Marianne Faithfull (78) 1/2025 was born 29 December 1946 in Hemstead, London. Just to sketch her aristocracy come down it should be noted that

Faithfull was born at the old Queen Mary’s Maternity House in Hampstead, London. Her father, Major Robert Glynn Faithfull, was a British intelligence officer and professor of Italian literature at Bedford College, London University. Her mother, Eva, was the daughter of Artur Wolfgang Ritter von Sacher-Masoch (1875–1953), an Austro-Hungarian nobleman of old Polonized Catholic Ruthenian nobility. Eva was born in Budapest and moved to Vienna in 1918; she chose to style herself as Eva von Sacher-Masoch, Baroness Erisso in adulthood. She 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’s father met Eva through his intelligence work for the British Army, which brought him into contact with her family. Faithfull’s maternal grandfather had aristocratic roots in the Habsburg Dynasty, and Faithfull’s maternal grandmother was Jewish. Faithfull’s maternal great-great-uncle was Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, whose erotic novel Venus in Furs spawned the word “masochism“. Regarding her roots in the Austrian nobility, Faithfull appeared on the British television series Who Do You Think You Are?

Faithfull began her singing career in 1964. Her first gigs as a folk music performer were in coffeehouses and she soon began taking part in London’s exploding social scene. In early 1964 she attended a Rolling Stones launch party with artist John Dunbar and met Andrew Loog Oldham, who ‘discovered’ her. Imagine now that Faithfull was just a 17 year old teenager when the Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham discovered her at a Stones party and gave her “As Tears Go By,” one of the first songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. ‘As Tears Go By’ reached no 9 in the UK, no 22 in the USA and no 35 in Australia. The Stones recorded their version a year after Marianne’s version. Loog Oldham took over her career and launched her with albums ‘Marianne Faithfull’ and ‘Come My Way’ albums in 1965. They were a huge success and was followed by further albums on Decca Records. From 1966 to 1970 she had a highly publicized romantic relationship with Mick Jagger, a period of time she definitely functions as the Muse for Rolling Stones songs like Sympathy for the Devil, I got the Blues, Sister Morphine, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Wild Horses and more. Graham Nash then of the Hollies and later of Crosby Still Nash and Young, wrote the hit song Carrie Ann about her. Her popularity was enhanced by roles in films, including I’ll Never Forget What’s’is name (1967), The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968) and Hamlet (1969).

“I thought I wanted to go to drama school or university, and that would have been a completely different life.” Before long, she had entered into a romantic relationship with Jagger. “I didn’t know anything about men, certainly nothing about drugs, and nothing about sex, none of that. I really didn’t know.” 

Marianne Faithfull married John Dunbar in 1965 and gave birth to son Nicholas later that year. 

In 1966 she befriended Stones guitarist Brian Jones and his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg. Pallenberg would later leave Jones for Keith Richards. Faithfull left her husband for Mick Jagger.

Marianne soon became one of London’s elite. She hung out with The Beatles and was a backing singer on ‘Yellow Submarine’. Jagger wrote ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ about her. She has a co-writing credit on the ‘Sticky Fingers’ track ‘Sister Morphine’.

Then in 1967, Faithfull was caught in a drug bust at Richards’ house. “The perception of me changed completely, but it was wrong,” she recalls. “I think I actually said, I wish I hadn’t, but I said that, ‘Might as well be hung as a sheep as a lamb.’”

Faithfull became a tabloid fixture, and fell into addiction, at one point living homeless on the streets of Soho. In 1969, she performed in Hamlet in London, taking heroin before performing Ophelia’s mad scene. “All this stuff isn’t relevant really now at all, and hasn’t been for years, and it’s that that lends the tragic element to my life,” she said years later in 2011. “I mean, I got off drugs and stopped being so tragic.”

The late sixties was not a good time for Marianne, she’d had a public relationship with Mick Jagger, got pregnant and got sent to Ireland to keep her away from Jagger whilst he was filming. She became distraught which led to depression. At eight months she miscarried which obviously played havoc with her mental state. She knew in her heart she should have left Jagger, but her own royalties were diminishing and she had got used to the money. By 1969 she was sinking into drug addiction and actually became a heroin addict. The shock of Brian Jones’ death in July devastated her.

In chapter seven of Marianne Faithfull: The Faerie Queene of the Sixties by R.E. Prindle he said, “Less than a week after Brian’s death Marianne and Mick arrived in Australia to begin their commitment. Psychologically all of Marianne’s misgivings were adding up to a heavy burden. While the reasonable approach may be that life goes on not everyone is so reasonable and I suspect Marianne was one of these. Perhaps, too, she realised that she and Mick were becoming estranged. Exhausted by the long flight she and Mick checked into their hotel. Mick promptly flopped down on the bed to doze off. Marianne, troubled in mind, picked up a bottle of Tuinals and perhaps in a hypnoid state of grief and confusion dropped 140 of them. That must have taken five or 10 minutes so it shows determination. Who would do that if they weren’t serious about suicide? For whatever reason Mick woke up and probably groggy himself scoped the situation. He rushed Marianne to the hospital for medical attention. But Marianne had overloaded her brain, she lay in a coma for six days.”

A change had to come. She finally realized that Mick and her were not to be so she renewed her acquaintance with her father at his sex shop who she says was a man Mick could never hope to be. She wasn’t recording and therefore not receiving much money, but Andrew Loog-Oldham had released a Greatest Hits package which brought some money in.

The years of abuse and severe laryngitis took its toll on her voice, it became rough and cracked and, to this day, is a permanently smoky rasp, a far cry from the soprano which saw her first enter the chart at the age of 17. When more recently asked about her strained voice, she replied, “I don’t know why that happened, but thank God for steroids! I used to blame it on really bad coke!”

Madonna, Kylie, Lulu, Tina Turner and Dusty, to name a few, have all famously re-invented themselves after varying lengths of chart absence. But there is another one, she even came back from near death and an illness that badly affected her voice. Yes it’s Marianne Faithfull. She’s often classed by lazy radio producers, presenters and journalists as a one hit wonder because they only seem to remember her debut hit, As Tears Goes By and it wasn’t even her biggest hit. That song reached number nine but her next two hits, Come Back And Stay and This Little Bird reached numbers four and six respectively. By the summer of 1965 the big hits dried up, even her cover of the Beatles’ Yesterday only reached number 36, but by the end of the seventies she was back.

Despite the odds she survived and attempted a comeback, firstly in 1976 which didn’t work and then again in 1979 which was far more successful. Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island records, heard some demo’s she’d done and believed there was potential and signed her to his label. The result was the biting album Broken English which was released towards the end of the decade. The only hit from it was a cover of the Shel Silverstein-penned, Dr Hook’s hit The Ballad of Lucy Jordan, which Marianne described as, “My life had it taken a different turn.” Arguably, the stand out track however was the album’s closer – Why D’ya Do It, an X-rated rant of the highest order about a cheating lover with explicit words delivered with the venom of a woman scorned. Such a delivery had not been heard since the heady days of punk. It was an un-ashamedly honest and passionate song that was banned in most places and was never likely to be heard unless you owned a copy. Only recently outlets like YouTube have allowed it to be upload. Her relationship with Jagger had long ended, she had lost custody of Nicholas, she had become addicted to heroin and at one point homeless. It all came out in the lyrics on the ‘Broken English’ album peaking with ‘Why D’Ya Do It’, a most gruesome verbal attack in song.

‘Why D’Ya Do It’

When I stole a twig from our little nest
And gave it to a bird with nothing in her beak
I had my balls and my brains put into a vice
And twisted around for a whole fucking week

“Why’d ya do it”, she said, why’d you let that trash
Get a hold of your cock, get stoned on my hash?

“Why’d ya do it”, she said, why’d you let her suck your cock?
Ah, do me a favour, don’t put me in the dock
“Why’d ya do it”, she said, They’re mine all your tools
You just tied me to the mast of the ship of fools

“Why’d ya do it”, she said, when you know it makes me sore
‘Cause she had cobwebs up her fanny and I believe in giving to the poor
“Why’d ya do it”, she said, Why’d you spit on my snatch?
Are we out of love now, is this just a bad patch?

“Why’d ya do it”, she said, Why’d you do what you did?
You drove my ego to a really bad skid

“Why’d you do it”, she said, ain’t nothing to laugh
You just tore all our kisses right in half!

“Why’d ya do it”, she screamed, after all we said
Every time I see your dick, I see her cunt in my bed
“Why’d ya do it”, she said, why’d you do what you did?
“Why’d ya do it”, she said, why’d you do what you did?
Betray my little oyster for such a low bid

The whole room was swirling
Her lips were still curling

“Why’d ya do it”, she said, why’d you do what you did?
“Why’d ya do it”, she said, why’d you do what you did
“Why’d ya do it”, she said, why’d you do what you did
“Why’d ya do it”, she said, “Why’d ya do it”, she said
Why’d you do what you did?

Oh, big grey mother, I love you forever
With your barbed wire pussy and your good and bad weather

The lyrics were originally written by Heathcote Williams with Marianne adding her own thoughts and feeling. Heathcote had apparently originally intended for Tina Turner, but even if Tina had heard it, it’s unlikely she would have recorded it. Marianne once called the song her ‘Frankenstein’ and because she’d recently been betrayed by a boyfriend and obviously seething with rage she poured every raw emotion into the recording so much so that you could almost feel her pain and anger. Most people at some time or another would have experienced what she did but no song delivers the message so emphatically. Williams’ words were so explicit (It’s hard to find any other song that uses the c-word) that it caused some of the female staff on the EMI production line to walk out.

The album, which features Steve Winwood on keyboards, was make or break for Faithfull and the positivity and rave reviews it received was a massive boost for her. It also brought some much needed money as she’d also written some of the tracks on it.  She was unexpectedly nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the album in 1981. Her own description of the album was, “It’s a masterpiece,” – she was right.

Faithfull began living in New York City after the release of Dangerous Acquaintances in 1981. The same year, she appeared as a vocalist on the single “Misplaced Love” by Rupert Hine, which charted in Australia. Despite her comeback, in the mid-1980s she was battling with addiction and at one point tripped and broke her jaw on a flight of stairs while under the influence. Rich Kid Blues (1985) was another collection of her early work combined with new recordings, a double record showcasing both the pop and rock ‘n’ roll facets of her output to date. In 1985, Faithfull performed “Ballad of the Soldier’s Wife” on Hal Willner’s tribute album Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill.

When Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters assembled an all-star cast of musicians to perform the rock opera The Wall live in Berlin in July 1990, Faithfull played the part of Pink’s overprotective mother. Her musical career rebounded for the third time during the early 1990s with the live album Blazing Away.

Marianne continued to record right up until her last album ‘She Walks In Beauty’ in 2021. Of note is ‘Kissin Time’ in 2002 with appearances from Jeff Beck, Billy Corgan, Blur and Pulp.

Faithfull received the World Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Women’s World Awards, and in 2011 she was made a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France. In a 2013 interview with ABC News, Faithfull was asked how she reviewed her own life, she said, “I could have done without the heroin addiction, personally, but I wouldn’t leave anything else out.”

Marianne Faithfull, the quintessential 1960s muse, singer and actress crossed the rainbow on January 30, 2025 after several years of bad health (COPD, Covid). Over the course of her nearly 60-year career, Faithfull released 22 studio albums. But many know Faithfull for the various triumphs and trials in her personal life, particularly her early relationship with The Rolling Stones. 

In a statement Mick Jagger said, “I am so saddened to hear of the death of Marianne 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.”