Mark Bolan
| Marc Bolan | |
|---|---|
Bolan performing on ABC's In Concert, 1973
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Mark Feld |
| Born |
30 September 1947 Stoke Newington, London, England |
| Died | 16 September 1977 (aged 29) Barnes, London, England |
| Genres | Glam rock, rock and roll, psychedelic folk (early) |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, poet, lyricist |
| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1957–1977 |
| Labels | Reprise, Blue Thumb, Regal Zonophone, EMI, A&M, Fly |
| Associated acts | T. Rex, John's Children, Tyrannosaurus Rex |
| Notable instruments | |
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Gibson Les Paul Gibson Flying V Fender Jaguar Gibson Hummingbird Fender Telecaster Custom Gibson SG Custom |
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Marc Bolan (pron. BOE-lən; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, guitarist, and poet. He was best known as the lead singer of the glam rock band T. Rex. Bolan was one of the first pioneers of the glam rock movement of the 1970s. He died at age 29 in a car accident in September 1977, a fortnight before his 30th birthday.
Bolan grew up in Stoke Newington Common, in the borough of Hackney, east London, the son of Phyllis Winifred (née Atkins) and Simeon Feld, a lorry driver. His father was an Ashkenazi Jew of Russian/Polish extraction. Later moving to Wimbledon, southwest London, he fell in love with the rock and roll of Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Arthur Crudup and Chuck Berry and hung around coffee bars such as the 2i's in Soho.
He was a pupil at Northwold Primary School, Upper Clapton. He appeared as an extra in an episode of the television show Orlando, dressed as a mod. At the age of nine, Bolan was given his first guitar and began a skiffle band. While at school, he played guitar in "Susie and the Hula Hoops," a trio whose vocalist was a 12-year-old Helen Shapiro. During lunch breaks at school, he would play his guitar in the playground to a small audience of friends. At 15, he was expelled from school for bad behaviour.
He briefly joined a modelling agency and became a "John Temple Boy", appearing in a clothing catalogue for the menswear store. He was a model for the suits in their catalogues as well as for cardboard cut-outs to be displayed in shop windows. Town magazine featured him as an early example of the mod movement in a photo spread with two other models. In 1964, Mark met his first manager, Geoffrey Delaroy-Hall, and recorded a slick commercial track backed by session musicians called "All at Once" (a song very much in the style of his youthful hero, Cliff Richard, the "English Elvis"), which was later released posthumously by Danielz and Caron Willans in 2008 as a very limited edition seven inch vinyl, after the original tape recording was passed onto them by Hall. This recording is now regarded as possibly the very first known track that the young Mark had put to professional studio tape. There are, however, claims that Marc’s very first recording was with Joe Meek. This is based on a scratchy anonymous acetate disc discovered by the Joe Meek fan club, which has a definite resemblance to Marc’s vocal delivery. This recording, a song called "Mrs Jones", is thought to date from 1963.
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