1989-Marilyn MansonVocals1989-
Daisy BerkowitzGuitar1989-1995
Gidget GeinBass1989-1994
Madonna Wayne GacyKeyboards1989-2007
Sara Lee LucasDrums1992-1995
Twiggy RamirezBass1994-2002 2008-2017
Zim ZumGuitar1995-1998
Ginger FishDrums1995-2011
John 5Guitar1998-2004
Juan AldereteBass2017-
Gil SharoneDrums2013-2019
Brandon Pertzborn Drums2019-
Paul WileyGuitar2014-
Manson's birth name is Brian Warner, and he was born in Canton, Ohio. His mother calls him Brian, but his dad and most friends call him Manson.
He worked as a music journalist in Tampa Bay, Florida until he formed a band with guitarist Scott Mitchell (a.k.a. Daisy Berkowitz) in 1989.
He's done a great deal of self harm and has the scars to prove it. His arms are hacked up from when he took a pocketknife to them while still in school, and he has a long scar on his torso from when he severed himself with a beer bottle on stage in the mid-'90s.
Trent Reznor, of Nine Inch Nails, offered Manson a record contract with Nothing Records and an opening spot on an NIN tour. This catapulted Manson into the limelight.
Since he started, his shock tactics have garnered notoriety. He was given the title of "Reverend" by the Church of Satan and once ripped up a copy of the Book of Mormon onstage at a show in Salt Lake City, Utah.
His name is a combination of the names of actress Marilyn Monroe and murderer Charles Manson.
Many right-wingers and religious groups protest Manson on a regular basis. When the massacre at Columbine High School occurred in April 1999, he came under fire from a lot of people and was forced to cancel his Rock Is Dead tour.
Organizations that have organized Marilyn Manson protests include the American Family Association and Empower America. Countless towns across the US have tried to ban their concerts - only sometimes successfully.
Manson was charged with negligence in the death of Jennifer Syme, who died in a car crash after attending a party Manson threw. Syme used to date actor Keanu Reeves.
Like Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson is the name of both the group and the frontman. They were originally called Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids.
Manson had a conflicted relationship with his mother, Barbara Warner, who died in 2015. She gave him a lot of attention, but may have had Munchausen by Proxy syndrome, which compels the parent to believe their child is ill (Eminem has said that his mother had this condition). Manson was often hospitalized for ailments he didn't really have, and told he was allergic to things like eggs and fabric softener.
Among his proclivities, at home Manson insists on black sheets, dim lighting, and a temperature of 65 degrees.
His parents sent Manson to a Christian school when he was five. They tried to show the kids the types of music that they weren't supposed to listen to, but Manson fell in love with it.
Manson hates sports, but lost his virginity on a baseball diamond.
Manson feels closely connected to actress Twiggy, whose childhood was a little more dysfunctional. He says his father went crazy and left when he was 6. His mother was a dancer for the rock group Mountain.
Most rockers downplay their tawdry and illegal exploits, but Manson likes to play them up, sometimes embellishing for effect. For instance, years after he and his bodyguards
assaulted a Spin magazine editor, Manson claimed he put a gun in the guy's mouth, a detail that was never mentioned in the ensuing court case.
Fish got the gig with the band because he knew how to work with drum machines, in addition to playing a set.
Before the band was formed, Manson and Twiggy had a side project called Satan On Fire. According to Manson, it was "A fake Christian death metal band we started to play at Christian nightclubs. Twiggy sang and I played lead bass. The premise was that we were a death metal band that was singing for Jesus. We wanted to infiltrate Christian nightclubs and cause havoc. We also formed another side project together called Mrs. Scabtree, where I played drums and Twiggy was the lead vocalist, dressed up like a black woman." When asked, "Did you ever actually infiltrate these Christian nightclubs?" Manson answered, "Well, we never really got that far. But we did get a song onto the radio. It was called 'Mosh for Jesus'."
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Suggestion credit:
Brett - Edmonton, Canada
His autobiography is called
The Long Hard Road out of Hell. In the first few pages of the book, that in his grandfather's basement, Manson and his cousin came in contact with various sex toys, adult magazines, women's clothing, and items of fetish.
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Sarah - Pittsburgh, PA
Originally, their bass player was Brian Tutunick, but he was replaced by Gidget Gein when they were still in the Spooky Kids era.
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Nathan - St. Paul, MN
Twiggy left the band due to personal problems in 2002. He then joined A Perfect Circle with Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan.
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Ian - New York, NY
Most members of the band get their first name from a model actress and last from a famous killer. The first member that broke away from the Model/Serial Killer band name pattern was guitarist Daisy Berkowitz's replacement, Zim Zum, who in turn was replaced in 1998 by John 5.
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Wes - Bogota, NJ
Manson's dating history includes Charmed and Scream star Rose McGowan, the porn stars Jenna Jameson and Stoya, and actress Evan Rachel Wood. He was married to the model Dita Von Teese from 2005-2007.
After two students shot up their school at Columbine, some people blamed Manson for the massacre. When interviewed some time later, he was asked if he could say anything to the boys that did the shooting, what would he say. He said he wouldn't say anything, he'd listen. This appears in the movie
Bowling For Columbine.
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james - Des Moines, IA
While in New Orleans with the rest of his band making the album
Antichrist Superstar, Manson and Twiggy roamed worn out cemeteries to look for old bones. Manson said he and Twiggy used bones to smoke, and to put in his hair. During that time, he and the band, and a few friends, streaked through neighborhoods with only wigs and cowboy hats on.
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Joey - Merritt Island, FL
At a show in Michigan in July 2001, Manson apparently rubbed his pelvis on a security guard's head, and was charged with criminal sexual assault. The prosecutor in the case gave maybe a little too much detail: "During an act of the performance, Marilyn Manson, who was wearing a G-string, began to rub his genital area and masturbate over his clothing. As he approached the security guard, who was facing towards the audience to keep people off the stage, he then spit on him and then sat down and wrapped his legs around him in a headlock if you will, and then began to gyrate rubbing his genitals against the head and back and neck area of the security guard."
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Bertrand - Paris, France
Fish dated actress Alyson Hannigan prior to her engagement to actor Alexis Denisof. Hannigan was in the show
Buffy The Vampire Slayer as well as the
American Pie movies.
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Lynn - Indianapolis, IN
Manson had unusually large earlobes when he was a child. When he earned enough money, he had a plastic surgeon trim them.