You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike
You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike
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You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone
The Biography of Nico

Author: Jennifer Otter Bickerdike

Narrator: Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, Christa Lewis

Unabridged: 13 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Da Capo Press

Published: 08/10/2021


Synopsis

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.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Owen on November 29, 2021

I'd love to one day read a book on Nico that actually properly analysed her incredible solo records - among the strangest and most original albums of that or any other time - rather than just noting that they were good and not bad, and then moving on to several pages about Jim Morrison or Iggy Pop,......more

Goodreads review by Umi on December 09, 2021

The author misspells Pete Townshend’s name in the notes section at the end of the book, which, for a certain contingent, will say everything. For those not of that certain contingent, congratulations! Not only are you probably extremely functional at a lot of regular people things, I think you might......more

Goodreads review by Stephen on July 13, 2023

Interesting biography of nico from being born on the eve of ww2 Germany to her film modelling career to music and her drug use. Enjoyed this book overall......more