Marianne Faithfull, an icon of British rock in the 1960s whose career went on to stretch seven decades, is dead at 78. Faithfull died “peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family,” a spokesperson told the BBC.

Marianne Faithfull, the songstress who helped spur music's British invasion and was a muse to the Rolling Stones, died Thursday at 78.

Born in London in 1946, Faithfull got her break when she caught the eye of Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham at a party in 1964. “He asked me, ‘Can you sing?’ And I