Marianne Faithfull has died in London at the age of 78.
As a singer she had a top 10 hit in 1964 with As Tears Go By, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards with The Rolling Stones’ then manager Andrew Loog Oldham.
She was also highly respected for her 1979 album Broken English, which she called “my masterpiece”.
As an actress she played the title role in the cult classic ’60s move Girl On A Motorcycle, and appeared in many other TV and stage productions.
Faithfull was also famous as the girlfriend of Jagger during the ’60s, and was known to have inspired Jagger’s lyrics in songs such as Wild Horses and You Can’t Always Get What You Want.
Faithfull’s death was announced on 30 January 2025 with a short statement:
"It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull. Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family. She will be dearly missed.”
She was born Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull on 29 December 1946 in in Hampstead, London.
She endured periods of great difficulty in her life. For some time she was homeless and a heroin addict. She also attempted suicide.
Faithfull was the co-writer, along with Jagger and Richards, of one of The Rolling Stones’ greatest songs, Sister Morphine, from the classic 1971 album Sticky Fingers.
On her best album, Broken English, she combined new wave influences with raw autobiographical lyrics and a unique vocal style of which Rolling Stone magazine said: “She knows how to use this voice, twist it, make it cut.”
Her final album was She Walks In Beauty, made with Warren Ellis, the multi-instrumentalist best know for his work with Nick Cave. It was released in 2021.
In a 2008 interview with The Independent, Faithfull said of her extraordinary life: “I’m not saying I behaved that well, but I didn’t really do anything that terrible either.”
