From 1964. So beautiful. So doomed.
RELATED: Faithfull began her singing career in 1964, landing her first gigs as a folk music performer in coffeehouses.[9] She soon began taking part in London’s exploding social scene. In early 1964 she attended a Rolling Stones launch party with John Dunbar and met Andrew Loog Oldham, who discovered her. Her first major release, “As Tears Go By“, was written by Jagger, Richards and Oldham, and became a chart success. She then released a series of successful singles, including “This Little Bird”, “Summer Nights” and “Come and Stay With Me”.[9] Faithfull married artist John Dunbar on 6 May 1965 in Cambridge with Peter Asher as the best man.[2] The couple lived in a flat at 29 Lennox Gardens in Belgravia just off Knightsbridge, London SW1.[2] On 10 November 1965 she gave birth to their son, Nicholas.[2] She then “left her husband to live with Mick Jagger”.[2]
In 1966 she took their son to stay with Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg in London. During that time period, Faithfull started smoking marijuana and became best friends with Pallenberg. She also began a much publicized
relationship with Mick Jagger that same year. The couple became notorious and largely part of the hip Swinging London scene. She was found wearing only a fur rug by police executing a drug search at Richards’ house in West Wittering, Sussex. In an interview 27 years later with A.M. Homes for Details, Faithfull discussed her wilder days and admitted that the drug bust fur rug incident had ravaged her personal life: “It destroyed me. To be a male drug addict and to act like that is always enhancing and glamorising. A woman in that situation becomes a slut and a bad mother”. In 1968 Faithfull, by now addicted to cocaine, miscarried a daughter (whom she had named Corrina) while retreating to Jagger’s country house in Ireland.[9][10]
Faithfull’s involvement in Jagger’s life would be reflected in some of the Rolling Stones’ best known songs. “Sympathy for the Devil“, featured on the album Beggars Banquet (1968), was in part inspired by The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov, a book which Faithfull introduced him to. The song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” on the Let It Bleed album (1969) was supposedly written about Faithfull; the songs “Wild Horses” and “I Got the Blues” on the 1971 album Sticky Fingers were also allegedly influenced by Faithfull, and she co-wrote “Sister Morphine“. (The writing credit for the song was the subject of a protracted legal battle; the resolution of the case has Faithfull listed as co-author of the song.) In her autobiography, Faithfull said Jagger and Richards released it in their own names so that her agent did not collect all the royalties and proceeds from the song, especially as she was homeless and battling with heroin addiction at the time. Faithfull appeared in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus concert, giving a solo performance of “Something Better”.[9] According to Graham Nash his song Carrie Anne by the Hollies is about that time in her life as well. The Beatles‘s 1966 song “And Your Bird Can Sing” on the Revolver album may have been written about her.[11] Faithfull ended her relationship with Jagger in May 1970, and she lost custody of her son in that same year, which led to her attempting suicide.[9] Faithfull’s personal life went into decline, and her career went into a tailspin. MORE