"I’ve got so many things cooking – we’re gonna have a banquet when I’m finished!"

Hi again,

Well I’ve moved temporarily to New York – where a record deal is happening. Spirit in the Sky was meant to be released on CBS, but I think it’s going to be on something else now. I’ll get Valerie to send a leaflet as soon as we know for definite. I’ve had my dreadlocks placed in again and feel much more MARILYN-ish again.

Time 4 business – I really can’t believe you’re all so devoted and have stayed interested, I do thank you very much, I hope I can please you enough – I have written some new songs which are being demo’d on the 2-3^rd in London. Then I leave for New York again on the 5^th January 1986. I won’t be there very long, so don’t despair! Thank you everyone who came to see me at the Mudd Club – I hope U enjoyed!!

Anyway, enjoy this new club letter and I hope to see U all soon – maybe at the club party. Oh, do you want me to sing at it? Let Valerie know, then I can come prepared.

As always,

Love + kisses

MARILYN

Hi!

Hope you all had a great Christmas. Most of you probably know that MARILYN spent his Christmas in London, where he performed live at the Mudd Club on December 23^rd – more about this in MAZDA LIVE U.K. and MAZmail.

Then at the beginning of January we were in the studio with him while he recorded his new demos. For the inside story with pictures, see page 5.

Maybe some of you were fortunate to hear the fab, hour-long interview MAZ did for LBC radio on Boxing Night. I felt it came closer to the "real" MARILYN than any interview I’d heard before.

At the moment of writing, MARILYN is in LA completing various management deals, and then, after a couple of days in New York, he’ll be returning to London.

He really is working so hard to get his career moving again, as you can see by his quote on the front page. MARILYN in this mood is a formidable sight!

We thought that as a special bonus to you all, we’d make this MAZmag a bumper double-issue. I can’t promise we’ll be able to do this every time in the future, but with MARILYN feeling that it’s "Time 4 business", it seemed like a good way to fell all of you with some of his enthusiasm.

Don’t forget to let me know what you think about the Club Party idea – if I don’t get enough response at this stage, I won’t be able to go ahead with arrangements, so read the "Fan Club Party" article, and get your pens out straight away. Just a few lines on a postcard will be sufficient.

Thanks to everyone from MARILYN for all the great Christmas cards and gifts you sent to him, and also thanks from me; you’re very sweet – I’ve never had so many presents in my life! I’m sorry I haven’t written to thank you all personally, but since MAZ has been back in London, my life has been hectic to say the least!

Right – well that’s enough of my chatter. I feel sure that with MARILYN in his present state of mind, we’re going to be seeing and hearing a great deal of him in 1986!

WATCH OUT!!!

Much love,

Valerie

"I’d like to call him Pete as I came."

"All the other people I love are girls."

"I was with MARILYN when he was shooting the Calling Your Name video. I don’t think the word "compromise" is in his dictionary."

"What I hate about him is the way he’s so astute. When I’m near him I feel like I’ve got a glass head – he sees straight into my brain. I wouldn’t begin to know how to deceive him/"

"If he could put even ten percent of his aggression on a record he’d have a number one hit."

"MARILYN isn’t a man or a woman – he’s simply MARILYN"

"Every time I speak to him I learn something. I grow."

"Anyone who thinks this guy is a poof just doesn’t BEGIN to know – they’ve certainly never met him."

"Some of his friends are easily fooled, but not MARILYN. He can smell a hanger-on at 100 paces; he just sense if you are genuine."

"MARILYN’s records are a quality product – you need to really listen to them."

"I’ve built my life around him, but sometimes I feel I just can’t take any more"

"This guy is so special – even if you’re looking out of the window, you can feel his presence when he walks into the room."

"I can’t talk about him. I can only love him."

"His smile is like that the Angels must wear when they meet God."

You took me into darkness

Closed my eyes

Familiar faces cold as icy fingers

running down my spine

You give me more than loving

Paradise to move with you

Move together, oh sugar

Move together

You burn my bridges down

Force my feelings all around

Take your chances

Take your chances

Take your chances now!

Walk in the spiders web of your demise

I’m your prize

Hear my cries

There’s no escape for me for now

Hear all the others calling

Come to me

Take your chance now!

Move together, oh sugar

Move together

You burn my bridges down

Force my feelings all around

Take your chances

Take your chances

Take your chances now!

(repeat chorus to fade)

Heaven was the place and a Christmas Ball the occasion for MARILYN’s first-ever live performance in England.

Shortly before 1 AM on the Monday before Christmas, MARILYN was greeted by an enthusiastic and expectant throng as he arrived at the Mudd Club. Held at labyrinthine Heaven under the Charing Cross Arches, this was the scene of his initiation as a boy of fourteen into the world of nightclubs; but tonight MARILYN returned as the star.

As the opening bars of his forthcoming single Spirit in the Sky, pounded over the powerful sound system, MARILYN, his hair now a waistlength sea of golden dreadlocks, bounded onto the stage. Wearing a floor-length black coat covered in multi-coloured fringes, sequins and feathers, he thrilled a capacity crowd.

This was the familiar MARILYN of Calling Your Name, strutting, pouting and teasing; yet it was also a new MARILYN. After a year out of the public eye, he has rediscovered his true direction, returning with a new aggression, dynamic self confidence and a voice which has matured and grown ever stronger.

Always the showman, he captivated his audience with his unique brand of glitz and glamour. Halfway through the song he turned his back. There was an audible gasp from the crowd as, with the infinite skill of a seasoned stripper, he allowed his coat to slide sensuously from his shoulders to the floor, revealing a sophisticated clinging outfit of sequinned black pants and off-the-shoulder top.

He has taken the 1970s classic song and injected it with hard, 1986 gospel funk, MARILYN-style.

As the song ended MARILYN, waving and blowing kisses, made his way to his dressing room surrounded by security guards. He later returned to mingle with his fans, chatting and signing autographs.

Boy George was among those who rushed to congratulate him, saying, "He was brilliant!"

An emotional fan told us, "I can’t believe this is real – he was wonderful. I feel like crying."

Dear Valerie,

After going to the Mudd Club at Heaven, really looking forward to a good evening, and queuing up outside for ages, we were refused entry by Philip Sallon at the door.

He opened my coat and had the cheek to look me up and down. "No" he said. I showed him my MAZclub card and he just said, "No, you need an invite. This is not a MARILYN concert, this is the Mudd Club."

So, after dragging all my friends up there to give MARILYN some support, we were rejected, and it’s so degrading.

Some people that got in were more "boringly" of "normally" dressed than us – I just don’t understand Philip Sallon at all…

SHARON, Herts

Dear MAZmail,

Regarding MARILYN’s statement "I am NOT gay!", who cares? It’s nobody elses business what he does behind closed doors. Bisexual, gay, straight – I don’t particularly care what goes on. I admire MAZ for the type of person he is.

He’s got guts, and he keeps going for what he has always wanted; recognition as a songwriter and performer.

One day he will achieve his aim. MAZ will be able to look down on those who’ve called him "poof" or "queer" and say "F—k you, I’ve made it to the top while you’re still grovelling in the gutter looking for dirt to print in the papers!

The gutter press try to put a slur on his name to slow him down. Well, here’s a message to them; DON’T BOTHER, YOU’LL NEVER BEAT MARILYN!

CLAUDETTE GILL, Camberley

Dear MAZmail,

I must congratulate you all for the ACE MAZmag 6 thought the "Hot! Hot! Pix" of MAZ in his birthday suit on page 3 were so tasteless. I’m not concerned with his body, it’s his personality, humour and charm I feel are more important…

Yours sincerely,

JEAN MONAGHAN, Cumbria

Dear People,

… When I exchanged letters not long ago with Kate Garner of Haysi fame, she mentioned MAZ’s musical potential, and I decided to check him out.

Guess what?! I’m glad I did! Now as a MAZclub member, I’m with him in almost everything he does! Special thanks to everyone at the Club – I’m impressed by all of the devotion to MARILYN – and special thanks to Ms Garner: you were right baby, right!

Love,

ROSANNE, Canada

At lunchtime on Monday, January the 6^th, Graeme and I arrived at a recording studio in north London, where MARILYN was in process of recording demos of some songs he had just written.

This was the first time I’d been with MARILYN in the studio and I was so impressed. I was amazed by the way he worked his backing singers – he knew exactly what he wanted, and he made them give it to him.

At times the engineer was almost driven to distraction by MAZ’s constant striving for perfection, but by the time we listened to the completed tapes in the early hours of the next morning even he had to agree that the effort involved had been worthwhile.

MARILYN pushed himself to the limits, working for more than eighteen hours at a stretch. I wish some of those critics who are so quick to put him down could have been there to see him in action.

He recorded four new songs called Dangerous, Positive Action, Look Around You and Human Nature, and they are BEE-YOND!!! Completely brilliant! His voice has grown stronger than ever before.

I could describe the tracks as being "Motown", or "Gospel", or "Pop", but really none of those descriptions is sufficient. They’re basically just very "MARILYN", yet at the same time they’re very different from everything he has done in the past.

Now that he has left his old record company, for the first time MAZ has total artistic control, and it really shows. When these songs hit the streets, I think a lot of people are going to be very surprised.

"I’d like to see MAZ in a pin-up with me – holding our baby son."

"MARILYN being licked all over by me, ‘cos he Ain’t Been Licked."

CONNIE CATERINA, Australia

"The only pose I’d like to see MAZ in would be on top of me!"

ANNE-MARIE, Wallington

"My ideal pin-up would be a photograph of me in MARILYN’s Union Jack shorts – while he’s still wearing them!"

GEE, East Sussex

"MAZ and me doing a crossword in his flat, so I could say, "This is me and MAZ getting one across at his place."

TINA BATE, Merseyside

"I’d like to see MAZ reaching up into the sky for a planet, flexing his muscles, with an eye peering down on him, and the caption "Taking my strength from the planet as it spins on so strong."

KERRY O’TOOLE, Northants

When I see reviews of my records I know that they are reviewing me – not my music.

I tried taking my picture off the record sleeve so that people would listen to the music, without being side-tracked by the image, but it didn’t work – they still didn’t listen.

In future I’m going to put photos of me on my record sleeves looking really fab. I’m just going to please myself.

MARILYN

Q: How do you maintain an air of self-respect, when you are constantly being tugged down?

A: How hard it is to survive! I always thought me lover (?) was the end of a rainbow, when in

fact it is only the beginning of a massive heartache. Trying to please everyone and losing sight

of your own goals. It takes so much inner strength to continue to see more rainbows! But I try.

Q: What is Boy George to you, to himself and to the world?

A: I wish I knew. I love him as a friend, but feel suffocated by the bondage his name with mine

creates. I wish no one knew we know each other – what terrible mistakes I’ve made. He’s

sweet and tough to himself – to the world a creative power – to me a friend and awful

nuisance.

Q: What do you want?

A: I want to be (cliché) loved – for my heart and my mind – body last. I want a soul mate to

experience my life with theirs intertwined as one, with the strength of two – is that too much?!

Q: Where will you go?

A: I wish there was a safe place to retire to, to be surrounded by people who love and are loved –

I think I live in a world of fantasy – but it seems so possible when you meet someone nice,

and so ridiculous, when you are ridiculed – I’m going to be happy one day – even if it kills

me!

Q: What is your goal?

A: To contain an inner peace, and to emit an aura of serenity – to be forgiven and understood by

stone casters and forgive injustice and ignorance, caused by the tuition of evil – heavy but

totally true.

My love for you it grows each day

Just like a flower in Spring

So darling don’t ever go away

Or sadness you will bring

I often dream of you at night

With you I’d like to be

I always think it feels just right

For you to be with me

But never in a million years

Would my life be so complete

Forever darling it shall be tears

'Cos I know we’ll never meet

So MAZ, dear MAZ, the man I see

As more than any man

I know our love can never be

‘Cos to you I’m just a fan…

MICHELLE

To MAZDA

I’ve never met you

But I love you madly

Come and see me

I’d greet you gladly

We could be lovers

You and I

I’d comb your hair

And feel your thigh

And in the morning

While you lay sleeping

I’d kiss your lips

And tuck your feet in

So please, my darling

Don’t you worry

I’ll get there yet

Won’t that be funny?

You and me

All alone

In my bed

In my home

SHARON

JE T’AIME

Glancing up at my photos of you

Did something strange to me

You were looking so contented

And were laughing happily

The many thoughts that crossed my mind

I tried to brush away

But no matter how I tried

They were there to stay

But suddenly I realised

And my heart was filled with fear

Then I choked back a sob

And wiped away a tear

Because you are so wonderful

And pretty like a dove

Someday, sometime, darling

You’ll be someone elses love

I wish I wouldn’t think of you

‘Cos it hurts me deep inside

To know you can be another’s

But never ever mine

You helped me with my drug problem

Indirectly, but nevertheless

I love you so much and want you to know

You’re the very, very best

God I love you so much MARILYN

BARBARA, South Africa

This photo was sent to us by Vicki Smith from St Albans. It was taken by Vicki’s mum at Heathrow Airport in January ’85 when Vicki and fellow Club member Helen Savage bumped into a mystery man! Says Vicki – that’s her on the right – "We were not too sure if it was MARILYN at first, but I could tell by the shape of his nose. MAZ was great, but he was a bit tired. He gave us both an American coin as a souvenir. We spoke to him for a bit outside while he waited for his taxi, and as he drove off, he blew us loads of kisses!"

Nothing ragged about MARILYN’s clothes, or his performance, at the Limelight, New York City! No spiky mohawk, no tattered jeans. Instead what emerged from behind the curtain was a smooth, sophisticated and ever-so-sexy MAZ.

His hair was sleek and blond, the clothes were basic black, except for a robe trimmed with blue and purple feathers and red and black fringe. These vivid colours caught the light as he slinked forward out of the shadows. I sighed.

A few moments into the song he turned his back to the audience and let the robe glide elegantly of his arms. He tossed it behind himself and danced forward in fringed pants and sequinned top. He teased the audience by leaning forward but always staying out of reach. I stood too far to the left to appreciate this, but he quickly compensated by letting the shirt drop off his right shoulder. We never made eye contact, but I felt certain that calculated gesture was made for me (a girl can dream, no?) I make this presumption because without any bare behind for me to ogle this time, he must have felt obliged to flash some flesh. Isn’t that right, MAZ?

His sultry voice and lowered lids completed the look. He tossed in a few of his breathy moans for good measure, which always manage to hit the spot -–G-spot, that is. He consummated the act by standing centre-stage and spreading his arms. His gaze dropped toward his shoulder. White smoke billowed beneath his feet and ethereal white light emanated from behind, as a sacrificial rose arced over the stage and landed at his feet. This is what an Archangel must look like, I thought.

Just that morning, MARILYN had appeared on a TV talk show and had explained that he considers what he sings to be gospel music because he sings only the truth. So, when he sang about "having a friend in Jesus" that Monday night, well, I think I experienced a twinge of guilt for wanting to jump his bod … but I doubt it.

CHRISTA REILLY

Education: The world

Shoe size: Nine

First love: Being free

First disappointment: Seeing others are not

Funniest experience: Being born

Most frightening experience: Living

Worst experience: Growing up

When did you lose your virginity? I never had it

When did you stop taking a

cuddly toy to bed? I hate cuddly toys – I like people to take to bed

Fantasy: To have a number one record

Most hated person: Myself

What do you wear in bed? Someone cute

Are you circumcised? Find out

What do you read in the loo? Shampoo instructions