[2] In the late 1960s, he rose to fame as the founder and leader of the psychedelic folk band Tyrannosaurus Rex, with whom he released four critically acclaimed albums and had one minor hit "Debora".

[3] From 1970 to 1973, T. Rex encountered a popularity in the UK comparable to that of the Beatles, with a run of eleven top ten singles, four of which reached number one: "Hot Love", "Get It On", "Telegram Sam" and "Metal Guru".

Bolan's March 1971 appearance on the BBC's music show Top of the Pops, wearing glitter on his face, performing the UK chart topper "Hot Love" is cited as the start of the glam rock movement.

[7][8] Moving to Wimbledon, southwest London, he fell in love with the rock and roll of Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Arthur Crudup and Chuck Berry and hung around coffee bars such as the 2i's in Soho.

In 1962, Town magazine featured him under the name Mark Feld as an early example of the mod movement in a photo spread orchestrated by Evening Standard columnist Angus McGill.

[18] He recorded his debut single "The Wizard" with the Ladybirds on backing vocals (later finding fame with Benny Hill), and studio session musicians playing all the instruments.

Bolan's imagination was filled with new ideas and he began to write fantasy novels (The Krakenmist and Pictures Of Purple People) as well as poems and songs, sometimes finding it hard to separate facts from his own elaborate myth – he famously claimed to have spent time with a wizard in Paris who gave him secret knowledge and could levitate.

Unperturbed, he rallied to create Tyrannosaurus Rex, his own rock band together with guitarist Ben Cartland, drummer Steve Peregrin Took and an unknown bass player.

Napier-Bell said of Bolan that after the first disastrous electric gig, "He didn't have the courage to try it again; it really had been a blow to his ego... Later he told everyone he'd been forced into going acoustic because Track Records had repossessed all his gear.

[21] In keeping with his early rock and roll interests, Bolan began bringing amplified guitar lines into the duo's music, buying a white Fender Stratocaster decorated with a paisley teardrop motif from Syd Barrett.

[25] Bolan followed "Ride a White Swan" and T. Rex by expanding the group to a quartet with bassist Steve Currie and drummer Bill Legend, and cutting a five-minute single, "Hot Love", with a rollicking rhythm, string accents and an extended sing-along chorus inspired somewhat by "Hey Jude".

He knew how to subvert gender norms into fantastical new shapes.In November 1971, the band's record label, Fly, released the Electric Warrior track "Jeepster" without Bolan's permission.

[24] In the same year he appeared in Born to Boogie, a documentary by Ringo Starr about T. Rex including a concert filmed at London's Wembley Empire Pool in March 1972.

The band was reportedly selling 100,000 records a day; however, no T. Rex single ever became a million-seller in the UK, despite many gold discs and an average of four weeks at the top per number one hit.

Stories are conflicting about his inspiration for this – some say it was introduced by his personal assistant, Chelita Secunda, although Bolan told John Pidgeon in a 1974 interview on Radio 1 that he noticed the glitter on his wife, June Child's dressing table prior to a photo session and casually daubed some on his face there and then.

He spent a good deal of his time in the US during this period, continuing to release singles and albums, putting R & B influences with rock on Bolan's Zip Gun.

Bolan made regular appearances on the LWT pop show Supersonic, directed by his old friend Mike Mansfield and released a succession of singles, including "New York City" which reached the top 15.

[9] Later in 1977, Granada Television commissioned Bolan to front a six-part series called Marc in which he hosted a mix of new and established bands and performed his own songs.

[9] Bolan's relationship with June was tumultuous; he engaged in several affairs over the course of their marriage, including one with singer Marsha Hunt in 1969, and another with artist Barbara Nessim while recording in America in 1971.

At the court hearing on 5 October 1976, Deputy Judge Donald Ellison declared: "I am satisfied that the husband committed adultery with the co-respondent, and that the wife finds it intolerable to live with him", and granted a decree nisi.

[49][50] On 16 September 1977, Bolan was a passenger in a Mini 1275GT driven by Gloria Jones as they headed home from Morton's Club Restaurant in Berkeley Square, London.

Both had been drinking alcohol, and after crossing a small humpback bridge near Gipsy Lane on Queens Ride, Barnes, South West London, the car struck a fence post and then a tree.

Emerging in the New Romantic movement in the early 1980s, Boy George spoke of the impact Bolan and Bowie had on him: "They represented a kind of bohemian existence that I – at that point – could only imagine living.

The song was included on a private preview show on 21 February 1993 in Burbank, Los Angeles which was recorded and released, complete with the cover version, as a live bonus CD with 1994 pressings of his Antmusic: The Very Best of Adam Ant collection.

[70][71] The Cameron Crowe-created movie Almost Famous features a scene where a Black Sabbath groupie is telling aspiring journalist William Miller (said to be created in Crowe's own image) about how, "Marc Bolan broke her heart, man.

[73] In 2003, Depeche Mode's Martin Gore recorded covers of "Life Is Strange" and "Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys", and included them as b-sides of the single "Stardust".

[77] His music is still widely used in films, recent notable cases being Breakfast on Pluto, Death Proof, Lords of Dogtown, Billy Elliot, Jarhead, Moulin Rouge!, The Truman Show, Herbie: Fully Loaded, Breaking-Up, Hot Fuzz, Click, School of Rock, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Baby Driver and Dallas Buyers Club.

[78] Bolan is still cited by many guitar-centric bands as a huge influence (Joy Division/New Order's Bernard Sumner has said that the first single he owned was "Ride a White Swan".)

[81] In September 2020, a tribute album produced by Hal Willner, Angelheaded Hipster, was released featuring covers of Bolan songs by a variety of artists including Nick Cave, U2, Elton John, Joan Jett, Nena and Todd Rundgren.

[82] Two months later, Bolan and T. Rex bandmates Steve Currie, Mickey Finn and Bill Legend were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2020 by The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.