‘I feel sick! BLEEEUGH! Feel sick, you know, EUUUGH!’

MARILYN gesticulates wildly to a bewildered Italian waiter who hovers over him with a plate of fish. ‘Er, butta you ordered da fish!’ he returns, puzzled. ‘Don’t want it now!’ MARILYN waves the plate away and leans toward the floor making more hideous retching noises. ‘Take it away… and bring me the sweet trolley, I can only face a dessert!’

It’s a disgustingly humid day and MAZ has suddenly lost his appetite. We’re here to clear up a few rumours that have been circulating about him since his last two records failed to make any great impression on the charts.

Has MARILYN really lost his nerve and taken to spending days in bed wrapped up in the security of his duvet? Has he really relinquished his made-up immaculate image in favour of a scruffy hippie look? And what does he think of the accusations that he’s a one-hit wonder?

The hippie tag rings true as he sits today in a pair of torn, faded jeans, marked with scattered biro-scrawlings, bare-faced with a few days’ stubble on his chin. But as for being a one-hit wonder…

‘My manager told me not to release ‘Cry And Be Free’ because he didn’t think it would be a big hit. But I wanted to. Unfortunately making records is a business. But a strong part of me wants to be recognised as a creative person. I want people to see the depth in me – my messages are quite heavy.

I thought my last two singles were good pieces of music and they meant something to me and a few people who bought them – but not to a lot of people. Although ‘You Don’t Love Me’ was quite a big hit in Europe. Some of the things that get to No. 1 are really lightweight – like Wham’s "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’ – just lightweight shitty bits of plastic!

The thing is, I’ve got glamorous bleached blond hair and I normally wear make-up – but my image seems to have overtaken me. It’s so strong that I’ve got to think about toning it down a bit. My music should be the most important thing about me!’

And has MAZ been hiding himself away in a fit of neurotic depression?

‘No, I’m not upset. I feel very much at peace at the moment. It doesn’t matter to whether I get to No. 1 or 1.000 – I’m still the same person! I don’t mind if I have to start from scratch all over again. Besides, the test of how much someone really likes you is whether or not they’re prepared to wait for you.’

And the hippie rags?

‘I’ve been accused of being a hippie in the papers – well everyone’s a hippie! A hippie is just someone who’s doing what they want to do and who’s at one with the world. I went to Stonehenge Festival with some friends and after we’d had a cup of mushroom tea we went walking through the woods – straight into a load of stinging nettles. Suddenly I knelt down and started stroking them, and they didn’t sting me! It was like a miracle. But everyone’s part of nature. All you need to do is get away from London to feel it.’

MARILYN laughs as my mouth drops open.

‘Oh, you won’t let them lock me away, will you? he jokes… then continues with a tale about the day he and Boy George visited the Hare Krishna Temple in Soho. ‘It was fab! They told me all sorts of things about their beliefs and I knew what they were talking about. But I’m not religious – I think religion’s a waste of time. All it’s ever done is create wars and fighting. I’m not Buddhist or Hindu, I’m on my own – but with everybody.’

There’s been the inevitable glut of publicity about MARILYN’s holiday in Jamaica with Boy George, but he refuses to comment on their renewed friendship.

‘I’d rather talk about Mrs. Smith down the road!’ he snaps, tired of being linked like a Siamese twin to someone who has no bearing on his professional life. ‘Our friendship is no one else’s business, I simply went away to relax for a few weeks. I was born in Jamaica and the Prime Minister’s wife is best friends with my mum. But I don’t see it as my home – wherever my body is, I’m home!’

From a touch of sun to what sounds like a touch of Zen philosophy. ‘Despite Straight Lines’ is the title of MARILYN’s debut album (no release date at present) – a title which, he says, should speak for itself. But as I fail to get the gist, he explains.

‘It concerns the fact that there’s always the way you’re meant to go – but everything’s not always how it is.’

Oh, you mean, not always the way it seems?

‘No, how it is!’, he insists.

So what does MARILYN mean to do with himself in the immediate future?

‘Well, I’ve started doing some painting and I hope to have an exhibition. I just paint things that are inside my head – psychedelic things. I’ve been offered movies but I want to concentrate on my music. There’s no point wanting a finger in everything that comes along, or the rest will suffer. I’ve got a band together and finally I feel ready for some live dates.’

So there you have him – MARILYN – the new rumour goes that he’s turning into something of a psychedelic prophet. But then, everything’s not always how it is, or seems…