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Mickey Finn (born Michael Norman Finn on 3 June, 1947 in Thornton Heath, Surrey, England, died on 11 January, 2003).

An art school dropout, Finn was working as a house painter in 1969 when he met Bolan, then looking to replace Tyrannosaurus Rex percussionist Steve Peregrine Took.

Even though he had no allusions about his musical ability, Bolan took him on for his good looks. Mickey was unable to recreate the complex rhythmical patterns of his predecessor, Steve Peregrin Took, and was effectively hired as much for a visual foil for Bolan as for his drumming. Mickey Finn was the beautiful one. With his flowing hair and bared chest, T Rex`s bongo player was the perfect foil for elfin Marc Bolan, and as Bolan himself put it, "He can`t sing ... but he looks superb."

In the early 1970s, Finn`s contribution as bongocerro, backing vocalist, and, occasionally, bassist, to Bolan` s music was essential, because Tyrannosaurus Rex and T. Rex started off as a duo and Marc needed a replacement for Steve Peregrin Took. Something of a character both on and off stage, Finn was often to be seen wearing a hat (including a green bowler), a trademark that was adopted by a significant proportion of true T. Rex fans.

One album and a year later Bolan shortened the band`s name to T Rex and introduced a poppier sound, which paid off when Ride A White Swan reached Number 2 in 1970. Other hits followed - Metal Guru, Children Of The Revolution - and T Rex became megastars.

With similar aesthetic outlooks, Bolan and Finn were always the core of T.Rex and with each as photogenic as the other, both became teen poster boys. Mickey Finn preferred to let Bolan bask in the limelight but his role in the band was intrinsic to the whole operation. He left the band in late 1975 due to T. Rex` s sound became more and more electric-influenced, and because of the presence of a `proper` drummer, Bill Legend, Mickey`s bongo playing became effectively obsolete.

For a while rock`n`roll was good to Mickey Finn. Paul Fenton, who joined the band when the original drummer Bill Legend left, said: "Mickey was a real London dude. He was a fancy dresser; he had fancy cars and went out with some of the most fabulous women I`ve ever seen."

Later drink and heroin addiction had taken their toll. His mother Joy said: "He was a lovely boy - an ideal son. But this is what can happen when they get into that business. They can get into drink and into other things and it can all go wrong, but he lived into his fifties and I`m grateful for that."

He died penniless but not quite forgotten, in Croydon`s Mayday Hospital aged 55 on 11 January 2003. He is thought to have suffered from kidney and liver problems.

Bill Legend, 57, recalled: "Mickey lived life to the full. He was the live wire of the band, the comedian. He kept Marc and the rest of the lads in stitches. I will always have fond memories of him leaping off the giant stack of speakers and shooting off a wet stage into crowds of screaming girls."

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