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| Gazza |
Marianne Faithfull: 'I've been given another life...'
By PAUL HEDERSON in Jamaica
Top: Marianne in her hey day. Below: The singer in Jamaica last week.
Marianne Faithfull awoke with a jolt. She was in a hospital bed in a Parisian clinic recovering from emergency surgery to remove a cancerous lump in her right breast.
It was one in the morning, the lights were dim, there were few staff around and the phone beside her bed was ringing.
After taking a few moments to take in all these facts, Marianne picked up the receiver and put it to her ear. The voice on the other end was unmistakable.
"Ello Marian darling. How are you?' he said in a Thames estuary drawl.
"He didn't say who he was - he didn't need to," Marianne recalls.
"No one else in the world calls me Marian - as in Maid Marian. It could only be Mick Jagger and I knew it was him right away.
"He asked me how I was and I told him I was fine and getting through it.
"We spoke for a while, like musicians do. I knew he was on a world tour and asked him where he was. He said somewhere like Miami.
"I asked how his voice was holding up. He didn't say much but I could feel his famous shoulders shrugging at the other end."
It is clear from her retelling of the story that Marianne was deeply moved to receive the call. "All the time I was thinking, this is so kind. He hadn't called me for 35 years and here he was on the phone, making sure I was OK.
"I didn't expect him to contact me and I was extremely touched that he'd made the effort to call. He's a good man.
"He loves me and I love him. The fact that our relationship ended in 1970 doesn't matter. If you love someone, you love each other for ever - it never stops.
"I found out later that Mick had phoned around agents and all my friends to get my number in the clinic. He went to a lot of trouble. That's a classy guy."
As she sits beneath the shade of a giant palm on a hotel terrace overlooking the rugged southern coast of Jamaica, it is clear that Marianne, now 60, has retained her extraordinary blue-eyed beauty despite the tell-tale wrinkles and lines bequeathed by a life lived to the limits.
Her voice is deep and husky with beautifully modulated middle-class vowels and a raucous throaty laugh - a legacy of a 40-year cigarette habit she has been unable to kick, despite her cancer diagnosis.
Even dressed-down in blue jeans and an old black T-shirt above a feminine lacy top, she has an aura of proud, if somewhat faded, grandeur.
It befits a woman who was one of the quintessential rock starlets of Sixties London before her life went so disastrously off the rails.
And of all the gossip and half-truths written about Mick Jagger over the decades, there can be no doubt that the simple act of seeking out his old girlfriend after so many years to offer a few words of encouragement as she lay in hospital is one of the most touching incidents - a gesture from one of rock's great survivors to a former lover who has led an altogether more complicated and painful life.
She was publicly disgraced after being discovered naked in a rug during an infamous police raid on a Rolling Stones party in 1967, was a pop star at 17, a married mother at 18 and a heroin addict during much of the Seventies.
As such, she endured the unutterable squalor of two years living rough on the streets of Soho before dragging her life back on track and releasing a series of bitter-sweet, commercially successful albums.
Now dividing her time between homes in Dublin and an apartment just off the Champs-Elysees in Paris - she left England in the early Eighties because she felt unable to escape her notorious past - this convent-educated daughter of an English professor and an Austrian baroness makes no bones about the fact that being diagnosed with cancer is the most frightening thing that has ever happened to her.
She has not spoken about it before but the tropical warmth, the sound of the blue Caribbean sea crashing on the rocks and the occasional sip of a cold Cuba Libre - white rum and cola - might make the experience seem somehow less terrifying.
The operation to remove the tumour six months ago has been pronounced a success, she says.
"Because they caught the cancer very early, I didn't need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. But the operation was one of those things that had to be done immediately - there was no time to wait.
"The first I knew about it was when I felt very unwell last summer. I just felt I had the blues and I couldn't explain it, so I went to see a doctor in Paris and he told me I had to have some checks.
"I was terrified when the results came back. I was told I had breast cancer, and hearing those words for someone of my age is truly frightening. When I grew up, cancer meant only one thing - death.
"A million thoughts went through my mind - I want to keep living my life, I want to see my grandchildren grow up, I want to be there for my friends, I want to be able to love and to work."
She knows that she was lucky. Lucky to seek medical advice so early. And lucky that she happened to live within a few miles of the Institut Gustave-Roussy, the world-renowned private cancer clinic where Kylie Minogue was also treated for breast cancer.
The doctors there who diagnosed Marianne's tumour decided it had been caught early enough to be dealt with by surgery alone.
The urgency of the operation meant that she had to cancel a major tour of Europe and North America last autumn.
The series of acoustic concerts, titled Songs Of Innocence And Experience, has now been rearranged, beginning next week in Budapest.
Pausing to light yet another Marlboro from a battered pack on the table in front of her, she inhales deeply and begins to ponder the sheer self-destructive folly of a cancer survivor continuing to smoke.
"I know we all die sometime, but I would like not to be stupid about it,' says Marianne. "I hardly drink and don't do drugs but I do smoke.
"I've tried everything to give up - hypnotism, acupuncture, patches - and I've read Allen Carr's book on how to stop smoking. But I've been smoking since I was 19, and so far nothing has worked. But I'm determined to kick it.
"I'm going to take a new pill when I get back to Paris to get off cigarettes. I've just turned 60, I am a singer and I am still smoking. How stupid is that? But I've been very fortunate - I have been given another life to live.
"First I was going to die and then I wasn't. Then I find out how much I am loved. The whole thing has been a lot for me to process."
Marianne also ponders the irony of the reason for her visit to what she describes as 'my favourite place on the planet' - the splendidly languid Jake's Hotel at Treasure Beach on Jamaica's south coast.
She is here to mourn the death, at 70, of the hotel's owner Perry Henzell, who also directed and co-wrote the legendary 1972 Jamaican film The Harder They Come, featuring reggae star Jimmy Cliff.
"I had to be here to mourn Perry, who died in November," she says.
"I came to help his widow Sally and her son Jason get over their bereavement and to come to terms myself with the fact that my very good friend is not here any more.
"Before he died I had a wonderful phone call from Sally and Perry goading me to come here to help my recovery. I told Perry I was fine, but now he's not here and I am very lucky to be alive.
"Perry died like I would like to die - he died in his sleep lying in bed next to Sally.
"He chose his time beautifully. His cancer was about to become unbearably painful and he told me he didn't want to go to the Jamaican premiere of his latest film, No Place Like Home, the following day."
Has her brush with cancer forced her to reassess her own life? "Sure," she says. "The first thing I want to say is that everybody must check, check, check. For men it's to check for prostate cancer and for women breast cancer."
And she admits: "I also now know I would like another ten years to work because I have never saved money. I have been appallingly bad with money and I would like to earn enough to look after myself in my old age."
Marianne reveals that she still gets stage-fright, but says: "I'm really looking forward to performing again. I'm playing at the Pigalle Club in London in two weeks' time and then at the Shepherd's Bush Empire as part of a European and North American tour. I'll release my next single in November. Life's looking great again.
"I'm even going to Budapest, which is nice because I'm half English and half Austro-Hungarian. I've inherited the title Baroness Sacher-Masoch - it comes from one of my great uncles who gave his name to masochism." This is the 19th Century aristocrat Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, infamous for his erotic novel Venus In Furs.
"I might even put it on my passport," she laughs before stopping to take a sip of Cuba Libre. "But there's no one quite like Marianne Faithfull. No one does what I do."
Indeed, even though she remains most famous for being Mick Jagger's girlfriend for five years at the height of the Swinging Sixties, for her chart-topping cover version of the Stones'.
As Tears Go By and for her part in that infamous drugs bust, it is her more recent work as a singer and actress that has brought her most satisfaction and most commercial and critical success.
But it is also clear that the pain of some of the most hurtful episodes of the Sixties is still close to the surface.
Four decades after the police raid at Keith Richards' country estate at Redlands, Surrey, in February 1967, she still seethes over the indignity of being associated with the untrue Mars bar story.
"When a woman loses her reputation at 19 she loses everything," she says angrily. "What people thought of me and the Stones was downright unfair. And I so object to the Mars bar story - it's offensive.
"Even Keith Richards has gone on record as saying it's ridiculous. He said I was too classy for that."
But has she any regrets about her tumultuous life? "Look, it wasn't my intention to hook up with Mick," she says.
"When we were together it all went by so fast. I didn't understand it. I loved this guy and hoped it would be for ever. It didn't work out, but I would not have missed it for anything. I wanted to work and do my own thing and Mick was supportive of that - well, he was of my acting. He laughed at my music, which did get better."
"But it's your job if you are with him to be Mick's consort. That's how life works out. Stuff happens and you have to deal with it.
"Of course I've got regrets," she admits, without revealing what they are. "But now I've been given a second chance. I've been to the brink and come back again.
"And, because of that, I've realised that what is most important to me now is my family and friends and my work."
She confesses that she could not return to live in Britain again. "Too much has happened there," she says. "I prefer my homes in Dublin and Paris. But I do go back to London to see my son Nicholas [from her short-lived 1965 marriage to artist John Dunbar] and my grandchildren.
"I've also realised more than ever how important friends are. When I was recovering from my operation, I really appreciated all those calls and emails and letters from Mick, Keith, Yoko Ono, John Galliano, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and Chris Blackwell [the founder of Island Records].
"They all came through for me, either to wish me well or to help me.
"And I've come to the conclusion that I can't retire - I'd croak if I did. Look at B.B. King, still on the road at the age of 81. Bob Dylan recently became the oldest man to top the American charts at 65.
"Having cancer has been one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. But life goes on - and it's up to me to make the most of it."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=439781&in_page_id=1879&in_a_source=
[Edited by Gazza] |
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| LadyJane |
Marianne is an inspiration.
I wish her continued good health and strength.
Happy Mick called, but did it take Cancer to break his silence? Men..... 
LJ. |
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| FotiniD |
I love that woman. All this grace and talent and strength. And a child-like innocence she still has, despite all. Really happy that she's doing better already. Staying under Jamaica's sun will heal all wounds!
quote:
LadyJane wrote:
Happy Mick called, but did it take Cancer to break his silence? Men.....
Well, tell me about it! Then again, Marianne didn't call either when Mick's dad died...
I've always had this completely unrealistic and naive wish that the two of them would get back together at a time like this, just after a scare, long after the sixties were gone... *sigh* Too many manga's read, that's all 
[Edited by FotiniD] |
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| Gazza |
quote:
LadyJane wrote:
Happy Mick called, but did it take Cancer to break his silence? Men.....
LJ.
its rarely as simple as that. I'd imagine the majority of women who were married to or living with someone who has a reputation as a serial shagger would feel a bit awkward about them staying in touch with an ex-girlfriend - especially one theyd lived with for several years. It works the same way in reverse too.
No reason for him to have her phone number and no real reason for him to contact her unless it was to show support on an occasion like this. Very nice gesture to do so, however.
I doubt he was too pleased with some of the stuff about him in her autobiography, either - maybe another quite reasonable excuse for not being in touch.
[Edited by Gazza] |
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| egon |
"serial shagger"
i like that. |
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| PartyDoll MEG |
quote:
egon wrote:
"serial shagger"
i like that.
You beat me, Egon..
Another one for the books..
Gazza's head must be full of these priceless expressions!! |
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| egon |
Mick "serial shagger" Jagger
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| LadyJane |
quote:
Gazza wrote:
its rarely as simple as that. I'd imagine the majority of women who were married to or living with someone who has a reputation as a serial shagger would feel a bit awkward about them staying in touch with an ex-girlfriend - especially one theyd lived with for several years. It works the same way in reverse too.
Truer words were never spoken, Gazza.
I'm glad he called to show his support.
Clearly it meant the world to her.
Time heals all wounds.
LJ. |
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| Martha |
I am so happy for her all the way around. I can only imagine how much that phone call meant. Rock on Marianne! |
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| jaggergurl |
that was a great read, thank you for posting it!! 
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| gypsy |
Thanks, Gazza!
If anyone hasn't read Marianne's autobiography yet, I highly recommend it. |
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| GotToRollMe |
quote:
LadyJane wrote:
Time heals all wounds.
LJ.
And wounds all heels! 
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| GotToRollMe |
quote:
egon wrote:
Mick "serial shagger" Jagger
Sir Michael Phillip Jagger, ss!
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| texile |
despite jagger's faults as a partner - and i imagine there are plenty - he seems to be a loyal friend. |
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| Mel Belli |
Could one of the Britons on the board explain to this Yank what "beautifully modulated middle-class vowels" are? |
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| GotToRollMe |
quote:
Gazza wrote:
"I'm even going to Budapest, which is nice because I'm half English and half Austro-Hungarian. I've inherited the title Baroness Sacher-Masoch - it comes from one of my great uncles who gave his name to masochism." This is the 19th Century aristocrat Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, infamous for his erotic novel Venus In Furs.
I had no idea she was related to Sacher-Masoch. Damn, ya learn something new every day...
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| Carol Sigmaringa |
It was the first time he called her in 35 years, but I think I read somewhere else they had met sometimes in those years.
I don't think it's been 35 years they don't talk or see each other, right?
Keith is in Jamaica? She could have made him a visit...Imagine those two together chating!
[Edited by Carol Sigmaringa] |
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| The Wick |
quote:
Mel Belli wrote:
Could one of the Britons on the board explain to this Yank what "beautifully modulated middle-class vowels" are?
I'm sure you know this, but it's just referring to the way she talks. It's hard to actually express in words what the writer means. I actually think the writer is wrong on that though because rather than middle class vowel like, she sounds like a toff.
Gazza you're a top man with some great lines, but is it me or is it just the Americans who love expressions like serial shagger? I mean it's a great way to describe him but I'm assuming your mates wouldn't bat an eyelid if you said that around them. |
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| Angiegirl |
quote:
gypsy wrote:
If anyone hasn't read Marianne's autobiography yet, I highly recommend it.
Yeah, then you'll know she's a liar; she would've been much happier to get a call from our favorite uber-pirate... |
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| no night together |
saw her singing talking, joking in milan just before she got under the knife, now I pick some of her quotes, she was jokingtalking about cancer. great marianne. |
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| jaymze |
She has always seemed like a cool and dignified lady. Glad she is doing well again. |
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