Where Is Marianne Faithfull Today?
In the 1960s, Marianne Faithfull became a key figure in the British Invasion, running in the same circles as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, and she continues to be a working artist today. After decades in the music industry, Faithfull has survived a lot. She has spoken extensively about her life, music career, and relationships. Here’s what she’s doing today.
She was a prominent singer during the British Invasion
Faithfull began her music career as a teenager in the early 1960s. She initially had plans for higher education, but things didn’t shake out that way. Instead, The Rolling Stones’ first manager discovered her at a party in 1964.
“I wanted to go to Oxford and read English literature, philosophy, and comparative religion. That was my plan,” she told The New York Times in 2021. “Anyway, it didn’t happen. I went to a party and got discovered by bloody old Andrew Loog Oldham.”
Though Oldham hadn’t heard her sing, he felt convinced she would be a star. He had Mick Jagger and Keith Richards write her the song “As Tears Go By,” which was, as he’d predicted, a hit. She became the It Girl of the British Invasion, releasing successful singles, dating Jagger, and having an affair with Richards. She also worked as an actor.
What is Marianne Faithfull doing today?
Faithfull’s career took a hit in the 1970s due to addiction. She also faced backlash for her presence at Richards’ home when the police raided it for drugs. She had several comebacks over the years, including, notably, the 1979 album Broken English, which has been lauded as one of her best.
In 2021, Faithfull drew on her love of literature in the spoken word album She Walks in Beauty. Warren Ellis, Nick Cave, Vincent Ségal, and Brian Eno provide a backing soundtrack while Faithfull reads poems by Keats, Tennyson, Shelley, Wordsworth, Byron, and Thomas Hood. She said she had wanted to record an album of poetry for a long time but never believed she could.
“Even I thought about it commercially, and that’s never been my way. I just couldn’t imagine it,” she told The Guardian. “But then finally, really because of Warren and my manager François, I saw that I could do it now and – this is terrible – but it’s perfect for what we’re all going through. It’s the most perfect thing for this moment in our lives. We recorded it in lockdown, and I thought so as I was doing it. I found it very comforting and very kind of beautiful. Now when I read them, I see eternity – they’re like a river or a mountain, they’re beautiful and comforting.”
Marianne Faithfull is happy to be alive today
In her life, Faithfull has survived overdoses, breast cancer, hepatitis C, an infection from a broken hip, and, most recently, the coronavirus (COVID-19). She said that her family and friends believed she would die. Doctors had even written “Palliative care only” at the foot of her hospital bed.
“They thought I was going to croak!” she said. “But, I didn’t.”
She recovered, albeit with some lasting effects.
“Three things: the memory, fatigue and my lungs are still not OK – I have to have oxygen and all that stuff,” she said. “The side-effects are so strange. Some people come back from it but they can’t walk or speak. Awful.”
Soon after recovering, Faithfull continued working on She Walks in Beauty. Though she has admitted that the aftereffects of the coronavirus may prevent her from singing again, she still feels hopeful.
“I may not be able to sing ever again,” she said. “Maybe that’s over. I would be incredibly upset if that was the case, but, on the other hand, I am 74. I don’t feel cursed and I don’t feel invincible. I just feel f***ing human. But what I do believe in, which gives me hope, I do believe in miracles.”
