Malcolm McLaren (born Malcolm Robert Andrew Edwards, 22 January 1946, London) is a solo artist, and most famously, former manager to the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols. McLaren was born to Pete McLaren and Emmy Isaacs in the suburbs of postwar London.
His father left when he was two, so he was raised by his grandmother, Rose Corre Isaacs, in Stoke Newington, London. She was a charismatic, formerly wealthy daughter of Portuguese Sephardic Jews who were former diamond dealers. Malcolm told Andrew Denton on Enough Rope, that his grandmother always said to him, "It's good to be bad and it's bad to be good". When Malcolm was six, Emmy Isaac married Martin Levi, a man working in London's rag trade. McLaren's stepfather and his mother owned a shmatte factory in London's East End, 'Eve Edwards London Limited', and Malcolm lived in a fine suburban house. Unfortunately, Malcolm and his stepfather never got along, and by the time he hit his teens, Malcolm couldn’t wait to leave home. After a series of jobs (including one as a wine taster), he went on to attend several Art Colleges through the 1960s, being expelled from several before leaving education entirely in 1971. It was during this time that he began to design clothing, a talent he would later utilise when he became a boutique owner.
He had been attracted to the Situationist movement, which promoted absurdist and provocative actions as a way of enacting social change. In 1968 McLaren had tried unsuccessfully to travel to Paris to take part in the demonstrations there. McLaren would later adopt the movement's ideas into his promotion for the various pop and rock groups he was soon to become involved with. By 1975 McLaren had started to manage The Strand, the band who would later become the Sex Pistols. His assistant, Bernie Rhodes (soon to be manager of The Clash), spotted Johnny Rotten who was then sporting green hair, and torn clothes with the words "I hate" scribbled on his Pink Floyd shirt. His appearance and attitude impressed McLaren and Rotten was brought in to audition as a new frontman. Rotten joined, and the band was renamed The Sex Pistols
Discography
* Duck Rock (1983)
* D'ya Like Scratchin' (EP) (1983)
* Madam Butterfly (1984)
* Fans (1984)
* Swamp Thing (1985)
* Waltz Darling (1989)
* Round the Outside, Round the Outside (with the World Famous Supreme Team Show) (1990)
* Paris (1994)
* Buffalo Gals Back to Skool (1998)
* Tranquilize (2005)
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