Trigger Warning: Brief mention of suicide
On Thursday, January 30, Marianne Faithfull at the age of 78 passed away in London, UK. While the cause of her death has not been released to the public, Faithfull’s family shared with the BBC that she “passed away peacefully, in the company of her family” and will be “dearly missed.”
Faithfull’s career as a songwriter, musician, and actress, spans over 70 years within the British pop and rock music world. Faithful has been given the title of a “free spirit” due to her distinctive melodic and high-register vocals. She would become one of the very first female lead figures during the “British Invasion” in the 1960s.
Born in Hampstead, London on December 29, 1946, Faithfull was raised by her father Robert Glynn Faithfull, and her mother, Baroness Eva Sacher-Masoch. Throughout her childhood, Faithfull suffered bouts of tuberculosis, making her bed-bound for the majority of her adolescence.
Despite a multitude of health problems Faithfull faced during her childhood, she pursued an interest in the arts, particularly in theatre acting while attending St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Convent School.
It wasn’t until 1964, at the age of sixteen that her singing career would begin. After a few gigs as a folk performer at numerous coffee houses, Faithfull was “discovered” by John Dunbar while attending a Rolling Stone’s launch party. Following this, Faithfull released her first single “As Tears Go By,” which reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100.
It was following the successful release of her first single that Faithfull’s own personal life would derail due to her heavy reliance on drugs and psychedelics. Faithfull would also marry and divorce John Dunbar, and have her son, Nicholas Dunbar.
Throughout her life, Faithfull has been candid about her heavy drug use that predated her life in the spotlight. She even admitted that during her relationship with Mick Jaggar, she developed a heroin addiction and anorexia nervosa, giving birth to a stillborn whom she named “Corrina.”
After years of substance abuse and severe laryngitis, Faithfull’s vocals would become permanently raspy and “cracked.” By the mid-1960s through the 1980s, Faithfull would soon enter several stints in rehab, in hopes of re-stabilizing her career.
By 1970, she had lost custody of her son and even attempted suicide which resulted in a decline in her career. Faithfull recalls that for a moment in her life, while struggling with a deep heroin addiction, she lived temporarily on the streets of Soho, London.
During this turbulent moment in her life, Faithfull began to work on her seventh studio album “Broken English.” Released in 1975, this album would jump-start her career again and become her most commercially and critically successful album. In 1981, Faithful would be nominated by the Grammy’s 1981, for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
Faithful will be missed and mourned, as not only a beloved pop star of the 1960s, but as a survivor who despite facing a multitude of hardships and challenges, still fought to create true and honest music.