Peter Robi… Read Full Bio ↴There are at least 2 musicians going by the name Marilyn.
Peter Robinson (born November 3, 1962), better known as Marilyn, is a cross-dressing singer who reached fame with his song "Calling Your Name" in the 1980s.
Marilyn was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He grew up in Hertfordshire, England as part of a musical family and was influenced by the songs of Barbra Streisand, Motown and gospel. During his teenage years he began experimenting with his sexuality and image, adopting the blonde hair, makeup and movements of his idol Marilyn Monroe, hence his stage name Marilyn. Coincidentally Monroe died the same year Peter Robinson was born.
Marilyn was a part of the British new romantic movement which emerged in the late 1970s and was popularised in the early 1980s. Boy George and Marilyn were regulars at 'The Blitz' (regulars being labelled as Blitz Kids), a highly stylised nightclub in London run by Steve Strange of the musical group Visage, and a place which spawned many early 1980s pop stars such as Spandau Ballet. Essentially the new romantics based their image on the coolness of David Bowie and high fashion, and the music of David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Marc Bolan and post punk New Wave. Marilyn befriended Boy George through mutual friend, and former Blitz Kid Philp Sallon. Boy George and Marilyn moved into a squat in Kentish Town a suburb of London. They were soon chased out by the neighbour who tried to break down the front door with an axe. This was because Marilyn, who he assumed was a woman and was attracted to, was actually a man. According to Boy George, Marilyn was once known to slide on David Bowie's lap at a club called Legends and kissed his ear. Bowie ignored his pleas to seduce him. The Blitz Kids had found themselves bored with the whole punk genre and, in an effort to find something new, took to wearing bizarre home-made costumes and clothing and excessive amounts of make-up. They were often extremely androgynous in nature.
While Boy George went on to form Culture Club in 1981 and secure a recording deal with at first with Epic Records, then Virgin Records, Marilyn was still scouting for a recording contract. He teamed up with songwriter and pop entrepreneur Paul Caplin, with whom he co-wrote Calling Your Name, Cry and Be Free, You Don't Love Me and other songs. At this point Culture Club had made a commercial impact with their debut album, and record companies were seriously looking for artists with a similar cross-dressing image.
Following an appearance in the stylish video for Eurythmics hit single Who's That Girl which garnered him considerable press attention, Marilyn was signed to Phonogram Records and released Calling Your Name in November 1983. The song was an immediate smash, reaching #4 on the UK charts, #3 in Australia, and #1 in Japan. The lyrics to the song are reportedly based on an argument Marilyn had with Boy George. He also released Cry and Be Free and You Don't Love Me in 1984, with varying success. During a controversial promotional visit to Australia, Marilyn was involved in a fight in a Sydney pub and left the country with a black eye, calling Australians "animals". In November 1984, he took part in the Band Aid charity record project "Do They Know It's Christmas?" with various other musicians of the era.
Marilyn's début album Despite Straight Lines was released in June 1985, featuring his three previous hits and a new single, "Baby U Left Me (In The Cold)". The new single and the album were commercial failures in the UK, though found a modest audience in other parts of the world.
Despite the initial collaborations between Boy George and Marilyn, their on-and-off friendship became increasingly strained due to fame and drug-related problems. On July 9, 1986, Marilyn along with Boy George's brother Kevin O'Dowd were sentenced at Marylebone Magistrates Court on a charge of possessing heroin. The resultant media fallout of Marilyn's drug addiction and disputes with Boy George seriously damaged his public career. While attempting to record a follow-up album to Despite Straight Lines with famed producer Don Was in Detroit, Michigan, with little record company support, Marilyn's finances were drained to the point of having to work regular jobs outside of music. He briefly retired from the industry until 2001, when he made a series of successful Club PA's. He is still in demand for interviews and TV appearances.
The 2002 stage musical by Boy George, Taboo, features Marilyn and other stars of the 1980s. The music was a West End Smash before transferring to Broadway in NY produced by Rosie O'Donnell.
In 2006, Marilyn appeared in the UK Channel 4 documentary Whatever Happened to the Gender Benders?, in which he discussed his current mental health, his struggle with agoraphobia, and his fight against drug abuse.
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Marilyn is also a punk influenced rocker from NYC who began performing in the 1970s. She was one of the underground stars of the fabled Mudd Club. The night after the Rock ‘n’ Roll Funeral Ball, she became the only act featured there regularly when Steve Maas, the club’s brilliant owner, offered her an enormous sum to appear exclusively at the Mudd. At that funeral gala, Marilyn appeared in black silhouette with a Miss America banner draped across her body. Only instead of the usual beauty queen drivel, Marilyn’s banner said Death. Armed with a two-foot hourglass, she sang Sex Means Nothing When You’re Dead . Evidently, Steve liked what he saw.
Before striking out on her own, Marilyn had been the lead singer of Kongress, a band formed by Otto von Ruggins and Von LMO, who had already left to form his own band when Marilyn arrived.
Sex Means Nothing When You’re Dead, Marilyn’s first single, became an instant cult classic when it was released in 1980. Then came the EP So Disgraceful, released by Marilyn & the Movie Stars in 1982, which charted on Billboard . “It all sounds a bit decadent but it’s great,” is what Billboard had to say about So Disgraceful. Marilyn & the Movie Stars featured Webster Smith on synthesizers, drummer Hari Viderci, who also played for the Sickfu*ks, and bassist Tommy Victor, who went on to form Prong. She played the lead in Mark Kehoe’s 1982 film, Destroy All Blondes. Marilyn also turned her mordant wit to writing—about subatomic particles, outer space, high-risk adventure, and the like—for New York newspapers and magazines, which came as a bit of a surprise to those who figured this blonde nightclubber had nothing between the ears.
Marilyn then went to Paris to perform and spent the next several years appearing in France, Switzerland, and Italy. She returned to New York to pursue her writing. Along with working for the rights of pedestrians and cyclists in New York, she’s active in the civil rights movement for Ireland’s men, women, and children still under the thumb of the British invaders who have oppressed that country for the last 800 years .
In 2002, Marilyn appeared in Ned Ambler’s movie Illusions of Broadway, singing her incomparable I Survived. (No relation to the Gloria Gaynor song). She stars in Ned Ambler’s new movie Astin Valentine: Unrestricted, which opened March 2, 2004 at Film Anthology Archives in New York City.
Marilyn has just released a CD, Sex Means Nothing When You’re Dead, with the original versions of the songs she recorded in the early 80s. (To order, click the link at left)
She has a CD of all new songs coming out at the end of 2004
http://www.MarilynNYC.com/index.html
Sooner or Later
Marilyn Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Making good conversation I gotta handle you just right, you know what I mean
I took you to an intimate restaurant, then to a suggestive movie
There's nothing left to talk about 'less it's horizontally
Let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physical, let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk, let me hear your body talk
Let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physical, let's get into physical
I've been patient, I've been good, try'n to keep my hands on the table
It's gettin' hard this holdin' back, you know what I mean
I'm sure you'll understand my point of view, we know each other mentally
You've gotta know that you're bringin' out the animal in me
Let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physical, let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk, let me hear your body talk
Let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physical, let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk, let me hear your body talk
Oh let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physical, let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk, let me hear your body talk
Let's get animal, animal, I wanna get animal, let's get into animal
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk, let me hear your body talk
Let me hear your body talk, let me hear your body talk
The lyrics to "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John suggest that the singer is trying to seduce her lover physically after a series of romantic gestures. She talks about how she is trying to please him by saying all the right things and having good conversation. She reveals that she took him to romantic places to set the mood before she makes her move. The singer then goes on to say that she's been patient with him, but she cannot hold back any longer as he is bringing out the animal in her. She invites him to get physical and let her hear his body talk.
The lyrics of the song reflect the liberation of women's sexuality in the 1980s. The lines "Let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physical, let's get into physical/Let me hear your body talk, your body talk, let me hear your body talk" encouraged women to feel empowered to take control of their own sexual desires. The song helped set a trend of women taking charge of their sexuality, which was not common at the time. "Physical" was a part of a trend of 80's pop music whose lyrics encourage dancing and physical fitness.
The song was written and produced by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick. "Physical" was Olivia Newton-John's biggest hit song, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for ten weeks in 1981. The song was originally written for a male singer before Olivia Newton-John made it hers. The music video for "Physical" was also popular and helped make the song a hit, featuring the singer in a workout session and a steamy shower scene. Overall, "Physical" helped to establish Olivia Newton-John as both a pop and style icon.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm sayin' all the things that I know you'll like
I'm saying what I know you want to hear
Making good conversation I gotta handle you just right, you know what I mean
I need to talk to you in a specific way, you understand what I'm saying
I took you to an intimate restaurant, then to a suggestive movie
I took you to a romantic restaurant, then to a movie with sexual overtones
There's nothing left to talk about 'less it's horizontally
There's nothing left to talk about unless we're horizontal (having sex)
Let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physical, let's get into physical
Let's have sex, I want to have sex, let's do it
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk, let me hear your body talk
Tell me what you want with your body, communicate with me through your physical movements
I've been patient, I've been good, try'n to keep my hands on the table
I've been waiting and controlling myself, trying not to touch you
It's gettin' hard this holdin' back, you know what I mean
It's difficult for me to resist touching you, you understand what I'm saying
I'm sure you'll understand my point of view, we know each other mentally
I think you'll see things my way, we have a mental connection
You've gotta know that you're bringin' out the animal in me
You should realize that you're bringing out my sexual desires
Let's get animal, animal, I wanna get animal, let's get into animal
Let's be wild, I want to be wild, let's get wild together
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk, let me hear your body talk
Use your physical movements to tell me what you want
Let me hear your body talk, let me hear your body talk
Communicate with me through your physical movements
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: STEPHEN KIPNER, STEPHEN ALAN KIPNER, TERRY SHADDICK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Kenny D
This is so brilliant ! I love Marilyn so much and always have done! Massive influence on me in so many ways - Blessings be upon him xxx
TheNouveauxdecadence
If this track was released properly with a video and lots of promotion, it SO would have been a hit! Still sounds fresh, what a great pity. Power Pop at it's very best!
MarkVL
This was a live-performance [ you can find that version here on yt ] but in this vid the studio-version is dubbed in. It's an awesome song! Fits Marilyn's voice like a glove
Shelly Star
Love this, had it on repeat for ages
helena17
I loved this song. Well done Maz xx
Becki Yeah
marilyn is awesome 💕I love this song x
moira anne shearer
Just found this video. I like it.Very much. Great lyrics, great voice, irresistible guy.
Dozer LA
Attn Marilyn fans - I just discovered his version of "Sooner or Later" is available for download on Amazon as an MP3 plus b-side "Sophia" - i just downloaded it to complete my Maz collection - so glad to (finally) have a high-quality sounding version of this song! I still say that if Maz's cover of "Sooner or Later" had received a proper/wide commercial release + music video + record label promotion it coulda shoulda woulda been a big hit! While we're at it, Maz please record a new album soon for all your fans!
nwlman
Marilyn was so great, I miss him and his music I wish he would come back he was so talented I bought his singles and collected pics from magazines, he was the most fun of all the blitz gang
🌟MÄRÏLYN🌟
+nwlman Aww...thank you :-)