September 16, 1977 - Marc Bolan was killed

SEPTEMBER 16, 1977 – Exactly one month after the death of Elvis Presley, and only two weeks from his own 30th birthday, singer/songwriter/musician MARC BOLAN (b. September 30, 1947 in Hackney, London, England as Mark Feld) was killed instantly when the car driven by his girlfriend, Gloria Jones, left the road and hit a tree in Barnes, London.Bolan grew up in post-war Stoke Newington, in the borough of Hackney, East London, the son of Phyllis Winifred (née Atkins) and Simeon Feld, a lorry driver. His father was Jewish and of Russian/Polish heritage and his mother was a Christian. Later 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 2 I’s in Soho. He appeared as an extra in an episode of the television show Orlando, dressed as a mod. At the age of nine, Bolan was given his first guitar and began a skiffle band. While at school, he played guitar in “Susie and the Hula Hoops,” a trio whose vocalist was a 12-year-old Helen Shapiro. During lunch breaks at school, he would play his guitar in the playground to a small audience of friends. At 15, he was expelled from school for bad behavior.