Early life (1949–1967) and Tyrannosaurus Rex (1967–1969) 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 advertisement 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.
Pink Fairies (1969–1970) 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.
Stealers Wheel, and
Barclay James Harvest. 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.
Management by Tony Secunda (1972–1973) 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.
Various projects (1973–1976) 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. 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.
Steve Took's Horns (1976–1978) 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,
Trev 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 also been rehearsing back in 1977–1978.
Involvement with Inner City Unit (1979–1980) 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
Westbourne Park, on both of which Took can be heard performing lead vocals on a cover of
the Beatles' version of
Larry Williams' "
Slow Down" ==Personal life==