She may not say she's a dyke, but Marianne Faithfull's had her fair share of Sapphic dalliances. How many of us can claim to have been seduced at the tender age of 17, by a beautiful 16-year-old Indian girl after popping a Tuinol or two? Lovemaking on acid with the girlfriend of British actor James Fox, a night with a Moroccan prostitute called Yasmin in Tangiers, a rumoured fling with Rolling Stones muse Anita Pallenberg and an affair with the lesbian flatmate of Chelsea's queen drug dealer in London in 1979 would surely qualify her for the title of 'honorary lesbian'.
The wide-eyed, beautiful and innocent looking Faithfull shot to fame at 17 in the 1960s after the Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham dubbed her an 'angel with big tits' and locked Keith Richards and Mick Jagger in a room and forced them to write a song for her, the beginning of a series of hits.
She then put her singing career on hold and became more famous for being Jagger's girlfriend and taking recreational drugs. A drugs bust in 1967 where police walked in on her naked except for a fur rug after she'd been tripping all day with friends, including Jagger began an infamous rumour that he had been eating a Mars Bar out of her vagina. The incident marked the beginning of her fall from grace.
After sinking into heroin addiction and living on the streets of Soho in London (a period she now refers to as 'healing') Faithfull released her critically acclaimed album Broken English in 1979, unleashing her rage at the world and dumping the good girl image forever.
After coming off heroin in 1985 she released a few more albums, including Vagabond Ways and Strange Weather, which officially confirmed her as queen of the dark realm, and her latest effort Kissin Time is an eclectic mix of tunes done in collaboration with such stars as Beck, Blur and Pulp.
These days, 57-year-old Faithfull has reached legend status and is forthright in her opinions. The gravelly voiced diva may not call herself a feminist, but her words suggest she is. She pulls no punches in interviews when she denounces men's hatred of women and tells them to get over it.
She also cites 'gay women who worship the goddess' as being very important influences in her life, such as the wild witch who lived in a cave with a pet fox, and Faithfull herself has the dubious honour of being denounced by the Vatican press as a witch.
On the music business and how it treats women, she is equally blunt, arguing that things have changed very little for female artists over the years.
She hates the word 'survivor' and thinks of herself more as a winner. After coming through decades of decadence with such a flair and wonderful sense of camp, there are few that would doubt that.

Marianne Faithfull will perform at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney 4&5 February and at the Tivoli Theatre, Brisbane 6 February.

Lesbians on the Loose (LOTL) is an Australian magazine covering New South Wales and Queensland. For more information visit the magazine's website at www.lotl.com