Charles Manson's Music Career Began In Washington

STEILACOOM, WA - If you're ever in Steilacoom, look northwest from the shore and you'll see McNeil Island in the distance. Many violent criminals have served time there over the years, but perhaps the most notorious was Charles Manson, who spent about 5 years there in the early 1960s on a federal check fraud charge.

Manson, 83, died Sunday night at a hospital in Kern County, Calif. He was the leader of the Manson family cult, whose members killed seven people in Los Angeles over two nights in August 1969. Manson ordered the killings because he wanted to start a race war. He has been in prison ever since, in recent years with a swastika tattooed on his forehead.

Manson spent some formative years in Pierce County, and later in Seattle, although he didn't choose to come here.

Manson was transferred to McNeil Island in 1961, according to the 2013 book, "Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson." His mother also moved to Seattle to be closer to her incarcerated son. He would make several trips to Seattle in the 1960s to visit his mother, according to "Manson."

Manson learned to play guitar while at McNeil Island from 1930s gang leader Alvin Karpis, according to the book. Music would play a big role in Manson's post-McNeil Island life. Karpis wrote in his autobiography that he felt bad for Manson.

He wants to learn guitar and become a music star. “Little Charlie” is so lazy and shiftless, I doubt if he'll put in the time required to learn. The youngster has been in institutions all of his life —first orphanages, then reformatories, and finally federal prison. His mother, a prostitute, was never around to look after him. I decide it's time someone did something for him, and to my surprise, he learns quickly.

After leaving McNeil Island, Manson pursued a music career in Los Angeles. He wrote a song called "Cease To Exist," which the Beach Boys recorded under the name "Never Learn Not To Love." Manson also mixed with the Los Angeles music scene - Neil Young once complimented Manson's guitar playing.

Manson's legacy persists locally. In 2011, a bar called The Helter Skelter Lounge opened in Poulsbo. "Helter Skelter" is a Beatles song, but it's also a phrase the Manson family wrote on the wall at one of the Los Angeles murder scenes. The caused controversy because it used an image of Manson on its sign.

It's no longer open, and neither is McNeil Island.

Watch: Charles Manson Dies At 83

Photo: Convicted killer Charles Manson is seen in 1986 during a parole hearing in California. In February, 2008, a team of forensic researchers visited the Death Valley ranch where Manson hid after a killing spree in the summer of 1969 and found at least two sites that could be clandestine graves holding the bodies of additional victims.

Image File Photo/Associated Press