T. Rex

• Genre: Glam
• Hometown: London

About

After a short stint as a teenage model and then as a singer and songwriter for 1960s mod/freakbeat band John's Children, Marc Bolan formed a folkie duo under the moniker Tyrannosaurus Rex with percussionist Steve Peregrin Took who quit after the third album. Drummer Mickey Finn joined the program, as did Steve Currie and Bill Legend. The quartet shortened their name to T. Rex and became the penultimate forefathers of London's glam rock movement. The music moved from its early folkie roots to a sultry groove with distorted electric guitars, seductive boogie rocking rhythms and barbed pop hooks that helped the band garner multi chart topping hits. They enjoyed all the material fruits of rock success -- stretch limos, custom tailored wardrobes, expensive powders and screaming girls chasing them down the streets of London— until Bolan was killed in a car crash in 1977.

- Eric Shea