Today is the 33rd anniversary of the death of Marc Bolan. For those of you who don't know, Marc was an English singer/songwriter who did solo stuff as well as stuff with his band, T Rex. Marc Feld was born on the 30th of September, 1947 in Hackney (London). He was given his first guitar at the age of 9 and his first band was called "Susie and the Hoops". He left school at the age of 15 and became a male model. He changed his name to Toby Tyler when he met and moved in with his first manager (Allan Warren). He later left this manager and changed his name to Marc Bolan.
Marc's first single was released in 1967 and was called "The Wizard". He then joined the mod band called John's Children which wasn't very successful and didn't sell many records. One of the singles that Marc wrote for John's Children was actually banned by the BBC for having the line "lift up your skirt and fly". When this band collapsed, Marc and one of his band mates (Steve Peregrine Took) formed a band called Tyrannosaurus Rex that played acoustic, psychedelic folk rock. They used songs written by Marc and released four albums and four singles. They were highly supported by John Peel and got to number 15 in the charts. After a while, Bolan bought a Gibson Les Paul and started bringing electrical influences into the music. This increased when Took was replaced with Mickey Finn. After marrying his girlfriend (June Child) Marc shortened the name of the band to T Rex and released Ride a White Swan, one of his most popular songs.
Ride a White Swan got to number 2 in the charts and Bolan started getting more and more flamboyant, turning up for shows in feather boas and glitter. Other rock stars also started getting glam, including Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart. It was also around this time (1971) that David Bowie rose to fame. After Ride a White Swan came Hot Love, Get It On, and Jeepster. In 1972 Telegram Sam and Metal Guru got to number 1 while Children of the Revolution and Solid Gold Easy Action got to number 2.
Due to an affair with his backing singer, Gloria Jones, his marriage came to an end. The T Rex line up disintegrated and Marc spent a lot of time in America. His health deteriorated as he put on weight and he stayed quite popular until his death although he never got back as popular as he was in 1972. His son, Rolan Bolan was born in 1975 and Marc returned to Britain. In early 1977 T Rex was reformed with different people and a new album was released called Dandy in the Underworld. The band went on a UK tour with The Damned and Granada Television gave him a TV series named Marc where he had new and established bands performing as well as performing himself.
Bolan died two weeks before his 30th birthday in a car crash. The car was being driven by Gloria Jones and it struck a tree as she lost control of the car. The site in Barnes, London is now a Marc Bolan shrine and I would love to visit it. Although I am too young to remember Marc, his music lives on and he remains one of my favourite artists.
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