Biographic - Sunday February 10, 2008 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Marc Bolan of T.Rex Marc Bolan enjoyed just one top 10 hit stateside during his lifetime, but 30 years since his tragic death, the diminutive rocker, who was once dubbed "The Bopping Elf" continues to cast a giant shadow. Artists as diverse as Morrissey, Bono, and Guns N' Roses have covered his songs, and his music is still widely used in movies, including "Lords of Dogtown" "Moulin Rouge" and "Herbie: Fully Loaded." "20th Century Boy" track has been featured in TV commercials for products from Levi's Jeans to Mitsubishi cars. Born Mark Feld in London on September 30, 1947, he tried his hand at modeling after leaving school at 15. He played in a skiffle band, before the success of Bob Dylan and Donovan inspired him to take to the folk club circuit under the name Toby Tyler. By 1967, he was Marc Bolan, and a member of a proto-punk band called John's Children. When that group collapsed, he recruited percussionist Steve Peregrin Took and formed the hippie acoustic duo Tyrannosaurus Rex. The pair found the moderate success on the U.K. underground scene, but within two years, Took has been replaced by Mickey Finn, the name had been truncated to T.REx, Marc had traded the acoustic guitar for a Gibson Les Paul and re-invented himself once more almost single-handedly inventing glam rock in the process. Over the next couple of years, "Bolanmania" was rampant in the U.K and he topped the british charts with hits such as "Hot Love" and "Get It On" (Retitled Bang A Gong (Get It On) in the U.S.) Following a slump in the mid-1970s, the advent of new wave and punk saw a resurgence in his career, but his life was cut short in 1977, just weeks before his 30th birthday, when the car driven by singer Gloria Jones, the mother of his baby son, Rolan, crashed into a tree just one mile from the London home they shared.

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