He looks and sounds exactly like Marc Bolan, so it was surely only a matter of time before Danielz took on the role of the tragic T-Rex glam rocker.
Known as just Danielz since 1979, the Crayford singer-songwriter is the leader of tribute band T-Rextasy, who perform in Maidstone tomorrow night.
While he is on singing and guitar duties, Neil Cross, who lives in the county town, plays rhythm guitar; Paul Marks bass, Jack Green guitar, and John Skelton drums.
Danielz told KOS Media: “I started the band when I failed to get off the ground as a solo artist.
“I’ve always admired T-Rex and Marc Bolan, so it made perfect sense to launch this band. We’ve been very successful. T-Rex fans are among the most passionate and we have toured Japan twice.”
His wife, Caron, is also a massive fan. She and friends never missed a T-Rex show in the UK or France during the mid-70s.
Danielz said: “She eventually became friends with Marc and he even left them money when they were stuck and broke once. They also gave lifts to band members when they needed to go somewhere quickly.”
T-Rextasy claim to be the world’s only official tribute band to Marc Bolan and T-Rex, so are in constant demand.
Last year, for the 30th anniversary of the rocker’s death in a car crash, they performed at a Marc Bolan celebration in London and were chosen to headline the first half of the Last Night Prom in Hyde Park in front of 30,000 people.
Voted number one in the BBC’s Battle of the Fantasy bands, Danielz said T-Rextasy guarantee to get audiences on their feet with classics such as Get It On, Children Of The Revolution, Metal Guru, 20th Century Boy and Telegram Sam. They are the only tribute band to be authorised by the controllers of Marc Bolan’s music catalogue.
Danielz, 50, said: “I am starting to really look like him now. I don’t use wigs or anything other than make-up and clothes. What you see is what you get.”
And he added: “I do get some odd looks when I go out shopping, because although I don’t dress in the stage gear, I do dress in a pretty elaborate way like wearing bright yellow trainers, that sort of thing.”
Guitarist Jack Green said: “It’s just like seeing Marc again.”
Bolan was born in 1947 and would have been 60 in September last year. He formed Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1967, but chart success only arrived when he went electric and the band became T-Rex. Their first single, Ride A White Swan, went to number two and their second, Hot Love, was number one for six weeks.
Bolan is said to have invented glam rock by applying glitter under his eyes before an appearance on Top Of The Pops. He died on September 16, 1977, when the Mini being driven by his partner, Gloria Jones, crashed into a tree near Barnes bridge in London.
T-Rextasy have been together 13 years and have played some of the world’s top venues including Hyde Park, Wembley Arena and the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.
Tickets for T-Rextasy's Greatest Hits Tour at the Hazlitt Theatre tomorrow are £15 and available from www.hazlittartscentre.co.uk or by calling the box office on 01256 844244.
POSTED: 27/09/2008 14:00:00
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