Faithfull back on tour after recovery from breast cancer

The Sixties icon Marianne Faithfull has made a full recovery from breast cancer and will resume performing next spring.

Faithfull, 59, a former heroin addict and heavy smoker, was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in September, forcing the postponement of her US and Europe tour.

Her spokesman said yesterday that, following surgery, she had made a full recovery and no further treatment was necessary, due to the early diagnosis of the condition.

The singer and actress said in a statement: "It has been an extraordinary experience and, in many ways, extremely positive. I didn't realise how many true friends I had. I feel so lucky and loved and thank everybody for all their good thoughts." Her tour will open in Budapest in March next year.

Faithfull came to fame as a teenager in the 1960s after being discovered by Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones manager, among the audience at a Stones performance. She had her first hit with the Mick Jagger/Keith Richard's composition, As Tears Go By, and subsequently had a lengthy relationship with Jagger.

After their relationship broke down she became a heroin addict, but staged a comeback with the album Broken English in 1979 and has since made a number of records. Faithfull, who also appears in the recent Sofia Coppola film Marie Antoinette, has undergone at least one further period of treatment for addiction and two years ago was forced to cancel a tour after collapsing with exhaustion.

Her recovery follows that of Kylie Minogue, who will resume performing this weekend in Australia, following her own treatment breast cancer.