Popular artists who worked with the King of Pop Art, Andy Warhol

The legendary rock star and his band The Velvet Underground hooked up with Warhol in the mid-1960s, becoming a part of the artist’s live multimedia show, “Exploding Plastic Inevitable." Warhol became the band’s manager and the credited producer of its landmark LP, “The Velvet Underground & Nico” (for which he also designed the famous cover). Regarding Warhol’s decidedly passive approach to the recording of the album, Reed later remarked, “At one point the engineer would say, apropos of something we’d done, ‘Mr. Warhol, is that OK?’ and he’d say, ‘Oh, that’s great.'”

Warhol’s most famous “superstar," Sedgwick took the media world by storm with her peculiar beauty and “look." Warhol featured her in many of his underground films (most notably the Paul Morrissey-directed “Chelsea Girls”), turning her into a pop culture sensation. She parted ways with Warhol in the late ‘60s and struggled with drug addiction as she attempted to pursue an acting career. She died of a probable barbiturate overdose at the age of 28.

Though Bowie never officially collaborated with Warhol, he cited the artist as a major inspiration and honored him with the song, “Andy Warhol," which he performed in person for his hero at The Factory in 1971 (to a reportedly “polite” but not terribly enthusiastic reception). Bowie later paid Warhol the ultimate compliment of portraying him in Julian Schnabel’s 1996 biopic “Basquiat”.

The precociously talented Basquiat became a Lower Manhattan art scene sensation with the help of Warhol, who both promoted and collaborated with the young genius throughout the first half of the 1980s. The Basquiat-Warhol paintings were received fairly tepidly, but the association brought the Basquiat’s searingly brilliant solo work to the fore. Basquiat’s career was tragically short-lived. He died from a heroin overdose in 1988 at the age of 27.

The beguilingly beautiful artist fluttered about the music, film and modeling scenes in the early 1960s before alighting at The Factory to become one of Warhol’s superstars and, at his request, the co-lead singer of "The Velvet Underground." The husky-voiced Nico embarked on a solo career in the late 1960s, recording the classic “Chelsea Girl." She continued to collaborate with her Underground cohort, John Cale, until her death in 1988.

The influential filmmaker partnered with Warhol on seminal, semi-experimental movies like “Chelsea Girls," “Lonesome Cowboys” and “Blue Movie” and had crucial input into other The Factory’s artistic endeavors (including the management of The Velvet Underground). But his most lasting impact remains the graphic, occasionally X-rated exploitation films he directed for Warhol, including “Flesh," “Trash” and “Flesh for Frankenstein."

The German-born exploitation filmmaker made a splash internationally as an actor in the movies of Rainer Werner Fassbinder before relocating to the United States in 1977, where he received the creative backing of Warhol on the crime flick “Cocaine Cowboys” and the NYC punk rock drama “Blank Generation” starring Richard Hell. Lommel attained horror film notoriety in 1980 with his early slasher hit, “The Boogeyman."

“I was the strong girl at the Factory,” boasts Woronov. The first lady of 20th century cult cinema made her big-screen debut as Hanoi Hannah in the Warhol-Morrissey feature, “Chelsea Girls”. She went on to appear in many of Warhol’s films before lighting out for Los Angeles to star in Roger Corman-produced classics “Death Race 2000” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School." She’s probably best known for her collaborations with director Paul Bartel in “Eating Raoul” and “Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills."

When The Rolling Stones needed a cover for their album "Sticky Fingers" in the late 1960s, Mick Jagger reached out to Warhol with the direction, "I leave it in your capable hands to do what ever you want." The result was one of the most iconic album covers of all time with a working zipper which revealed the vinyl record held inside. Warhol would later go on to do a series of prints featuring Jagger over the years.   

The Pennsylvania-born art prodigy was inspired by Warhol early in his career, and the elder artist reciprocated the affection by befriending and mentoring him. Warhol introduced Haring to Grace Jones, which resulted in live performances where Haring would graffiti Jones’ body. Haring also paid tribute to Warhol with the 1986 silk screen “Andy Mouse."

The insanely prolific German actor was not officially a Warhol superstar, but he enjoyed his first major big-screen successes in the title roles of Paul Morrissey’s “Flesh for Frankenstein” and “Blood for Dracula." Warhol produced both of these films and thought highly of Kier as an actor. When Polanski complimented Kier in a 1973 Interview magazine profile, Warhol sent the actor a copy of the issue with his autograph on every page.

One of the most notorious of Warhol’s superstars, Viva made headlines in 1969 as the co-star of “Blue Movie," which featured her engaging in very real intercourse with fellow superstar Louis Waldon. It was a theatrical first in the United States, ushering in the Golden Age of Porn. Viva has acted infrequently over the years, but she’s kept busy as an author, painter and video artist. She is the mother of actress Gaby Hoffmann.

The groundbreaking transsexual artist shook up the popular culture before her untimely death from lymphoma in 1974. She made an indelible debut in Paul Morrissey’s “Flesh” before going on to star in the immensely controversial feminism satire “Women in Revolt." She appeared in “Klute” and unsuccessfully lobbied for the lead role in “Myra Breckenridge." She was personally selected by Tennessee Williams to join the cast of the playwright’s “Small Craft Warnings” in 1972.

The multi-talented, physically striking force of nature was a muse for many prominent NYC artists in the 1980s, and Warhol was no exception. His portrait of Jones is a part of the Tate’s collection, but the duo’s masterpiece might be their infamous date to the wedding of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. As Jones remembers it, they arrived late and loud.

Warhol famously said of his trailblazing superstar that she was “a pioneer without a frontier." Curtis appeared in Paul Morrissey’s “Flesh” and “Women in Revolt," but her most significant artistic accomplishments came as a member of the NYC experimental theater scene, particularly at La MaMa in the East Village. There she dazzled as a performer, playwright and director with “Glamour, Glory and Gold” (featuring the off-Broadway stage debut of Robert De Niro), “Vain Victory” and “Amerika Cleopatra." Curtis was only 38 when she died from a heroin overdose in 1985.

The Factory’s superstar heartthrob was a regular in the Warhol-Morrissey oeuvre, showing off his immaculately sculpted physique in “Flesh," “Lonesome Cowboys," “Trash” and several others. The bisexual Dallesandro had an intoxicating effect on men and women, but he struggled to find roles that would showcase more than his considerable physical gifts. Nevertheless, he worked steadily until his retirement in 2009.

Isabelle Collin Dufresne (aka Ultra Violet) had served as Salvador Dalí’s muse for nearly a decade when the Spanish surrealist introduced her to Warhol in 1963. She became one of Warhol’s longest tenured superstars, appearing in many of his films and shows until she left the Factory in the 1980s. She remained active on the international art scene until her death in 2014.

Debbie Harry aka Blondie was already a pop sensation when she hooked up with Warhol for a famous 1980 portrait that sold for $5.9 million in 2011. She remained close with Warhol until his death, and she considered him an artistic mentor who taught her to “always accept new things no matter what age you are.” Certain Gen X-ers may remember that she was the first guest on Warhol’s MTV talk show, “Fifteen Minutes,” in 1985.

Madonna’s friendship with Keith Haring and brief fling with Jean-Michel Basquiat brought her into Warhol’s orbit in the 1980s. Warhol was Haring’s date at Madonna’s wedding to Sean Penn in 1985, and the duo collaborated on a paparazzi-skewering piece as a gift. Madonna made the cover of Interview that year, but Warhol never got a chance to do a proper portrait of her before his death in 1987.

When Lou Reed crooned “Holly came from Miami, F-L-A,” he was referring to the Puerto Rican transgender superstar who hitchhiked from Florida to New York City at the age of 15. She joined the ranks of Warhol’s superstars in the late 1960s and was considered the most talented actress of the group. Legendary director George Cukor was so enamored of her performance in “Trash," he lobbied the Academy to nominate her for Best Actress. Woodlawn was active right until her death in 2015, appearing in two episodes of “Transparent."

The Cars had just delivered one of the most visually groundbreaking music videos of the year in "You Might Think" when they turned to Warhol to up the conceptual ante with "Hello Again." The results were predictably risqué (there's an R-rated version with nudity on YouTube), if not quite as dazzling. Warhol is credited as co-director of the video alongside Don Munroe, though it's believed he did little more than show up for his cameo as a bartender. Two years later, Warhol reteamed with The Cars' lead singer, Ric Ocasek, to (allegedly) direct the video for his solo hit, "True to You."