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Marc then formed “Tyrannosaurus Rex” with Steve Peregrin Took and, following the repossession of his instruments by Track Records, the style became acoustic. With extensive gigging and the support of John Peel the group began to build up a following around the UK and in 1968 signed with Regal Zonophone. Their success continued with both their first single and album (“Debora” and “My People Were Fair And Had Stars In Their Hair, But Now They’re Content To Wear Stars On their Brows” respectively) hitting the charts. The touring continued, as did the support of John Peel via his Radio 1 show, as the group continued to record and build up their fan base. The relationship between Marc and Steve was strained however, Marc had introduced the electric guitar into the group and Steve’s performance was affected by drugs and drink – following a disastrous US tour Steve left.
Marc however wanted to keep the group alive and brought in Mickey Finn as his replacement. This was shortly followed by a constricting of the group’s name to T.Rex. The first single with the new moniker was “Ride A White Swan”, hitting number 2 in the UK charts in 1970 and breaking into the US Hot 100. Enlarging the group to give a more accomplished and fuller live sound and hitting the top twenty with the album “T.Rex”, Marc was about to gain his childhood wish of being a star.
The following year T.Rex really took off, “Hot Love” became their first number 1 and Marc wore glitter eye makeup for the first time on TOTP. While it is arguable whether this was the birth of glam rock, it is at this point that Marc can definitely be seen as one of its founders. With Marc’s style being copied by fans and a major British tour underway, the group hit number 1 on both the UK single and album charts (“Get It On” and “Electric Warrior”) and also dented the US charts where they reached number 10 and 32 respectively. This success was followed with “Jeepster” reaching number 2 as Marc looked for a larger record label for the group.
In 1972 T.Rex signed to EMI and started the year with a concert in Lincolnshire that caused the media to coin the term T-Rextasy as the fans became hysterical in the presence of their new rock god. By the time T.Rex played Wembley in March, supported by yet another hit single “Telegram Sam”, the reaction of the fans was even wilder – this time it was caught on film and used in the film “Born To Boogie”. The rest of the year was just as frenetic with “Metal Guru” reaching number 1, “Children of the Revolution” and “Solid Gold Easy Action” reaching number 2, “The Slider” album selling 100,000 copies in four days, a successful tour of North America and the release of “Born To Boogie” on the big screen.
1973 saw Marc widening the group to include backing singers and a second guitarist. With the hit “20th Century Boy” taking the glam rock style back to its metal core and “The Groover” being classic T.Rex fare, live the group were gaining more of a ‘boogie’ vibe. While live and critically the group were still well received, in commercial terms they had peaked and by the middle of 1974 Marc was living in tax exile and T.Rex was a group in name only.
Marc never returned to the glam rock scene but continued to play and was introduced to a new generation of fans when he was given his own show “Marc” in 1977. Rather than concentrate on old styles Marc used this show to introduce new music, my personal favourites being The Jam, Roger Taylor (of Queen) with his solo single and Hawkwind (complete with Bob Calvert and stuffed parrot!). Unfortunately whether this would have led to a resurgence of Marc’s commercial career will never be known; on 15th September Marc was killed in a car crash.
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