Marc Bolan Biography

Birth of Marc Bolan.

Joins Susie and The Hula Hoops, whose lead singer is Helen Shapiro.

Releases Beyond The Rising Sun as the B-side to The Wizard.

Releases The Wizard as an early Marc Bolan single.

Releases The 3rd Degree as an early solo single.

Releases Come And Play With Me In The Garden with Sara Crazy Child.

Writes Desdemona for Johns Children, a single later banned by the BBC over its lyrics.

Releases Hippy Gumbo during his early solo recording period.

John Peel befriends the band, ferries them to gigs in his Mini and later appears on record with them.

John Peel champions Tyrannosaurus Rex on radio, helping the duo reach clubs, stages and record buyers.

Joins the protopunk band Johns Children and brings his songwriting into the group.

Records Midsummers Night Scene, later known through withdrawn promo and test pressing copies.

Issues Remember Thomas A Beckett as the B-side to Desdemona.

Took adds percussion and unusual instruments that help turn Bolan's music toward an exotic hippy style.

Tyrannosaurus Rex release three albums and achieve two top forty hits during the acoustic period.

Marc Bolan forms Tyrannosaurus Rex after leaving John's Children, turning toward acoustic psychedelic folk with Steve Peregrin Took.

Retains percussionist Steve Peregrin Took and continues Tyrannosaurus Rex as an acoustic duo.

Founds Tyrannosaurus Rex after the first four-piece version breaks up following a single Electric Garden performance.

Issues Child Star as the B-side to Debora.

Releases One Inch Rock with Salamada Palaganda as a Tyrannosaurus Rex single.

Issues Salamada Palaganda as the B-side to One Inch Rock.

Appears at the first free Hyde Park festival.

Supports Donovan at the Royal Albert Hall.

Debora is released and reaches number 34 in the UK chart.

Tyrannosaurus Rex play the Royal Festival Hall.

Issues Do You Remember as the B-side to King Of The Rumbling Spires.

Releases King Of The Rumbling Spires with Do You Remember.

Releases Pewtor Suitor with Warlord Of The Royal Crocodiles.

Publishes the poetry book The Warlock Of Love.

Publishes the poetry book The Warlock Of Love.

Issues Warlord Of The Royal Crocodiles as the B-side to Pewtor Suitor.

Buys a vintage Gibson Les Paul guitar, helping set the musical direction of the T. Rex sound.

Issues Is It Love as part of the Ride A White Swan single release.

Releases Oh Baby as Dib Cochran And The Earwigs.

Releases Ride A White Swan as T. Rex, creating the new pop-oriented breakthrough sound.

Issues Summertime Blues as part of the Ride A White Swan single release.

Moves T. Rex toward a more pop-oriented sound after the acoustic Tyrannosaurus Rex period.

Issues Universal Love as the B-side to Oh Baby.

Records Ride A White Swan, later released in autumn and reaching number two in Britain.

Drummer Bill Legend joins T. Rex during the expansion into the classic electric line-up.

Releases Get It On with There Was A Time and Raw Ramp.

Releases Hot Love, which becomes his first UK number one hit.

Releases Jeepster with Lifes A Gas during the Electric Warrior period.

Issues King Of The Mountain Cometh as part of the Hot Love single release.

Issues Lifes A Gas as the B-side to Jeepster.

Issues Raw Ramp as part of the Get It On single release.

Bassist Steve Currie joins T. Rex during the expansion into the classic electric line-up.

Publicist BP Fallon coins T. Rextasy to describe the group's popularity as a parallel to Beatlemania.

Issues There Was A Time as part of the Get It On single release.

Issues Woodland Rock as part of the Hot Love single release.

Appears on Top of the Pops wearing glitter and satin, a performance often cited as glam rock's breakthrough moment.

Performs Hot Love on Top of the Pops, helping turn T. Rex into a major pop phenomenon.

Releases Electric Warrior, a landmark album in the development of glam rock.

Electric Warrior uses cover artwork by Hipgnosis, based on a photograph by Kieron Spud Murphy.

Leaves Fly Records after a dispute over Jeepster and joins EMI, gaining the T. Rex Wax Co label.

Issues Baby Strange as part of the Telegram Sam single release.

Fly releases Bolan Boogie, a chart-topping compilation of singles, B-sides and album tracks.

Issues Born To Boogie as part of the Solid Gold Easy Action single release.

Issues Cadillac as part of the Telegram Sam single release.

Releases Children Of The Revolution with Jitterbug Love and Sunken Rags.

Issues Jitterbug Love as part of the Children Of The Revolution single release.

Releases Metal Guru with Thunderwing and Lady.

Releases Solid Gold Easy Action with Born To Boogie.

Issues Sunken Rags as part of the Children Of The Revolution single release.

Releases Telegram Sam with Cadillac and Baby Strange.

Issues Thunderwing as part of the Metal Guru single release.

Get It On becomes a top ten hit in the United States as Bang a Gong Get It On.

T. Rex play two Wembley Empire Pool shows filmed by Ringo Starr and Apple Films.

Marc Bolan appears in Ringo Starrs film Born to Boogie, a documentary showing T. Rex at the height of T. Rextasy during a concert at Wembley Empire Pool on 18 March 1972

T. Rex's third album The Slider is released.

The UK premiere of Born to Boogie is held at Oscars Cinema in Brewer Street, Soho.

Releases 20th Century Boy, later one of his most enduring songs.

Releases Blackjack with Squint Eyed Mangle under the Big Carrot name.

Issues Free Angel as the B-side to 20th Century Boy.

Declares Glam rock is dead on the cover of Melody Maker after the release of Tanx.

Releases Tanx, marking the end of the classic T. Rex line-up.

Releases The Groover, later regarded as one of Bolan's last major hit singles.

Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow is released and reaches number 12 in Britain.

Self-produces Bolan's Zip Gun, giving T. Rex a harder and more futuristic sheen.

Gloria Jones gives birth to Bolan's son, Rolan Bolan.

Granada Television commissions Bolan to front the six-part music series Marc.

A swan-shaped floral tribute is displayed at Bolan's funeral in recognition of Ride A White Swan.

Dies as a passenger in a Mini driven by Gloria Jones, two weeks before his thirtieth birthday.

Siouxsie and the Banshees release a cover of 20th Century Boy as a single B-side.

The Bongos enter the Billboard charts with a cover of the T. Rex song Mambo Sun.

Power Station take a cover of Get It On into the UK Top 40.

20th Century Boy is used in a Levis advert and is re-released, reaching the UK Top 20.

Guns N Roses cover Buick MacKane on The Spaghetti Incident.

The remastered expanded Born to Boogie DVD reaches number one in the Music DVD chart.