UNITED KINGDOM: 1960'S GIRLFRIEND OF MICK JAGGER, MARIANNE FAITHFULL PROMOTES HER NEW ALBUM "KISSIN TIME"

Record ID: 899292

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: 1960'S GIRLFRIEND OF MICK JAGGER, MARIANNE FAITHFULL PROMOTES HER NEW ALBUM "KISSIN TIME"
  • Date: 10th March 2002
  • Summary: LONDON, UK (MARCH 10, 2002) (REUTERS - PERFORMANCE CLEARANCE FOR RESALE) FAITHFULL PERFORMING "STRANGE WEATHER"
  • Embargoed: 6th July 2005 21:01
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UK AND SYDNEY AUSTRALIA
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA9OOD9OXI3BXRTORIIY0UC8XI2
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Marianne Faithfull became embedded in the public consciousness as the wild child girlfriend of Mick Jagger who sank into the depths of heroin addiction at the tail end of the 60's. But unlike many of her contemporaries, Faithfull found the strength to fight back and by the end of the seventies was a successful recording artist - and she's still going strong. He new album "Kissin Time" sees her collaborate with some of music's hottest young talent and is delighting her loyal fans, as well as winning her an army of new ones.
    The list of co-writers for "Kissin Time" reads like a Who's Who of recent musical genius, Jarvis Cocker, Damon Albarn, Beck and Billy Corgan have all collaborated with "La Faithfull" to create this critically acclaimed album. The first single, a piece written with Beck with a video starring super-waif Kate Moss and directed by Roman Copolla is "Sex with Strangers". Faithfull claims this high profile guest list is part of the album's essence.
    "It's connected to the whole album, it's all about friends and love, Kate's been a friend of mine since she was 19, Roman Coppola is a friend, it seemed very natural, like the whole record really, to work with people that love me and that I loved, that has been the whole way that it has been done."
    From her early days as a fleeting pop star and minor actress, and most importantly her drug-scandal ridden involvement with Rolling Stone Mick Jagger, Faithfull embodied an era. She disputes comments that she is an icon, preferring to lay the emphasis on her body of work which truly began with her comeback album, Broken English in 1979. These days she finds that working with a younger generation of artists frees her from the ties of her past.
    "Well, I think it's because they come to me without any baggage, they don't have any, they don't care about the past, they don't know about it, they weren't even born, so they come without any preconceived ideas, most of my young friends are actually they children of my actual friends, my contemporaries who are still my friends, I am just not a celebrity. I am a working artist, I know that however anyone else sees me, because I have had to think this out very carefully, that that whole celebrity icon stuff, I am not putting it down in any way, it's fine, but it's not my movie, that's their move, and I am going to stay in mine."
    Faithfull has a new band, who got their first outing at a concert at the Barbican in London. Performing a mixture of recent and older tracks as well as a selection of tracks from her new album, Faithfull treated the gig as a warm up for her up-coming world tour, and was pleased with the results.
    "It was our first night, it was slightly shambolic, but I was very pleased with it, I enjoyed it tremendously, once we got rid of that horrible noise, which, whatever they say, if you are a musician it is impossible to work with, you cannot work with it, it has to be gone, and I know musicians who would have walked off and never come back, quite a lot of them.
    She was joined on stage by Marc Ribot, Will Oldham, and at the end of the show, Jarvis Cocker and members of Pulp.
    Although she would have liked to have Beck, Billy Corgan and Damon Albarn there, she didn't think it was a realistic aim.
    "I can tell you, you are never going to get all those guys on the same stage, it wouldn't work, it was wonderful to have Jarvis and Steve and Mark, it was wonderful to have Mark Ribot, it was wonderful to have Will Oldham, but there is such a thing as too many musicians on the same stage.
    One of the stand-out tracks on Kissin Time is Sliding Through Life On Charm, a quote from her autobiography which she suggested Jarvis Cocker turn into a song, this he did with his customary aplomb.
    "Cause I knew he would get it, and I had no idea what he was going to do with it, and I would never presume to tell him either, that's why when he said, any other information? I said no, but I just knew that he would understand the slightly twisted, and he did."
    After her split with Jagger, Faithfull found herself falling into heroin addiction, and spent much of the seventies on the streets in London's Soho, sleeping in homeless hostels.
    She refuses to dwell on her past problems and after writing a frank account of those days in her 1995 autobiography "Faithfull" now rarely talks about them.
    "I never get this thing about my hard life, I know I have had some hard times, but I have had a wonderful life, and the hard times have just made me appreciate how lucky I am and how happy I am now."
    Faithfull was fortunate, and after beginning to work again and having a string of successful records, she finally kicked the habit for good in the late 80's. Unlike many reformed addicts, she doesn't preach.
    "I don't give advice, that's what I don't do, rule one, don't give advice. My advice is very very simple, don't take heroin and don't smoke crack. That's all."
    After living in Ireland for some time, and stating frequently that she has no intention to leave, Faithfull will in fact be on the move soon.
    "I mean, it is really, as usual totally practical, it always is, we have to get out of our flat by the 31st May, and so I though while I am young enough and strong enough, I'll be a gypsy for two years and hopefully make some money and then maybe buy a humble shack somewhere with a garden, cause I still don't own anything, not even a car, not that I even want one, but you know, it's sort of time for La Faithfull to get a garden, at least a vegetable garden, and some roses and something, cause I am not going to be tottering on stage when I am 80. I am really not, I am not that addicted to it, I love it but I know there is going to be a moment to gracefully leave the stage."
    The reception to London's concert suggests that it will be a sad day when the woman who calls herself La Faithfull finally calls it a day.
    -----ENDS----
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