Marianne Faithfull, the legendary singer and actress from London’s vibrant 1960s scene, has passed away at the age of 78, as reported by BBC News and The New York Times.
Back in ’65, Marianne’s music journey skyrocketed when she released “As Tears Go By,” a song penned by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It was her big break after being spotted by the Rolling Stones’ manager. Her sweet voice and iconic style made her a star during the British invasion era, even inspiring some famous Rolling Stones tracks like “Wild Horses” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
The romance between Marianne and Mick Jagger threw her into the limelight, but it wasn’t all glitter. The attention took a toll on her personal life—struggles with addiction, anorexia, and homelessness followed. Yet she bounced back with albums like Dreamin’ My Dreams in ’76 and the much-praised Broken English in ’79. That second album really hit home for many people; PJ Harvey and Nick Cave were among those who sang its praises.
Apart from singing, Marianne also shone as an actress in films such as Jean-Luc Godard’s Made in U.S.A., Jack Cardiff’s The Girl on a Motorcycle, Tony Richardson’s Hamlet, Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, and even lent her voice to Denis Villeneuve’s version of Dune.
Fans always admired how she kept evolving musically over time. In 2008, she worked with artists like ANOHNI, Jarvis Cocker, and Cat Power on an album called Easy Come Easy Go. More albums followed: Give My Love to London came out in 2014 while 2018 gave us another gem titled Negative Capability.
Lately though there has been renewed interest around Marianne’s legacy; they re-released a deluxe version of that beloved album from way back—“Broken English”. Plus there are plans for making movies about this amazing woman starring Lucy Boynton! Unfortunately during April two years ago COVID got hold of our dear icon; thankfully after three weeks fighting hard against pneumonia doctors finally let her go home safe again!
