Nico
(1938-1988)
Nico
(1938-1988)
| Following a short career
as a model and actress (including a role in
in the classic Fellini film, "La Dolce Vita") in Europe, Nico wound up in New York City in the mid-1960s, singing with a strange new band called the Velvet Underground. Their ill-fated partnership lasted for just one album --- "The Velvet Underground & Nico" --- which turned out to be one of the most memorable, influential records of the era. (The band's sound was famously described on the LP cover as "the product of a secret marriage between Bob Dylan and the Marquis de Sade".) While certainly not a singer of range or power, Nico had a haunting voice: a cool, often-emotionless monotone, with a certain Marlene Dietrich quality, that was extremely well-suited both to the Velvets and to her own dark, brooding songs. She made a handful of solo LPs (a couple of them very good), the later ones featuring her on the harmonium, an instrument that complemented her Gothic, otherworldly voice extremely well. Nico's final years were sad and somewhat sordid, and she died in a bicycle accident in 1988. |