Celebrating the genius of Marc Bolan

Last year was the 40th anniversary of Marc Bolan's death and the year in which he would have turned 70.
DanielzDanielz
Danielz

Inevitably it was a busy year for T.Rextasy who will be playing Brighton Theatre Royal on April 8.

Band frontman Danielz reckons Bolan would have been quietly pleased with the way the world remembered him four decades after his passing: “I know a lot of people that were very close to Marc, people that are my friends, people like Tony Visconti who was Marc’s producer and also Harry Feld, Marc’s brother.

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"Harry is great. He is nothing like Marc. He is double the size of Marc, but he is a big-hearted guy. When I first met him, he came back stage and gave me a big hug and said ‘I am sure Marc is looking down smiling!’ Since then, Harry has come to see our shows dozens and dozens of times.

“So how would Marc see it now? I would like to think he would be looking down pleased to see the devotion of his fans still. The fans were everything for him. I remember listening to Marc in an interview once saying that even if he had only six fans, he would still go into a recording studio and press a single for them. He just loved people that loved him.

“I never met Marc, and that is a great shame. I have had Mickey Finn (the T.Rex drummer) on stage with me. I know lots of the people that were around him. But I never met Marc. I did meet David Bowie in Japan, and we were talking about Marc. I said to him ‘You must miss Marc’, and without thinking, he just said ‘Yes, I miss him every day.'

"My wife met Marc dozens of times. When she was younger, she used to follow T.Rex around. In fact, we actually met at a Marc Bolan convention. We were friends for years before we got together. She’s not actually in the band, but she does all sorts for the band. She does my tax, and she arranges all the hotels. But she met Marc lots and lots of times. They say that you should never meet your idols, but the great thing is that she always says that Marc was very kind to all of them. He just loved his fans, and that’s the reason I would have loved to meet him. All the people that have met Marc just say what a lovely guy he was. Of course, I have heard terrible stories of how Marc used to be to people in the studio, but you think of the pressure he was under as the frontman and just wanting to get it right. But he recognised that his fans were his bread and better, and he treated his fans really, really well.”

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And that probably helps explain why last year was so busy for Danielz: “I said to my agent that I would still like a lot of work this year, but perhaps not quite so much. Basically last year, we were almost never at home. But it’s great because I do love the gigging. Because there are a million tribute bands out there, I think the way that you make yourself different is by still having the passion.”

For other stories by Phil, see: https://www.chichester.co.uk/author/Phil.Hewitt2

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