Singer and actress Marianne Faithfull dies aged 78
The “Swinging London” icon overcame drug addiction and homelessness to re-invented herself as a jazz and blues singer
Singer, actress and 1960s icon Marianne Faithfull has died at the age of 78, her spokesperson has said.
A statement 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 at a party for the band.
In 1965, she released her self-titled debut album, featuring a UK number nine hit single, along with the number four hit Come And Stay With Me.
Hits released by Faithful include As Tears Go By, written by The Rolling Stones’ Sir Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Faithfull also acted in films including, The Girl on a Motorcycle, and in theatre productions.
Her stardom meant Faithful was an icon of 1960’s “Swinging London” and was often described as a muse for the Rolling Stones.
She reportedly told Jagger: “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away”, with the songwriter eventually writing the hit song Wild Horses in 1970.
“I know they used me as a muse,” she once said, adding: “I knew I was being used, but it was for a worthy cause.”


After years of suffering from drug abuse, homelessness and anorexia, Faithful returned to release an album in 1979, Broken English.
As well as being regarded as a major comeback album, it also received widespread critical acclaim and earned Faithful her first Grammy Award nomination.
Alongside her successful showbiz career, Faithful had a highly publicised romantic relationship with Jagger in the late 1960s, after the rock star’s relationship with actress Chrissie Shrimpton ended.
She was famously found wearing nothing except a rug at an infamous drug bust at Richards’ country house, Redlands, in 1967.
Following the breakdown of her relationship with Jagger, Faithful lost custody of her son and suffered from a heroin addiction.
She later 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.
Recently she had enjoyed a resurgence and is said to be admired by the likes of Kate Moss and Courtney Love.

The daughter of a British military officer and an Austro-Hungarian Jewish baroness, Faithfull appeared in Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette.
She made guest star appearances as God in the TV sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.
Born in 1946, in London, she descended from Australian nobility with her great-great-uncle Leopold von Sacher-Masoch writing the erotic novel Venus in Furs.