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Nico: Life And Lies Of An Icon
Nico: Life And Lies Of An Icon
Sep 30, 2024 3:26 AM

Author:Richard Witts

Nico: Life And Lies Of An Icon

Nico was revered as ‘the most beautiful creature who ever lived’. She was Andy Warhol’s femme fatale and the High Preistess of Weird, yet few knew her real name or her wretched origins. When she called herself ‘a Nazi anarchist junkie’, they thought she was joking.

Bob Dylan wrote a song about her, Jim Morrison a poem, Jean Baudrillard an essay, Andy Warhol a film, Ernest Hemingway a story – yet she fought against the idolatry of men to assert her independence as a composer of dissident songs.

Nico’s contribution as an artist (17 films and 7 LPs) was smothered by gossip of her alleged affairs with men and women, whether Jimi Hendrix or Jeanne Moreau, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones or Coco Chanel.

She drifted through society like a phantom. Each era celebrated a different Nico – the top covergirl of the Fifties, the Siren of the Sixties (as The Times acclaimed her), the Moon Goddess of the Seventies, and the High Priestess of Punk when rock stars like Siouxsie Sioux and Pattie Smith acknowledged her pre-eminence. Ironically, they did so at the lowest point in her life. For behind the Garbo-esque veneer lived a lonely woman trying to stand autonomous in a fast-changing world, seeking to survive her heroin addiction and to cope with her tormented mother and her troubled son, his existence denied by his film-star father.

In this pioneer biography, which Nico asked the author to write shortly before her outlandish death in 1988, Richard Witts uncovers the reasons for her subterfuge, and examines the facts surrounding her encounters with terrorist Andreas Baader, the Black Panthers, and the Society for Cutting Up Men. Exclusive contributions from artists such as Jackson Browne, Iggy Pop, Viva, John Cale, David Bailey, Siouxsie Sioux – and many others including her relatives, friends and enemies – make this the definitive biography of an icon who was not only a testament to an era but hitherto unrecognised influence on popular music and style.

Reviews

Smart and funny...the pages crackle with one-liners

—— Guardian

It’s an eye-opener for fans, but it also shows a gifted writer even at a young age. There was a lot going on between Princess Leia’s hair buns.

—— USA Today

An unflinching, sometimes painful, sometimes hilarious look inside the mind of a 19-year-old … It’s invasive, juicy, sad, nostalgic and gripping all at once. It’s as if you’ve knocked the lock off of your cooler older sister’s journal and discovered she’s been sleeping with the hottest boy in school this whole time.

—— LA Times

Fisher offers a thoughtful, sardonic meditation on the price of fame, cost-of-living adjustments included.

—— J.D. Biersdorfer , The New York Times Book Review

[The Princess Diarist] is a radical truth bomb

—— Julia Felsenthal , VOGUE.com

Carrie Fisher was so real it was dangerous…. My God, girls, we owe her a lot.

—— Sharon Horgan

She didn't need The Force. She was a force of nature, of loyalty and of friendship.

—— Steven Spielberg

The Princess Diarist showcases Carrie's witty, authentic voice [...] that will be so sorely missed.

—— Guardian

As funny and sparky as you'd expect from someone as unstarry and self-deprecating as the late Carrie Fisher. A fascinating insight into a rare kind of star.

—— CHOICE

Absolutely on Music is an intimate and fascinating conversation between two maestros… [A] compelling, moving novel.

—— Scottish Women

Murakami’s grasp of music is frequently both astonishing and inspiring. He has incredible ears and is able to distinguish and annunciate the smallest differences in interpretations… When Murakami writes in prose, he does so with the quick charm and alluring detail that fans of his novels will relish.

—— Andrew Mellor , Rhinegold

A riveting story. Mitchell, an exemplary journalist, goes deep into the political dynamics of Cold War Berlin. John Le Carré couldn’t have done it better.

—— Bill Moyers

A narrative full of interest and acute observation.

—— Allan Massie , The Scotsman

Tense, fascinating... Mitchell delivers a gripping, blow-by-blow account.

—— Publishers Weekly

A gripping page-turner that thrills like fiction.

—— Kirkus Reviews

One of the most gripping stories of the Cold War.

—— Omnivoracious - The Amazon Book Review

Monstrous behaviour and vanity suffuse this oral history of Hollywood’s troubled dynasties… Tragedy lurks around the manicured lawns and marbled halls.

—— Anthony Quinn , Guardian

The anecdotes come so thick and fast it’s like being machine-gunned with marshmallows. Gradually, though, the mood darkens, the catalogue of vulgarity, cruelty and insanity takes its toll. While the Technicolor tour is relentlessly fascinating, it is reassuring to be shown in black and white that, in La-La Land at least, with the millions comes endless misery.

—— Mark Sanderson , Evening Standard

Jean Stein’s approach to family history is unconventional… Stein weaves them together with immense narrative skill.

—— Christopher Silvester , Spears Wealth Management Survey

The stories are mesmerising… Great for people who want to see beyond the world of make-believe.

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

A very dark oral history of Hollywood… mesmerising.

—— i

Writers like Costello because he's always taken writing seriously. That's obvious to anyone who pays attention to his lyrics, and it's even more apparent to anyone who reads Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, his charming new autobiography. The book is refreshingly free of salacious gossip and needless name-dropping; it's an intelligent self-assessment from a musician who went from angry young man to elder statesman of pop ... a defiantly fun autobiography.

—— Michael Schaub , NPR Books

This is a big book, literally, by one of the best rockers in the business. Given the singular, and eclectic, nature of his career, it is no surprise that Elvis Costello's anecdotal autobiography is an idiosyncratic journey through his music and the people and places that have inspired him ... A must for Costello fans everywhere.

—— Booklist (starred review)

Costello's prose cuts with the same spiky wit and observational power as his well-known lyrics ... packed with great lines, vivid anecdotes ... a treat for his many fans.

—— Kirkus Reviews

Plenty of tales to keep the pages turning. Readers will be fascinated by Costello's stories...his book feels like a discussion between friends over a pint.

—— Publishers Weekly

Often brilliant and wholly idiosyncratic

—— David Ulin , Los Angeles Times

Revelatory, evocatively crafted, [and] highly entertaining

—— David Fricke , Rolling Stone

A winningly droll and good-natured guide to his life and many works throughout

—— Clark Collis , Entertainment Weekly

Punctuated with sardonic and self-aware truths

—— Pitchfork

Vivid ... It's not surprising that one of rock's most literate songwriters would pen such a deep, free-form memoir

—— Houston Chronicle

Elvis Costello delivers an impeccably detailed autobiography. He's often as brilliant at turning a phrase in prose as he is in his lyrics

—— Paste Magazine

Enthralling ... This is family history as musical encyclopedia, and to listen to Costello recount his life is to be buttonholed by an enthusiastic fan. Fandom for Costello is inseparable from the compulsion to write songs and, it seems, to understand his own life ... Fortunately for the fan of Costello's music the topic of discussion is often his own songs, and he is, unsurprisingly, a witty and eloquent guide

—— Paul Grimstad , New Republic

[Costello] pens books with the same clever writing that he uses in song

—— Kathy Flanigan , Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Costello['s] book is capacious, clever, and full of heart and soul

—— Dan DeLuca , Philadelphia Inquirer

The story unfolds like a movie that jumps across time, more thematic than chronological, as boyhood anecdotes and obsessions intersect with mature songs and adult reckoning.... The book doubles as a selective mini-history of 20th century music, as told by a discerning guide. He addresses artists both towering (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash) and relatively unheralded (David Ackles, Robert Wyatt) with a fan's affection and music scholar's insight

—— Greg Kot , Chicago Tribune

With an encyclopedic knowledge and appreciation for, and deep love of, music, and with an expressive power and heart, Costello's memoir will take its place in the highest echelons of the genre

—— Library Journal (starred review)

His book is almost essential as an idiosyncratic history of 20th-century pop music

—— Express

Studded with entertaining anecdotes

—— Evening Standard Best Music Books of 2015
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