MARC BOLANThe glam-rock movement of the early 70s was mostperfectly personified by Marc Bolan, who died on 16 September, 1977, aged 29.
In their heyday, T-Rex, with the flamboyant Bolan on guitarand vocals, achieved huge success with singles such as Hot Love, Get It On and20th Century Boy.
Credited with reinvigorating pop music with his exuberancein the face of progressive rock, widely regarded as pompous, his recordswere at one time reportedly selling at a rate of 100,000 a day.
Bolan's music did not achieve similar success in America,but his musical legacy is still felt today.
Marc Bolan, real name Marc Feld, was born on 30 September,1947, in Hackney, North London. He worked as a model in his teens, and played ina school band with Helen Shapiro.
He set his sights on rock stardom at a young age andreleased his first single, The Wizard in 1965 on Decca Records.
In 1967 he joined the band John's Children, but soon grewdisillusioned and left to form Tyrannosaurus Rex with percussionist Steve Took.Three moderately successful albums ensued, but the two musicians split in1970.
Mr Bolan, having replaced Took with Micky Finn and shortenedthe band's name to T-Rex, recorded his song Ride A White Swan in July 1970,which catapulted to number two in the charts.
T-Rex subsequently enjoyed massive success, with Hot Loveand Get It On reaching number one in 1971, and Telegram Sam and Metal Guruachieving the same feat in 1972. His album Electric Warrioralso toppedthe charts.
20th Century Boyreached number 2 in 1972, but by 1974 T-Rex had split and Mr Bolan was pursuing a solo career that never yielded success on quite the same scale as his formerband.
In 1975 he started working in television, frequentlyappearing on the pop show Supersonic, and even hosting his own show called Marcin 1977.
He died in a caraccident in 1977.His music was heavily influenced by The Beatles, TheRolling Stones and Bob Dylan, as well as more idiosyncratic artists such as Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd and David Bowie.
However, he carved out his own identity through hischildlike songs with fantastical lyrics, and his innate gift for writing acatchy pop melody.
He, in turn, has been cited as an influence on artists as diverseas The Ramones, New Order, The Smiths and Oasis.
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