Marianne Faithfull

Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull  was an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single "As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British Invasion in the United States.

Born in Hampstead, London, Faithfull began her career in 1964 after attending a party for the Rolling Stones, where she was discovered by Andrew Loog Oldham. Her debut studio album Marianne Faithfull (1965, released simultaneously with her studio album Come My Way), was a commercial success followed by a number of albums on Decca Records. From 1966 to 1970, she had a highly publicised romantic relationship with Mick Jagger. Her popularity was enhanced by her film roles, such as those in I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967), The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968) and Hamlet (1969). However, her popularity was overshadowed by personal problems in the 1970s. During this time, she was anorexic, homeless and addicted to heroin.

Faithfull was noted for her distinctive voice; her melodic and high-registered vocals prevailed during her 1960s career, but these were altered by severe laryngitis coupled with persistent drug abuse during the 1970s, which left her voice permanently raspy, cracked and lower in pitch. This new sound was praised as "whisky soaked" by some critics and seen as having helped to capture the raw emotions expressed in Faithfull's music.

After a long commercial absence, Faithfull made a comeback with the 1979 release of her critically acclaimed seventh studio album Broken English. The album was a commercial success and marked a resurgence of her musical career. Broken English earned Faithfull a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and is often regarded as her "definitive recording". She followed this with a series of studio albums, including Dangerous Acquaintances (1981), A Child's Adventure (1983) and Strange Weather (1987). Faithfull wrote three books about her life: Faithfull: An Autobiography (1994), Memories, Dreams & Reflections (2007) and Marianne Faithfull: A Life on Record (2014).

Faithfull received the World Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Women's World Awards, and she was made a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France.

Personal life

Faithfull had three miscarriages and four abortions. The first abortion was in 1965, when she had become pregnant by Gene Pitney; the procedure was still illegal in the United Kingdom at the time and Faithfull stated that she had a hard time dealing with the guilt. She began to feel better once her son was born the year after. Subsequent terminations were from her period of drug abuse as she did not wish for the children to be born as addicts.

Health and death

In later years, Faithfull's touring and work schedule was interrupted by health problems. In late 2004 she called off the European leg of a world tour, promoting Before the Poison after collapsing on stage in Milan, and was hospitalised for exhaustion. The tour resumed later and included a US leg in 2005. In September 2006, she again called off a concert tour, this time after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The following month, she underwent surgery in France and no further treatment was necessary owing to the tumour having been caught at a very early stage. Less than two months after she declared having beaten the disease, Faithfull made her public statement of full recovery.

In October 2007, Faithfull said that she suffered from hepatitis C on the UK television programme This Morning and that she had first been diagnosed with the condition 12 years earlier. She discusses both the cancer and hepatitis diagnoses in further depth in her memoir Memories, Dreams and Reflections. 

On 27 May 2008, Faithfull released the following blog posting on her MySpace page, with the headline "Tour Dates Cancelled" and credited to FR Management – the company operated by her boyfriend/manager François Ravard: "Due to general mental, physical and nervous exhaustion doctors have ordered Marianne Faithfull to immediately cease all work activities and rehabilitate. The treatment and recovery should last around six months."

In August 2013, Faithfull was forced to cancel a string of concerts in the US and Lebanon following a back injury while on holiday in California.

On 30 May 2014, Faithfull suffered a broken hip after a fall while on holiday on the Greek island of Rhodes and underwent surgery. Afterwards, an infection developed at the site of the prosthesis, causing Faithfull to cancel or postpone parts of her 50th anniversary tour for additional surgery and rehabilitation.

On 4 April 2020, it was announced that Faithfull was in hospital in London receiving treatment for pneumonia after having tested positive for COVID-19. Her management company reported that she was "stable and responding to treatment". 

On 21 April she was discharged following a three-week hospitalisation. In a brief statement, Faithfull publicly thanked the hospital staff who "without a doubt" saved her life. She initially thought that she would not be able to sing again after the effects of the coronavirus on her lungs and continued to suffer memory loss because of it. She worked on her breathing and undertaking singing practice as a part of her recovery.

Faithfull died in London on 30 January 2025, at the age of 78.

Discography

• Marianne Faithfull (1965)
• Come My Way (1965, UK only)
• Go Away from My World (1965, US only)
• North Country Maid (1966, UK only)
• Faithfull Forever (1966, US only)
• Love in a Mist (1967, UK only)
• Dreamin' My Dreams (1976, re-released with four new tracks added as Faithless in 1978)
• Broken English (1979)
• Dangerous Acquaintances (1981)
• A Child's Adventure (1983)
• Rich Kid Blues (1985, recorded in 1971)
• Strange Weather (1987)
• A Secret Life (1995)
• The Seven Deadly Sins (1998)
• Vagabond Ways (1999)
• Kissin Time (2002)
• Before the Poison (2005)
• Easy Come, Easy Go (2008)
• Horses and High Heels (2011)
• Give My Love to London (2014)
• Negative Capability (2018)
• She Walks in Beauty (2021)