Marianne Faithfull obituary: The Rolling Stones' muse who was one of the most recognisable figures of the 60s

She released her self-titled debut album in 1965, which featured top 10 hits As Tears Go By and Come And Stay With Me, at the same time as follow-up LP Come My Way, which was largely made up of folk covers.

In 1966, she began a relationship with Jagger, following his split from model and actress Chrissie Shrimpton.

During her time with Jagger, Faithfull co-wrote Sister Morphine with him and Richards, which featured on the Rolling Stones’ 1971 album Sticky Fingers, releasing her own version in 1969 featuring guitarist Ry Cooder and Jack Nitzsche on piano.

She was credited as a writer on the initial Decca release of her own version, but omitted from later releases prompting a legal dispute which eventually saw her credited on both the Stones and her own reissues.

It has also been claimed that Faithfull inspired Stones songs including Let It Bleed song You Can’t Always Get What You Want and Dear Doctor from 1968’s Beggars Banquet, while it has also been reported that The Beatles’ And Your Bird Can Sing was inspired by her and Jagger’s relationship.

Faithfull appeared as part of the withheld concert film The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus, filmed in 1968 and intended to be aired on the BBC.

The film was not released until 1996, and features the singer performing the song Something Better.

In 1968, she suffered a miscarriage of her and Jagger’s child, the first of three she would have during her lifetime.

Following her split with Jagger in 1970, Faithfull spent two years on the streets of Soho while addicted to heroin before living in a squat.

She returned to music releasing the new wave-influenced album Broken English in 1979, which was nominated for a Grammy Award, and is now regarded as a classic.

Faithfull went on to re-invent herself in 1987 as a jazz and blues singer with the critically acclaimed Strange Weather, and in the same decade went into rehab.

Her final album was an experimental collaboration with Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds’ Australian multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, called She Walks In Beauty (2021).

It came after she had enjoyed a resurgence in popularity after she was said to be admired by the likes of Kate Moss and Courtney Love. She had collaborated with Jarvis Cocker, PJ Harvey and Damon Albarn on other albums.

In addition to her music career, Faithfull also acted in films including psychedelic erotic thriller The Girl On A Motorcycle with French actor Alain Delon, as well as theatre productions.

One of her earliest films was I’ll Never Forget What’s ‘Is Name (1967), alongside Orson Welles, and she recently provided the voice of Bene Gesserit Ancestor in Dune (2021).

She made a guest appearance as God in the TV sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, with actress Anita Pallenberg, the former girlfriend of Stones members Brian Jones and Keith Richards, playing the Devil.

Faithfull suffered from ill health in her later years.

In 2006, it was announced that she had made a full recovery from breast cancer. Doctors in France had diagnosed the disease in September, forcing the star to postpone her world tour.

She released her self-titled autobiography in 1994, and went on to work on two more books about her life.

In 2011, she was awarded the Commandeur Of The Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres, one of France’s highest cultural honours.

She married and divorced three times: to the artist John Dunbar in 1965, to Ben Brierly of punk band the Vibrators in 1979, and to the actor Giorgio Della Terza in 1988. She is survived by her son, Nicholas Dunbar.