She first came to prominence in 1964 due to her association with The Rolling Stones (Jagger and Richards wrote her first hit.) She had a sweet but almost insubstantial voice suited to soft pop songs but by the mid 60s her singing career had stalled, in part due to a drugs scandal. She took up acting with some success though but mostly fell out of public consciousness.
Here’s Faithfull’s version of a Jackie DeShannon song that gave her her highest UK chart placing (no 4 in 1965 as compared to the no 9 achieved by As Tears Go By the year before.)
Marianne Faithfull: Come and Stay with Me
The song below is from her 1980 “comeback”* album of the same title, which is widely regarded as her best, not least by herself.
*Even if Dreamin’ my Dreams had intervened in 1976
Marianne Faithfull: Broken English
Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull: 29/12/1946 – 30/1/2025. So it goes.
For a time in the late 1980s The Housemartins were one of my favourite bands. This is reasonably unusual in their œuvre in having a tune that isn’t jaunty.
From their debut album London 0 Hull 4, it was their first ever single. It didn’t dent the charts.
Late era crooner Jack Jones died recently. He was an easy listening fixture on British TV in the late 60s and early 70s but he never had a UK hit as far as I recall.
His style of singing wasn’t to my taste in those far off years but I do remember reading (or was it on a chat show?) that when he started out his agent – or his manager – asked him if he’d ever been in love and he said “No.” “Too bad,” was the reply, since it would make him a more expressive singer of love songs.
Some time later Jones informed his agent he had finally fallen in love. To which the agent replied, “Now, if only she’d leave you.”
This is a reasonably typical example of Jones’s œuvre at that time.
Jack Jones: Wives and Lovers
The following, however, might be more familiar to those relatively younger than me.
Jack Jones: Love Boat Theme
John Allan (Jack) Jones: 14/1/1938 –23/10/2024. So it goes.
Another of the most successful songwriters of the 60s, Ken Howard, has died. Together with his songwriting partner Alan Blaikley (whose death I noted here) he wrote hits for The Honeycombs, The Herd and, most notably, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. Their songwriting list is impressive.
This was a no 4 for the latter band in 1965.
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: Hold Tight!
Later in their career Howard and Blaikley went into writing TV Themes and musicals.
This is perhaps the most familiar of those tunes.
Vejle Symfoniorkester: Miss Marple TV Theme
Kenneth Charles (Ken) Howard: 26/12/1939 – 24/12/2024. So it goes.
