Steve Peregrin Took

I was into sewing machines, but I now hold toothpicks in nearer proximity to my heart. I once climbed the leaning tower of Stereocabinets, to the very, very top. I was also one half of the duo Tyrranosaurus Rex before a shortened name and a change of musical styles brought our founder Marc Bolan incredible fame. At 18, I answered an ad in a London underground paper, The International Times, placed by a young hippie named Marc Bolan. Bolan was fascinated by mythology, particularly J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the duo we formed, Tyrranosaurus Rex, payed heavily to the hippie mysticism of the day. While Bolan sang about elves, magic and the days of old, I added exemplary percussion, bass, piano and harmony vocals. Bolan and I released three albums together and built a small cult following which included BBC DJ John Peel who helped us secure a record deal in the first place. Yet, drug addiction and bizarre acts of violence onstage, such as whipping myself with a belt until I bled, led me to fall out of favor with Bolan and, after a 1969 American tour, I was asked to leave the band. I went on to play with the Pink Fairies for a time before leading a somewhat more subterranean lifestyle in London. I, who was called the Pete Best of the '70s by insensitive journalists, watched helplessly as T Rex and my old partner Marc Bolan went on to become stars in the U.K. I died in 1980 after choking on a cocktail cherry. .powered by magical andybeans.