First becoming a noted figure on the London club scene, Marilyn topped the European, Japanese and Australian charts with his 1983 hit "Calling Your Name".

[12] As a teenager, he was a regular nightclub-goer and wanted to look different, so he adopted a Marilyn Monroe image wearing vintage dresses with bleached blond hair.

[16] In 1979, Robinson appeared in the documentary Steppin' Out directed by Lyndall Hobbs, which explored the fashionable nightclubs and the trendy pop culture scenes that were famous in London at the time.

There, he worked as a personal assistant to daytime soap star Terry Lester,[17] and teamed up with songwriter and pop entrepreneur Paul Caplin who became his manager.

[18] After Boy George had made a commercial impact with Culture Club, record companies were looking for other artists with a similar cross-dressing image.

In March 1984, Marilyn flew to Australia for a 10-day promotional tour and was besieged by fans who were waiting to greet him at Melbourne Airport.

[21][22] While in Australia, Marilyn was attacked and kicked in the face by a member of the public at the Exchange Hotel, a gay bar venue in Sydney, sustaining a bruised eye from the incident.

[24] In early-1985, facing financial difficulties and being forced to sell his London home, Phonogram Records dispatched him to Detroit, to work with producer Don Was.

While in America, he cut his trademark long blonde hair short and ceased wearing make-up, abandoning the image that had brought him his initial success.

After spending a week recording new material with Was, Marilyn was scheduled to perform live for the first time at New York's Area nightclub.

[26] By this time, Robinson's drug addiction and his highly publicised disputes with Boy George damaged his public image.

[27] In 2000, Robinson attempted to relaunch his career and recorded a new single as Marilyn, a cover version of the Dennis Brown song "How Could I Live?"

[29] On 2 September 2001, Marilyn performed a live appearance at the Sound on Sunday club night in Leicester Square, London.

[35] The following month, he appeared on Kev Gurney's Club Tropicana radio show where he gave a 20-minute interview in which he revealed that he had been working on four new tracks with a new production team, and suggested the possibility of live dates in the future.

[39][40][41] Boy George, Rusty Egan and Marilyn all appeared in the film discussing their time at the club and about the early-1980s era, while La Roux was interviewed about the cultural effects of the New Romantic movement on younger performers like herself.