Who’s that girl?

So far MARILYN has impressed and intrigued a lot of people. He keeps getting his picture in the papers, stunning all and sundry with his sultry pouting good looks. His recent guest appearance in the Eurythmics’ ‘Who’s That Girl?’ video (sitting next to Dave Stewart at a club table) started all manner of tongues wagging: who was he, where did he come from, what’s he doing?

Not much is know about him, apart from his career as one of London’s most noted clubbers (more often than not in women’s clothing) during the Golden Age of The Blitz Club back in ’81. But is he just another outrageous-looking social butterfly with next-to-no-talent or is he something more special? Exactly who is that girl?

MARILYN’s looking a little dishevelled today, loafing behind a desk at his manager’s London office. He actually looks quite an ordinary bloke until you clap eyes on his long, spectacular braided hair and numerous earrings. He was born, he says, in Kingston, Jamaica, moving to England when he was about four and, as his parents split up, settling with his father in Hertfordshire. Even at that tender age, MARILYN was an individual.

‘I’ve always tried consciously to look different from everyone else. I used to be called ‘poof’ and ‘queer’ at school because I was such a pretty boy, so I started to go out with girls. But even then they called me names. I never wanted to be the kind of boy who went round smashing windows.’

Eventually the pressure of being victimised became too much for him. He left school at 15 and spent the next year in a state of mental collapse. The time for a change had come, so he packed his bags and moved in with a friend at a squat in Carburton Street in London where – at various times – people like Boy George, Jeremy from Haysi Fantayzee and Kirk Brandon were living, along with various other figureheads of the Blitz Age, all determined to become famous.

He decided on his MARILYN Monroe thing – bleached blond hair and 40’s dresses – after seeing a girl dressed exactly like her. Coincidentally, he’d earned the nickname ‘MARILYN’ at school (his real name’s Peter) and he kept it and turned it to his advantage. The result was electric.

‘I used to walk into clubs and the whole place would go silent. It was a really good feeling having all that attention, but I wasn’t ready for it then. I still felt that everyone was against me, so I went through this really bitchy stage. I’ve grown out of that now.’

He wanted to get noticed, and constructed an image to suit that aim. And it worked. He was photographed, written about and featured in a film about the London nightclub scene called Steppin’ Out that ran as the support to Alien.

Being a part of the generation of bon viveurs that produced Haysi Fantayzee and Culture Club also had its advantages. Paul Caplin (who manages Haysi) took an interest in the blond bombshell and gave him a chance to air his musical talents on a couple of demos. It didn’t take long for the record companies to start scrambling for MARILYN’s signature, realising that he wasn’t just a pretty face but also a very talented singer and writer.

Now signed up to Phonogram, he’s releasing his first single this week, a thumping soulful tune entitled ‘Calling Your Name’.

I’m interested in presenting myself as an entertainer rather than just a singer,’ he says. ‘It’s very easy to look weird, as I’ve proved in the past. Anyone can do that. There’s got to be something else.’

At the moment his wildest dream is to have a mantlepiece stacked with acting and music awards, ‘just like Barbra Streisand’. But, as for the future, he’s not set on becoming famous and fabulously rich.

‘Even if the record isn’t a success, I’ll still be happy. I still feel that I’m a success. To me being successful is being a happy person, generous to your friends and not abusing people’s trust. Things like that mean more to me than having six million pounds in the bank.’