For the past 50 years, Marianne Faithfull has been one of the music world’s most singular characters: a Swinging London teen icon and mid-’60s girlfriend of Mick Jagger, a notorious heroin addict who revived her career in 1979 with the landmark Broken English and, most of all, a singer with an unmistakable voice who has released some 20 albums.
Now 67, she’s marking 2014 with one of her best — September’s Give My Love to London (Naive/Easy Sound), filled with collaborations with Brian Eno, Nick Cave and more — and a fascinating photo book, A Life on Record (published Nov. 4 on Rizzoli) featuring pictures of famous friends including Allen Ginsberg, Paul McCartney and Van Morrison.
But even after compiling the book, Faithfull has lots more to say about her unexpected relationships through the years.
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SERGE GAINSBOURG
“I was 17. He asked me to do [contro-versial 1969 single] ‘Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus’ with him. I said, ‘No, man.’ In those days I could speak French. Then I had an overdose, was in a coma for six days; I woke up all right, except I couldn’t speak French anymore.”
METALLICA
“I was in Ireland, quietly living my beautiful life, and the phone rang and this voice said, ‘Hello? This is Lars [Ulrich] from Metallica.’ They wanted to fly to Dublin and record me for [1997 single] ‘The Memory Remains.’ I became great friends with them.”
ANITA PALLENBERG
“I met her with Brian Jones first, and then she and Brian took a flat. My marriage [to John Dunbar] wasn’t going well, so I used to run off there. Their relationship wasn’t going well either — and there was Keith Richards waiting to catch her. Which he did!”
ROMAN POLANSKI
“I knew him in the ’60s — I’m a huge fan of nearly all his movies. I realize that he probably was a bit crazy for a while after Sharon [Tate’s murder in 1969], but he’s perfectly all right now. Anyway, who I am to say? It’s not my business. I love Roman.”