CULTURE

Marianne Faithfull, The Musician and Muse of the Swinging Sixties, Dies at Age 78

by Claire Valentine

Marianne Faithfull photoshoot at her flat, 31st October 1964. (Photo by Doreen Spooner/Mirrorpix/Get...
Marianne Faithfull in 1964, the year she was discovered by the Rolling Stones. Photo by Doreen Spooner/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

British singer, actress, and style icon Marianne Faithfull has died at the age of 78 of unreported causes, a spokesperson confirmed. Her multiple transformations in life—from a wide-eyed pop star to Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger’s girlfriend and muse, to a heroin addict, to a renowned cabaret and punk artist—have come to exemplify a particularly colorful period of 20th-century cultural history.

Faithfull in 1966

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Born in London in 1946, Faithfull’s life was eventful from the start. Her father became a literature professor at the University of London after working as a spy during World War II. Her mother, an Austrian baroness and ex-ballet dancer, was the descendant of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, author of the 1870 novel Venus in Furs that inspired the term masochism (and later, the Velvet Underground song).

Faithfull was 17 years old and an aspiring folk singer when she was ‘discovered’ by record producer and Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham at a Stones launch party. Her first single, 1964’s “As Tears Go By”— co-written by Oldham, Keith Richards, and Jagger—made her a breakout pop star. More success followed with her debut studio album, 1965’s Marianne Faithfull. She had three more top ten hits in 1965: “Come and Stay with Me,” “This Little Bird,” and “Summer Nights.”

Faithfull outside court in 1967

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Faithfull married artist John Dunbar in 1965 and together they had a son, Nicholas. She soon struck up a friendship with Italian-German actress Anita Pallenberg (who went on to have three children with Richards) and began spending time with the Stones. Faithfull left Dunbar for Jagger, with whom she had a highly publicized relationship, becoming a fixture of the British tabloid press—especially when she and the Stones were the target of a drug bust in 1967.

Faithfull with Anita Pallenberg at Heathrow Airport on the way to Tangiers with the Stones.

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“My absolute Waterloo,” Faithfull told W Magazine in 2014 of the infamous arrest, which was covered relentlessly by the press. “That spoiled the whole thing for me. The ’60s just turned to shit. I used to get hate mail. I read those articles, and I read those letters, and I believed what they said. I began to hate myself, and I began to hate God.”

Jagger and Faithfull returning to Jagger’s London flat in 1967

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Faithfull and Jagger

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Despite her association with the Stones—she’s credited with inspiring or co-writing classic songs like “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” “Wild Horses,” “Sister Morphine,” and “Sympathy for the Devil”—Faithfull was an artist in her own right, starring in the 1967 Orson Welles film I’ll Never Forget What’s’isname and making her stage debut in a London production of Chekhov’s Three Sisters that same year. She also starred in the stylish The Girl on a Motorcycle with Alain Delon, and played Ophelia in a film adaptation of Hamlet with Nicol Williamson (and she was almost always making or recording her own music).

Faithfull and Jagger in 1969 after their court appearance for drug charges

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Faithfull and Jagger outside Marlborough Street magistrate's court in London

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Jaffer and Faithfull in 1969 at the gardens at Mount St. Margaret Hospital, where Faithfull was a patient following an overdose.

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British photographer David Bailey, Christine Keeler, Penelope Tree, and Faithfull for Bailey’s book Goodbye Baby & Amen, which chronicled the ‘Swinging Sixties.’

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The 1970s began as a difficult time for Faithfull, who became addicted to heroin and ended up living on the streets of London despite interventions from friends. She lost custody of her son for some of that time, and her relationship with Jagger ended. She largely remained out of the public eye, though in 1975, she released a well-received country-influenced album, Dreamin’ My Dreams.

Faithfull and her son Nicholas at a Rolling Stones concert in London’s Hyde Park in 1969.

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Faithfull and her friends at the same concert

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In 1979, she married musician Ben Brierly, and the same year, she made a comeback with her most critically acclaimed album, the punk-infused Broken English. Her voice had been lowered a few octaves due to her drug and alcohol use, but it added to the vibe of the album, giving her a more punk rock sound. She didn’t get off drugs completely until 1985, after which Faithfull began a prolific period of recording and releasing music—collaborating with a wide array of artists (including Tom Waits, Beck, PJ Harvey, and Nick Cave) and working across genres (including cabaret, orchestra music, and rock). She was also beloved by the fashion set, working with or being friends with industry fixtures like Kate Moss, Stella McCartney, and Hedi Slimane. Her last album, She Walks in Beauty, was released in 2021.

Faithfull in 1967

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“Nobody expected me to do it,” she told W. “Walking away, going, ‘Ha!’ I developed a voice and was able to say all the things I really wanted to say.” Faithfull is survived by her son and three grandchildren.

Faithfull performing with David Bowie in 1973

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Faithfull being interviewed in London in 1974

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