# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/nico
# Generated: 2026-08-31T14:55:06.334Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/nico"
name: "Nico"
slug: "nico"
description: "She was the icy blonde who sang on the Velvet Underground's first album because Warhol insisted, then spent two decades carving a path so dark and singular that \"Chelsea Girl\" sounds like pop by comparison."
tagline: "German singer and actress (1938–1988)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Velvet_Underground_%26_Nico_publicity_photo_(retouched)_(cropped).jpg?width=1200"
gender: "female"
country:
  name: "Germany"
  isoCode: "DE"
category:
  name: "Musicians"
  slug: "musicians"
profileType:
  name: "Singer / Musician"
  slug: "singer"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q177220"
birthDate: "1938-10-16"
deathDate: "1988-07-18"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           58.7
  momentum:             0.36
  historical:           25.997116
  currentAttention:     17.10714285714286
  sourceConfidence:     75
  profileCompleteness:  85
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Musicians"
    slug: "musicians"
  - name: "Actor"
    slug: "actor"
  - name: "Movies"
    slug: "movies"
  - name: "Fashion"
    slug: "fashion"
  - name: "Singer-Songwriter"
    slug: "singer-songwriter"
  - name: "Classical"
    slug: "classical"
  - name: "Music"
    slug: "music"
  - name: "Germany"
    slug: "germany"
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0630113/"
    handle:    "nm0630113"
  - platform:  "SPOTIFY"
    url:       "https://open.spotify.com/artist/0IwlY33zbBXN7zlS9DP2Cj"
    handle:    "0IwlY33zbBXN7zlS9DP2Cj"
  - platform:  "WEBSITE"
    url:       "http://smironne.free.fr/NICO"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q44634"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Nico"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%88"
    title: "نيكو"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%DB%8C%DA%A9%D9%88"
    title: "نیکو"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE"
    title: "Нико"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Nico"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Nico"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Nico"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Nico"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico_(S%C3%A4ngerin)"
    title: "Nico (Sängerin)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9D%CE%AF%CE%BA%CE%BF"
    title: "Νίκο"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico_(kantistino)"
    title: "Nico (kantistino)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico_(cantante_alemana)"
    title: "Nico (cantante alemana)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Nico"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico_(muusikko)"
    title: "Nico (muusikko)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico_(chanteuse)"
    title: "Nico (chanteuse)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Nico"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%95"
    title: "ניקו"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Nico"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hsb.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Nico"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico_(%C3%A9nekesn%C5%91)"
    title: "Nico (énekesnő)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Nico"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://io.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico_(kantisto)"
    title: "Nico (kantisto)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ig.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nico"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/37c61bf2-5fb1-47ae-9605-80025d956958"
    title: "MusicBrainz"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://www.discogs.com/artist/158676"
    title: "Discogs"
    type:  "DATABASE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Christa Päffgen modeled and acted through the early sixties, appearing in Fellini's La Dolce Vita in 1960 and Warhol's Chelsea Girls six years later. Warhol pushed her into the Velvet Underground for three songs on their 1967 debut; she released her own Chelsea Girl the same year, built from other people's compositions. Jim Morrison suggested she write her own material, so she picked up a harmonium and began. John Cale produced The Marble Index in 1968, then Desertshore in 1970 and The End... in 1974 — albums that left rock behind for something colder and more severe. Through the eighties she toured hard across Europe, the U.S., Australia and Japan. After a Berlin show in June 1988 she went to Ibiza, had a bicycling accident, and died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 18 July.