Nico

Born Christa Päffgen in Cologne in 1938, she worked as a model and actress before Andy Warhol drew her into the orbit of the Velvet Underground, with whom she sang lead on three tracks of their 1967 debut album. Her first solo record Chelsea Girl appeared the same year; she later disowned its string arrangements. John Cale produced The Marble Index (1968), for which she wrote all words and music, establishing a harsher, drone-based direction she pursued through Desertshore (1970) and The End (1974). She died in Ibiza in 1988.