British singer Marianne Faithfull is dead. She died at the age of 78, as the British news agency reported PA. With songs like “As Tears Go by” or “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan”, she secured a place in pop history.
Faithfull was born in London on December 29, 1946. Together with Mick Jagger, she was the dream couple of the Swinging Sixties. It was considered an admired style icon and Muse of Rolling Stones. But the lifestyle demanded its toll: Faithfull became a junkie in the 1970s, sat in prison and lived on the street for two years. The Stones song “Sister Morphine”, which she wrote together with Jagger and Richards, reflected this time.
When she recorded her default and rage album “Broken English” (1979), she was still addicted. Only at almost 40 she managed the withdrawal and developed as an artist. Other big albums such as “Strange Weather” (1987) and “Before The Poison” (2005) followed. In between, she succeeded as a Kurt-Weill interpreter-and as a character actress in the cinema, for example with the tragicomedy “Irina Palm” (2007).
A few years ago, Faithfull was still active music until she stopped a serious Corona disease. For the album “The Faithful: A Tribute to Marianne Faithfull”, some stars teamed up in 2023 to honor the sixties icon and to support them financially.