British Rock Icon was 78

Photo: Jacques Haillot/APIs/Sick/SUBM via Getty Images

Marianne Faithfull, an icon of the 1960s British Rock, whose career continued to stretch seven decades, has died at 78. Faithfull died “peacefully in London today in the company of her loving family,” a spokesman told the BBC. Her career started after she met the Rolling Stones’ producer and manager Andrew Loog Oldham, at a party for the band in 1964. In June she had recorded and released “As Tears pass by”, one of the earliest songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The song peaked at No. 9 in England, and faithfully followed it with three more top tens from 1964 to 1965, including her biggest, “Come and stay with me.” Faithfully released its first two albums the same day: Marianne Faithfull Was the pop -oriented project Decca Records would have her to pursue while Come my way was a record of folk songs she had pressed to release.

Faithfull began dating Stones singer Mick Jagger in 1966. She sang backup about “Sympathy for the Devil” and inspired Jagger to write songs including “Wild Horses” and “You can’t always get what you want.” In the race Three sisters and plays Ophelia in Hamlet. Faithful broke up with Jagger in 1970, in front of a downturn in her career. Her drug abuse problems had been covered to a large extent. During periods of the 1970s, she suffered from anorexia while living on the street.

Faithfull made comeback in 1979 with his seventh album, Destroyed English. She pursued a more electronic, new wave -impacted direction on it and showed a voice that was weathered from many years of drug use. The album was faithfully signed to Iceland Records, received critical recognition and even earned her a Grammy nomination. She recorded consistently since then and became an influential figure in independent and alternative music. After a break, she returned to performing on TV and movies in the 1990s, especially God played in several episodes of British comedy Completely fabulous.

After surviving a hospitalization in 2020 due to Covid, Faithfif released his last album, She goes in beautyWith bad seeds musician Warren Ellis. Faithful recited British romantic poetry over instruments from Ellis to the record, which had been a passion project.