“My grandfather had been the ugliest, darkest, foulest, most depraved figure of my childhood, more beast than human, and I had grown up to be him, locked in the basement with my secrets as the rest of the family reveled in the petty and ordinary upstairs. Down there, I saw my black, ancient, ineluctable core exposed, like a crab forced out of its shell--dirty, vulnerable, and obscene. For the first time in my life, I was truly alone.”

American rock musician and singer, founded a band in 1989

Marilyn Manson is the stage name of Brian Hugh Warner, an American rock musician and singer. He is the lead singer and the only original member still in the band that bears his name, which he founded in 1989. He is known for fronting Marilyn Manson, a band whose name was built from the first name of Marilyn Monroe and the last name of Charles Manson. His public identity is closely tied to that project, rather than to a separate body of work.