Songs of Innocence and Experience

Much of the coverage of the passing of Marianne Faithfull has focused on her private life rather than her music. That is understandable—yet it's also regrettable because it misses the important fact that for 60 years, Faithfull produced an impressive catalog of music, releasing 21 solo studio albums plus collaborations, compilations, and live recordings.

- BY PHIL BRETT

To oversimplify, her career can be divided in two periods. The first, which received most of the attention in obituaries, was in the 1960s, when she was a face of the British Invasion. In the mid-'60s, with her soft, folky voice and very English pop, she enjoyed several US hits including "As Tears Go By" and "Come and Stay with Me," both from her self-titled 1965 debut album, though "As Tears Go By" was released as a single in 1964. The other charting singles were "This Little Bird" and "Summer Nights," both from her second album, The World of Marianne Faithfull. ("Go Away from My World," from the same album, also charted in the US—barely.)

My interest in Marianne Faithfull didn't begin with her personal life or her '60s successes. Until the late '70s, I hardly knew who she was. At first she was of interest to me only because of her duet with David Bowie, a 1973 version of Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe," Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust persona and Faithfull dressed as a nun.

My interest in Faithfull expanded in 1979, when I plus more than a million others took home Broken English, which relaunched her career.