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emotionalbarbecue
Marianne Faithfull's Survival Tactics
The singer, who cleverly turned her stumbles into a mythical career, would have been overwhelmed by so much Kyrie eleison.
Diego A. Manrique
February 3, 2025 - 05:34 CET
Let's see... how to explain it without offending anyone? It's impossible to pinpoint details when death bestows that final halo of sainthood, aside from the conventional notion that considers it "bad manners" to point out inconsistencies in official biographies. I suspect that Marianne Faithfull wouldn't have shared such prejudices. She had a sharp tongue and, in truth, was a tremendous snob. During a visit to Madrid, staying in a luxury suite, she was outraged to learn that David Beckham had once lived in the same hotel, perhaps even the same room: "Beckham, the footballer? How awful. If it had been Beckett, the playwright..."
She approached her career with a certain frivolity. On another visit to Spain, she cut short her recital at a theater. Force majeure? No, she was simply in a hurry to attend the after-party of her friends from the band Blur, who were playing at a large venue that same night. Too often, her habits and social agenda took precedence over her professional commitments. When she was rediscovered as a powerful supporting actress in the 1990s, it was conveniently overlooked that in earlier decades, she had explicitly rejected that profession. In the '60s and early '70s, Marianne did theater and television but generally refused leading roles in films that required weeks or months of filming away from her usual circle.
It was easier for Marianne to stand out as a singer. As soon as she appeared on the pop scene in London, Andrew Loog Oldham captured her with his characteristic bluntness: "An angel with big tits." The Rolling Stones' manager knew how to craft her a compelling narrative—connections to the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, convent education, early marriage, a virginal folk singer... all abandoned for Mick Jagger. A relationship that would forever define Faithfull’s image. In reality, her personal life was far more complex: affairs with celebrities, abortions, suicide attempts, bitter experiences. And a fundamental contradiction: the reputation of being a promiscuous creature, when in fact, she later admitted that she had spent decades intimidated by sexuality. She once recalled flirting with Bob Dylan but backing out at the last moment.
Marianne’s 1970s were mythologized by her biographer, David Dalton, with full complicity from the protagonist. Her time as a homeless person and squatter in Soho or Chelsea was exaggerated. A highly effective safety net was always in place to protect her—for instance, enrolling her in the National Health Service’s addiction program, which granted her free access to high-quality heroin. However, she refused to sign up for Britain's unemployment benefits; some see this as a gesture of patrician arrogance, though perhaps she was simply receiving income from albums (Masques, Rich Kid Blues, Dreamin’ My Dreams, Faithless) and films made during those years.
Mick Jagger was not one of her benefactors, unlike Chris Blackwell. The founder of Island Records signed her in 1978, subsidizing her until the release of the brutal Broken English. Blackwell knew how to handle difficult artists and excused Marianne’s tendency toward turbulent relationships with men who meddled in her music and career (one of them, François Ravard, even co-authored a second “autobiography” of the diva). As a consequence, she shifted between residences in the United States, Ireland, and continental Europe; London was not among her favorite places ("too many paparazzi"), despite the fact that her half-brother, her only son Nicholas, and her grandchildren lived there.
Mercury
She eventually returned to the British capital, where she formed a duo with another fiery satellite expelled from the Stones' orbit, Anita Pallenberg. According to Marianne, they were "fabulous beasts" ready to intimidate. Adored by hip society, she demanded limousines for transportation and insisted on being treated like a baroness ("just like my mother"), perhaps as an antidote to her fear of poverty.
An exaggerated fear—she owned real estate in several major cities. Contrary to her reputation as a dilettante, she worked hard: she released over a dozen albums after being rescued by Chris Blackwell, demonstrating a keen instinct for collaborators. And her performance schedule was reasonably intense, despite her illnesses and accidents. Moreover, she gave great interviews, often including a jab at Mick Jagger. And, not coincidentally, she would then proceed to praise Keith Richards, who played a key role in helping her reclaim credit for Sister Morphine. She enjoyed telling the story, laughing: "My love affairs always leave a trail."
source [elpais.com]
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Bliss
I think it's wrong to speak ill of the dad; after all, they can't defend themselves.
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Bliss
Sorry for typo!