Background

Brian Hugh Warner was born in Canton, Ohio, on January 5, 1969, the only son of Barbara Warner Wyer and Hugh Angus Warner.

Education

He attended Heritage Christian School from first to 10th grade. In that school, his instructors tried to show children what music they were not supposed to listen to; Warner then fell in love with what he "wasn't supposed to do".

After high school, Warner and his family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for his father's job. There, the young Manson enrolled at a local community college called Broward, where he studied journalism and theater.

Career

Warner's first foray into the music business came as an entertainment journalist for a local magazine in Fort Lauderdale. This gave him the opportunity to interview several famous musicians, including Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. During this time as a journalist, Warner formed a band called Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids. Manson has stated that he got the name for his alter ego by combining Marilyn Monroe's first name with Charles Manson's last. Later, the band would change the name simply to Marilyn Manson.

In 1993, Marilyn Manson and his band earned a contract from Trent Reznor's record label, Nothing, based on their performances and self-released cassettes in the Fort Lauderdale area. The record contract also earned them a spot on Nine Inch Nails's 1994 tour. Marilyn Manson's first album was titled Portrait of an American Family. Produced by Reznor, it gave Manson his first taste of commercial success, as he gained a cult following after its release.

On Smells Like Children, an EP released by Marilyn Manson in 1995, Manson enjoyed his first heavy play on MTV with a cover of the Eurythmics song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)." This cover eventually helped Smells Like Children reach platinum. In 1996, Marilyn Manson hit it big with the release of the group's second album, Antichrist Superstar. The album, co-produced by Reznor, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart.

In 1997, Marilyn Manson co-wrote his autobiography with noted rock journalist Neil Strauss, titled The Long Road Out of Hell. That same year, he released a second EP, Remix & Repent, and made his film debut in David Lynch's Lost Highway. Manson also appeared in later films, including Jawbreaker (1999), Party Monster (2003) and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004).

Marilyn Manson achieved his greatest success in 1998 with the release of Mechanical Animals. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts and helped propel ticket sales to his Last Tour on Earth, which kicked off a year later. For the album and tour, Manson adopted an alter-ego glam rocker persona, an androgynous space alien named Omega.

Marilyn Manson released Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) in 2000 and went on tour in support of the album the following year. During a performance in Michigan, he was charged with sexual misconduct by a security guard for allegedly performing an offensive act. Later on the tour, he was hit with a civil suit alleging that Manson rubbed his pelvis on a security guard's head. The misconduct charge was later lowered to a misdemeanor, and the civil suit was dropped.

In 2003, Marilyn Manson and his band released their fifth studio album with The Golden Age of Grotesque. It spent a week atop the charts and was critically acclaimed as one of the best albums of the year. Manson announced the release of his subsequent album, Eat Me, Drink Me, in 2005, but it was not released until mid-2007. As with his earlier studio efforts, Manson was heavily involved with the writing, coordinating and producing of the record. Manson and his former bandmate, Twiggy Ramirez, reunited and delivered the band's seventh album, The High End of Low, in 2009.

After founding a record label named Hell, etc., Marilyn Manson released Born Villain in 2012 and The Pale Emperor in 2015. The latter album, co-produced with Tyler Bates, earned strong reviews for its focused, blues-tinged sound. Manson also continued to pursue acting, appearing in such popular TV shows as Californication, Eastbound & Down and Sons of Anarchy.

After teasing the release of new music in late 2016, Marilyn Manson debuted two singles, "We Know Where You F*****g Live" and "Kill4Me," in September 2017. The tracks were part of the band's 10th album, Heaven Upside Down, which was praised by critics for building on the promise of the previous studio effort.

Achievements

• 

  Manson is best known for records released in the 1990s, most notably Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals, which (along with his public image) earned him a reputation in mainstream media as a controversial figure and negative influence on young people. In the U.S. alone, three of the band's albums have been awarded platinum status and three more went gold, and the band has had eight releases debut in the top ten, including two number-one albums. Manson has been ranked number 44 in the "Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists" by Hit Parader, and, along with his band, has been nominated for four Grammy Awards.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Long Hard Road Out of Hell 1999

• music

  • Portrait of an American Family 1994
  • Antichrist Superstar 1996
  • Mechanical Animals 1998
  • Holy Wood 2000
  • The Golden Age Of Grotesque 2003
  • Eat Me, Drink Me 2007
  • The High End of Low 2009
  • Born Villain 2012
  • The Pale Emperor 2015
  • Heaven Upside Down 2017

Religion

Manson is a self-identified fan of Anton LaVey, an honorary priest in the Church of Satan and also an advocate of the writings of Aleister Crowley and Friedrich Nietzsche. He quotes Crowley throughout his autobiography, including the Thelemic anthem, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." Crowley's esoteric subject matter forms an important leitmotif in much of Manson's early work. He has been described as "the highest profile Satanist ever" with strong anti-Christian views and social Darwinist leanings.

Politics

Manson dislikes all political parties.

Views

Manson has supported various charitable causes throughout his career. In 2002, he worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to collaborate with a fan who had been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. 16-year-old Andrew Baines from Tennessee was invited into the band's recording studio to record backing vocals for their then-upcoming album, The Golden Age of Grotesque. Manson said on his website, "Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with Andrew, who reminded me the things I create are only made complete by those who enjoy them. I just want to simply say, thank you to Andrew for sharing such an important wish with me." He contributed to Oxfam's 2013 "Rumble in the Jumble" event, which raised money to aid victims of domestic and sexual abuse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He has supported various organizations – such as Music for Life and Little Kids Rock – which enable access to musical instruments and education to children of low-income families. He has also worked with Project Nightlight, a group that encourages children and teenagers to speak out against physical and sexual abuse.

Quotations: "If people really stopped and realized how much art and creative people move the world versus politics and religion, I mean it’s not even up for debate. An artist at least creates things, puts things into the world. Where as these other people are destroying things, taking things out of the world."

"I'm fucking sick of people who always try to blame movies, bands, songs, or talk shows for whatever the fuck hits them today-teen suicides, drug overdoses or everything else. If someone is stupid enough to kill himself because of a song, then that's exactly what they deserve – they weren't contributing anything to the society – it's one less idiot in the world. There's too many people – if more people kill themselves over music, it wouldn't disappoint me. What would disappoint me is that people are that stupid."

"The whole concept of this band is to present the ugly truth about society – warts and all, and let the chips fall where they may."

"If someone listens to our music, and it makes them creative, that makes me happier than anything. But with our music, we try to teach the masses of fans that not everything is as it seems."

"The world doesn't revolve around the sun, it revolves around a giant cock. That is what the world is about. It's about sex. Anybody who doesn't want to realize this is fooling themselves. People are bored because they've done everything they can do. So now the fear of death is the only thing that gets them excited. That's why some people have made me into some type of sex symbol. I'm death on wheels the way I look."

"It's really important for me to get across to our fans that whenever I put myself in different circumstances. It is to learn from it so I can relay it to others."

"… if my ideology is a hand, then that's just two fingers. I incorporate a lot of Christian morality into what I do and in fact a lot of my beliefs are very conservative – like my desire for the world to be a better place where people use more intelligence. If you had to condense all that I believe in, it's that responsible, intelligent people should be allowed to do what they want. That artists and performers and architects, people who contribute something to the world, that actually have something to say as opposed to a business man or a politician, say, people who actually contribute to society, the power should be traded. The creators are always suppressed – other than the placebo "fame" that they're always given. I don't really suggest any solution – that we could all kick them out of their positions of power and take over. It's just the idea that if you enjoy what you do, that's why you should do it."

"Is adult entertainment killing our children? Or is killing our children entertaining adults?"

"If they think that an artist can destroy their faith, then their faith is rather fragile."

"To me, anything that is a church is really just far too close minded."

Personality

The name Marilyn Manson is formed by a juxtaposition of two opposing American pop cultural icons: Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson. Monroe, an actress, was one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and continues to be a major icon over 50 years after, while Manson, a cult leader, was responsible for the murder of actress Sharon Tate, as well as several others; and served a life sentence on murder and conspiracy charges until his death in 2017.

Physical Characteristics: Manson predominantly delivers lyrics in a melodic fashion, although he invariably enhances his vocal register by utilizing several extended vocal techniques, such as vocal fry, screaming, growling and crooning. His voice has five different tones, which mixing engineer Robert Carranza discovered can form a pentagram when imported into a phrasal analyzer. He possesses a baritone vocal type, and has a vocal range which can span more than four octaves. His lowest bass note of A1 can be heard in "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon", while his highest note, an E6 – the first note of the whistle register – can be heard on the Born Villain song "Hey, Cruel World...".

Interests

• Manson has always had an affinity for strange collections at his home. In addition to collecting a variety of vintage metal lunch boxes, he also has a museum of medical prosthetics and fake body parts such as artificial limbs and glass eye balls. He also owned a fetus in a jar at one point.
  
  Manson used to drink absinthe so much that he made his own brand of the potent green alcoholic beverage in 2007 called Mansinthe.

• Philosophers & Thinkers

  Anton LaVey

• Music & Bands

  David Bowie, Kiss, Slayer, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cat Stevens

Connections

Manson and burlesque dancer, model, and costume designer Dita Von Teese became a couple in 2001. Manson proposed on March 22, 2004, and they were married in a private, non-denominational ceremony officiated by Chilean film director Alejandro Jodorowsky. On December 30, 2006, Von Teese filed for divorce due to "irreconcilable differences". Von Teese also stated she did not agree with his "partying or his relationship with another girl". Manson's "heavy boozing" and distant behavior were also cited as cause for the split. A judgment of divorce was entered in Los Angeles Superior Court on December 27, 2007.

Father:

Hugh Warner

Mother:

Barbara Warner

Spouse:

Dita Von Teese

Dita Von Teese is an American vedette, burlesque dancer, model, costume designer, entrepreneur, singer and occasional actress. She is thought to have helped repopularize burlesque performance.

Friend:

Trent Reznor

Michael Trent Reznor is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and film score composer. He is best known as the founder, primary musician, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails, which he founded in 1988 and of which he was the sole official member until adding long-time collaborator Atticus Ross as a permanent member in 2016.

Friend:

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp is an American actor, producer, and musician.

References

• Marilyn Manson
• Marilyn Manson: In His Own Words
• Marilyn Manson: The Unauthorized Biography
• Marilyn Manson & David Lynch: Genealogies of Pain
• Dissecting Marilyn Manson
• Marilyn Manson; The Unauthorized Biography