Marianne Faithfull: Tributes paid to ‘beautiful singer’ who has died aged 78

Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger has paid tribute to the “wonderful friend and beautiful singer” following her death aged 78.

He was joined by bandmates Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards, the latter with whom Sir Mick wrote Faithfull’s first single As Tears Go By, which reached number nine in the UK singles chart.

In a post on Instagram, Sir Mick, 81, wrote: “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.”

His post was accompanied by a picture of the pair arm in arm.

Also posting to the social media app, Richards, also 81, added: “My heartfelt condolences to Marianne’s family. I am so sad and will miss her.”

His post was accompanied by a picture of the pair enjoying a drink together.

Wood, 77, joined the Stones first as a touring member in 1975, five years after Faithfull and Sir Mick’s split, added in his Instagram post, featuring a picture of him and Richards in a studio with her: “Farewell dear Marianne.”

In addition to her music career, Faithfull also acted in films including The Girl On A Motorcycle with French actor Alain Delon, as well as theatre productions.

A statement from the singer’s family announcing her death said: “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.”

Faithfull began her singing career in 1964 after being discovered by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham.

She released her self-titled debut album in 1965, which featured top 10 hits As Tears Go By and Come And Stay With Me, at the same time as follow-up LP Come My Way, which was largely made up of folk covers.

From 1966 to 1970, Faithfull was in a highly publicised relationship with Sir Mick following his split from model and actress Chrissie Shrimpton.

Her first hit, As Tears Go By, charted at number nine, and was followed by a series of successful singles, including Come And Stay With Me, This Little Bird and Summer Nights.

Faithfull co-wrote Sister Morphine with Sir Mick and Richards from the Rolling Stones’ 1971 album Sticky Fingers, releasing her own version in 1969 featuring guitarist Ry Cooder and Jack Nitzsche on piano.

She was credited as a writer on the initial Decca release of her own version, but omitted from later releases prompting a legal dispute which eventually saw her credited on both the Stones and her own reissues.

She was famously found wearing nothing but a rug at a drugs bust at Redlands, the country house of Rolling Stones guitarist Richards in 1967.

Following her split with Sir Mick, Faithfull spent two years on the streets of Soho while addicted to heroin before living in a squat. It has also been claimed that Faithfull inspired Stones songs including You Can’t Always Get What You Want and Dear Doctor, while it has also been reported that The Beatles’ And Your Bird Can Sing was inspired by her and Sir Mick’s relationship.

She returned to release the new wave-influenced album Broken English in 1979, which is now regarded as a classic.

The singer also performed a duet of Sonny And Cher’s I Got You Babe with David Bowie on his The 1980 Floor Show, which was broadcast in the US in 1973 and saw Faithfull dressed as a nun. Bowie’s estate reposted her tribute to him following his own death in 2016 in a tribute post on X which read: “Very sad to learn of the passing of Marianne Faithfull in London today at the age of 78. It seems somehow appropriate to republish the words she posted following David’s death in 2016, as they could have been written for her.”

Faithfull re-invented herself in 1987 as a jazz and blues singer with the critically acclaimed Strange Weather, and in the same decade went into rehab.

Her final album was an experimental collaboration with Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds’ Australian multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, called She Walks In Beauty (2021).

Recently she has enjoyed a resurgence and is said to be admired by the likes of Kate Moss and Courtney Love. In 2006, it was announced that she had made a full recovery from breast cancer. Doctors in France had diagnosed the disease in September, forcing the star to postpone her world tour.

But the cancer was found in its “earliest stages” and following surgery, she announced she would resume her tour the next year.

She was quoted as saying at the time: “It has been an extraordinary experience and, in many ways, extremely positive. I didn’t realise how many true friends I had. I feel so lucky and loved and thank everybody for all their good thoughts.”

The breast cancer came two years after Faithfull, a former smoker, was forced to cancel her European tour after collapsing backstage at a gig. The singer was diagnosed with exhaustion and ordered to rest for three months.

In 2005, filmmaker Duncan Roy announced that Faithfull had stepped down from his screen version of The Picture Of Dorian Gray because she had suffered a heart attack, which she denied.

In April 2020, it was announced that the singer had been admitted to hospital after contracting Covid, and she was released from hospital three weeks later.

The daughter of a British military officer and an Austro-Hungarian Jewish baroness, Faithfull appeared in Sofia Coppola’s film Marie Antoinette. She made a guest appearance as God in the TV sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, with actress Anita Pallenberg, the former girlfriend of Stones members Brian Jones and Keith Richards, playing the devil.

One of her earliest films was I’ll Never Forget What’s ‘Is Name (1967), alongside Orson Welles, and she recently provided the voice of Bene Gesserit Ancestor in Dune (2021).