Genesis P-Orridge

Genesis P-Orridge

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, born Neil Andrew Megson, is an English singer-songwriter, musician, poet, writer and performance artist. In the latter capacity he was the founder of the COUM Transmissions artistic collective, which operated from 1969 through to 1975, while as a musician, P-Orridge fronted the pioneering industrial band Throbbing Gristle from 1975 through to 1981, and then the acid house band Psychic TV from 1981 through to 1999. An occultist, he is also a founding member of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth.

Born in Manchester, P-Orridge moved around the country as a child, first to Essex and then to Warwickshire. Here he attended the privately run Solihull School, where he developed an interest in art, occultism and the avant-garde. Studying at the University of Hull, P-Orridge dropped out, and briefly moved into a hippy commune in North London. Adopting his nom-de-guerre, he returned to Hull, where he founded COUM Transmissions in 1969, which operated out of a communal warehouse which he named the Ho-Ho Funhouse. Achieving notoriety in Hull, their activities eventually caught the attention of the national press.

P-Orridge's early confrontational performance work in COUM Transmissions in the late 1960s and early 1970s along with the industrial band Throbbing Gristle, which dealt with subjects such as prostitution, pornography, serial killers, occultism, and P-Orridge's own exploration of gender issues, generated controversy. Later musical work with Psychic TV received wider exposure. P-Orridge is credited on over 200 releases.

P-Orridge has two daughters, Caresse and Genesse, with former wife Paula P-Orridge (born Paula Brooking). After marrying Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge in 1993, Genesis and Lady Jaye began a project to become Breyer P-Orridge, a single pandrogynous entity. Genesis Breyer P-Orridge continued this project after the death of Lady Jaye in 2007.