How Jim Morrison convinced Nico to become a musician: “I just started writing songs”
The strange, ethereal vocals of Nico helped to make the German singer a defining figure of early alternative music. From her early collaborations with The Velvet Underground to her own celebrated solo career, Nico repeatedly proved herself to be a vocalist unlike any other. She might not have had the easiest ride within the music industry, but she managed to surround herself with truly groundbreaking artists willing to support her career – albeit in often unconventional ways.
Perhaps the greatest example of these collaborative relationships came with John Cale and Lou Reed, the founders of New York’s most iconic group, The Velvet Underground. Nico was initially brought on board by pop art progenitor Andy Warhol, which immediately led to some tensions between Nico and Reed, who resented her presence within the band. During this early period, Reed was particularly cruel to Nico, often reducing her to tears in the recording studio, but this ongoing conflict certainly contributed to the overarching brilliance of The Velvet Underground and Nico.
It was this album that established Nico as a hero of the New York underground, capturing the attention of legendary musicians like Jim Morrison. The Doors frontman forged something of an unconventional relationship with Nico, which seemed to dart from intensely passionate love affairs to musical mentorship in the blink of an eye. “I thought of Jim Morrison as my brother,” Nico said in 1985, “So we would grow together. We still do because he is my soul brother. We exchanged blood. I carry his blood inside me.”
In that quote, Nico refers to an incident during which Morrison and Nico cut each other’s thumbs to share blood – a completely normal day in the life of two musical icons. However, the relationship between the two alternative stars ranged far beyond the sharing of blood. In fact, Morrison played an essential part in establishing Nico as a songwriter and solo artist in her own right, away from group collaborations with the likes of The Velvet Underground.
Nico began her solo career in 1967 with the release of Chelsea Girl. While this album remains an absolutely essential part of any record collection, the tracklisting was made entirely of other people’s songs, and much of the music was created with the help of Nico’s Velvet Underground bandmates. If the German singer was to continue in the world of music, she would have to start writing her own songs. It was only when Morrison pointed this out that Nico’s solo work began to really take shape.
“It took some persuasion from a friend of mine, Jim Morrison, who said I should write songs. I just started writing songs,” Nico recalled in a 1985 interview, “Sometimes somebody has to tell you what to do.” The results of this motivation from Morrison were stunning, with 1968’s The Marble Index written predominantly by Nico, with musical arrangements from John Cale. Showcasing the songwriting talent that Morrison had inspired, the record features some truly groundbreaking tracks, including the proto-goth anthem ‘Facing the Wind’.
The music world has a lot to thank Jim Morrison for, largely resulting from his incredible body of work with psychedelic rock progenitors The Doors, but it seems as though Nico’s solo work should be added to that list. While it does not feel right to hold Morrison wholly responsible for her music, it does seem as though Nico’s solo work would have existed – at least not in the same form – without the motivation provided by Morrison.
