Toyah introduces an amazing appearance from October 1981. We Are, from the album Anthem, performed on German music show Rockpop, a programme that ran from 1977 to 1982. Watch Toyah’s Intro, and then take a trip back to 1981 for We Are.
This Is Now said: How did you all enjoy Edition 1 of the new series? We had a complete blast! The new TOTP! – See the tweet. (Photos © This Is Now)
This Is Now said: What a performance by Toyah – See the tweet. (Photo © This Is Now)
Quadrophenia: TCM Movies: Thursday 19th November: 9pm
The Who wrote and produced this energetic story of a young man disillusioned with his life in 1960s London. Phil Daniels excels as the alienated anti-hero Jimmy Cooper. Director: Franc Roddam. Starring: Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Toyah Willcox, Philip Davis, Mark Wingett, Sting, and Ray Winstone. (Photo © The Who Films Ltd / Universal Pictures)
Toyah’s November 2020 blog is available at toyahwillcox.com.
Minder: ITV4: Wednesday 18th November: 3.40pm
Minder: ITV4: Thursday 19th November: 9.10am
All Mod Cons. Arthur decides to sell Terry’s flat without his permission. Meanwhile, Terry gets a job minding at a local club and ends up getting into more trouble than he had planned for when he realises the club’s manager is on the fiddle. Starring: George Cole, Dennis Waterman, Toyah Willcox, Simon Cadell, James Ottaway, and Tony Osaba. (Series 2, Episode 8, 1980). Also showing on ITV4 HD. (Photos © ITV)
There’s a very special Flashback Friday tomorrow as Toyah introduces an archive performance of We Are performed on the German TV programme Rockpop in October 1981. Premieres 11am, Fri 6 November. Click below for Toyah’s tweet.
Toyah introducing a classic TV appearance: We Are on the German TV show Rockpop in October 1981. Premieres tomorrow at 11am.
Carol Decker’s 30 Rock Chicks!: NOW 80s: Friday 6th November: 10pm
T’Pau’s Carol Decker brings a bit of Heart and Soul to a countdown of ’80s ladies who like to rock! With Joan Jett, Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar. (as well as Toyah via the Thunder In The Mountains video)
Ed
ition 1 of That Was Then… This Is Now! airs from 7pm this evening Thursday 5th November.
It features exclusive performances and a fascinating interview from Toyah herself.
She gives a stunning performance of I Wanna Be Free and as well as the standout track from her most recent album “In The Court Of The Crimson Queen”, the utterly brilliant “Sensational.”
Toyah also joins host Mike Read to give insights into her experiences of life and family under lockdown and about getting even with her husband Robert Fripp regarding the title of a new album
ORDER EDITION ONE NOW FOR JUST £10
Edition 1 also features exclusive performances from The Fizz and Chesney Hawkes and a video from Nik Kershaw who is number one on the Heritage chart this week and much more, hosted by broadcasting legend Mike Read and Sky TV’s Hayley Palmer.
EARLY BIRD OFFER SERIES ONE OFFER ENDS TODAY
As a special introductory offer all 5 editions can be ordered now with a 20% saving applied at checkout. Featuring exclusive performances and appearances from Cliff Richard, Nik Kershaw, Limahl, Paul Young, Johnny Hates Jazz and many many more.
BACKGROUND
Cherry Red Records, who release Sheep Farming In Barnet as a deluxe CD set next month, recently interviewed Toyah.
The Toyah Willcox story is an in-depth interview which looks at who the real Toyah is, what motivates her and how she became so successful. She also shares many fascinating stories from her incredible career.
This week, X Factor’s Sean Smith, Two brothers who are too sexy for their shirts, An 80s Special and I’m A Celeb is back
That Was Then… This Is Now!
Super excited for this, and the countdown is ON!
The first episode will be on Thursday 5th November at 7pm and features Chesney Hawkes, The Fizz and Toyah – check out the website for tickets: www.thisisnow.tv
It was a pleasure to be part of this, and can’t wait for you to see and enjoy it with us.
• Continue reading at The Revive Mag. Buy tickets for Episode One of That Was Then… This Is Now!, featuring Toyah, at This Is Now.
Is this Black Sabbath cover by King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp and his wife Toyah the oddest tribute of 2020?
The duo perform Paranoid… in a prison
Robert Fripp… visionary, eccentric, King Crimson mastermind and now performer of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid on his Fernandes Custom Gold guitar in a prison while wearing fake tattoos.
And his wife of 34 years, musician / actress / author Toyah Willcox, is singing it while behind bars. It’s the latest instalment of the couple’s wonderfully imaginative lockdown videos that have also included Fripp playing Deep Purple’s ubiquitous Smoke On The Water next to a lake while Wilcox dances dressed as a cheerleader (see below).
We say bring it on, it’s not like 2020 isn’t bizarre enough already.
• Continue reading at Music Radar. See also Guitar World.
King Crimson’s Robert Fripp Performs Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” as Wife Toyah Sings and Dances Behind Bars:
The King Crimson founder and his wife cover Sabbath’s classic song in bizarre fashion
This year has seen its fair share of unexpected and bizarre phenomena, and King Crimson founder Robert Fripp and his singer wife Toyah Willcox have come to embrace it. The musical duo have spent quarantine making performance art videos, but their latest idea for Halloween might be their most absurd yet.
Donned in henna-like tattoos that cover his face and arms, Fripp starts playing Black Sabbath’s iconic song “Paranoid” on his Les Paul. Behind him, Willcox is locked behind bars — in what’s either an old prison cell or an underground bank vault — and starts dancing when the songs begins. When it comes time for the verses, she starts singing the metal classic.
The effect of the video is pretty uncomfortable but morbidly entertaining. Perhaps the use of “Paranoid” and dancing in a cage is a metaphor for quarantine? Or maybe it’s just Fripp and Willcox’s idea of a Halloween joke.
• Continue reading at Consequence Of Sound.
There’s a repeat airing of the Toyah Special of Video Killed The Radio Star on Sky Arts later this month. This great half hour programme originally premiered in August 2018.
Video Killed The Radio Star: Sky Arts: Monday 16th November: 4.30pm
Video Killed The Radio Star: Sky Arts: Tuesday 17th November: 10.30am
Toyah Willcox. (Series 7, Episode 6) An insight into the making of videos by Toyah Willcox, whose hits included It’s A Mystery, Thunder in the Mountains and I Want To Be Free.
The autobiography of Martin Kiszko, Major & Minor Adventures in Lah Lah Land, has just been published. Toyah wrote a film script with Martin and is mentioned in the book.
Available Now! My autobiography Major & Minor Adventures in Lah Lah Land, a candid fly-on-the-wall behind-the-scenes look at film music composition, natural history filmmaking, TV projects and eco-poetry. Also a personal memoir and a good laugh along the way! The book is also a useful primer for anyone wishing to enter the music and writing industries.
By buying a book/books, you will be supporting an artist who received no support during lockdown and who was unable to work due to the closure of venues. You will also be helping to keep the Green Poems for a Blue Planet environmental campaign running.***
• Continue reading at martinkiszko.com.
“I feel its power within me, bells ringing in my head, so often I have heard its cry, but forgotten what it said, it’s a mystery…”
Last Saturday’s episode of Toyah At Home – the 20th!! – had a few ghosts in the machine (well, it was a Halloween Special) and featured two more archive performances: It’s A Mystery, from the 1981 album, Anthem, and Brave New World, from the 1982 album, The Changeling.
Click below to watch/rewatch Episode 20, with talk about ghosts, pink highlights, making jewellery in lockdown, new films Swiperight and Heckle, film scripts and much more! Episode 21 of Toyah At Home airs this Saturday at 11am at Toyah’s official You Tube channel, and Facebook.
Watch a tattooed Robert Fripp play Black Sabbath in a prison cell while Toyah dances
You heard us right: Watch a tattooed Robert Fripp play Black Sabbath’s Paranoid in a prison cell while Toyah dances
Imagine: you wake up from a coma in November 2020. You’ve been asleep since Christmas, so you’re entirely unaware of the year’s contents. You don’t know about the virus, or the lockdowns, or that Liverpool are champions and that everything’s been cancelled.
You grab your smartphone, and you log into Facebook to check out what’s been happening in your absence. And the first thing you see is a video of a heavily tattooed Robert Fripp. The King Crimson mastermind is alone sitting in a prison cell, playing Black Sabbath’s Paranoid on a Les Paul. In the background stands his wife of 34 years, the adventurous pop star Toyah Willcox. She dances, and at the point where Ozzy Osbourne would normally start singing, she sings.
• Continue reading at Louder.
Exclusive personalised artworks handcrafted by Toyah are now available to order. Choose from an illustration or gilt metal artwork created by Toyah for you or a loved one. An extract of your favourite Toyah lyrics also features on the piece alongside a specially dedicated message + autograph, making these true one-off creations.
A new, Sheep Farming In Barnet/Early Years, interview with Toyah, from Cherry Red’s My Favourite Flavour magazine. A classic SFIB era photo of Toyah is also included on the cover!
According to the sleevenotes of the lavish re-issue of Toyah’s debut album ‘Sheep Farming In Barnet’ her progress to punk icon, then pop star, really began back in 1975…
“Back then I just wanted to get out of school, get out of Birmingham. I definitely wanted to act and sing, but there was no way I was equipped for that. I think I was lucky to have been born at the right time and been around for the punk movement, that allowed every shape, size, sound and form into the fold. If you had something to express or to say back then, punk accepted it. That was the saving grace for me.
“I’d left home and got a job at the National Theatre in London, school hadn’t really prepared me for life, I had to land on my feet and learn to adapt to the outside world and somehow mould myself into what I wanted to be.
“At the National, an actor called Ian Charleson introduced me to Derek Jarman who was about to start work on his film Jubilee and around the same time I got into a punk band and started writing with Joel Bogen. We started playing the pub circuit and I was embraced by that whole community, they were amazing times.”
• Continue reading here. (Thanks to Sharon Dickson for the scans)
