Marianne Faithfull in the 2017 documentary ‘Faithfull’. Photo: BBC.
Preview:
- Marianne Faithfull has died aged 78.
- She was known for work in both music and movies.
- Her history also included high-profile relationships with the likes of Mick Jagger
Marianne Faithfull, a stalwart of the 1960’s social scene in London who built a career as a singer, songwriter and actor, has died. She was 78.
Her long and distinguished career saw her emerge and celebrated as one of the most original female singer-songwriters the UK produced; known for her unsentimental yet somehow affectionate songs, she brought personal power to lyrics, transforming them into something compelling and utterly personal.
Faithfull’s family released a statement on her passing:
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithful. Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family. She will be dearly missed.”
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Marianne Faithfull: Early Life and Career
Marianne Faithful at the Park Hotel in Antwerp, Belgium. Photo: Gi Knaeps Pullman / Mariannefaithful.org.net.
Born in Hampstead in December 1946, her father, Major Robert Glynn Faithfull, was a British intelligence officer and professor of Italian Literature at Bedford College of London University.
Her mother Eva had been a ballerina for the Max Reinhardt Company during her early years and danced in productions of works by the German theatrical duo Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.
Faithfull spent some of her early life at the commune at Braziers Park, Oxfordshire, formed by John Norman Glaister, where her father, who was instrumental in its foundation, lived and participated.
Her parents divorced when she was age six, after which she moved with her mother to Reading, Berkshire.
Marianne Faithfull: Music
Marianne Faithful. Photo: Jean Baptiste Mondino / Mariannefaithful.org.net.
Faithfull began her singing career in 1964, landing her first gigs as a folk music performer in coffeehouses.
She soon began taking part in London’s exploding social scene, the so-called “Swingin’ Sixties.” In early 1964 she attended a Rolling Stones launch party with artist John Dunbar and met Andrew Loog Oldham, who “discovered” her.
‘As Tears Go By’ her first single, was written and composed by Mick Jagger,Keith Richards, and Oldham, and became a chart success –– The Rolling Stones recorded their version one year later, which also became a hit. She then released a series of successful singles, including ‘This Little Bird,’ ‘Summer Nights,’ and ‘Come and Stay with Me.’
During this period, her personal life became tabloid fodder. She began a much-publicized relationship with Mick Jagger and left Dunbar (who she’d married in 1965) to live with him. She was heard on The Beatles’ song ‘Yellow Submarine,’ and was found wearing only a fur rug by police executing a drug search at Redlands, Keith Richards’ house in West Wittering, Sussex.
Talking in later years about her drug habits, she admitted it hurt her career.
“It destroyed me. To be a male drug addict and to act like that is always enhancing and glamorizing. A woman in that situation becomes a slut and a bad mother.”
Marianne Faithful in ‘Live in Hollywood’. Photo: Mariannefaithful.org.net.
Though she would still struggle with substances, Faithfull went on to have a memorable music career that spanned different genres.
Faithfull emerged tentatively in the mid-Seventies with a country album called ‘Dreamin’ My Dreams.’ Though the album attracted little attention in the UK, it was a huge hit in Ireland, where the title track spent seven weeks at number one and led to her going back on the road for the first time in a decade, but it was her furious re-surfacing on ‘Broken English’ in 1979 that definitively brought her back.
The virginal pop persona created around her in the Sixties was defiantly smashed: Instead with songs like ‘The Ballad of Lucy Jordan,’ ‘Guilt’ and ‘Why D’ya Do It?’ Faithfull re-invented herself and her style Further new wave explorations followed with ‘Dangerous Acquaintances’ and ‘A Child’s Adventure.’
In 1987, she released the critically lauded collection of classic pop, blues and art songs on the ‘Strange Weather.’ A live retrospective followed on ‘Blazing Away’, which displayed why Faithfull became one of the most sought after UK concert artists of the last 35 years.
New directions were taken on ‘A Secret Life’ co-written with the Italian composer Angelo Badalementi, and in her exploration of the music of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht.
Marianne Faithfull: Movies
Marianne Faithful in ‘Faces in the Crowd’. Photo: Millennium Entertainment.
Faithfull carved out a side career as an actor.
She appeared at London’s Royal Court in an adaptation of Chekhov’s ‘Three Sisters,’ alongside Glenda Jackson.
She became the first person ever to utter the F-word in a mainstream film, ‘I’ll Never Forget What’sisname,’ in 1967.
A year later, she starred opposite Alain Delon, as a doomed, leather-clad beauty in ‘The Girl on a Motorcycle.’ Her character’s psychedelic and erotic fantasies saw the film win the first ever X-rating in the United States.
Other movie appearances included ‘Shopping,’ ‘Crimetime,’ ‘Intimacy,’ ‘Marie Antoinette,’ ‘Faces in the Crowd,’ and, most recently, her recognizable voice is included as one of the Bene Gesserit Ancestors in ‘Dune: Part One.’
And, of course, her music has appeared on a host of other soundtracks.
In recent years, she teamed up with songwriters like PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, who each cited her as an inspiration.
While her personal life may have overshadowed her music and movies at time, Faithfull will still be remembered as something of a pop cultural icon.
Marianne Faithful. Photo: Mariannefaithful.org.net.
List of Mariane Faithfull Movies and TV Shows:
Buy Marianne Faithfull Movies On Amazon