Marc and Ringo Starr in the fabulous but slightly dellusional Born To Boogie...
Right, well I am sure youve heard of Marc Bolan, born Marc Feld. He graced our planet 30th September 1947, growing up in the East End, Marc was a young model for The Face. He had star quality from the very start, with those elfin features...
Marc left school at the age of 14, claiming to have been expelled, as he didn't think they were teaching him the things he wanted to know. He had a huge interest in poetry and romantic literature, and was influenced by Dylan Thomas and Rimbaud. He formed his first group in 1959, and called it Suzie And The Hula-Hoops. Singer Helen Shapiro was a member of this band, and rehearsals were held in Marc's front room. Two performances were given, one at a local cafe and the other at a local school...nothing too major.
In 1966 Marc met up with record producer Simon Napier-Bell, by turning up on his doorstep with his guitar, and actually performing his songs for him. Napier-Bell was able to secure a one off single deal with Parlophone, a subsidiary of EMI, and 'Hippy Gumbo' was released as a single. This was another comercial flop. It was this record that introduced DJ John Peel to the music of Marc Bolan.... basically from here on, the very things Marc touched turned to gold
In 1967 Simon Napier-Bell suggested that Marc join the group John's Children. Marc was the main song writer for the group, with tracks such as 'Desdomonia' and 'Midsummer Night Scene', but only stayed with the group a short time, and left in early July, to launch Tyrannosaurus Rex who made their debut concert the same month.... the rest my friends is HISTORY...Tyrannosaurus Rex's first album 'My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair, But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows' was released in 1968 and proved to be a success.
Marc also had a great realtionship with artist George Underwood, who did some amazing covers for T.Rex albums... have a look at him, he is wicked!! He did the 'My People were fair...' 1968 album cover. George also did these...
www.georgeunderwood.com
In 1969, Marc published a beautiful poetry book, The Warlock of love. Here is the preface from his book...We hide behind the masks of the Orient, because the sullen lumbering shapes of the western world strike fear and terror into our limbs, and all is ungrown. Legends we long for and legends there are in the east of our heads. So perchance Gods dwell unseen in the east of the world.
Marc as a person, knew he was special, myths and love flew through his hair as easy as the wind on a lake...He captivated his fans with his pixi like features, attracting both guys and girls...he was once to have said 'The girls wanna be with me and the guys wanna be like me'....Marc quirky arrogance was well known...He is still adored by people now...immortal status at its best. Marcs life was sadly cut short when his little purple mini crashed into a tree in Barnes South London 2 weeks short of his 30th birthday, he left behind his girlfriend, Gloria Jones and their son, Rolan Bolan. The tree is now a shrine to his life, as is also his plaqe that hangs in Golders Green Crematorium surrounded by china swans...
