Nico

Nico (1938 - 1988) was born in Cologne, her real name was Christa Päffgen. At the age of 16 she met a photographer called Herbert Tobias while they were both were working at a fashion show in Berlin. It was Herbert who suggested she change her name to Nico. She got a job modelling for Vogue magazine and moved to Paris and then to New York. In 1963 Nico appears in two films, Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Jacques Poitrenaud’s Strip-Tease. In 65 she took singing lessons and began collaborating with English musicians such as Jimmy Page and Brian Jones. It was Jones who introduced her to Andy Warhol which led to her singing three songs on the very highly regarded The Velvet Underground & Nico album. Nico recorded many solo records that inspired musicians such as The Cure, Patti Smith, Morrissey, Björk, Joy Division, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Several biographies about Nico’s life has been published and in 2019 Maxine Peake portrayed her in a play called The Nico Project.