Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

It’s not often, Toyah’s debut 1979 single, Victims Of The Riddle is included on a compilation!

It is one of 58 tracks on the forthcoming Musik Music Musique – 1980 | The Dawn Of Synth Pop, A new 3CD set exploring the arrival of synth pop and the dawn of a new musical era. Released by Cherry Red Records on 31st July 2020.

The set features music by OMD, The Human League, Ultravox, Toyah, Spandau Ballet, Kim Wilde, Philip Lynott, The Buggles, Fad Gadget, Suicide, John Foxx, DAF, Dalek I Love You, Visage, The Residents, Yello.

58 tracks marking the transition of electronic pop from the outer reaches of eccentricity and novelty to the very heart of a musical mainstream it would quickly dominate.

• Contine to the Cherry Red Records website for further info.

Stokie DJ recruits celebrities to sing Rick Astley hit for North Staffordshire mental health charity

The video, for North Staffs MIND, features members of 5ive, S Club 7, and the original dancer from the Rick Astley video

A Stoke-on-Trent DJ has recruited more than 30 famous faces for a second charity fundraising single. Last month, Terry Bossons enlisted help from indie artists to fundraise for the NHS with a cover of Chasing Rainbows under the alias ‘Indie Allstars’.

Now, he’s back with a new all-star cast including Sinitta, Lolly, and Gladiator’s Jet to cover Rick Astley’s 1987 hit Never Gonna Give You Up to raise money for North Staffs MIND charity.

• Continue reading at Stoke On Trent Live. See also: Retro Pop – Listen: Carol Decker, Hazell Dean, Toyah team up for Never Gonna Give You Up charity cover

Toyah and Hazel O’Connor’s Electric Ladies Of The 80s joint-headlining UK tour has been rescheduled to May and June 2021. This is of course because of the ongoing pandemic.

Ticketholders are being asked not to contact venues, or SEE Tickets at the moment as they will make contact with ticket holders in due course to explain the way forward.

All tickets remain valid for the new dates.

Refunds are available if needed, but we ask if possible for the sake of the venues and their long term financial security, you hold on to tickets and not request a refund if possible.

Post-punk and New Wave artists Toyah and Hazel O’Connor join forces to bring you their exciting new tour, Electric Ladies of the 80s. Performing alongside their full electric band, each artist will perform their own set alongside some duets and surprises.

• Further info at toyahwillcox.com. Click below for ticket booking links (though a number of the dates are sold out).

Clare Balding is currently recalling her favourite walks from her long-running BBC Radio 4 series Ramblings. Episode Four of the retrospective collection airs next Thursday, 4th June and includes Toyah, who guested on Ramblings back in February 2013.

Ramblings With Clare Balding: BBC Radio 4
Thursday 4th June: 3pm/Saturday 6th June: 6.07am
Joyful Highlights Part 4: Singers & Writers. Clare Balding recalls her favourite walks with a colourful variety of writers and singers including Bill Bryson, Toyah Willcox, folk duo Ninebarrow, and the choral group Werca’s Folk.

Clare has been walking on air since 1999, and for this lockdown series of highlights has been digging into the archives to retrieve some of her most memorable moments: Today she gets dressed with Bill Bryson, takes a lift across a small puddle with Toyah, discovers that Dorothy Wordsworth avoided marriage so she could continue walking, and hears from author Emma Mitchell about exactly why our mood is lifted when we spend time in nature.

Marking 20 years as presenter of the programme, Clare Balding digs into archives of Ramblings to share the best moments from her favourite walks. Producer: Karen Gregor.

• Listen to Ramblings – Joyful Highlights online at the BBC Radio 4 website. Click below to browse our Ramblings News Archive. (Photo © Toyah Willcox)

Here are the new dates and venues for next year’s Let’s Rock festivals

Having postponed its summer series due to the current pandemic the year, Let’s Rock have confirmed the rescheduled dates for summer 2021. The line-ups remain the same, with headliners including Adam Ant, OMD, Wet Wet Wet and UB40. Other performers including Tony Hadley, The Boomtown Rats, Kim Wilde, Marc Almond, Sister Sledge, The Undertones, Midge Ure’s Electronica, Toyah, T’Pau, Go West, Nik Kershaw, Chesney Hawkes, Betty Boo, and Heaven 17. LockdownFest, organised by Let’s Rock in aid of its official charity partner Child Bereavement UK, raised more than £130,000 for the charity.

• Continue reading at The Scotsman. Visit the Let’s Rock – The Retro Festival website.

Even though Strictly 2020 is still up in the air, the rumour mill keeps throwing out new names of celebrities reportedly signing up for the show.

So far, newspaper reports have already suggested that presenter Maya Jama, actress Michelle Keegan, singer Toyah Willcox, presenter Lorraine Kelly, Corrie star Jack P Shepherd and all-round icon Jane McDonald might have agreed to samba and salsa this autumn.

• Continue reading at the Radio Times.

Quadrophenia: Film 4: Monday 8th June: 1.35am
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.

Following our recent post about Toyah’s official You Tube channel… Here’s one about this website’s –  Dreamscape’s You Tube channel.

Our You Tube is pretty much what you’d expect from a fan based channel. We’ve compiled a selection of retro interviews, Toyah TV appearances and more from throughout Toyah’s career (which I believe is now in its 45th year if Glitter – filmed 1975, aired 1976 – is regarded as the very beginning!).

We are rollercoasting towards 1K of subscribers, and our most popular video is Toyah: This Is Your Life, which as of writing has been viewed 184,629 times and is currently increasing by around 2K views per day. Not that I’m a stats freak of course! Please click below to visit Dreamscape’s You Tube Toyah channel (which also includes some rare Madonna footage).

Edinburgh singer Shirley Manson has written a heart-felt apology to her teenage inspiration, Toyah Willcox

Edinburgh singer and iconic Garbage front-woman Shirley Manson has revealed how Eighties pop star Toyah Willcox inspired her in a heartfelt post on her Facebook page, in which she recalled seeing the diminutive punk princess at The Playhouse in 1982.

Introducing Toyah to nearly 300,000 followers on her Facebook page, Shirley wrote, ‘This is Toyah Willcox and this is a true story. I loved her growing up but I never admitted it publicly because I knew deep down that it wasn’t considered very cool by the serious music press to do so. The worst possible thing for me at that age was to be thought of as uncool. However truth was she fascinated me and I think it’s fair to say I studied her. By that I mean I obsessed over photographs of her in magazines and tried to emulate her fabulous, esoteric style, copy her make up, style my hair like she did.’

Singer and actress Toyah fronted the band of the same name between 1977 and 1983 scoring chart success with hits like It’s A Mystery, Thunder In The Mountains and I Want To Be Free. She also appeared in cult movies such as Jubilee, The Tempest and Quadrophenia.

After recalling how Toyah was considered ‘pretty mainstream’ back in the Eighties, Shirley remembered seeing the singer, who is now 62, at The Playhouse, ‘I was 15 and pretty mainstream myself but as I said, needed more than anything to appear cool to my peers so I kept my tastes to myself. I went to see her play when she came to The Edinburgh Playhouse in the summer of 1982. I remember the undeniable, visceral thrill of seeing Toyah on stage…. The impact of seeing your idols on stage, in the flesh for the first time was something immense and extraordinarily overwhelming… I just remember the lights and lusting after Toyah’s hair and being utterly transfixed.’

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.

This is brilliant – In this week’s Sunday lunch, Toyah & Robert are discussing which has more cultural significance…. #Toyah or #KingCrimson. Only one way to find out….. a #showdown.

Last Saturday’s Let’s Rock 80s Lockdown Fest helped raise over £100,000 for Child Bereavement UK.

Jason Donovan, Toyah, and Tony Hadley led the line-up for the virtual event, which was held in place of the annual Let’s Rock events, which have been called off due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Five Star, Sonia, Wet Wet Wet, Midge Ure, and Howard Jones were also among the performers, who went live on YouTube at 7pm to entertain fans and raise money. After all of the performances, it was announced that the event had raised an impressive £105,000, which will benefit Child Bereavement UK.

• Continue reading at Retro Pop Magazine.

Toyah’s official You Tube channel has tripled its followers in just the last few weeks. This is, no doubt, partly due to some of the recent great content additions – Toyah & Fripp: The Lockdown Lunch Dances, Heroes for VE Day, Toyah & The Humans – 21st Century Schizoid Man, Tribute to Bill Rieflin, Toyah Live In Your Living Room – check all these out, and more, by clicking below.

An uplifting morning of music and chat today from Toyah, Chris, Andy, John and Mike. Click below to watch, or re-watch, an hour + of Toyah Live In Your Living Room at You Tube.

Just uploaded a very early, and rare, TV clip of Toyah, from 1977 to Dreamscape/Toyah.Net’s You Tube channel. It isn’t incredible video quality but a truly interesting curiosity from Toyah’s very early acting days. This is post-Glitter, pre-Jubilee in Toyah’s career timeline.

Toyah plays Buzz in the short films/sketch show comedy series, “Three Piece Suite”, starring Diana Rigg. This clip is from episode five of the series. The three sketches included were: “Come in No. 1”, “This Situation” and “All in the Mind”. Toyah guested in “This Situation”. It aired on 5th April 1977 on BBC2. Thanks to andy.

Give someone you love (or even just like a lot!) a virtual hug with a personal video message from Toyah! Click below for more details.

On this day… 39 years ago – 22nd May 1981 – the studio album Anthem was released. It still sounds as good today as it did then, and no doubt always will. Timeless! (Thanks to andy)

A new, 30 minute, audio interview. Toyah chats about the frustration of currently not playing live, looking forward to a decadent 2020s and a busy 2021, having a diverse career, how the entertainment industry has changed over the past four decades, fighting against ageism, and much more.

Cat interviews Toyah Willcox
May 2020: My guest today really needs no introduction.

She’s appeared in the 1978 film Jubilee, and Quadrophenia the following year. Her early hit singles included It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free, and by 1982 she had made two platinum-selling albums. And, after more than 40 years in the music business, she is as creatively hungry as she was in her teens.

She is a singer, an actress, a writer, a punk, rebel, and an icon…but most importantly, she’s an independent, strong woman who doesn’t take any prisoners.

• Listen to the interview at Audio Boom.

On this day… 15 years ago – 21st May 2005 – Toyah played TWO sets at the Wasted Festival in Morcambe. A spoken word set in the afternoon and full live band set in the evening. The set-list was:

Hello I Love You (The Doors), Obsolete, Race Through Space, Neon Womb, Little Tears Of Love, Thunder In The Mountains, Jungles Of Jupiter, Our Movie, It’s A Mystery, Danced, I Explode, She Sells Sanctuary (The Cult), Ieya, I Want To Be Free

• The Wasted Festival began life as the British punk festival Holidays In The Sun, subsequently became The Rebellion Festival, in 2006, and is still held annually. See more details about the Wasted Festival 2005 here. (Photos © John Shepherd)

Anchoress: London Live: Tuesday 2nd June: 2am
Anchoress: London Live: Thursday 4th June: 1am
Anchoress: London Live: Monday 8th June: 0.45am
A peasant girl develops a fascination with a statue of the Virgin Mary, which prompts a priest to sentence her to be walled up in the church. When she discovers her mother is to be tried as a witch, she resolves to break free from her imprisonment, even if it costs her her life. Medieval drama, starring Natalie Morse, Toyah Willcox, Pete Postlethwaite, Christopher Eccleston, Gene Bervoets, Brenda Bertin. Director: Chris Newby. (Photos © Vanguard Cinema)

Tune in at Toyah’s official Facebook, You Tube or Twitter channels for an exclusive hour of music and Q&A this Saturday at 11am. All your favourite hits and chat. Click below for the links.

Quatermass: Talking Pictures TV: Tue 26th May: 9pm
Chapter Two: Lovely Lightning. The Planet People’s leader, Kickalong (Ralph Arliss), believes that the Planet People gathered at Ringstone Round have been transported—as promised—to “the planet”, but it is clear to Quatermass and Kapp that they have been reduced to ashes. One badly burnt survivor – a girl called Isabel (Annabelle Lanyon) who deliriously talks about “lovely lightning” – is found and is brought back to the Kapps’ cottage. Making contact with NASA scientist Chuck Marshall (Tony Sibbald), they learn that thousands of young people have disappeared in similar incidents at similar sites all around the world. Quatermass, aided by District Commissioner Annie Morgan (Margaret Tyzack), decides to bring Isabel to London for tests. As they make their journey, Quatermass speculates as to whether there is any connection between recent events and the decline in society.

Reaching London, they are attacked by a gang. Quatermass is yanked from the car but Annie and Isabel manage to escape. Meanwhile, a large number of Planet People arrive at the radio telescope, congregating at the stone circle on its grounds. Working some distance away, Kapp is horrified to see the light strike the area where his home is and rushing home, he finds his family gone as it was caught in the radius of the deadly light. His two friends and dog died too.

This episode originally aired on 31st October 1979 on the ITV network and was watched by 10.8m viewers in the UK. The 1979, four-part, mini series Quatermass (also known as The Quatermass Conclusion or Quatermass IV) is airing weekly from Tuesday 19th May. Stars John Mills, Simon McCorkindale, Barbara Kellerman, Ralph Arliss, Rebecca Saire, Toyah Willcox, David Yip, Alison Dowling.

• Talking Pictures TV is An Archive Film & TV Channel. Available on the following platforms/channels: Freeview 81, YouView 81, Freesat 306, Sky 328 and Virgin 445.