Singer and actress Marianne Faithfull has died at the age of 78, her spokesperson has said.
Born in Hampstead in December 1946, she was known for hits like As Tears Go By, which reached the UK top 10 in 1964, and for starring roles in films including 1968’s The Girl On A Motorcycle.
She was also famously the girlfriend of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in the 1960s, inspiring songs such as Wild Horses and You Can’t Always Get What You Want. After a period of heroin addiction in the 70s, she resurrected her career with the classic album Broken English.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull,” a statement said.
“Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family.
“She will be dearly missed.”
The singer had previously suffered multiple health problems, including bulimia, breast cancer and emphysema caused by decades of smoking.
In 2020, she contracted Covid-19. Doctors said they did not expect her to survive – but she pulled through, releasing her 21st album, She Walks in Beauty, a year later.
Her story is a remarkable portrait of the rock and roll era.
She was a doe-eyed poster girl of the 1960s, plucked from obscurity by the Rolling Stones’ manager at the age of 16 and given As Tears Go By, the first song ever written by Jagger and Keith Richards.
Her version was light and breathy, delivered in a folk-pop style that was to become her trademark during the swinging 60s.
With her eponymous debut album and 1966’s North Country Maid, she became part of the “British Invasion” of the US pop charts.
Her affair with Jagger turned her into a tabloid lightning rod, and after they split she fell into drug addiction – at one point living homeless on the streets of Soho.
She re-emerged tentatively with the 1976 album Dreamin’ My Dreams but really hit her stride with 1979’s New Wave-influenced Broken Dreams, on which she showcased the ashen voice and hard-won wisdom that would define the second act of her career.
In recent years, she teamed up with songwriters like PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, who each cited her as an inspiration.
Faithfull received the World Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Women’s World Awards, and was made a commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France.
