Marianne Faithfull, the singer who was known for being the muse of the band the Rolling Stones, passed away on Thursday. She was 78 years-old.
Faithfull Passes Away
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull,” her spokesperson told People Magazine.
“Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family,” the spokesperson added. “She will be dearly missed.”
No cause of death has been given for Faithfull at this time.
Faithfull was born in London in 1946 to Eva von Sacher-Masoch, Baroness Erisso, and Major Glynn Faithfull, a British Intelligence officer. She was discovered at a party by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham in 1964. He helped Faithfull launch her career.
Later that same year, Faithfull became a household name when she sang the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards-penned song “As Tears Go By.” The song skyrocketed to the UK top 10, but Faithfull was never a fan of it.
“I was never that crazy about ‘As Tears Go By,'” Faithfull wrote in her 1994 autobiography Faithfull. “[It] was a marketable portrait of me and as such is an extremely ingenious creation, a commercial fantasy that pushes all the right buttons.”
Watch Faithfull perform “As Tears Go By” in the video below.
Related: Garth “Honey Boy” Hudson, Final Surviving Member Of ‘The Band’, Dies At 87
Faithful And Jagger
Faithfull married her first husband John Dunbar in 1965 when she was just 18, and they soon welcomed a son together. The marriage didn’t last long, however, as Faithfull left him so that she could pursue a relationship with Jagger. She then became Jagger’s muse. Indeed, it has long been believed that she was the inspiration behind Rolling Stones classic songs like “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Wild Horses.”
“You know, being a woman in rock ‘n’ roll didn’t show me kindness,” Faithfull told British Vogue in April of 2021. “Though that’s not to say that Mick was unkind – he wasn’t. Mick and Keith [Richards] and Charlie [Watts] were really kind – but a lot of people weren’t.”
Faithfull and Jagger eventually split in 1970.
“He wasn’t the great love of my life. We were just two kids living on too many different levels,” Faithfull reflected ten years later.
Jagger spoke out to pay tribute to Faithfull after her death.
“I am so saddened to hear of the death of Marianne Faithfull,” Jagger, 81, wrote on Instagram alongside photos of himself with Faithfull. “She was so much part of my life for so long….she was a wonderful friend, a beautiful singer and a great actress. She will always be remembered.”
Related: Mick Jagger Reveals Secret To Staying Fit Enough To Tour At 80
Faithfull’s Addiction And Health Struggles
The early 1970s were a difficult time for Faithfull, as she was struggling with addiction.
“[I was] dependent on every possible neurotic thing – heroin, coke, pills, alcohol, sex and money,” she recalled in her memoir, describing herself as a “garden-variety drug addict.”
“The first year I was in treatment I was dying to uncover a serious psychosis that I could pin it all on, but nothing like that ever showed up,” she continued. “My headlong descent had much more to do with a willful and heedless pursuit of hedonism.”
Faithfull continued making music for the rest of her life. Most recently, she made the spoken word album She Walks in Beauty. It served as a tribute to Romantic-era poets like Keats, Byron and Shelley. Sadly, Faithfull also faced health scares that included breast cancer and hepatitis C.
“Being very young and silly, I was drawn to everything that was as decadent as possible. I am [74] and I’m paying for all that,” Faithfull told Vogue in 2021. “I really wish I had never had a cigarette, particularly, or any drug or alcohol in my life….I didn’t know when I was in my [20s]…what it would do to me…I always thought I would die young, I never expected to get to this age.”
Rest in peace, Marianne Faithfull.
More About:Celebrity News