Rachel Bolan (born February 9, 1964), born James Richard Southworth, is an American musician, best known as the bassist and main songwriter of the
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typi ...
band
Skid Row
A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people "on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...
.
Career
Bolan was born in 1964 to Aida and Hubert Southworth. He grew up in
Toms River, New Jersey
Toms River is a township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. Its mainland portion is also a census-designated place of the same name, which serves as the county seat of Ocean County. When he was in junior high school he began considering a career in music after drummer Damian Cordisco asked him to play bass in his band. Bolan's first gig was in 1978 at
Manasquan High School
Manasquan High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Manasquan, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone high school of the Manasq ...
. Bolan credits Cordisco with opening his ears to music he had not heard, by artists such as
Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...
,
the Cars
The Cars were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the New wave music, new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek (rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), ...
and
Elvis Costello
Declan Patrick MacManus OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in 2020, and has twice been nom ...
. Bolan graduated from Toms River High School East in 1982.
His stage name 'Rachel' is a hybrid of his brother's name, Richard, and his grandfather's name, Manuel. 'Bolan' is a tribute to one of his childhood idols,
T. Rex
''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' liv ...
frontman
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted into ...
. In 1990, Bolan legally changed his name to Rachel Bolan Southworth.
After high school, Bolan joined with Scotti Hill and other musicians to form a band named Godsend. In 1986, guitarist
Dave "The Snake" Sabo
David Michael Sabo (born September 16, 1964), nicknamed "The Snake", is an American musician best known as one of the guitarists of heavy metal band Skid Row.
Biography Pre-Skid Row
Sabo was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey and grew up in nea ...
was forming the band Darkness, and he brought Hill and Bolan into the band. They changed the band name to Skid Row in late 1986.
Bolan has appeared as a vocalist on two of
Kiss
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
guitarist
Ace Frehley
Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley (; born April 27, 1951) is an American musician, best known as the original lead guitarist and co-founding member of the hard rock band Kiss. He invented the persona of The Spaceman (a.k.a. Space Ace) and played wi ...
's solo albums and back-up vocals on
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albu ...
's ''Dr. Feelgood'' album. He has produced numerous bands including Rockets to Ruin, the Luchagors in 2007 with former wrestler Amy "Lita" Dumas and
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most ...
stoner metal
Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep ...
band
Godspeed
Godspeed, a statement wishing someone a prosperous journey or success, may refer to:
Literature
* ''Godspeed'' (Sheffield novel), a 1993 science fiction novel by Charles Sheffield
* ''Godspeed'', an unpublished novel by Will Christopher Baer
* ...
. He formed the band
Prunella Scales
Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (''née'' Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is an English former actress, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy '' Fawlty Towers'', her nomination for a ...
with Solace guitarist Tommy Southard and L. Wood. Prunella Scales released "Dressing up the Idiot" on Mutiny Records in 1997. Jack Roberts (guitar) and Ray Kubian (drums), both from the New Jersey-based band Mars Needs Women, joined Prunella Scales for touring. He played the bass guitar for
Stone Sour
Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2015, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Ra ...
on the band's records '' House of Gold & Bones - Part 1'' and '' House of Gold & Bones – Part 2'' as a replacement for the departed bassist Shawn Economaki. He can also be seen playing bass in TRUSTcompany music video for the single "Heart in My Hands".
Bolan has another side project called the Quazimotors. He did this project with Skid Row drummer Rob Affuso, Jonathan Callicutt and Evil Jim Wright (guitarist for Spectremen, BigFoot, Road Hawgs).
Personal life
Bolan married longtime girlfriend Donna "Roxxi" Feldman on June 10, 1994, but later divorced. He has no children.
He drives racecars in his free time. He competes in high performance go-karts, Legends Cars, Thunder Roadster, and Pro-Challenge series cars.