Marilyn Manson was born Brian Hugh Warner in Canton Ohio, 5 January 1969. His parents are Hugh Warner, then salesman and former US Soldier in Vietnam, and Barbara – or Barb as she is better known.

Manson’s beginnings were much like every other American Teen. He attended the Heritage Christian School – an institution that he hated mainly due to the stifling lessons imposed on the students: teachers spreading the word of God through fear – the Antichrist and the mark of the beast heavily pressed upon the innocent minds, prompting terrifying nightmares in Warner. Friday afternoons in the presence of Ms Price were spent listening to the rock and roll records that were said to be the downfall on the youth, yet Warner was intrigued by the long haired musicians.

However Manson’s most influential memory of childhood – consequently the opening pages in his autobiography are dominated by this – was his late grandfather: Jack Angus Warner: "Hell to me was my grandfathers cellar." (LHROOH)

As an adolescent, Warner and his cousin Chad were regularly cared for by their grandparents after school. As many young boys often do during youthful games, Brian and Chad relived boredom by playing games of ‘private investigator’ – a game that would lead to an understanding of the darker side of their grandfather.

One memory that Manson mentions in his autobiography relays the time that Brian and Chad visited the cellar that Jack Warner would often spend his time in – he had been debilitated by throat cancer and had a tracheotomy in place of his useless larynx. After hiding themselves under the stairs that led to the cellar, the two boys watched as their grandfather switched on a train set located downstairs, and found themselves witness to an old man masturbating. Brian and Chad were already aware of their grandfathers collection of dildoes, fetish magazines, porn movies and items that led them to believe Jack was a crossdresser, but this observation had a profound effect on Warner: They vowed "never to step foot in that cellar again". (LHROOH)

In part because of the highly religious tone of the school he was attending, and also due to personal experiences in dealings with girls, Manson spent alot of his attendance at Heritage trying to get expelled. His discomfort at the rants of the teacher that preached about those who would and wouldn’t be saved come the time of the rapture caused him to rebel, in an attempt to gain entrance to public school Glen Oak East, in the hopes that he would be with people more likeminded.

His first act was to sell candy to his fellow students, a vice that was not permitted on the school grounds, and so was brought eagerly, even at the prices that young Warner traded them at. To his dismay, he was not expelled, but instead suspended. This made him all the more determined to rebel, and so he upped the anti, and began a venture into journalism, hand publishing a six paged magazine called Stupid. "In a school starved for smut and dirty jokes...Stupid quickly caught on – until I was busted again." (LHROOH) Needless to say, Principal Carolyn Cole became Sherlock Holmes to his Moriaty – an arch enemy that he swore to break and relent to expelling him – just not this time.

Despite selling rock music tapes to his fellow students, in the hope he would be expelled for corrupting the kids with the devils music, despite planting one of Grandfathers dildoes in his Principal’s desk, Warner realised that he would never be expelled. "If I ever wanted to get out of Christian School, I would have to exercise my own free will to walk away. And two months into tenth grade I did just that."(LHROOH)

Following his graduation from High School, Warner and his parents moved the sunshine state of Florida – Fort Lauderdale to be more precise. Fort Lauderdale during the late 80’s and early 90’s was seen as one of the influential places for up and coming music. Quite befitting of the birth place of what would be one of the most controversial rock groups to grace the planet.

For Warner there was a steady realisation that he was becoming far detached from the world around him, His first few months in Fort Lauderdale were spent writing – stories, poetry, novellas - and sending these pieces to any publication that may be interested. Sadly Warner only ever got one piece published.

At college, Warner joined the school paper writing rock review pieces, but ultimately his biggest journalism break came when he conned his way into writing for now defunct magazine 25th Parallel. Through this magazine, Warner wrote articles on subjects ranging from an insight into the S&M world of Florida, to interviewing musicians such as Debbie Harry, Brit. Punk supremo Malcolm McLaren and California’s finest rock outfit, Red Hot Chilli Peppers. However the most notable interview that Warner conducted was with Industrial Rock King, Trent Reznor, frontman of Nine Inch Nail’s. "The next time Trent Reznor came to town, I was his opening act." (LHROOH)

Warner persisted with his poetry, this time convincing Jack Kearnie, owner of the small Squeeze night-club to start an open mike night. The poetry that Warner read was not well received, but the strange mix of audience ultimately felt that he should instead start a rock band – Warner’s answer was less than courteous, but already the ball was rolling towards such a venture.

A chance meeting in a local night-club, out on the town with fellow theatre student Brian Tutunick – later to become Olivia Newton Bundy in the first incarnation of Marilyn Manson and the Spookykids – with a hyperactive young man named Stephen Biers Jnr – later to become Madonna Wayne Gacy (Pogo) – further cemented a growing idea of a rock band in Warner. However his ideas for a band were less than convincing to some – he didn’t want a live drummer, and to some wasn’t taken seriously but again the ball was rolling, and Warner’s rebirth was materialising slowly.

Another encounter at a party introduced Warner to Scott Putesky, often thought of as the other brains behind the diabolic conception of The Spookykids, who with the most musical experience, having been in several local rock groups, would take on the role of guitarist.

Marilyn Manson and the Spookykids gave their first show in Churchill’s Hideaway. Although Biers was not in the first outing, joining the line up was Perry Pandrea – or rather Zsa Zsa Speck, and true to the original vision – an electronic drumkit. For Manson the show was a test of nerves, as in front of the twenty (or twenty one) people who saw this first gig, he fought terrible stage nerves, culminating in throwing up in the toilet after the show. But despite the low turn out, and despite his own misgivings during the performance, Manson knew he had finally been reborn. Brian Hugh Warner was finally dead – Marilyn Manson was born – not quite in the darkness and controversy that would later surround him, but with an overwhelming sense of pride. "It was the first time I had felt that way. And I wanted to feel like that again. I wanted to be applauded, I wanted to be hissed, I wanted to make people pissed." (LHROOH)

However the day that Manson took on this Reverendship, was the day that the world – it’s moral voice – turned fully against him. Manson found himself turning up to performance venues to find that the band had been banned. Christian groups stood outside the venues in growing numbers protesting against his vile imagery and lyrics – although many had never take the time to listen to him (some took offence merely at song titles, one of the biggest misunderstandings being the song ‘Get Your Gunn’ which appears on the Portrait of an American Family album. Get your Gunn was written about abortion doctor Dr David Gunn and his murder by supposed ‘pro-life’ protestors, many of whom were from Christian Fundamentalist groups. They felt that the song, simply by it’s title was a message, or rather a call to the glorifying of arms by teens. Again misunderstanding/misrepresentation/mistaken.). Manson also found himself victim to several false arrests, one of them being the exposing of his manhood on stage, when in fact it was a strap on dildo that had been exposed, not the now newly titled Reverends penis. "Little did I know that accepting that card would be one of the most controversial things I had done up to that point; it seemed then (as it still does) that my ordainment was simply a gesture of respect. It was like an honorary degree from a University." (LHROOH)

But for Manson the ‘blessing’ that LaVey had bestowed on him was becoming true. In 1994, on Trent Reznor’s newly formed label "Nothing Records", Marilyn Manson released their debut album "Portrait of an American Family". Befittingly the album was recorded in a house that was central to the Charles Manson family in the 1970’s: Sharon Tate’s house.

From that time onwards, Marilyn Manson became seen as both a menace and a saviour. To his fans he was a light that opened their eyes to the drudgery of blinding following in their parents footsteps, no matter what mistakes were made, and no matter how much of your soul was lost to someone else’s want and wishes. Although in all honesty Manson was nothing new: many others had stood in his boots before him, he certainly was the one with the loudest voice. His mentality of do as you want but take responsibility for your actions was pleasing to a youth who no longer felt in control of their own existence.

As the years followed, Manson spread his message, whilst in turn dealing with his own inner demons. There were still issues being drawn within himself, and the conflict of Brian Hugh Warner as opposed to who he had finally become. At the wedding of his cousin Chad to which he was invited, Manson felt strange and distant to the person and the life he had once lived. His own family also seemed at that time (save for his parents who have been the most supportive element in his life – father Hugh is often seen at the gigs wearing a T-shirt declaring himself the Father of the God of Fuck) to also excommunicate him. But for Manson is was a welcome closure to some of his own inner demons. Of his grandfathers basement, in which so many memories had been based he no longer felt scared and small. But there was also the acceptance that "For the first time in my life, I was truly alone". (LHROOH)

However in 1999, Manson for the first time felt himself having to fight for his own existence. In April at Columbine High School in Littleton Colorado, two students, just a week or so away from graduation, stormed their school and killed 12 students and a teacher. Finally the voices that had so being trying to find a reason to ‘hang’ Manson out to dry had their own ammunition. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were seen, mistakenly, because of their imagery of black trenchcoats and their taste in music (the press misinformed it’s viewers and readers by declaring that the two had been fan’s of Marilyn Manson, when in fact one of their websites declared that they in fact hated Manson) seen to be the ultimate imagery of what a Marilyn Manson fan was , and what Manson’s message brought about in their listeners. Senator Joseph Lieberman (Democrat) became the protestors champion against Manson when he declared: "Perhaps the sickest group ever promoted by a mainstream record company". For Manson, who had never asked his fans to bear arms or to fight against the establishment in such a violent manner, this was a potential setback for him in more ways than one. Manson was an easy target, because since his emergence in the early 1990’s he had been seen as the poster boy for all that was wrong in the world.

Two days after the tragedy the Christian Democratic Party in Australia (CDP) released a statement. The CDP’s spokesman is Rev Fred Nile, another man always vocal about his hatred of Marilyn Manson: "...The Marilyn Manson promotion of murder and suicide would lead to an increase in violence, anti social behaviour, murder and suicide...warnings tragically fulfilled in the Columbine High School...by the ‘Trenchcoat Mafia’ who worshipped the Marilyn Manson – Gothic rock, heavy metal grunge – band whose songs they often quoted".

However Manson knew that his power at it’s greatest came through his music and in 2000 he re-emerged, invigorated and ready to challenge again, this time a direct finger pointing at people who would not accept responsibility for their own actions. His album "Holywood: In the Shadow of the Valley of Death" was a personal and angry album, speaking both for himself and the fans, the true fans whose voices had been shut down over the past year by the witch hunt after Columbine. "The only people who really care about the kids are people like me who are making music or trying to speak to America’s youth to make them realise the world around them is full of shit". (July 1999)

And from there, despite the continued onslaught and the banning from venues, Manson was more determined to be himself. In 2002 he was interviewed as part of Michael Moore’s documentary on Columbine: "Bowling for Columbine". In it he gained new-found respect when he came across as the person with the most sense. On asked what he would have said to the two perpetrators of the killings, he said "I wouldn’t say a single word to them. I’d listen to what they had to say. That’s what no one did".

Outwardly Manson seemed at his best. And this continued right up until 2004, when in September, after the release of his best of album: "Lest We forget" he revealed that life had finally gotten to him, that he had for a while lost his vision and had even contemplated suicide. Being Marilyn Manson was in a way dragging him down. However being Marilyn Manson was a part of him, and thankfully we have still someone who genuinely respects us for our voices.

And what of Manson as a person? Well the man has grown beyond the most controversial stage performer and music artist of the times. He has become a critically acclaimed painter and actor, as well as finally someone who no longer upsets those who used to pursue him with such vigour (well not as much). In 2004 he became engaged to long term girlfriend, the burlesque model, Dita Von Teese.