey and Warhol had begun to act as managers for a rock band called The Velvet Underground whose members were Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Mo Tucker.

Warhol introduced Nico to the band and also his rich young friend Edith Sedgwick who was a model and actress.

Nico and Lou Reed became lovers and lived together for about 8 weeks. John Cale had a relationship with Sedwick for around 6 weeks. 

Sedgwick then had a fling with Nico

It is believed that Sedwick had inspired the Bob Dylan tracks 'Just Like a Woman', 'Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat', 'Fourth Time Around' and 'Like a Rolling Stone.'

Warhol suggested that Lou Reed should write a song about Sedgwick and call it Femme Fatale. 

Lou Reed did as he was told and also wrote two other classics All Tomorrow's Parties and I'll Be Your Mirror with Nico in mind. Whilst on stage with The Velvet Underground, Nico would wear white. One critic described her stage presence as being "half goddess, half icicle." 

When Nico recorded her solo album Chelsea Girls - Reed, Morrison and Cale all lent a hand. The only member of the band not involved was drummer Mo Tucker. Miss Tucker was delighted Nico left the Velvets and in her opinion Nico was "just a pain in the ass". 

For many, the highlight of Chelsea Girls was a song written by a teenage Jackson Browne entitled These Days. 

On hearing Jackson's acoustic demo of the song Warhol asked Browne to go electric. Tom Wilson, who produced the first Velvets album and several classic Dylan albums, added strings and flute, Nico was not happy with the results. On the three solo albums that followed - The Marble Index, Desertshore and The End - Nico was much more in control and wrote both the lyrics and the music. In the early 80s Nico was based in Manchester and worked with The Blue Orchids. Later in London she collaborated with a group called The Faction. Her final album Camera Obscura was released in 1985. The last thing Nico recorded was Your Kisses Burn which was a duet with Marc Almond. Nico died whilst on holiday in Ibiza in July 1988 Since her death famous fans such as Mercury Rev, Peaches, and Kim Gordon have performed her songs live. Wes Anderson featured two Nico songs in his film The Royal Tenenbaums. Maxine Peake performed as Nico on stage. And James Young, the keyboard player in her last band The Faction, wrote a book about her called Songs They Never Play On The Radio.

James Young: "There were some good ideas and one really stand out track, called King. A beautiful, almost chorale-like piece. John Cale wanted to do an arrangement for it, but I urged him to leave it alone. Just Nico and her harmonium, her voice cracking at times, yet free - unencumbered by anyone else's image of her. No need to give her a setting, or dress her up in modernity. What she had was her own.The album came out to kind reviews . The serious doom dwellers went into ecstasies. Mostly critics just seemed to be reassured by the fact that Nico was still alive somewhere, so long as it wasn't in their vicinity."