Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

A variety of publications, including the ‘Times & Star’, report on Toyah headlining the Workington ‘Decades’ Festival.

80s PUNK STAR TOYAH WILLCOX WILL HEADLINE WORKINGTON FESTIVAL

Singing star Toyah Wilcox will headline Workington’s Decades town centre music festival later this year.

The 1980s self-styled punk princess, best known for chart hit It’s A Mystery, will perform at the event between May 25 and 27.

Toyah’s career spans 30 years and she has had 13 top 40 singles, recorded 20 albums, presented TV programmes and appeared on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! She recently starred in the West End rock show Vampires Rock.

The Decades festival will be based around 12 pubs and clubs on the town centre “circuit” and will celebrate music from the 1960s to the 1990s. Set up by Paul McGee, landlord of the Red House, and run by Maryport Festivals Limited, it promises a weekend of musical nostalgia.

• Read the full report, at the ‘Times & Star’ website, here.

The seriously good ‘Gods & Alcoves’ blog recently added a link to the 1980 magazine ‘Punk’s Not Dead!’. It features a Toyah pin-up from the (in)famous 1979 Simon Fowler photo shoot.

Punk’s Not Dead! magazine – edition one available online
Following hot on the heels of all 11 editions of “Punk! Lives” being available online, I found another punk magazine – Punk’s Not Dead! – (1980) available online via Scribd. Obviously the exclamation mark is critical in the naming of any Punk! publication.

Although it is focussed on Punk (duh) it has interviews/photos of Killing Joke, Theatre of Hate and Toyah – worth a look! According to one blog…

View the ‘Gods & Alcoves’ post here. View the scanned ‘Punk’s Not Dead!’ magazine here.

It’s now less than a month until the first ‘Changeling Resurrection’ gig takes place. The opening night is at Brighton’s Concorde 2 on Saturday 14th April. Further details on the tour are available at ‘The Official Toyah Gigs’ page here.

An aftershow party is also being arranged in Brighton. View more info on this at its Facebook Events page here.

The full dates are:

Saturday 14th April: Concorde 2, Brighton
Wednesday 18th April: The Tunnels, Bristol
Friday 20th April: Classic Grand, Glasgow
Sunday 22nd April: Bush Hall, London
Saturday 28th April: Robin 2, Wolverhampton
Monday 30th April: Ruby Lounge, Manchester
Saturday 5th May: Arts Complex, Bishop’s Stortford

Toyah fan, and friend of Dreamscape (and now Falling To Earth:)) Sharon Dickson, was featured in an article in the ‘Dundee Evening Telegraph’ on Tuesday 13th March.

Sharon Is The Spitting Image Of Pop Singer

From punk princess to accomplished actress, Toyah Willcox has become one of Britain’s top icons.

But fans have been forced to look twice when they’ve clocked eyes on Toyah’s double in and around Dundee.

Debenhams worker Sharon Dickson (41) is the spitting image of the popular entertainer. Sharon is more than happy being the star’s doppleganger… as she’s a massive Toyah fan.

“I’m a huge Toyah fan. I go to watch her perform every year and I’m excited about seeing her in Glasgow next month when she plays at Classic Grand.”

Sharon decided to send the Tele her photograph after her mum saw our story on Coronation Street star Sophie Webster’s lookalike. Sharon, who works in Debenhams’ perfume department, said: “My mum saw the paper and suggested I get in contact for a laugh. I’ve never intentionally tried to look like Toyah.”

• Click on the scan to view a larger version of the article. (Thanks to Sharon)

The full 12-song soundtrack to Toyah’s My Vintage. The programme is currently airing on ‘Vintage TV’.

Click on each of the songs below to read in detail what Toyah said about each of her song choices. More soon!

Love Is The Drug – Roxy Music
The Jean Genie – David Bowie
The Killing Moon – Echo & The Bunnymen
Tiny Dancer – Elton John
The Passenger – Iggy Pop
All Along The Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix
Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush
Walk On The Wild Side – Lou Reed
Stay – Shakespears Sister
Mad World – Tears For Fears
Even Better Than The Real Thing – U2
The Lovecats – The Cure

This will possibly be a regular feature on ‘Falling To Earth’. Collecting together key images from a specific Toyah “era”. Starting us off… Various Toyah photos from the ‘Sheep Farming in Barnet’ days.

Toyah’s first six song choices from My Vintage… View full transcripts of what she said about each by clicking on the song links above.

Toyah guested on Vintage TV’s My Vintage on Tuesday 13th March in a 90 minute special.

Toyah was a rebellious child, but the arrival of rock ‘n roll reinvented her life and gave her grounding. Here she shares with us her most-loved songs: those that brought her back to where she is today.

Toyah chose an eclectic selection of her favourite songs (see above for the full list) and recalled why they had become so.

Toyah’s official website will be offering visitors exclusive live tracks each month as Toyah’s Changeling Tour and summer festival/concert dates approach. At the beginning of each month an exclusive live track recorded from Toyah’s extensive 2011 tour dates will feature on the Gigs page.

The live tracks will be available to listen to for a limited time only with a new track replacing it each month. These live tracks are a taster for a special live album release planned for digital release in autumn/winter of 2012.

• Listen to the first, ‘Latex Messiah’, live at Manchester Academy, here.

‘Vintage TV’ ran a competition at their website during March to win tickets to see Toyah’s ‘The Changeling Resurrection 2012’.

THE CHANGELING RESURRECTION – TOYAH WILLCOX TOUR!

Cult figure, household name and music legend, Toyah Willcox, is touring the UK in April with The Changeling Resurrection Tour.

Known for her exuberant, energetic live shows, filled with colour, drama and classic songs, Toyah’s highly individual visual style was a forerunner of Lady GaGa and, musically, Florence & The Machine have recently been cited as “this generation’s Toyah” (BBC Radio 6).

Vintage TV viewers are being given the chance to win a pair of tickets to any one of her six tour performances, a fantastic prize worth more than £40.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply answer the question on our Competitons page. Last entries will be accepted on Friday 30th March. Winners will be announced during the week beginning 2nd April.

The charity Doctor Who book, ‘Behind The Sofa’, in which Toyah contributes a memory, will go ahead after all.

‘Radio Times’ reported in early March:

Doctor Who charity book threatened by PayPal dispute: Behind the Sofa may not be published after payments frozen

Behind the Sofa, a limited-edition charity book full of celebrities’ reminiscences about Doctor Who, may not now be published following the decision of online payments service PayPal to freeze the account of the project’s organiser.

All profits from the 200-page book were to be given to Alzheimer’s Research UK. But payments for pre-orders – which were to be used by editor Steve Berry to fund the manufacture and distribution of the book – have today been frozen by PayPal.

PayPal had been taking payments directly by credit and debit card, as well as from customers with PayPal accounts. Berry may now have to fund the book himself.

The book was to feature contributions from, among many others: Paul Whitehouse, Michael Grade, Rufus Hound, Stephen Merchant, Charlie Brooker, Hugh Bonneville, Al Murray, Bill Oddie, Chris Chibnall, Jeremy Dyson, Jonathan Ross, Josie Long, Terrance Dicks, Martina Cole, Mitch Benn, Neil Gaiman, Nicholas Parsons, Paul Cornell, Toyah Willcox and Tracy Ann Oberman.

• Read the full article, at the ‘Radio Times’ website, here.

Tales Of The Unexpected: Sky Arts 2: Tuedsay 27th March: 1.00pm
Tales Of The Unexpected: Sky Arts 2: Wednesday 28th March: 1.15am
Blue Marigold. Series 5, Episode 1. Dropped by her agency for her diva-like behaviour, supermodel Marigold’s mental health deteriorates. Years later, she plots a comeback. Director: Giles Foster. Starring: Toyah Willcox, Ralph Bates, Sharon Duce, Helen Fraser, Billy Hamon, Edward Jewesbury. Also airing on Sky Arts 2 HD.

The Most Fertile Man In Ireland: Sky Movies Indie: Wednesday 21st March: 3.45am
Satirical comedy with Kris Marshall, Kathy Keira Clarke, Bronagh Gallagher, James Nesbitt, Kenneth Cranham, Olivia Nash, Pauline McLynn, Tara Lynne O’Neill, Toyah Willcox, Harry Towb, Marc O’Shea and Paddy McCarney. Also airing on Sky Movies Indie HD.

One you may have missed, or might just want to listen to again: Chris Limb’s interview with Toyah from 1987. Listen here. There’s also a full transcript of the interview, at ‘The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive’, here.