Marc Bolan died in a car crash on September 16, 1977, in southwest London at the age of 29. He was a passenger in a purple Mini 1275GT driven by his girlfriend Gloria Jones, returning home from Morton's Club Restaurant in Berkeley Square. After crossing a small humpback bridge near Gipsy Lane on Queens Ride, Barnes, the car struck a steel-reinforced fence post and then a tree. Bolan suffered a fatal head injury caused by an eye bolt from the fence post and died at the scene, while Jones was critically injured but survived

. The crash site has become a shrine known as Marc Bolan's Rock Shrine, where fans leave tributes. Bolan's funeral was held on September 20, 1977, at Golders Green Crematorium in North London, attended by notable musicians such as David Bowie and Rod Stewart