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British singer Marianne Faithfull has died at the age of 78

Mick Jagger described her as a "wonderful friend, superb singer and great actress."

The singer died in London at the age of 78/ Francois Guillot.AFP

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(AFP) British singer and actress Marianne Faithfull, one-time muse of the Rolling Stones and later a folk-rock icon, died Thursday at 78 in London.

"It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull," a spokesman announced in a statement relayed to AFP.

"She died peacefully today in London, in the company of her family. She will be greatly missed," they added. Faithfull embodied rock'n'roll from Swinging London to the New York punk scene in a long career with ups and downs.

Born in London on December 29, 1946, to a spy father and an Austro-Hungarian mother descended from Baron von Sacher Masoch, Faithfull survived drug overdoses, suicides, the street, alcohol, cancer and even coronavirus, which forced her to spend three weeks hospitalized in London.

Always associated with Mick Jagger, with whom she shared her life and adventures in the late 1960s, this fragile and passionate Briton was courted by the entire jet set of her youth. In a message on Instagram, Jagger described Faithfull as a "wonderful friend, superb singer and great actress."

Stones guitarist Keith Richards also expressed his sadness on social media. "I will miss her," he said.

Music, theater and film

In 1963, Rolling Stones producer Andrew Oldham discovered her in a bar where she was singing ballads. The shy 17-year-old blonde recorded Keith Richards and Mick Jagger's first song, which her producer considered too sentimental. With "As tears go by," the young girl entered the British Top 10.

Her voice, fine and clear on "As tears go by" (1964), capable of becoming a deep tone on "Broken English" (1979), was instantly recognizable, especially for the nostalgia of melancholic and literary rock.

Faithfull's career also took her to theater and film. In 1968, she played the role of a naked biker under a leather suit in Jack Cardiff's "Girl on the Motorcycle" with Frenchman Alain Delon. Other hits would follow, such as "Come and Stay With Me," "This Little Bird" and "Summer Nights."

The singer also went through a punk period, singing biting, disillusioned lyrics like "Why D'Ya Do It?" or John Lennon's "Working Class Hero." The album "Broken English" (1979) marked her comeback and is considered a classic.

Faithfull would later take a more jazz and blues turn with her album "Strange Weather." In recent years, the singer suffered multiple health problems, including breast cancer and lung disease caused by years of smoking.

She collaborated with artists such as PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, who described her as one of their sources of inspiration.

In 2020, she was hospitalized after contracting COVID-19. Doctors thought she would not survive. The singer, however, went on to complete her 21st and final album, "She Walks in Beauty." "This pandemic has affected me badly, I almost died," she had confided to AFP in 2021, fearing "I would never be able to sing again."

Faithfull, who lived in Paris, returned to London a few years ago to be closer to her son and grandchildren.

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