Though Nico is probably best known for her involvement with the Velvet Underground, she maintained an ambitious and unique body of work in her solo career as well. The German singer, songwriter, actress and composer was born in Cologne in 1938. A propensity for acting and fashion brought her to New York City in the 1960s, where she'd eventually fall heavily into the experimental and psychedelic art scene spearheaded by Andy Warhol. It was there that Nico developed a friendship with Lou Reed and the rest of the Velvet Underground, who asked her to contribute lead vocals on several tracks of the group's heavily-influential debut LP. Over the next few years, her increasingly experimental solo albums, which explored everything from pastoral folk to icy goth-rock, would make her a highly influential and enigmatic figure. Nico died in 1988 when she fell off her bike after suffering a minor heart attack, but the legacy of her unrestrained vocals and avant-garde tendencies can still be found in everything from pop to punk rock.
