Love: I was incredibly sick and I almost died of anemia. How has the last year been for both of you? I wanted to be more in his life and in my grandchildren’s lives. I came back because Nicholas asked me to, and I realized that he had never got enough of me. My family are all here, and I have friends here. I don’t like TMZ.įaithfull: I’m from London. I would like to buy a house here if I can. It’s from a village elder point of view: This stuff happened. Love: I’ve been here about 18 months, and I have an artist visa.

You’re both living in London at the moment… “She was like, ‘We’re going to do this for Hal.’ And she got better. “Bono called Marianne in the hospital on Zoom and literally she rose up,” says Love. Love visited her to talk about poetry, reputation and their mutual friend Hal Willner, a prolific producer who first worked with Faithfull on her 1987 album “Strange Weather” and died from COVID-19 complications in April 2020. Despite her illness, she has managed to complete her 21st solo album, “She Walks in Beauty,” which features 11 of her favorite 19th-century poems (by Keats, Shelley, Byron) set to music by Cave collaborator Warren Ellis. Her husky charisma has since made her a magnet for alt-rock mavericks including Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and Beck.Ĭurrently experiencing the long-term effects of an almost fatal COVID-19 infection last year, Faithfull uses an oxygen mask to breathe and suffers from chronic fatigue. Friends since the 1990s, they seem both fond and protective of one another when they meet in Faithfull’s west London apartment one April afternoon, surrounded by antique furniture, oil paintings, memorabilia and piles of books.įaithfull first attained celebrity as a member of the Rolling Stones’ inner circle at the height of their 1960s notoriety - in her hallway hangs a collage of newspaper cuttings from the infamous 1967 Redlands drugs bust of Jagger and Keith Richards, a gift from pop artist Richard Hamilton - but wasn’t taken seriously as a musician in her own right until her 1979 album “Broken English” set her on the path to cult status.

Faithfull, 74, has the regal air of a daughter of English privilege, while Love, 56, has a scrappy, mile-a-minute energy that reflects her chaotic, hardscrabble upbringing and punk-rock adolescence. Yet their origins could hardly be more different. Both have weathered addiction, rough handling from the media and the music industry and the challenge of establishing their own artistry in the shadow of famous partners: Mick Jagger and Kurt Cobain, respectively. Marianne Faithfull and Courtney Love are two of rock music’s great survivors. Courtney Love, left, and Marianne Faithfull.

Almost Royalty by Courtney Hamilton