By Mark Bannerman. Topic: Music. Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull in , after police arrested them at a house in Chelsea, London.
AP: Peter Kemp. At a point in time, years after the height of her celebrity, Marianne Faithfull was talking to an acquaintance about an invitation to a photographic exhibition in Berlin. Armies have passed through you both. It was a brutal assessment that even shocked the normally unshockable Faithfull, who died yesterday , but one that captures the essence of life hard lived. A life with incredible highs and some shocking lows. The highs are pretty well known. Between and Faithfull was a pop star, part of British rock royalty.
The lows began with her use of narcotics and ended with time spent as a homeless junkie. A period she describes in remarkably philosophical terms. It was really good for me. It was what I was meant to do As the statement might suggest, Faithfull is a woman full of surprises and contradictions. Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger in Italy. AFP: Leeimage. For most she remains forever joined at the hip with Mick Jagger as the ultimate swinging 60s couple.
In fact she was obsessed with Mick's musical partner Keith Richards but couldn't see her way clear to break up such a productive relationship.
Through her association with the Stones she's often remembered only as a music person. Early on though her real aspiration was to be taken seriously as an actress, taking theatrical roles in Chekhov's Three Sisters and Shakespeare's Hamlet. As the 60s gathered speed Faithfull began her pop life being marketed by her manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, as a fey almost virginal presence in a fast decaying world. If that was the public persona, in private the story was very different.
