Marshall Applewhite was an American cult leader who founded the Heaven's Gate religious group in the 1970s. He was known for his extremist views on the afterlife, claiming that a spaceship would come to Earth to take his followers to another planet. Applewhite was also a musician, but his compositions were largely influenced by his beliefs and focused on themes of death and rebirth. He ultimately led his followers in a mass suicide in 1997, cementing his notoriety and controversial legacy.