Mickey Finn's T-Rex are a band formed in 1997 by former T. Rex members Mickey Finn, Jack Green, and drummer Paul Fenton. They have been regularly touring worldwide since their formation, despite Finn's death in 2003.

History

Formation

In September 1997, former T. Rex members Mickey Finn, Jack Green, and drummer Paul Fenton were invited by Mick Gray (a.k.a. Marmalade), former T.Rex tour manager, to The Marc Bolan Anniversary Concert to celebrate Marc's 50th birthday, taking place at the

Cambridge Corn Exchange The Corn Exchange is an events and concert venue located on Wheeler Street, Cambridge, Wheeler Street in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. The structure, which was commissioned as a corn exchange, is a Grade II listed building. History The ...

, where Gray was manager. Prior to this, Gray had taken former road manager Mick O'Halloran to visit Mickey Finn at his home (Gray and Finn had remained good friends through the years) to persuade him to attend the Cambridge bash. This idea was Gray's brainchild to celebrate Bolan's 50th birthday. Other artists appearing included

John's Children John's Children were a 1960s rock band from Leatherhead, England that briefly featured future T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan. John's Children were known for their outrageous live performances and were booted off a tour with the Who in Germany in 19 ...

and Rolan Bolan with T.Rextasy being the house band and paid £1,500 for the privilege by the organiser. Drummer

Bill Legend Bill Legend (born William Arthur Fifield; 8 May 1944) is an English musician and former drummer for glam rock band T. Rex during their most successful period. His life and career have been discussed in multiple published books and other works ...

was invited to appear, but did not appear on the night due to ongoing personal problems. Finn, Fenton, and Green were overwhelmed with the support at that gig, so they decided to form Mickey Finn's T. Rex. The line-up was Finn (

congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are stave (wood), staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (drum), quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), an ...

), Fenton (drums), Green (

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and vocals), Dave Major ( keyboards), and Tony Allday (bass guitar). One year later, Rob Benson, a lifelong fan of T. Rex, went to see the reformed band in

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

's Chicago Rock cafe. He met the band afterward and was asked to send an audition tape after claiming to be able to sing like Marc Bolan. The band's manager Barry Newby decided that the voice was essential to the T. Rex sound and, after hearing Rob's tape, invited him to a further audition; soon he was asked to be lead vocalist. The band renamed themselves Mickey Finn's T-Rex, and acquired the legal trademark rights for the "T-Rex" bandname. In 1999, guitarist Jack Green (who had played in T.Rex in 1973-1974) left and was replaced by founding member of Smokie

Alan Silson Smokie (originally spelt Smokey) are an English rock band from Bradford, Yorkshire. The band found success at home and abroad after teaming up with Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. They have had a number of lineup changes and were still actively ...

Early touring and albums

With a more complete sound, the band started a tour of Germany in 1999. Shortly afterwards they embarked on a full-scale tour of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In 2002, the band released an

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

called ''

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

'' and a live

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

titled ''Back In Business''. In January 2008 the band released ''Classic Hits'' on Spectra Records, who they had recently signed with.

Finn's death

Mickey Finn died in January 2003. The future of the band became unsure, but they decided to continue without him, believing it to be Mickey's wish. The band changed their name to T. Rex (A Celebration of Marc and Mickey). In July 2008, the band reverted to Mickey Finn's T-Rex, with the blessing from Mickey's family for using his name. They also replaced Silson with Graham Oliver.

Recent events

The band continues to tour Europe, with a much heavier sound than T. Rex had originally. They play classic T. Rex songs from the 1970s. The only member now in the group that had any connection to T. Rex is drummer Paul Fenton. Teri Sullivan joined the band on 1 August as a background vocalist. In 2008, a petition of around 1000 signatures signed by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

Roy Wood Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. Wood formed the Move in 1965, and ...

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

, and

called for Paul Fenton to change the band's name to something other than "T. Rex (A Celebration of Marc and Mickey)" in order to make it clear that it was a tribute act, not the actual T. Rex. It has been wrongly claimed by a redundant hoax website that Bill toured Australia and Germany with a band using the name Bill Legend's T-Rex. Rob Benson left the band in January 2010. Jay Spargo became lead singer in May 2010.

Band members

Bold names indicate those who performed with T. Rex with

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex (band), T. Rex. Bolan strongly i ...

. ;Current members * Paul Fenton – drums (1997–present) *Tony Allday – bass guitar (1997–present) *Dave Major – keyboards, vocals (1997–present) *Linda Dawson – backing vocals (2002–present) *

Graham Oliver Graham Oliver (born 6 July 1952) is an English guitarist who was born in Mexborough, South Yorkshire. He was a founding member in the heavy metal band Saxon from 1976 to 1996. Career Oliver was a budding guitarist while working in a factory i ...

– guitars (2003–present) *Jay Spargo – lead vocals (2010–present) ;Former members * Mickey Finn – bongos, congas, drums, vocals (1997–2003; his death) * Jack Green – guitars, lead vocals (1997–1999; died 2024) *Rob Benson – lead vocals (1998–2010) *

– guitars (1999–2003) ;Timeline

Discography

* ''

'' (2002) * ''A Celebration of Marc and Mickey - Classic Hits'' (2008)

References

External links

Mickey Finn's T-Rex official web site
{{Authority control English rock music groups