Marianne Faithfull

Marianne Evelyn Faithfull (born 29 December 1946 in London) is an award winning English singer. She was born into a well-to-do family of aristocrats in the Hampstead district of London, England. Faithfull began her singing career in the mid-sixties, landing her first gigs as a folk music performer in coffeehouses around London. She was a very beautiful young woman with a lot of raw talent. It didn't take very long before she began attracting a lot of attention. She later had a very public relationship with Rolling Stone's (Who ever they are) lead singer Mick Jagger (whoever he is). Faithfull also had a very hard time struggling with heroin addiction and anorexia nervosa.

I personally think her laundry list of painful personal problems added a certain quality to her music. One of my favorite Marianne Faithful songs is "Sister Morphine" which was co-written by Mick Jagger. A song about Marianne's personal struggle with opiate addiction. Mick Jagger (that guy's name again) ended up taking credit for writing "Sister Morphine" with Keith Richards instead of Marianne but after a bit of a legal battle Marianne Faithfull was credited as co-writer. This wasn't the first time the Stones got rich off of Marrianne's talent. They also covered her first major release, "As Tears Go By", which became a chart success.

Marianne Faithfull does stray a little from your normal Yé-yé girl archetype and into the Rock and Roll genre. However, somehow she fits into the Yé-yé girl movement amongst fans. I have always enjoyed her music so I figured my blog could use a Marianne Faithfull post. Anyway, despite her problems, she has managed to have a very lucrative music and film career. After Four decades Marianne Faithfull is still active as an artist to this day.