Brian Hugh Warner is better known by his stage name Marilyn Manson, formed from the names of actress Marilyn Monroe and convicted murderer, Charles Manson. Born in January 1969 in Canton, Ohio, Manson formed Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids in Florida in 1989 (the name was shortened to Marilyn Manson in 1992). While with The Spooky Kids, Manson was involved with Jeordie White (also known as Twiggy Ramirez) and Stephen Gregory Bier Jr. (also known as Madonna Wayne Gacy) in 2 side projects – as bassist in faux Christian death metal ensemble Satan on Fire, and as the drummer in Mrs. Scabtree, a collaborative band formed with White and then girlfriend Jessicka (vocalist with the band Jack Off Jill) as a way to combat contractual agreements that prohibited Marilyn Manson from playing in certain clubs.
In the summer of 1993, the band drew the attention of Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, and Reznor went on to produce their 1994 debut album “Portrait of an American Family”, releasing it on his Nothing Records label, and it achieved number 35 in the Top Heatseekers chart the following year. The EP “Smells Like Children” followed in 1995, bringing with it the band’s first big hit with a cover of Eurythmics’ 1983 track "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)". Next LP, 1996’s “Antichrist Superstar” rose to number 3 on the US Billboard 200, and singles “Beautiful People” (number 26 on the Modern Rock chart and number 29 on the Mainstream Rock chart) and “Tourniquet” (number 30 on the Mainstream Rock chart) enjoyed moderate success.

“Remix & Repent” followed in 1997, and in 1998, Marilyn Manson topped the US Billboard 200 with “Mechanical Animals” (it was also number 1 in Australia). The most successful single from the album was “The Dope Show”, charting at number 15 on the Modern Rock chart, and number 12 on the Mainstream Rock chart, with “I Don’t Like The Drugs But The Drugs Like Me” making the Top 40 on both charts, and “Rock Is Dead” making the Top 30 on both.

1999’s “The Last Tour on Earth” was followed by “Holy Wood” in 2000, which made number 13 on the Billboard 200, and topped the Internet Album chart, with the single “Disposable Teens” reaching the summit of both the Modern and Mainstream rock charts. After 7 releases in 7 years, Marilyn Manson took a break for a few years, returning in 2003 with “The Golden Age of Grotesque”, which climbed to number 1 on the Billboard 200, the Internet Album chart, and the European Album chart (shifting over 250,000 copies in Germany and over 100,000 copies in France). Best of compilation ”Lest We Forget” followed in 2004.

2007 saw “Eat Me, Drink Me” peak at number 8 on both the US Billboard and the UK Album charts, making the Top 10 in the album charts of 17 other countries. The single “Heart Shaped Glasses” broke into the Top 20 in the UK Singles chart, and made number 31 on the Modern Rock chart, and 24 on the Mainstream Rock chart. “Eat Me, Drink Me” has sold over 800,000 copies world wide, including over 200,000 in the US.

Manson first worked as a producer with the band Jack Off Jill. He helped name the band and produce most of the band's early recordings, and also played guitar on the song "My Cat" and had the band open most of his South Florida shows. Manson has appeared as a guest performer on DMX's album “Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood” and on Godhead's “2000 Years of Human Error” (the only album released on his vanity label Posthuman).

In other work, Manson made his film debut in 1997 as an actor in David Lynch's “Lost Highway”. Since then he has appeared in a variety of minor roles and cameos, including “Party Monster”, “Jawbreaker”, “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things”, “Rise” and “The Hire: Beat The Devil”. His directorial debut is “Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll”, in which he plays Lewis Carroll (author of “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”). Manson also claims that he begun a career as a watercolor painter in 1999 when he made 5 minute concept pieces and sold them to drug dealers. In 2002 he held his first show, “The Golden Age of Grotesque” was held at the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions Centre, and 2 years later held a second exhibition in Paris on the first night and Berlin on the second night, named “Trismegistus”. Manson also owns an Corporation is also the namesake of an art gallery, the Celebritarian Corporation Gallery of Fine Art, in Los Angeles, for which his third exhibition was the inaugural show.
Manson launched Mansinthe, his own brand of Swiss made absinthe, which has received mixed reviews, but did come coming second to Versinthe in an Absinthe Top 5, and also won a gold medal at the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.