Born on December 29, 1946 in London, Marianne Faithfull comes from an unusual family. Her father is a British officer, and her mother the Austrian baroness Erisso. Following her parents’ divorce, Marianne followed her mother to Berkshire, where she took her first steps on the stage during the town’s theater shows.
Marianne Faithfull performed in small, unpretentious venues, singing popular songs. It is during one of these shows that she is spotted by Andrew Loog Oldham, who is none other than the manager of the legendary Rolling Stones. Marianne Faithfull, 17 years old, is thus propelled in the big league. Her career started on a high note when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards entrusted her with their song As Tears Go By.
After a second unnoticed track, Marianne left Andrew Loog Oldham to join producer Tony Calder. The next single, Come and Stay with me, was an immediate success. Being an integral part of the rock stars of the time, Marianne Faithfull also discovered the bad sides, and gave in to drugs during her affair with Mick Jagger. Her musical career is slowed down: her 6th opus, Love in a Mist, is the last one before a decade.
Between 1966 and 1969, Marianne Faithfull multiplies projects, she follows the Beatles in India, plays her own role in Made in USA by Jean-Luc Godard, plays the line to Alain Delon in La Motocycette, plays the role of Ophelia in Hamlet, but almost dies of an overdose.
Until 1990, Marianne Faithfull oscillates between brief successes and addiction. From then on, she returned to the stage in plays by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, signed her album 20th Century Blues, which brings together discrete performances, and in 1994 published her autobiography, Faithfull.
Since then, Marianne Faithfull has never stopped reinventing herself, surrounding herself with the greatest artists such as Nick Cave, Joe Cocker or Étienne Daho. Her latest album, Give Me Love To London, released in 2014, is representative of this type of collaborative work, bringing together The Bad Seeds, Brien Eno and Anna Calvi.
At the end of March 2020, Marianne Faithfull was hospitalized in London after contracting the coronavirus.
On the private side, Marianne Faithfull has a son, Nicholas, born in November 1965, from her brief marriage with John Dunbar (1965-1966). Thereafter, she remarried with Ben Brierly (1979-1986), then with Giorgio della Terza (1988-1991).
The coronavirus can sometimes leave long aftereffects. Last April, singer Marianne Faithfull contracted a very serious form of Covid-19. After testing positive, she was hospitalized
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