Marianne Faithfull, singer and actress, dies aged 78
By Kerri-Ann Roper and Casey Cooper-Fiske, PA
Singer and actress Marianne Faithfull has died at the age of 78, a spokesperson has said.
Faithfull’s hits included As Tears Go By, which was written by The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
In addition to her music career, Faithfull also acted in films including The Girl On A Motorcycle with French actor Alain Delon, as well as theatre productions.
A statement said: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull.
“Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family.
“She will be dearly missed.”
Faithfull began her singing career in 1964 after being discovered by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham.
She released her self-titled debut album in 1965, which featured top 10 hits As Tears Go By and Come And Stay With Me, at the same time as follow-up LP Come My Way, which was largely made up of folk covers.
From 1966 to 1970, Faithfull was in a highly publicised relationship with Sir Mick following his split from model and actress Chrissie Shrimpton.
Her first hit, As Tears Go By, was written by Jagger and Richards and charted at number nine, and was followed by a series of successful singles, including Come And Stay With Me, This Little Bird and Summer Nights.
She was famously found wearing nothing but a rug at a drugs bust at Redlands, the country house of Rolling Stones guitarist Richards in 1967.
Following her split with Jagger, Faithfull spent two years on the streets of Soho while addicted to heroin before living in a squat.
She returned to release the new wave-influenced album Broken English in 1979, which is now regarded as a classic.
Faithfull re-invented herself in 1987 as a jazz and blues singer with the critically acclaimed Strange Weather, and in the same decade went into rehab.
Her final album was an experimental collaboration with Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds’ Australian multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, called She Walks In Beauty (2021).
Recently she has enjoyed a resurgence and is said to be admired by the likes of Kate Moss and Courtney Love.
In 2006, it was announced that she had made a full recovery from breast cancer.
Doctors in France had diagnosed the disease in September forcing the star to postpone her world tour.
But the cancer was found in its “earliest stages” and following surgery, she announced she would resume her tour the next year.
She was quoted as saying at the time: “It has been an extraordinary experience and, in many ways, extremely positive.
“I didn’t realise how many true friends I had. I feel so lucky and loved and thank everybody for all their good thoughts.”
The breast cancer came two years after Faithfull, a former smoker, was forced to cancel her European tour after collapsing backstage at a gig.
The singer was diagnosed with exhaustion and ordered to rest for three months.
In 2005 filmmaker Duncan Roy announced that Faithfull had stepped down from his screen version of The Picture Of Dorian Gray because she had suffered a heart attack, which she denied.
The daughter of a British military officer and an Austro-Hungarian Jewish baroness, Faithfull recently appeared in Sofia Coppola’s film Marie Antoinette.
She made a guest appearance as God in the TV sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, with actress Anita Pallenberg, the former girlfriend of Stones members Brian Jones and Keith Richards, playing the devil.
One of her earliest films was I’ll Never Forget What’s ‘Is Name (1967), alongside Orson Welles, and she recently provided the voice of Bene Gesserit Ancestor in Dune (2021).