Brian Hugh Warner was born on January 5, 1969 in Canton, Ohio, the only child of Barb (née Wyer) and Hugh Warner. He is of German descent on his father's side, and is a 4th cousin twice removed of Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan. As a child, he attended his mother's Episcopalian church, though his father was Catholic. Manson attended Heritage Christian School from first grade to tenth grade where he experienced traumatic brainwashing at the hands of his Christian pedagogues by way of their apocalyptic biblical narratives. Ultimately, out of fear, this led to his own personal rebellion against Christianity, and religious conformity in general. In a quote from Manson's autobiography The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, he states: "I was thoroughly terrified by the idea of the end of the world and the Antichrist. So I became obsessed with it, watching movies like The Exorcist and the Omen and reading prophetic books like Centuries by Nostradamus, 1984 by George Orwell, and the novelized version of the film a Thief in the Night."
Manson's interest in rock 'n roll music stemmed from a childhood friend who introduced him to bands such as Kiss, Dio, Black Sabbath, and Rainbow and other bands of that genre. Out of these bands, KISS stood out amongst the crowd, Manson was a card-carrying member of the KISS ARMY and attended his first concert with his father in 1979. At the age of ten, a young Brian Warner was photographed in the make-up of KISS drummer, Peter Criss. It has been thought, though never confirmed or denied by Manson that his stage theatrics and make-up partially stem from his influence by KISS as a child.
According to his autobiography The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, Warner is of German and Polish ancestry on his father's side. Raised in his mother's religion, and attending Heritage Christian School, he later transferred to and graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School in 1987. In 1990, as a college student, Warner attended Broward Community College. As the assistant entertainment editor of BCC's student newspaper, the Observer, his first published article was a review titled "Jane's Addiction returns to shock crowd at Woody's." Warner was working toward a degree in journalism and theater, though never came into fruition. Manson later lied a local magazine to gain employment and experience in the field by writing music articles for the South Florida lifestyle magazine, 25th Parallel. There he met several of the musicians to whom his own band would later be compared, including My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Manson mentions briefly in his autobiography that he became a musician partly because he wanted writers to gain the same amount of fame and respect as musicians.
Manson's interest in rock 'n roll music stemmed from a childhood friend who introduced him to bands such as Kiss, Dio, Black Sabbath, and Rainbow and other bands of that genre. Out of these bands, KISS stood out amongst the crowd, Manson was a card-carrying member of the KISS ARMY and attended his first concert with his father in 1979. At the age of ten, a young Brian Warner was photographed in the make-up of KISS drummer, Peter Criss. It has been thought, though never confirmed or denied by Manson that his stage theatrics and make-up partially stem from his influence by KISS as a child.
According to his autobiography The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, Warner is of German and Polish ancestry on his father's side. Raised in his mother's religion, and attending Heritage Christian School, he later transferred to and graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School in 1987. In 1990, as a college student, Warner attended Broward Community College. As the assistant entertainment editor of BCC's student newspaper, the Observer, his first published article was a review titled "Jane's Addiction returns to shock crowd at Woody's." Warner was working toward a degree in journalism and theater, though never came into fruition. Manson later lied a local magazine to gain employment and experience in the field by writing music articles for the South Florida lifestyle magazine, 25th Parallel. There he met several of the musicians to whom his own band would later be compared, including My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Manson mentions briefly in his autobiography that he became a musician partly because he wanted writers to gain the same amount of fame and respect as musicians.
