You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone
The Biography of Nico
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A new, definitive biography of the iconic and mysterious singer, Warhol superstar, Velvet Underground collaborator: influential solo artist Nico.
YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL AND YOU ARE ALONE is a new biography of Nico, the mysterious singer best known for her work with the Velvet Underground and her solo album Chelsea Girl. Her life is tangled in myth--much of it of her own invention. Rock and roll cultural historian Jennifer Bickerdike delivers a definitive book that unravels the story while making a convincing case for Nico's enduring importance.
Over the course of her career, Nico was an ever-evolving myth: art film house actress, highly coveted fashion model, Dietrich of Punk, Femme Fatale, Chelsea Girl, Garbo of Goth, The Last Bohemian, Heroin Junkie. Lester Bangs described her as 'a true enigma.' At age 27, Nico became Andy Warhol's newest Superstar, featuring in his one commercial break out hit film Chelsea Girls and garnering the position of chanteuse for the Velvet Underground. It wasn't Nico's musical chops which got her the gig; it was her striking beauty. Her seeming otherworldly and unattainable presence was further amplified by her reputation for dating rock stars (Brian Jones, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, among others). She became famous for being Nico.
Yet Nico's talent and her contribution to rock culture are often overlooked. She spent most of her career as a solo artist on the road, determined to make music, seemingly against all the odds, enduring empty concert halls, abusive fans, and the often perilous reality of being an ageing artist and drug addict. She created mesmerizing and unique projects that inspired a generation of artists, including Henry Rollins, Morrissey, Siousxie Sioux and the Banshees and Iggy Pop.
Drawing on the archives at the Andy Warhol Museum and at Nico's record labels, various private collections, and rarely seen footage, and featuring exclusive new interviews from those who knew her best, including Iggy Pop and Danny Fields, and those inspired by her legacy, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL AND YOU ARE ALONE reveals the complicated, often compromised, self-destructive and always head strong woman behind the one-dimensional myths.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Nico was one of the most iconic figures in 20th-century rock music, yet she’s remained a total enigma for decades. In this fascinating biography, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike unpacks the German-born singer’s strange, sad story in exquisite detail, dispelling all the pop-culture mythmaking, misinformation, and misogynist distortions of the past several decades to reveal the real Nico. Otter Bickerdike takes us on the whole fascinating journey, from Nico’s early career as a model and actress through her stint as the Andy Warhol–appointed singer for the Velvet Underground (a decision the rest of the band did not entirely agree with) and her uncompromisingly iconoclastic solo career. Even though Bickerdike doesn’t gloss over the gritty details, like Nico’s rock star flings (including with Jim Morrison) and her struggles with drug addiction, she never lets the singer’s all-too-human shortcomings overshadow her radical brilliance as an artist. Come for the inside scoop on this ’60s and ’70s legend, stay for the truthful look at a legacy too long obscured.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rock historian Bickerdike (Why Vinyl Matters) offers an impressive corrective to the "one-sided narrative... perpetuated about Nico" in an account that unpacks the influential musician's life. Drawing on exclusive interviews and archives, Bickerdike dissects the "apathetic misogyny and stereotyping" that denied Nico (1938–1988) her place in rock history, making "her story a chilling modern narrative on the fetishism of beauty." Haunted by her youth in Germany during WWII, the vulnerable and beautiful Christa Päffgen assumed the persona of "Nico" as a teen in 1956 before going on to model for Vogue, landing acting roles in Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) and Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls (1966), and dating such rock stars as Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison. Nico performed with the Velvet Underground—seducing fans with her "eerie" voice—until professional jealousy forced her from the group a year after joining. Even in the midst of having her talent and, mainly, looks disparaged by the music industry, former bandmates, and friends ("Warhol called her old and fat in 1980"), Bickerdike underscores how Nico continued to make music "against all odds," touring solo for two decades and blazing the trail for future rock legends including Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, and Kate Bush. Music lovers will be enthralled.
