The short musical career of Mark Bolan became a vivid illustration of how to achieve your goals. He had to endure a lot of difficulties and disappointments, but never the idea that he needed to stop came to his mind. His magnificent example and the music he created are still remembered.
The beginning of life
Mark Bolan (at the birth of Feld) became the second son in a poor London family, born September 30, 1947. He was a very restless child, whose imagination burned stories about ancient animals and science fiction films that he saw in the movies. Mark often imagined himself to be one of the heroes of these stories, which gave him self-confidence.
At the age of eight, Mark Feld becomes a member of a street gang bearing the same name as the group from West Side Story - Sharks. He liked it terribly when they raced through the streets of his native city in helmets of wartime.
Passion for music
Like most English schoolchildren of the time, Mark Bolan fell in love with rock and roll. His passion for life allowed him to dream of becoming a musician whose professionalism would exceed the skills of Elvis Presley himself. First, the teenager had a drum kit, and later a guitar. At the age of 12, Mark performed in a school ensemble playing folk compositions.
Especially shocking the vain teenager was the unexpected success of Helen Shapiro, one of the five members of their school ensemble. With her deep voice and charm, she attracted special attention and in just a couple of years made her way to the big stage. Mark did not feel sincere joy for his girlfriend, as he always believed that he should have been in her place. He did not want to be remembered only as a former acquaintance of a famous singer, so he was determined to act decisively.
Leaving school and finding yourself
At that time, Bolan had lost even before this little interest in schooling, now his mind was filled with the desire to become like Cliff Richard. To the statement of his friend that he can neither sing nor play, the teenager enthusiastically answered: “I will learn!”
He really began to overcome musical science on his own, because of which he missed school. The expulsion from the school did not upset Mark Feld, who, by his behavior and bright clothes in the style of Elvis Presley, shouted to others that he was the future rock and roll star.
The next stage in growing up a young future star was the choice of a new idol, which was Bob Dylan. At this time, in the head of a teenager, a rethinking of the essence of life occurs, he is fond of the myths of ancient Greece, English and French poets and romantics. Now Mark is passionately dreaming of being a poet.
First failures
The first significant attempt by Mark Feld to declare himself occurred in the same teenage years, when he, armed with an acoustic guitar and covering his head with a cap, performed folk songs in London clubs. Participation in the then popular children's television show could not attract Mark's attention to himself, but Alan Warren nevertheless noticed him. He was well versed in the laws of show business and undertook to produce a young artist who looked so much like Cliff Richard. As a result of such cooperation, the beautiful and ambitious Mark received nothing but experience and acquaintance with show business.
After a young man hungry for fame changed his name to the pseudonym Mark Bolan, he made another attempt to take a step on the path to his popularity. In the fall of 1965, the aspiring singer recorded two songs - "The Wizard" and "Beyond The Rising Sun" - in a professional studio. Although after that his name became more recognizable, but he did not receive the expected popularity. For a while after this, Bolan works as a model.
New Life Turn
Once, in search of producer assistance, Bolan dialed Simon Napy Bell, who, fortunately, agreed to help him. As a result, in 1967, Mark became the guitarist of one of Simon's two bands - John's Children. The four-member group behaved extremely defiantly on stage: screams and fights during their performance were something quite normal.
Yes, being a member of a popular rock band is a success, but not for Bolan. He was just “one of”, but wanted to be “the only one”. The scandalous popularity of John's Children did not satisfy him in any way. Absolutely all the songs of Mark Bolan were performed by Andy Allison. Once his patience snapped, and he, leaving the group, which soon completely disintegrated, went into free swimming.
Continuing a series of failures
After leaving the group, Bolan advertised to the newspaper about the creation of a new group, which he decided to christen as Tyrannosaurus Rex, later reducing the name to T. Rex. As a result, members of the group were its creator and eighteen-year-old drummer Steve Tuck. The musicians grew their hair, put on silk shirts and began to perform in clubs with the most successful old works of Mark, unable to release their own records.
In 1968, producer Tony Visconti signed a contract with a rocker duet. Their single "Deborah" was well received by critics and even hit the hit parade. “My people were honest and the sky played in his hair, but now he is satisfied with the stars adorning his eyebrows” and “Prophets, seers and wise angel angels of all generations” - this is how Mark Bolan called the albums of his group in the original way. The reaction of critics to them can not be called positive.
At this time, the world saw the best-selling collection of poems by Bolan "The Wizard of Love." After the release of the third album with the name "Unicorn", the group breaks up. The reason for this for the most part was the addiction of Tuk to drugs.
Long-awaited success
Mark Bolan, whose biography is full of setbacks and disappointments, tasted true success when Steve's place in T. Rex was taken by Mickey Finn, whom he invited. Finn did not play as well as Steve, and in some places he was false, but he was ready to work tirelessly. He was quiet and calm, never contradicting Mark.
In 1970, Mark marries June Child, who works in a production company, and writes songs at home. In the same year, with producer Tony Visconti, he recorded a song that became a hit. "Ride A White Swan" at the beginning of next year reaches second place in the charts. All subsequent songs of the group, which, by the way, began to increase its composition, immediately became hits. So Mark Bolan became one of the most prominent representatives of the style of glam rock. In 1972, a musical documentary was shot about the T. Rex band.
In 1973, Bolan's marriage crashed, and some members of the group left its composition. After the experience, the musician hides from the public for some time, although he continues to release new songs and albums. During this time, he has a relationship with singer Gloria Jones, who gives him a son. Mark was addicted to drugs and gained a lot of weight.
Since 1975, Bolan put himself in order and began to appear frequently in public and even became a leading television show. His renewed vigorous activity was interrupted by an accident: the car in which he and Gloria were driving home crashed into a tree from a restaurant. So the musician passed away, not having lived two weeks before his thirtieth birthday.
You can learn a lot from the talented, ambitious and persistent Mark Bolan. In particular, the fact that if you want to achieve your dream, you need to fight for it, not paying attention to the many failures. It is not known what heights he could have achieved if it were not for the tragic circumstances, but he still left his mark in the music world.