Yahoo Lifestyle Marianne Faithfull, Musician, Muse and Symbol of ’60s London, Dies at 78
LONDON — Marianne Faithfull, the musician, Rolling Stones muse and a symbol of Swinging ’60s style, and excess, has died at 78.
Faithfull, whose battle with heroin and other drugs was newspaper fodder for decades, was born in London and began her career there with the breakout song “As Tears Go By,” which was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
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She would later have a long-term relationship with Jagger, and inspire a host of songs by The Rolling Stones, including “Wild Horses” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” She was famously involved in the highly publicized drug raid on the band in 1967.
Her life was series of dramatic ups and downs, punctuated by addiction, chronic illness and professional comebacks, including her 1979 hit “Broken English.”
During her long career she recorded 21 studio albums, and remained beloved and popular with the ’60s bohemian set — so popular, in fact that she played God in a few episodes of “Absolutely Fabulous.”
In her later years, she became popular with the fashion crowd, too, especially Chloé and Karl Lagerfeld. Lagerfeld dressed her in Chanel outfits for her 2011 tour for the album “Horses and High Heels.”
“It’s my look, really: black trousers, beautiful shirts and a jacket. It’s very simple,” she told WWD in an interview at the time.
She adored Lagerfeld, and was among a posse of celebrities and editors who flooded into his Paris flagship on Boulevard Saint-Germain in 2013 to congratulate him on the opening.
Puffing on a cigarette out front, Faithfull recalled that she and Lagerfeld used to “rave around” New York when “I was in my 30s and Karl was in his 40s.”
At the time, Faithfull was writing songs for a new album that came out in 2014 to coincide with a big anniversary: 50 years on the road as a performer and as a recording artist.
“We’re doing a documentary, and there’s a huge picture book with Rizzoli,” she said, recounting some of the famous photographers who have immortalized her, David Bailey among them.
In February, 2020, before the pandemic hit, she was the guest of honor at the Chloé fashion show, invited by creative director Natacha Ramsay-Levi, and also featured on the show’s soundtrack.
In 2014, Faithfull performed alongside Anna Calvi at another Chloé event on the Left Bank. The duo played three songs, including the first single from Faithfull’s latest album, “Give My Love to London.”
“We just wrote this; it’s not in my pea brain yet,” Faithfull said to the adoring crowd, referring to the song “Falling Back.”
Attendees at the Chloé bash included Clémence Poésy, Virginie Courtin-Clarins, Jeanne Damas and Atlanta de Cadenet.
In a 2011 interview, she told WWD she was aging happily. She was then aged 64. To wit, the cover of her 23rd solo album, “Horses and High Heels,” featured a horse in a rainbow-colored landscape.
Faithfull was no longer wearing high heels at the time, said she picked the title because it sounded pleasantly absurd — though she sent Manolo Blahnik an advance copy. “He’s so delighted with it. He plays it all the time, very loud,” she said.
During the 2011 interview, she told WWD that she suffered from the media myths spun around her — in particular, following the infamous drug raid on The Rolling Stones in 1967, when she was found naked under a fur rug and, according to legend, behaving improperly with a Mars chocolate bar.
“I would have loved to be able to let that go and not let it bother me, but it always did bother me,” she said. “It wasn’t good, and it’s not me.”
Marianne Faithfull: British Singer, Songwriter and Mod Style Icon Dead at 78 – 1946-2025 [Photos]
Launch Gallery: Marianne Faithfull: British Singer, Songwriter and Mod Style Icon Dead at 78 - 1946-2025 [Photos]
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