It was 20 years ago; on July 17, 1998 when Marc died. He had a great voice & the Dragon music he helped to make brings as much delight today as it did when it first came out.

Marc grew up in Taumaranui in a household where music was often heard. After completing high school he moved to Auckland where for a time he was in the band Quintessence who were a MOR cabaret band. Marc played congas & sang with them. He joined Dragon when they were an up & coming prog rock Auckland band in 1973.

It was March 1975 when Dragon made the move to Sydney. Kiwi producer Peter Dawkins heard them playing in a little wine bar one night & knew they had huge potential. Radio loved the Dawkins-produced songs like April Sun in Cuba though Dragon live were not necessarily the same as Dragon on radio. Keyboard-player Paul Hewson had a great sense of melody & wrote many of the classics Marc sang out front of the band. Paul & Marc wrote the Dragon hit Are You Old Enough in FNQ during a tour break.

Marc developed into a great front man & dismissed the congas. As a person he was complex: intelligent, well-read, good looking, menacing, charismatic, emitting a sense of danger. He liked adventure & sought it out. Drug & problems with drugs had surrounded the band since their early days living in St Mary’s Bay in Auckland.

1977 & 1978 were big years for the band. They released 2 albums & a number of singles both years. But in Texas in 1978 on a tour as support to Texas bluesman Johnny Winters, Marc stepped over the line. There is some variation as to what did occur that fateful night but the common thread is that Marc in make-up told the loyal, beer-drinking, blues fans in the audience that all Texans were faggots. The band sensibly left the stage while everything not attached within the venue was hurled at Marc.

He had become a liability for Dragon & following the tour was asked to leave. After that time with Dragon he embarked on a solo career. He released 5 albums (& a compilation of his solo recordings was released by Raven in 2000). In 1982 Marc & brother Todd re-united & Dragon picked up from where they left off a few years earlier. They had a big hit with Rain in 1983 then during 1989 their sensational album Bondi Road was released. As well as working solo during the 80s & resuming work with Dragon, Marc spent some time in the (Aus) Party Boys.

By the 90s his health had begun to deteriorate. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997 & died in 1998. He was just 44.