What kind of relationship did she have with Lou Reed? “For a time they were enamoured with each other, but that quickly turned into resentment from Lou Reed’s end. She knew it was a commodity she had to barter with, and that gave her access to a lot of people and she was able to build a network.” “The one thing she had going for her was her appearance, and she hated that. Her whole life was about trying to shrug off that identity.”

Remember, she came from war-torn Nazi Germany. I don’t know if The Velvet Underground was meant to be, but Nico did have an excellent way of figuring out the people she needed to get to the next step. Was The Velvet Underground a logical destination for her, or did she stumble into it by accident? “Nico was a woman of two sides she said ‘I always get there too late or too early.’ At the same time she always found the right people. I find the records really, really intense.” I’d be lying if I said I could listen to a Nico album all the way through. It’s so beautiful, so perfect, and so dysfunctional and it ticked every box for me. Listen on the podcastįirst of all, how did you discover Nico’s music? “It was that scene in The Royal Tenenbaums where Margot Tenenbaum gets off the bus and These Days by Nico is playing. We caught up with Jennifer to find out more about Nico’s life and work. Her latest book is a biography of Nico – who has become a semi-mythical figure since her sudden death in 1988. Dr Jennifer Otter Bickerdike is a rock & roll cultural historian and author.

Jennifer otter bickerdike nico