Genesis P-Orridge

Biography

Genesis P-Orridge was an English performance artist, poet and musician best known for leading the industrial band Throbbing Gristle. Born in Manchester in 1950, P-Orridge took an interest in art and the avant-garde at Solihull School, dropped out of the University of Hull and moved to London, then returned to Hull to start the COUM Transmissions collective with Cosey Fanni Tutti. COUM's confrontational performance work, including the 1976 Prostitution show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, drew national press attention and the tabloid label wreckers of civilisation. Throbbing Gristle grew out of COUM, was active from 1975 to 1981, and helped pioneer industrial music. In 1981 P-Orridge co-founded the experimental band Psychic TV. Their name appeared on more than 200 releases, their first film, Wundatrek Tours, was released in 1973, and they retired from music in 2009. P-Orridge died in 2020.

70years old at death

Born February 22, 1950Victoria Park
Died March 14, 2020Lower East Side
Star sign: PiscesThe sign runs February 19 to March 20
Also credited as Breyer P-Orridge and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge

Movie Career

Films: 3
Career span: 13 years2004 to 2017

Every film, newest first

2017Queercore: How to Punk a RevolutionIMDb rating 6.9
2010William S. Burroughs: A Man WithinIMDb rating 7.1
2004Dig!IMDb rating 7.7

Genres

Did you know?!

About the name
On 5 January 1971, P-Orridge changed their name legally by deed poll. The new name joined the nickname Genesis with a respelled version of porridge, the food they had survived on as a student.
A change of course
In February 1975, P-Orridge got their first full-time job. They worked at St. James Press as an assistant editor, helping to compile the Contemporary Artists reference book.
A first
In the mid-1980s, Genesis P-Orridge's band Psychic TV planned to put out a live album every 23rd of the month across 23 months, honoring the 23 enigma. The group fell short but released fourteen albums in eighteen months, which earned a Guinness Book of World Records entry.
Beyond film
For Psychic TV's first album, Force the Hand of Chance, P-Orridge played a kangling, a Tibetan trumpet made from a human thigh-bone, which David Tibet had introduced to them.
First role
P-Orridge's first live radio session was broadcast in April 1971 for the On Cue program on Radio Humberside, with COUM consisting of P-Orridge and Gasmantell.