Metallica have paid their respects to Marianne Faithfull, following news of her death at age 78.
The iconic singer and actor’s representatives announced that she had “passed away peacefully in London” yesterday (January 30), “in the company of her loving family.” A number of other artists and admirers shared tributes to Faithfull, a range of which you can find here. Mick Jagger also shared a personal tribute to his former partner.
Now, Metallica have taken to Instagram to share an assortment of photos of various members with Faithfull, along with a message from drummer Lars Ulrich.
“Thank you, Marianne… For the good times, For your kindness, For the great stories, For your fearlessness … And the biggest Thank You and Fuck Yeah for your incredible and unique contribution to our music, and for always being so willing to join us in performing it … and partake in the ensuing shenanigans! Rest in Peace – Lars.”
Faithfull famously contributed vocals to the Metallica song ‘The Memory Remains’ from their 1997 ‘ReLoad’ album.
In 1998, frontman James Hetfield told CMJ New Music Monthly (via Consequence): “She had that voice that we were looking for, that weathered, smellin’-the-cigarettes-on-the-CD kinda voice. And I thought, ‘Fuck, that’s exactly what we need for this part.’”
Faithfull also performed the song alongside Metallica on a December 1997 episode of Saturday Night Live, and again during one of their 30th anniversary shows in San Francisco in 2011.
Fans have also been sharing footage from Faithfull’s final ever concert, which took place at Le Bataclan in Paris in 2016 and saw her playing a number of her best known songs, along with covers of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan.
Faithfull was a key figure in the ‘Swinging London’ arts and music scene in the ’60s, becoming one of the leading female artists during the British Invasion era. She is remembered for hits including ‘As Tears Go By’ and for her roles on stage and screen.
It was her association with The Rolling Stones, however, that drove her public profile to a significant extent. Having married the artist John Dunbar in 1965, with whom she had a son Nicholas, she left her husband for Jagger the following year, with whom she had a four-year relationship.
She is often considered to have been a “muse” for the band, and is thought to have inspired songs such as ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ and ‘Wild Horses’. She also co-wrote their song ‘Sister Morphine’, although she had to win the rights to be credited as a writer in a long legal battle years later.
In 2021, she spoke about how a near-fatal battle with COVID-19 had threatened to take away her ability to sing. She had been hospitalised in March 2020 and received 22 days of treatment, but said a year later that she was still feeling the effects.
A biopic of her life, titled Faithfull, has been in production since 2020 but has yet to be completed.
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