A 1985 live performance from the Velvet Underground’s cult icon!
Nico’s doom-laden contralto voice, the bizarre choice of a harmonium for accompaniment, and the sheer eeriness and other-worldliness of her repertoire mark Nico as one of the most extraordinarily original performers of the rock era.
These recordings were subsequently issued as a tribute to her unique talent.
The Velvet Underground themselves were criminally neglected while they were still a working band.
Nico's solo career also suffered from being too dark to turn her into a mainstream success.
It didn't help that the odds were also stacked against her.
She was a female artist at a time when rock was mostly male dominated, and a German during an era when few non-British or American acts were given the scope to make their mark on the world stage.
Foolishly dismissed by many as little more than a junkie's role model, Nico's work was vastly under-valued during her lifetime; her self-destructive tendencies got far more attention than her music.
But that doom-laden contralto voice, the bizarre choice of a harmonium for accompaniment, the middle Europe- an accent which she never quite lost, and the sheer eeriness and otherworldliness of her repertoire mark her out as one of the most extraordinarily original performers of the rock era.