Marilyn Manson

Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the same-titled band he founded in 1989. The band members initially created their stage names by combining the first name of an American female sex symbol with the last name of a male serial killer. The singer derived his name from the actress Marilyn Monroe and cult leader Charles Manson.

In the 1990s, the band released the albums Portrait of an American Family (1994), Antichrist Superstar (1996) and Mechanical Animals (1998), which included hit singles such as "The Beautiful People", "Tourniquet", "The Dope Show" and "Rock Is Dead". The band's 2000 album Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) is a direct response to mainstream media, who blamed Manson for supposedly influencing the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre. Three of the band's albums have been awarded platinum status and three more went gold, and they have had eight top-ten albums and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200. He has been ranked at No. 44 on the list of the "Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists" by Hit Parader and, along with his band, has been nominated for five Grammy Awards.

Manson is widely considered one of the most controversial figures in heavy metal. In addition to the Columbine tragedy, his lyrics have been criticized by American politicians and examined in congressional hearings, with several U.S. states creating legislation specifically banning the group from performing in state-operated venues. His paintings and films appeared as evidence in a murder trial, and he has been accused of inspiring several other murders and school shootings. Outside of music, he made his film debut as an actor in David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997), and has since appeared in a variety of minor roles and cameos. In 2002, his first art show, The Golden Age of Grotesque, was held at the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions center.

In 2021, former partner Evan Rachel Wood accused Manson of psychological and sexual abuse, allegations which Manson denied. Other women followed with similar accusations, with five women suing him in civil court. One of these lawsuits was withdrawn after the accuser recanted her allegations and alleged Wood pressured her to accuse Manson. He sued Wood for defamation, but later dropped the lawsuit after substantial portions of the suit were dismissed by Wood's anti-SLAPP motions, agreeing to pay her legal fees. A four-year criminal investigation of the abuse allegations by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department concluded in 2025, which resulted in no charges filed against Manson due to the expiration of the statute of limitations and a lack of evidence.

Brian Hugh Warner was born in Canton, Ohio, on January 5, 1969, the son of Barbara J. Wyer (died 2014) and Hugh Angus Warner (died 2017). He is of English, German, Irish, and Polish descent, and has also said that his mother's family (who hailed from the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia) had Sioux heritage.

As a child, he attended his mother's Episcopal church, though his father was a Catholic. He attended Heritage Christian School from first to tenth grade. In that school, his instructors tried to show children what music they were not supposed to listen to; he thus fell in love with what he "wasn't supposed to".^{[citation needed]} He later transferred to GlenOak High School and graduated in 1987.^{[citation needed]}

After relocating with his parents, he enrolled at Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1990. He was working toward a degree in journalism, gaining experience in the field by writing articles for the music magazine 25th Parallel. He also interviewed musicians and soon met several of the musicians to whom his own work was later compared, including Groovie Mann from My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. The latter became his mentor and produced his debut album.

The band was formed in 1989 by Warner and guitarist Scott Putesky, with Warner writing lyrics and Putesky composing the majority of music. Warner adopted the stage name Marilyn Manson and, alongside a revolving lineup of musicians, recorded the band's first demo tape as Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids in 1990. The group quickly developed a loyal fanbase within the South Florida punk and hardcore music scene, primarily as a result of their intentionally shocking concerts; band members often performed in women's clothing or bizarre costumes, and live shows routinely featured amateur pyrotechnics, naked women nailed to crucifixes, children locked in cages, as well as experiments in reverse psychology and butchered animals remains. Within six months of forming, they were playing sold-out shows in 300-capacity nightclubs throughout Florida. They signed a record deal with Sony Music in early 1991, although this deal was rescinded before any material was recorded for the label. The band instead used the proceeds of this deal to fund the recording of subsequent demo tapes, which were released independently.