The Beauty of Song, Part Nine: Marianne Faithfull

The Swinging London scene in the sixties produced some memorable British female singers, but Marianne Faithfull always had a vibe of her own that set her apart from the pack.  

Although some folks may know her best as Mick Jagger's girlfriend back in the sixties, Marianne Faithfull stood on her own when it came to signing - ironically, with a little help from Jagger.  He and Keith Richards wrote her first hit song. Ad Tears Go By," which she recorded before the Stones.  It was their equivalent to the Beatles' "Yesterday" . . . and she covered that song, too.

Ms. Faithfull distinguished herself with a high-register melodic voice,  Her best-known recordings from the 1960s include her 1967 album Love In a Mist, the single from which as a cover of the Ronettes' "Is This What I Get For Loving You?" (a Goffin-King song co-written with Phil Spector)" and her 1969 single "Something Better," which was written by Barry Mann and Gerry Goffin.  

Unfortunately, her career went into steep decline in the seventies, as laryngitis and drug addiction left her in dire straits and affected her voice.  She came back at the end of that decade with 1979's Broken English, and her affected voice and her embrace of changes in popular music produced a new sound for her, as well as a new appreciation from critics.

She has recorded somewhat steadily ever since, with albums such as 1981's Dangerous Acquaintances, 1987's Strange Weather (which includes a remake of "As Tears Go By" and a cover of Bob Dylan's I'll Keep It With Mine"), and 1999's Vagabond Ways.  Her twenty-first century albums include 2002's Kissin Time, the 2008 cover album Easy Come, Easy Go, and 2018's Negative Capability. Her most recent LP as of this writing is 2021's She Walks in Beauty, a spoken-word release with musical accompaniment.  (Watch out, William Shatner! 😃) 

Marianne Faithfull has been through a great deal of adversity, including anorexia and a bout with COVID, but she keeps on going. 😊

Fun fact: Marianne Faithfull contributed vocals to Metallica's 1997 song "The Memory Remains."