History Music / MarianneFaithfull

* CoolOldLady: She remains cutting edge well into her sixties. Her recent career has included collaborations with Music/{{Metallica}}, Music/{{Beck}}, Music/PJHarvey, and Music/NickCave.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Marianne Faithfull is in fact her real name.

Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is a British singer who began her career in the Sixties. A former convent schoolgirl, she was discovered by manager Andrew Loog Oldham. Oldham gave her a song he'd co-written with the guitarist and singer [[Music/TheRollingStones for a band he was managing]]. That song, "As Tears Go By," made her a star at the age of 17 and well became her SignatureSong over the years. She made the transition from singing to acting, co-starring with Creator/AlainDelon in the movie ''Girl on a Motorcycle''. By the late 1960s, her life and career had unraveled from [[AddledAddict drug abuse]]. She attempted suicide and lost custody of her young son.

* CoverVersion: At least two of her well-known songs, "As Tears Go By" and "Sister Morphine", [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zag]] or {{subvert|edTrope}} the trope. Both were co-written by Music/MickJagger and Music/KeithRichards of Music/TheRollingStones, the former with Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and the latter with Faithfull herself; however, Faithfull recorded and released her versions of both songs before the Stones did. With the Stones being one of the most famous rock bands in music history, their versions of both songs are probably more famous now, though. (It didn't help that Decca Records withdrew the "Something Better"/"Sister Morphine" single in the UK after only some 500 copies had been pressed due to the drug reference in the song title. The single did remain in print in several other countries, however.)

* DrugsAreBad: "Sister Morphine." Dear God, "Sister Morphine." She also co-wrote the song (with Music/MickJagger and Music/KeithRichards; Music/TheRollingStones' version appears on ''Music/StickyFingers'', and it's a coin toss as to which is more harrowing).

* SanitySlippageSong: "Incarceration of a Flower Child" reflects on the mental collapse of former Music/PinkFloyd frontman Music/SydBarrett, having been written by bassist Music/RogerWaters shortly after Barrett's mental health issues forced the band to kick him out. Pink Floyd never recorded the song themselves, but Waters eventually gave it to Faithfull.

Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is a British singer who began her career in the Sixties. A former convent schoolgirl, she was discovered by manager Andrew Loog Oldham. Oldham gave her a song he'd co-written with the guitarist and singer [[Music/TheRollingStones for a band he was managing]]. That song, "As Tears Go By," made her a star at the age of 17 and well became her SignatureSong over the years. She made the transition from singing to acting, co-starring with Creator/AlainDelon in the movie ''Girl on a Motorcycle''. By the late 1960's, her life and career had unraveled from [[AddledAddict drug abuse]]. She attempted suicide and lost custody of her young son.

For much of the 1970's, she kept a low profile, re-emerging in 1979 with the album ''Broken English.'' The album drew from punk, reggae, and synth-rock, but the most striking change was Faithfull's voice, now deeper with a distinctive smoker's rasp. She reinvented herself yet again as [[TheChanteuse a chanteuse]] with ''Strange Weather'', an album of torch songs that included a new version of "As Tears Go By".

In the 1990's, Faithfull teamed up with [[Series/TwinPeaks Angelo Badalamenti]] for ''A Secret Life'' and recorded an English-language version of Theatre/TheSevenDeadlySins as well as several other Brecht / Weill songs. She continues her career as a singer/songwriter and interpreter well into the 21st century.

* {{Determinator}}: Faithfull by the late 1970's. After spending a decade strung out, she went into the studio to make ''Broken English,'' her acclaimed comeback. She recalled later, "I thought I was going to die, that this was my last chance to make a record. I'm going to show you bastards who I am."

* {{Jazz}} and {{Blues}}: From the late 1970's and 1980's on she reinvented herself as a crooner in this genre. Seeing that she lived through quite some troubles in her own life, it fit the style perfectly.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Marianne Faithfull is in fact her real name. She has also inherited her mother's baronial title, becoming Baroness von Sacher-Masoch (though she doesn't use it). Incidentally, she is also the great-grand-niece of ''Literature/VenusInFurs'' author Creator/LeopoldVonSacherMasoch, from whose name we get the English word ''masochism'' (much to the dismay of Leopold himself, who was a well-respected man of letters in his lifetime).

* SmokyVoice: Probably the most famous female example in music history.[[note]]If Music/JanisJoplin doesn't count, at least - she may not be a straight example, if only because she sadly [[AuthorExistenceFailure didn't live long enough to become one]].[[/note]] Music/{{Metallica}} even brought her in to sing on their 1997 single "The Memory Remains" because of it!

* CoverVersion: At least two of her well-known songs, "As Tears Go By" and "Sister Morphine", [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zag]] or {{subvert|edTrope}} the trope. Both were co-written by Music/MickJagger and Music/KeithRichards of Music/TheRollingStones, the former with Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and the latter with Faithfull herself; however, Faithfull recorded and released her versions of both songs before the Stones did. With the Stones being one of the most famous rock bands in music history, their versions of both songs are probably more famous now, though. (It didn't help that Decca Records withdrew the "Something Better"/"Sister Morphine" single in the UK after only some 500 copies had been pressed due to the drug reference in the song title.)

* CoverVersion: At least two of her well-known songs, "As Tears Go By" and "Sister Morphine", [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zag]] or {{subvert|edTrope}} the trope. Both were co-written by Music/MickJagger and Music/KeithRichards of Music/TheRollingStones, the former with Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and the latter with Faithfull herself; however, Faithfull recorded and released her versions of both songs before the Stones did. With the Stones being one of the most famous rock bands in music history, their versions of both songs are probably more famous now, though.

* SmokyVoice: Probably the most famous female example in music history. Music/{{Metallica}} even brought her in to sing on their 1997 single "The Memory Remains" because of it!

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Marianne Faithfull is in fact her real name. She has also inherited her mother's baronial title, becoming Baroness von Sacher-Masoch (though she doesn't use it). Incidentally, she is also the great-grand-niece of ''Literature/VenusInFurs'' author Creator/LeopoldVonSacherMasoch, from whose name we get the English word ''masochism''.

* DrugsAreBad: "Sister Morphine." Dear God, "Sister Morphine." She also co-wrote the song.

* {{Jazz}} and {{Blues}}: From the late 1970's and 1980's on she reinvented herself as a crooner in this genre. Seeing that she lived through quite some troubles in her own life it fit the style perfectly.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Marianne Faithfull is in fact her real name. She has also inherited her mother's baronial title, becoming Baroness von Sacher-Masoch (though she doesn't use it).