Nico

From Wikipedia:

Christa Päffgen, known by her stage name Nico, was a German singer, songwriter, actress, and model. She had roles in several films, including Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960) and Andy Warhol’s Chelsea Girls (1966). Reviewer Richard Goldstein describes Nico as “half goddess, half icicle” and writes that her distinctive voice “sounds something like a cello getting up in the morning.”

At the insistence of Warhol, Nico sang lead on three songs of the Velvet Underground’s debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967). At the same time, she started a solo career and released Chelsea Girl (1967). Her friend Jim Morrison suggested that she start writing her own material. She then composed songs on a harmonium, not traditionally a rock instrument. John Cale of the Velvet Underground became her musical arranger and produced The 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 in Berlin in June 1988, she went on holiday in Ibiza, where she died from a cerebral haemorrhage while cycling in extremely hot weather.

In the late summer of 1968, Paul McCartney extended an invitation to Nico for a brief stay at his Cavendish Avenue home in London.

Around the same time, in mid-August, he invited Linda Eastman to join him in London. They first met in May 1967 in London, spent additional time together when Paul and John visited New York in May 1968 for Apple’s promotion, and their romance blossomed in June 1968 during Paul’s promotional trip to Los Angeles for Apple.

As Linda’s visit approached and Nico’s stay unexpectedly prolonged, Paul sought assistance from Paul Morrissey, Nico’s manager whom he had met in 1967 alongside Andy Warhol, to persuade Nico to leave his residence.

I didn’t know what [Paul] wanted, until he said it was about Nico. I knew she was in London, but not until that moment did I have any idea that she was staying at Paul McCartney’s house. So I went over there, and he showed me the house, and then he said, ‘You know I have Nico here, I invited her to stay here about two weeks ago; she had no money and I just thought it was for a few days, and she had nowhere else to go. I like her and she’s very nice, but I have to ask her to leave and I don’t know how to do this, and I thought since you’re here, and you’re her manager, maybe you could do that.’

Paul Morrissey – From “Linda McCartney – A Portrait” by Danny Fields, 2000

Paul was very polite, and I said, “Oh yeah, sure,” because I knew Nico could be something of a burden, and then he told me that a journalist was coming over from New York to interview him and he didn’t have any extra bedrooms. So I asked him who the journalist was, because maybe I knew who it was, and he answered, “Oh, do you know Linda Eastman?” and I said that I knew her very well and, “Yes, she’s great.” I was supposed to understand that Linda was coming to do some in-depth story and needed to be there for a few days. And it made sense to me that he was giving this girl a place to stay, like he did for Nico, and I just thought it was a nice thing for him to do. I knew that there was nothing romantic between him and Nico, or she would have told me before this, or would have made some reference to it. She would have called me from anywhere in the world if that had been what was happening. But later, when Linda and Paul got married, I tried to think of that time he mentioned that a “journalist” was coming, and I said to myself, “Oh, he did have this glint in his eye when he told me who it was.”

Paul Morrissey – From “Linda McCartney – A Portrait” by Danny Fields, 2000

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.