Parrish was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.[3] He left home at the age of 14 and became a member of the crowd that converged nightly at the Studio 54 nightclub in Manhattan.[2] The nickname "Man" was given to Parrish by Andy Warhol,[4] and first appeared in Warhol's Interview magazine.[2]
Parrish's early live shows at Bronx hip-hop clubs were spectacles of lights, glitter, and pyrotechnics, which drew as much from the Warhol mystique as the Cold Crush Brothers.[2]
His first release was "Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop)" issued in 1982,[5] which Parrish said faced a racial backlash from the African-American hip hop community: "I was making the music that they played, and then they found out I was white and gay they pulled it. It didn't hurt sales but it was shocking."[6] The song was featured in the film Shaun of the Dead, the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City which sold millions of copies. It was sampled in Sway & King Tech's 1991 song "Follow 4 Now", from their second album, Concrete Jungle. His biggest chart success in the UK was his recording of "Male Stripper" with Man 2 Man, which peaked at No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart.[5]
He eventually signed with Elektra Records via David Bowie's manager Tony DeFries who also managed his music career, but was dropped from the label in 1984, when they decided not to release the album he had recorded for them. Elektra signed him for dance music, his manager wanted him to create pop-rock.
In 2010s, Parrish was in negotiations with Pink Biscuit Records and was scheduled to release a record via Southern Fried Records, the label owned by Fatboy Slim. Parrish started his own label instead.
From 2000 to 2015, he created the longest running underground New York City club party, at the CockBar.
In 2018, three pieces of his musical works were accepted into the Museum of Modern Art's MoMA permanent collection in New York City. Film scores for Behive, (a modern dance film), The Jones's, (an indie art film) and his 1983 music video for "Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop)".
In 2018, he also did a sound performance – installation for MoMA PS1 titled The Box, asking the question: Is Sound Considered Art?
^Lawrence, Tim (2016). Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor 1980–1983. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. p. 300. ISBN978-0-8223-6186-2.
^Lawrence, Tim (2016). Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor 1980–1983. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. p. 300. ISBN978-0-8223-6186-2.
