"Wild horses couldn't drag me away". That's what Marianne Faithfull once said to Mick Jagger, and it became the refrain of the Rolling Stones' classic song "Wild Horses" (1971).
25 years earlier, on December 29, 1946, Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull was born in Hampstead, London. She had noble Austrian roots on her mother's side, but grew up under relatively simple circumstances in Reading, west of the capital, writes The Guardian.
Early Breakthrough
In her teens, Marianne Faithfull moved to London, where she met Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham at a party. He asked Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to write a song for her.
The result? "As Tears Go By", which in 1964 climbed into the UK's top ten list. Marianne Faithfull became a superstar at just 17 years old.
The following year, she had three more singles that reached the top ten list in the UK, and all of them reached the top 40 in the US. At the same time, she also began acting and appeared as herself in the legendary French director Jean-Luc Godard's "Made in USA" (1966).
Drugs
But much of Marianne Faithfull's life would revolve around the Rolling Stones.
And drugs.
In 1965, she married artist John Dunbar, with whom she had a son, Nicholas, but soon left him for Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, with whom she had a four-year relationship.
Many times, she was described as a muse for the band. In addition to "Wild Horses", she inspired the Stones to write songs like "Dear Doctor" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want", which dealt with her drug problems.
She co-wrote "Sister Morphine", a song that was included on the Rolling Stones album "Sticky Fingers" (1971). But it wasn't until after a legal battle that Marianne Faithfull was credited as a songwriter.
Her drug abuse worsened. In the early 1970s, her relationship with Jagger ended, she lost custody of her son, and was temporarily homeless in London.
55-Year Career
After a ten-year absence, the album "Dreamin' My Dreams" was released in 1976. The big comeback came, however, in 1979 with "Broken English", which became one of her most acclaimed albums.
Over the years, she collaborated with artists such as Nick Cave, Emmylou Harris, Beck, and Metallica. In total, Marianne Faithfull released 21 albums during a 55-year-long career.
On Thursday, she passed away "in peace in London, surrounded by her beloved family", announced a spokesperson for Marianne Faithfull in a statement, reports BBC.
Marianne Faithfull was 78 years old.
