Стив Перегрин Тук: Музыкант и автор песен Tyrannosaurus Rex

English musician and songwriter (1949–1980)

Steve Peregrin Took (born Stephen Ross Porter; 28 July 1949 – 27 October 1980) was an English musician and songwriter, best known for his membership of the duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with Marc Bolan. After breaking with Bolan, he concentrated on his own singer songwriting activities, either as a solo artist or as a frontman for several bands.

Took was born Stephen Ross Porter in Eltham, London, on 28 July 1949, and attended Shooters Hill School. He took his name from the character Peregrin Took, a hobbit in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. At the age of 17, having played drums for some months with a mod band named the Waterproof Sparrows (bass player John Rains, guitarists Pete Keen and Wally Woodcock), he answered an advert in International Times for Tyrannosaurus Rex, the electric band that Marc Bolan was forming following his departure from John's Children. After one disastrous concert at the Electric Garden in London,

Took developed his own songwriting and in early 1969, with recording just complete on Tyrannosaurus Rex's third LP, Unicorn, Took suggested to Bolan that the duo could perform some of his own material; Bolan refused. By this time, their lifestyles were in direct conflict. Bolan was living quietly with wife to be June Child, while Took was rapidly forging links with "revolutionary" underground acts, such as the Deviants and the Pretty Things. The relationship was deteriorating badly—Bolan barely tolerated Took's drug use, and Steve Mann recalled that it was clear they "cordially detested each other". In addition, Took's friendship with Bolan's idol Syd Barrett had also developed through their shared interests in both LSD and "strange musical noises". Mick Farren, in his memoir Give The Anarchist A Cigarette, recalled that Took would "drag a bemused Syd Barrett along" to events in Ladbroke Grove in the late 1960s; Took remained friends with Barrett well into the 1970s. Took worked with Syd Barrett on unreleased "Ramadan" tracks. While in Tyrannosaurus Rex, Took also appeared as a backing vocalist on a session for David Bowie, the results of which can be heard on the BBC sessions album Bowie at the Beeb. Eventually, Took donated two of his songs—"Three Little Piggies" and "The Sparrow Is A Sign"—to former Tomorrow and Pretty Things drummer Twink's 1969 solo album, Think Pink. Consequently, before the first Tyrannosaurus Rex tour of America, Bolan and his management gave Took notice that they would be sacking him once the tour was complete. Another contributing factor was an incident at the launch party for the UK edition of Rolling Stone, where jugs of punch prepared for the event were spiked with the hallucinogen STP. Took had already earned himself the nickname "The Phantom Spiker" (in which he rejoiced) through previous similar pranks. This allowed the management to claim subsequently that it was Took's behaviour on stage which had caused the sacking. Bolan replaced Took with Mickey Finn, and after one further album renamed the duo T. Rex, later expanding to a full band again.

After being sacked by Bolan, Took formed a prototype version of the Pink Fairies with Twink and Mick Farren, recently ousted from his own band, the Deviants. This band was named in honour of a drinking club of the same name the three had formed earlier that year, along with other leading lights of the underground scene. Together with Twink's girlfriend Silva Darling, they performed what Farren would later describe as "less of a gig than a protracted harangue" at the University of Manchester in October 1969, which rapidly dissolved into chaos. Took appeared prominently on Farren's first solo album Mona – The Carnivorous Circus (recorded December 1969, released 1970) on which he was credited as Shagrat The Vagrant. Twink and the other ex Deviants then formed a new band called the Pink Fairies (mark 2), without Took or Farren. Wallis would later take over the leadership of the Pink Fairies for their Kings of Oblivion LP, substantially transforming the sound and style of the band. He and Took would work together again at various intervals in 1972, 1975–1976 and 1977. In December 1971, he headlined a three date mini tour of southwest England. Steve's account of which was reprinted by Charles Shaar Murray in his book Shots From The Hip. During this time, Took could also often be seen participating in jamming sessions during encores at Hawkwind and Pink Fairies concerts. His contributions to these jams were in the role of third drummer, and he also once played bass guitar for the "Pinks", substituting for Duncan Sanderson.

During 1972, Took was approached by Tony Secunda, recently fired as manager for T. Rex, with a view to recovering royalties owed to Took from the Tyrannosaurus Rex years. Emerging from these conversations, Secunda became Took's manager, with a view to leading him to stardom to spite Bolan. Initially, Took attempted to rerecord as a single the song "Amanda" from the 1971 acoustic Shagrat session (along with two other tracks, "Blind Owl Blues" and "Mr Discrete") with the assistance of the Pink Fairies rhythm section of Sanderson and Russell Hunter, whose band was temporarily defunct following the departure of Paul Rudolph. During this session, former Junior's Eyes/Bowie guitarist Mick Wayne was recruited as guitarist.

After splitting with Secunda, Took worked with a number of Hawkwind members, most notably Robert Calvert, Adrian Wagner, and Nik Turner. Took was scheduled to be the support act for Calvert's cancelled "Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters" tour. He and Bidwell formed at least two bands, the first with guitarist Eisuke Takahashi, the second with guitarist Hiroshi Kato and future Hawkwind bassist Adrian Shaw. The latter line up recorded a session of four tracks in summer 1974, including Flophouse Blues (previously recorded twice in the 1972 Secunda sessions). For some time around 1975, Took lived in the Kent towns of Canterbury and Margate, where he took on local musician and promoter Les Best as his manager. While down there, Took formed a new band, Jolly Roger and the Crimson Gash, with Takahashi now on bass and two local musicians, Bryan East on drums and a guitarist called Phil. This band gigged locally and recorded at least four tracks, produced by Turner at his home studio in Westgate on Sea.

By 1976, Took was back in London and using the band name Steve Took's Horns, so called after a horned pendant which he habitually wore. By mid 1977, this had solidified into a steady line up featuring, in what would be the first of several bands together over many years, Trevor Thoms and Ermanno Ghisio Erba, later better known to Inner City Unit (ICU) fans as Judge Trev and Dino Ferari. The Pathway Studios session would be released on CD by Cherry Red in 2004, as Blow It!!! The All New Adventures of Steve Took's Horns, with the CD also featuring out takes, remixes and fresh recordings of two other Took songs – "Ooh My Heart" and "Too Bad" – which the Horns had been rehearsing back in 1977–1978.

Despite the break up, Steve Took's Horns had made a considerable impression on Took's circle of acquaintances. Consequently, Nik Turner, having first drafted Ghisio Erba/Ferari into his band Sphynx for a live festival LP recorded that August, went on in 1979 to incorporate the Thoms/Ghisio Erba partnership into his new Inner City Unit. Took guested with ICU a number of times, reuniting with his old Horns sidemen; the last recorded dates being 16 June 1980 at London's Music Machine and sometime around 21 June 1980 at the Stonehenge Free Festival in Wiltshire – a festival frequented by other 'Festival Bands', most famously Took's old Ladbroke Grove cohorts Hawkwind. Bootleg recordings exist of the Music Machine show and also an open air performance on 6 May 1980 at Meanwhile Gardens in Notting Hill Gate, on both of which Took can be heard performing lead vocals on a cover of the Beatles' version of Larry Williams' "Slow Down"

Took had one son in the early 1970s with partner Lou Tunstall, later the partner of Landau. Took's other girlfriends included chronologically, Angie (1969–1971), Tracy Inder (1974–1976), Gertrude de Freyne (1977–1978), Valerie "Sam" Billiet (1979–1980). As well as his own son, Steve Took was stepfather to Lemmy's son Paul Inder (to Tracy Inder), as he later was to Billiet's daughter.

Steve Took died on Monday 27 October 1980 at 14 Clydesdale House, 255 Westbourne Park Road, Notting Hill, London, aged 31, in the maisonette he shared with Billiet and her young daughter. As a consequence of intervention by Best, now once again Took's manager, royalty cheques for the Tyrannosaurus Rex 'Blue Thumb' American releases had been arriving periodically and Took had received one that week. The day prior to his death, Took purchased morphine and hallucinogenic mushrooms for himself and Billiet, and the evening before Took died, they both injected themselves with the morphine. Took's death certificate records the cause of death as being asphyxiation after inhaling a cocktail cherry. Drugs were not listed as a contributory factor, even though Took's death is often listed as a "drugs misadventure". He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery (Square 103, in the north west quadrant of the infilled path around the Inner Circle).