MArc bolan, and T*Rex!
MARC was born in 1947 in hackney, London, as MARC FELD. he was always destined to be a star: as a teenager he turned up on Tony visconti's doorstep with his guitar rather than a demo tape!
after a few unsuccessful solo releases, he joined "john's children", with whom he had the hit Desdemona, but the alliance was short lived
he formed tyrannosaurus Rex with Steve peregrine took, and their first single, Debora, was released in 1968. the duo were a sort of folk/hippie acoustic combo, specialising in elfin/mystic songs and poetry. indeed, one of Marc's former champions, the radio one DJ, john peel, made a guest appearance on a couple of those early albums reciting some of Marc's poetry
after 3 albums, Steve took was replaced by Mickey Finn, who was to remain an essential part of Marc's career right up until 1975, missing only the last two studio albums
1970 saw the duo change their name to the abbreviated t*Rex, with the release of the album t*Rex, and then 1971 saw the band become essentially a quartet with the arrival of bill legend (drums) and Steve Currie (bass). 1971 also saw the release of the album electric warrior, which brought superstardom to MARC. while many of his previous fans felt deserted by his transformation from acoustic, hippie warbler to electric warrior, it brought him thousands of new fans
MARC effectively created the Glam genre, being the first to wear glitter on his face, and being the icon on which so many others based their image, notably David bowie
by 1973, Glam was in full swing, but Marc's commercial success was fading, and by 1975 he had spent a year away from the UK for tax reasons, seen his fans desert him again despite growing critical acclaim from his fellow musicians, and both bill legend and Mickey Finn had left the group
so MARC then set about reinventing himself, becoming in the process the godfather of punk. had it not been for his championing the punk cause, and in particular, his support of the UK punk band, "The damned" who supported him on his 1977 UK tour, then who knows how successful Malcolm mclaren and his sex pistols would have been?
the first step on this route was the release of his 1076 album "Futuristic dragon" followed in 1977 by "Dandy in the underworld". neither of them were particularly commercially successful, which is a shame as they remain two of his best albums.
he then had his own tv show on Granada tv, called simply "MARC".
tragically, just a week after the airing of his final show, on 16th September 1977, MARC was involved in a car accident: the car which his girlfriend, Gloria Jones was driving, hit a tree in Essex. MARC was killed instantly.
he was survived by his girlfriend, their son Roland, and his widow, June feld
he remains one of the most influential characters in music: he influenced, one way or another, an entire decade, he created a whole genre of music, he has influenced many, many musicians and fans, and he remains incredibly popular, even 22 years after his death.
Last updated on 18/07/99