Sir Paul McCartney is "very sad" over the death of his "lifelong friend" Marianne Faithfull

Sharing a black and white photo of them together, he wrote: "What sad news that Marianne Faithfull has passed away.

"She came into my life in the Sixties and was a beautiful, sweet 17 year old who radiated innocent joy. Then through the years I was lucky enough to run into her and to become a life-long friend.

"It's very sad to think that I won't be meeting her again but my memories of our encounters over the years will always bring me joy. May god bless you Marianne and guide you in the next steps of your journey - Paul."

Meanwhile, Blur frontman Damon Albarn recalled how he and Marianne were "quite lairy" with one another from their first meeting at a recording studio in the early 2000s.

He told The Guardian newspaper: "I think we were all in a high party mode at the time. I sat down and had quite a good banter with her straight away.

"We were quite lairy with each other. I said, 'I can sit down and write a song, a perfect song.' And she said, 'All right, well go on then.' And I sat down and I wrote the song which became 'Green Fields' in one go. I don't remember a lot more about that evening, but that's how I met her."

And though Damon admitted he hadn't seen the singer much in recent times, he always loved hanging out with her and getting to hear her "salacious" stories.

He added: "As for her qualities as a singer - well, she was authentic. She wasn't the greatest of singers, but then again, that's not what made her so special. It was the life lived through that voice, that journey from being this seemingly sweet, innocent beauty into this incredible sort of matriarch of indie.

"Was she motherly to me? No. We always had a laugh. She had an endless source of incredible, somewhat salacious stories about people who had all become much more circumscribed in their behaviour.

"She was always a bit cynical about how people were transformed into pillars of the establishment. But she was always true to her creed."

Rufus Wainwright, 51, had known Marianne singer he was a "little kid" because she was friends of his mother, singer Kate McGarrigle, but he got to know her better as an adult, enjoying a number of "wild evenings" in her company.

And an entire week of partying with the star led him to check into rehab shortly afterwards.

He told The Guardian: "It really gelled when I started hanging out with Carrie Fisher, because Marianne and Carrie were very, very close. I had several wild evenings seated between them, kind of along for the ride.

"They were completely classic, original legends, who seemed to live in a universe all their own, and it was very decadent, incredibly funny and totally rock'n'roll.

"One of the craziest times was when I had a week of partying with Marianne and my mother, which I'm not going to get into too many details of - it was quite intense. I think I went to rehab two weeks later.

"But we'd talk about music, funny jokes, sex, the craziness of life."