Marianne Faithful

Marianne Faithfull was born in Hampstead, London, in 1946, and was discovered in 1964 at a party for the Rolling Stones by their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham. "As Tears Go By" made her a star, and she became one of the leading women of the British Invasion in America, with a pure, high voice, a run of albums on Decca, and film roles including The Girl on a Motorcycle and Hamlet.

The '70s nearly swallowed her. She struggled with anorexia, homelessness and heroin addiction, and between laryngitis, cigarettes and drugs her voice came out the other side as a deep, cracked rasp. That ruined instrument turned out to be her greatest weapon. Broken English, her 1979 comeback, is a cold, jittery new wave record that sounds like it was sung from the far end of a very long night. The title track pulses with menace, and "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" glides along on shimmering synths while her voice does quietly devastating work. It drew critical acclaim, sold well and earned her a Grammy nomination.

Dangerous Acquaintances, A Child's Adventure and Strange Weather kept her going through the '80s, and she later wrote three books about her life. France made her a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2011. She died in January 2025.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.