Marc Bolan was born Mark Feld, in London, September 30th, 1947. The son of a Jewish working-class couple, Simeon, commonly known as Sid, and Phyllis Feld. His parents named him Mark, after an uncle that was murdered while serving in the army.

Marc developed an interest in music at an early age, and by 12 joined a band called Susie and The Hula Hoops, which also featured Helen Shapiro, she of "Walking Back To Happiness" fame among others.

At 13 Marc became obsessed with the Mod fashions that swept thru Britain and would spend all his money on similar clothes. Shortly there-after he became a model for British firms Jacksons and Littlewoods.

At 17 he shifted his attention back to music and changed his name to Toby Tyler. Entering the British folk circuit, his first recording, "The Road I'm on Gloria",, backed by Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the wind" was turned down by EMI, 2 acetates were produced, 1 selling in recent years for £3,500, after which he changed his name back to Mark Feld.

After a trip to France (where he lived with an alleged wizard called Riggs O'Hara) Marc's main obsession was with Greek mythology and British romantic poetry. Marc's early poems and lyrics were greatly influenced by the Tolkien books "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of The Rings". The influence showed in a poetry book Marc wrote called "The Warlock of Love" which became the best selling poetry book of 1969.

In 1965 Decca released "The Wizard" and Mark Feld is now Marc Bolan, taking his name from a former flat-mate, the actor James Bolam, however James complained about the use of his name to Marc and subsequently the name was subtlety changed to Bolan. and Marc is finally being played on the British air waves, although he wasn't to get chart success for some 5 years.

Marc joined the band John's Children in 1966. They had several singles including the classic "Desdomona". They infamously up-staged British band, The Who with so much on-stage mayhem that The Who couldn't go on after John's Children in Germany.

Ironically,Chris Townsen, the drummer with John's Children ended up playing drums for The Who on 2 occasions while Keith Moon was ill. Soon after-ward Marc quit the band due to lack of success, but mainly because he wasn't the lead vocalist.

Not long after John's Children, Marc teamed up with percussionist Steve Peregrine Took and three other musicians. Marc names his new band Tyrannosaurus Rex. After a disastrous gig in which none of them had even rehearsed together, the band ended abruptly when the hire-purchase company took their equipment back. Undaunted, Bolan and Took remained as an acoustic duo.

In the autumn of 1967, producer Tony Visconti stumbles across the duo, and Tyrannosaurus Rex is signed up and enter the studio. They emerge with the single "Debora", and an album "My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows".

After the unexpected success of the debut album and single, they return to the studio in the summer of 1968 and record "Prophets, Seers, And Sages, The Angels Of The Ages". The bands third album "Unicorn" is the most accessible, with a Spector-esque sound and Bolan's most effective songs yet.

STOP PRESS! Born To BoogieDVD is out now and the author is proud to say that Marc was back on the top-spot of no.1 with said dvd and if you are very clever you will also spot Keith Moon in a 'blink and you'll miss him' spot!