The British pop star, muse, libertine and old soul who inspired and helped write some of the Rolling Stones’ greatest songs and endured as a torch singer and survivor of the lifestyle she once

A fresh-faced singer in the 1960s, she went on to experience more than her share of hard times before emerging triumphant in the ’70s.

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