Faithfull: An iconic '60s figure

Faithfull was the muse of Mick Jagger in the late 60s

Gravelly-voiced Marianne Faithfull first found fame in the 1960s as the muse of Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger - but has emerged as an iconic artist in her own right.

Born in Hampstead, north London, in 1946, the convent-educated singer began her musical career aged only 17, after being discovered by the Rolling Stones' then-manager Andrew Loog Oldham at a party.

She had a hit on both sides of the Atlantic with the song As Tears Go By, which was penned by the Stones' Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, who she began having a long-running relationship with.

More hits followed, including orchestral pop classics such as Summer Night, This Little Bird, and Jackie De Shannon's Come and Stay with Me, but her career was often overlooked in favour of her relationship with Jagger.

Though she did not write her own material at first, she co-wrote the track Sister Morphine with Jagger, a song that would something of a trademark.

Film roles

Faithfull became legendary for her partying. She was once found wearing nothing but a rug during a police search of Stones guitarist Richards' house in 1967.

As well as her singing career. Faithfull also appeared on stage - notably in a London production of Chekhov's The Three Sisters - and in the title role of the 1968 film Girl on a Motorcycle.

Her 1979 album Broken English is regarded as a classic

After her relationship with Jagger ended, a bereft Faithfull ducked out of the public eye after a failed suicide attempt. The end of the relationship has been credited as part of the inspiration to the Stones' 1971 classic Wild Horses, though Jagger has since denied this.

She spent two years living on the streets of London in the 1970s, addicted to heroin. In 1976 she was living in a Chelsea squat without hot water or electricity.

In a 2002 interview with BBC News, she said her drug addiction was "healing".

"It wasn't glamorous, but I was really hurt. I was in agony and I healed myself as best I could. One of the ways was with drugs, because they are painkillers," she said.

Landmark album

"It was all too much for me. I really didn't like my gilded cage so I read the Naked Lunch and I thought this is the opposite of the gilded cage - whoopee! I really didn't think I was going to do it but when the chance came I grabbed it."

She emerged back into the music scene, in 1976, releasing the album Dreamin' My Dreams, a country-flavoured record.

In 1979, she released the landmark album of her career, Broken English, which included her own take on John Lennon's Working Class Hero in a voice that had become a husky, atmospheric drawl.

Faithfull continued to record and tour through the 1990s

Her music career was revitalised after this album, and the 1980s saw her release five more albums, including 1987's Strange Weather, a collection of standards given brooding treatment.

During the 1990s, she released the acclaimed live album Blazing Away, and in 1994 published her autobiography, Faithfull, which gave her account of her experiences in the 1960s and 70s.

In 2003, Faithfull starred in a critically-lauded version of Robert Wilson's play The Black Rider in London and San Francisco.

A year later, she collaborated with singer-songwriter PJ Harvey to write and record Before the Poison, which also boasted tracks featuring Nick Cave and Damon Albarn.

"I've always wanted to do good work, have a really great time and have a wonderful life - I've done that," she told the BBC in 2002. "What I've never put into the equation, unfortunately, is 'make a lot of money'."