UK-MARIANNE FAITHFULL Sixties star Marianne Faithfull says her behaviour was 'incredibly self-destructive'

Record ID: 190410

  • Title: UK-MARIANNE FAITHFULL Sixties star Marianne Faithfull says her behaviour was 'incredibly self-destructive'
  • Date: 24th September 2014
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (SEPTEMBER 22, 2014) (REUTERS) SINGER, MARIANNE FAITHFULL SPEAKING TO REPORTER SOUNDBITE (English) SINGER, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, SAYING: "My incredibly self destructive behaviour particularly. No I didn't expect to be here." Reporter: "So, you are though." "I am, yes. As far as chasing my death's concerned I failed. Thank God. You know I'm very glad I did." FAITHFULL'S HANDS SOUNDBITE (English) SINGER, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, SAYING: "I had a long time to prepare for this and I had a long time when I broke my back last year. I broke my sacrum in four parts so there I was lying in my bed in Paris for six months, you know, all I could do really was think." CLOSE OF FAITHFULL SOUNDBITE (English) SINGER, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, SAYING: "I just went very, very deep inside and thought very, very carefully about everything and you know I think I may have never done that before properly like that. So it was obviously time to do that. To work out what I really liked, what I didn't like. Who I loved, who I didn't love. Who I cared about, who I really couldn't care less about."
  • Embargoed: 9th October 2014 13:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2K4WOUKIO15912HATW97V62EA
  • Story Text: Iconic singer Marianne Faithfull's career in the music industry has spanned 50 years, but her "self destructive" behaviour, including a history of drug abuse, meant that "(she) didn't expect to be here."
    "As far as chasing my own death's concerned, I failed," said in an interview on Monday (September 22) , adding, "You know I'm very glad I did."
    Faithfull is marking her half century in the business with a new album - 'Give My Love To London' - which is her 20th LP, as well as a world tour.
    Faithfull described it as a "typical Marianne Faithfull record". She explains that a serious back injury allowed her time to really think about the subject matter of the record. "I broke my sacrum in four parts so there I was lying in my bed in Paris for six months, you know, all I could do really was think." She continued, "I just went very, very deep inside and thought very, very carefully about everything and you know I think I may have never done that before properly like that. So it was obviously time to do that. To work out what I really liked, what I didn't like. Who I loved, who I didn't love. Who I cared about, who I really couldn't care less about."
    The record features an impressive list of studio collaborators including Roger Waters, Nick Cave, Brian Eno, and 2014 Mercury Prize nominee Anna Calvi. The record was mixed by U2 producer, Flood.
    Speaking from a suite in London celebrity haunt, The Chiltern Firehouse, Faithfull describes her track 'Mother Wolf' as the angriest song she has ever written in her life. "Mother Wolf does not think much of this planet, at all. She thinks that human beings are appalling - the way they treat each other, kill each other for nothing - you know, religion for God's sake; the way they treat animals; the way they treat, mostly I think the most awful thing is the way we treat the planet," clarifying that she is Mother Wolf.
    Reflecting on her career trajectory, and the foundations that it was built on, she said, "My time in the Sixties with Mick and Keith and Charlie and all that, it was, and Jimmy Miller, and Pete Townshend and John and Paul and all the people I used to hang out with and go to their sessions too, a lot. I was learning. It was exactly the period I would have been in university but instead of going to university I went down to Pete Townshend's recording sessions, or Paul McCartney's recording sessions or The Rolling Stones' recording sessions and they were my friends and that was my university and those were my masters."
    Faithfull's tour opens on October 11 in Stuttgart, Germany. She plays the Royal Festival Hall, in London, on November 29.
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