History of Marilyn Manson

Brian Hugh Warner also known by his stage name Marilyn Manson is an American musician. He was among the most controversial and notorious entertainers of the '90s. His stage name was derived from the names of convicted murderer Charles Manson and actress Marilyn Monroe. He was born on January 5, 1969 in Canton, Ohio. He was the son of Barb and Hugh Warner. Marilyn was raised in the Episcopal Church. His mother was Episcopalian and his father was Catholic. Marilyn attended a nondenominational Christian school, yet Manson’s behavior seems to be at odds with his upbringing. Marilyn blames this on the narrow interpretation Christians have of truth. At the age of 18, he relocated to Tampa Bay, Florida, working there as a music journalist.

In 1989, he became friends with guitarist and fellow outsider Scott Mitchell. They decided to form a band, with Scott rechristening himself Daisy Berkowitz and Warner adopting the name Marilyn Manson. They released their debut album ‘Portrait of an American Family’ in 1994, which met with success. ‘Smells Like Children’ was released in 1995. ‘Antichrist Superstar’ was released in 1996 and was hugely successful. It was considered a concept album. In 1997, Warner made his film debut as an actor in David Lynch’s ‘Lost Highway’. He also worked in the 1998 film ‘Jaw Breaker’ and Asia Argento’s film ‘The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things’.

Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) came out at the end of 2000. The band toured to support the album in 2001, and during a July show in Michigan, Manson was charged with criminal sexual conduct after performing an alleged offensive act on a security guard. December saw Manson's version of "Tainted Love" appear on the Not Another Teen Movie soundtrack while another security guard filed a civil suit alleging Manson had rubbed his pelvis on the guard's head. The July 2001 sexual conduct charges on Marilyn were lowered to a misdemeanor in January 2002 and the civil suit was dropped soon after. In May 2003 ‘The Golden Age of Grotesque’ was released, which spent a week on top of the album charts and ended up on more than a few critics' year-end Top Ten lists. In April 2004, the album ‘Lunch Boxes & Choklit Cows’ was launched, credited to Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids – Spooky Kids being the name of Manson's earliest band. Manson fought the release and court-ordered some artwork removed that was too close to the art to which the singer owned the copyright. At the end of September 2004 the Lest We Forget collection was launched, covering the highlights of Manson's career and including a new cover version of Depeche Mode's ‘Personal Jesus’.

He was engaged to actress Rose McGowan from 1999 to 2001. It was announced in late 2005 that a new album was nearly finished, although it wasn’t until 2007 that ‘Eat Me, Drink Me’ would release. The album was produced by Marilyn and Tim Skold and mixed by longtime associate Sean Beavan. He married Dita Von Teese on November 28, 2005. On December 30, 2006 Dita filed for divorce due to ‘irreconcilable differences’.