Welcome to MARILYN’s Fan Club!

As you may know, MARILYN was born in Jamaica on 3^rd November 1962. He was inspired from his schooldays by the famous Marilyn Monroe, having been called ‘MARILYN’ by other children who intended it as an insult. However, he was actually quite flattered that people thought he looked like her, and for some time he was well known in the London Clubs as Marilyn Monroe.

MARILYN has been on the music scene for a comparatively short time. Although Calling Your Name was his first single, it was by no means the first song he had ever written; he has in fact been writing songs and compiling music since he was eighteen.

His musical career started with a chance meeting with Kate Garner of Haysi fame. They became good friends and Kate introduced him to Paul Caplin, who is a very well respected man in the music industry. As many had before him, Paul saw great potential in MARILYN; so much so that he asked him whether he would be interested in the possibility of their making records together, and MARILYN agreed.

They had a small problem, since at that time – spring 1982 – Paul was very busy getting Haysi Fantayzee together. He told MARILYN that he had his whole summer free to think about songs and lyrics that he might like to record.

By now MARILYN was trying to move away from the Marilyn Monroe image, as his own was beginning to come through quite strongly. It was very difficult for him to develop his own personality in London, as everyone in the London Club scene knew him as Marilyn Monroe, not yet as MARILYN the Pop Star. He therefore decided that he would spend the summer in California with a friend. This would be his second visit to Los Angeles, so he already had friends there – people who he still remains friendly with, recently re-visiting them en route to Hawaii.

He enjoyed the sunshine and beaches of LA and Hollywood, where he lived, growing out his hair, working on his body and generally developing a liking for himself and for life. In the warm evenings he would relax by his pool discussing music and lyrics with the people around him, and preparing himself for his return to London.

On his arrival, MARILYN had changed, and so had London! He was no longer wearing tight skirts with corsets over the top – he was now an extremely attractive young man, needing little make-up to look as he does now. He had his hair put into long blond dreadlocks, and there emerged the new MARILYN – he decided to keep his name since he felt so in touch with it.

It was almost Christmas however before he and Paul Caplin met again. Paul was still very keen to produce MARILYN, and by now he too felt ready to begin. MARILYN spent the next few months working with Haysi Fantayzee, travelling with them through Europe for TV shows and so on. Then, by summer 1983, all the record companies were showing great interest in hum, and it was not long before Phonogram offered him what he thought to be the best deal. Calling Your Name was released and became an international smash hit; the rest you know…

In the quarterly Fan Club Newsletter we hope to bring you news of MARILYN’s activities, together with competitions, pen pals and special offers. Apologies to those of you who have experienced any delay in receiving this Welcome Pack, but we have been inundated with mail. We hope you will enjoy being a member of MARILYN’s Fan Club, just as he enjoys having you amongst his fans!