Music icon Marianne Faithfull has passed away at age 78.
Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull was born 29 December 1946 in London. At 18 years of age she met Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham at a Stones party. He took over her career and launched Marianne with her ‘Marianne Faithfull’ and ‘Come My Way’ albums in 1965.
The debut album contained the single, a song from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, ‘As Tears Go By’. It reached no 9 in the UK, no 22 in the USA and no 35 in Australia. The Stones recorded their version a year after Marianne’s version.
Marianne married John Dunbar in 1965 and have birth to son Nicholas later that year.
In 1966 she befriended Stones guitarist Brian Jones and his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg. Pallenberg would later leave Jones for Keith Richards. Faithfull left her husband for Mick Jagger.
Marianne soon became one of London’s elite. She hung out with The Beatles and was a backing singer on ‘Yellow Submarine’. Jagger wrote ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ about her. She has a co-writing credit on the ‘Sticky Fingers’ track ‘Sister Morphine’.
At the end of the 1970s, Marianne recorded her most biting album ‘Broken English’ for Island Records. Her relationship with Jagger had long ended, she had lost custody of Nicholas, she had become addicted to heroin and at one point homeless. It all came out in the lyrics on the ‘Broken English’ album peaking with ‘Why D’Ya Do It’, the most gruesome verbal attack in song.
‘Broken English’ earned Marianne her first Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Performance.
The single from the album ‘The Ballad of Lucy Jordan’ also charted at no 48 in the UK and Australia.
Marianne continued to record through the 80s and right up until her last album ‘She Walks In Beauty’ in 2021. Of note is ‘Kissin Time’ in 2002 with appearances from Beck, Billy Corgan, Blur and Pulp.
One brilliant appearance featuring Marianne and Anita Pallenberg was in an episode of ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ with Marianne as God and Anita as the Devil.
In a statement Mick Jagger said, “I am so saddened to hear of the death of Marianne Faithfull. She was so much part of my life for so long. She was a wonderful friend, a beautiful singer and a great actress. She will always be remembered.”
Keith Richards said, “My heartfelt condolences to Marianne’s family! Im so sad and will miss her.”
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