Malcolm McLaren was an English visual artist, performer, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, most remembered for his management of the Sex Pistols.
McLaren attended a number of British art colleges and adopted the stance of the social rebel in the style of French revolutionaries. He realised that a new protest style was needed for the 1970s, and largely initiated the punk movement, for which he supplied fashions from the Chelsea boutique SEX, which he operated with girlfriend Vivienne Westwood.
After a period advising the New York Dolls in the U.S., McLaren managed the Sex Pistols, the issue of a controversial record, "God Save the Queen", poking fun at the Queen's Jubilee in 1977, was typical of McLaren's shock tactics, and he gained public notoriety by being arrested after a promotional boat trip with the band outside the Houses of Parliament.
McLaren performed with acclaim as a solo artist, initially focusing on hip hop and world music and later diversifying into funk and disco, the dance fashion for "voguing" and merging opera with contemporary electronic musical forms.
When accused of turning popular culture into a cheap marketing gimmick, he joked that he hoped it was true. His first album, 'Duck Rock' was a success in the U.K. and spawned 2 top-10 singles: "Buffalo Gals" and "Double Dutch".
In his later years, he lived in Paris and New York City, and died in Switzerland.