Marianne Faithfull: from muse to master

  • News
  • January 30, 2025

But Faithfull was also becoming addicted to cocaine and she felt “destroyed… and judged as a bad mother” after the police gloried in revealing that they found her wearing nothing but a fur rug in a highly publicised drugs raid in 1967 that saw both Jagger and Richards convicted.

She left Jagger three years later as her life spiralled out of control and ended up living rough for nearly two years in London.

Addicted to heroin, she lost custody of her child and attempted suicide.

When she next appeared in public on a US television show in 1973 dressed as a nun to sing “I’ve Got You Babe” with David Bowie, her fine, faltering voice had gone, to be replaced by a deep whisky-soaked rasp that would later become her trademark.

Six years later her album “Broken English” was a revelation, not just because of the change in her voice and the way she unsparingly exposed the depths to which she had sunk, but because it was a musical tour de force.

It revived her career. But her drugs demons had not been tamed, and now living in the United States she hit the wall again in the mid-1980s.

Living legend

Having come out of rehab, she moved back to Ireland — a refuge for her throughout her life — and began reinventing herself as a jazz and blues singer.

It was there that she began to hone her musical talent, inspired by her interest in pre-war Weimar Germany, and revive her acting career, playing the mother in Pink Floyd’s rock opera “The Wall” in 1990.

In the mountains south of Dublin, she also wrote the first volume of her autobiography, which was published alongside “A Collection of Her Best Recordings”, featuring her old friends Richards and Stones drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ron Wood.

Her reputation continued to grow with a string of albums featuring collaborations with Daniel Lanois, Emmylou Harris, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters and PJ Harvey and Nick Cave.

She was now a living legend, playing herself as God in the British sitcom “Absolutely Fabulous” — Pallenberg played the devil.

Related Posts

  • February 25, 2025
  • 67 views
Transgender religious order gets rare approval at India Hindu festival

Prayagraj (India) (AFP) – Transgender activists often shunned by society say they have found rare acceptance at India’s Hindu Kumbh Mela festival by giving blessings to pilgrims attending the world’s largest religious gathering.

  • February 25, 2025
  • 65 views
Stuck in eternal drought, UAE turns to AI to make it rain

Abu Dhabi (AFP) – In the marbled halls of a luxury hotel, leading experts are discussing a new approach to an age-old problem: how to make it rain in the UAE, the wealthy Gulf state that lies in one of the world’s biggest deserts.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You Missed

Transgender religious order gets rare approval at India Hindu festival

  • February 25, 2025
  • 67 views
Transgender religious order gets rare approval at India Hindu festival

Stuck in eternal drought, UAE turns to AI to make it rain

  • February 25, 2025
  • 65 views
Stuck in eternal drought, UAE turns to AI to make it rain

Trump's chip tariff threats raise stakes for Taiwan

  • February 25, 2025
  • 67 views
Trump's chip tariff threats raise stakes for Taiwan

Galatasaray accuse Mourinho of 'racist statements' after derby

  • February 25, 2025
  • 81 views
Galatasaray accuse Mourinho of 'racist statements' after derby

Fears of US public health crises grow amid falling vaccination rates

  • February 25, 2025
  • 78 views
Fears of US public health crises grow amid falling vaccination rates

Latin American classics get the streaming treatment

  • February 25, 2025
  • 65 views
Latin American classics get the streaming treatment