Dec. 29: Marianne Faithfull, "As Tears Go By," is 64 today.

Born in Hampstead, London, Marianne Evelyn Faithfull's career has spanned over four decades. Her early work in pop and rock music in the 1960s was overshadowed by her struggle with drug abuse in the 1970s.

After a long absence, she returned late in 1979 with the landmark album, Broken English. Over her 45 year career, she released 23 albums as a singer, songwriter and interpreter.

From 1966 to 1970, she had a highly-publicized romantic relationship with Rolling Stones' lead singer, Mick Jagger. She co-wrote "Sister Morphine" which is featured on the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers album.

Marianne has roots in nobility Her mother, Eva von Sacher-Masoch, Baroness Erisso, was originally from Vienna, with aristocratic roots in the Habsburg Dynasty. The Baroness was a ballerina for the Max Reinhardt Company during her early years, and danced in productions of works by the German theatrical duo Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.

Faithfull's maternal great great uncle was Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the 19th century Austrian nobleman whose erotic novel, Venus in Furs, spawned the word "masochism."

Faithfull began her singing career in 1964, performing folk music in coffeehouses. Faithfull took part in London's exploding social scene. Her first major release, "As Tears Go By," was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and became a chart success.

She then released a series of successful singles, including "This Little Bird," "Summer Nights" and "Come and Stay With Me."

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In addition to writing "Sister Morphine," Faithfull's involvement with Mick Jagger was reflected in some of the Rolling Stones' best known songs. "Sympathy for the Devil," featured on the album Beggars Banquet, was in part inspired by The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov, a book which Faithfull gave to Jagger.

The song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" on the Let It Bleed album was written about Faithfull; the songs "Wild Horses" and "I Got the Blues" on the 1971 album Sticky Fingers were also influenced by Faithfull.

In 1994, she published an autobiography, entitled Faithfull, in which she discusses her early life, career, drug addictions, experimentation with bisexuality and significant relationships with her parents, the various Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. In 2007, Faithfull released a second volume of her autobiography called Memories, Dreams and Reflections.

On November 4, 2007, the European Film Academy announced that Faithfull had received a nomination for Best Actress, for her role as Maggie in Irina Palm. (she lost to Helen Mirren.)