You are beautiful and you are alone

Christa Päffgen was born in Cologne (Germany) in 1938 and suffered as a child the horrors of war. Her extraordinary beauty soon led her to pose as an international model for the best photographers and magazines, at which point she adopted the name "Nico", which would accompany her for the rest of her stormy life. Her fame skyrocketed when Federico Fellini gave her a role in the mythical La dolce vita. Shortly after, she landed in New York, where Andy Warhol introduced her to the entourage of the Factory and, in addition to starring in many of his films -Chelsea Girls, among others- and making her a Superstar, he forced her into the group he founded by Lou Reed and John Cale, The Velvet Underground. With them she recorded what is possibly one of the best albums in rock history, the iconic banana vinyl, produced by Warhol himself: The Velvet Underground & Nico, where the German sang on "Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties " and "I'll Be Your Mirror" with his particular contralto voice with a strong Teutonic accent. Later, he began a fascinating and dark career as a solo artist, first with the cover album Chelsea Girl, which was followed by The Marble Index and Desertshore, which despite going unnoticed when they were released, today are cult albums and of enormous popularity. influence. She muse and partner of the cursed filmmaker Philippe Garrel, with whom she starred in, among others, La cicatrice intérieure, both began to use heroin on a regular basis. A growing addiction led Nico into a spiral of degeneration that undermined her physically and psychologically, which did not prevent her from having a prolific career as a musician, especially live. Nico she died in Ibiza under mysterious circumstances at the age of 49. After four years of research and more than a hundred interviews, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike builds a fascinating and highly documented biography of one of the most charismatic voices in popular music whose life was a captivating enigma that You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone tries to unravel.