Marianne Faithfull was a succesful folk singer in the 1960’s, who rose to prominence through her music, and as the girlfriend of Mick Jagger from 1966-1970. However, in the 1970’s, drug problems came to overshadow her accomplishments.
In a recent interview with MOJO, Faithfull opens up about her relationship to heroin dealer Jean de Breiteuil, and how Breiteuil’s heroin was responsible for Jim Morrison’s overdose. Faithfull was previously asked “why did you kill Jim Morrison?,” and is finally ready to tell the story, saying, “I didn’t kill Jim Morrison. But I know who did.”
Faithfull explains that when she and Breiteuil visited Morrison’s apartment in Paris, the now-infamous 17 Rue Beautreillis, she had a bad feeling about the encounter.
“I could intuitively feel trouble,” she tells MOJO. “I thought, I’ll take a few Tuinal and I won’t be there. And he went to see Jim Morrison and killed him. I mean I’m sure it was an accident. Poor bastard. The smack was too strong? Yeah. And he died. And I didn’t know anything about this. Anyway, everybody connected to the death of this poor guy is dead now. Except me.”
Jim Morrison died on July 3, 1971, and is buried in Paris.
Faithfull’s MOJO interview even discusses the late Amy Winehouse, who Faithfull had contacted before her death. Faithfull says, “Amy was very, very wary of me. She knew that I knew and she didn’t want me to say anything. There’s a level of narcissism which is all mixed up with self-hatred. I know it well. It’s like a glass wall between you and the world, so that all the love that everybody pours onto you, you don’t feel it. But I can’t think what I could have done apart from take her and [shouts] shake her! ‘You stupid little c**t! Wake up!’”
While very confessional in nature, the interview was meant to publicize Faithfull’s new album, Give My Love to London, which is due out on September 29th. The album marks her 50th year as a recording artist.
-David Melamed (@DMelamz)