Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

• The Changeling Resurrection II at Islington Academy: ‘Danced’ at You Tube. (Thanks to Damon King)

• This is South Wales: Eighties is inspiration for Swansea DJ: A Swansea DJ is turning the tables to become the pop stars she plays on the radio in her new one woman show. In the show, Helen pays tribute to the rebellious female icons of the 1980s including Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde, Toyah Willcox, Hazel O’Connor, Annie Lennox and Cyndi Lauper.

• Friday Focus: John Stephenson Interview with Toyah Willcox: Toyah’s ‘Radio Verulam’ interview from last December is now available to listen to at Soundcloud.

• Dark Derek’s Deluge: Toyah & Guests 17th December 1981: Toyah on the Good Morning Universe: European Tour.

• The Ebony Tower: Richard Rodney Bennett: Film Music Pt. 11.

There’s a trio of great photos of Toyah at Giving To George’s.

Television presenter, singer and actress Toyah Willcox officially opened a new children’s art exhibition at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, on Friday, 19th October.

The exhibition, which is sponsored by Bedford Hill Gallery in Battersea, is a collection of paintings donated by children in Kathmandu, Nepal.

• Continue reading at Giving To George’s.

The Spring 2013 dates for the UK Tour of Hormonal Housewives, starring Toyah, have just been added to the HH website.

There are visits to: Bromley, Brighton, Birmingham, Southport, Woking, Crawley, Swansea, Barnstaple, Wolverhampton, Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Guildford, Liverpool, Wimbledon, Epsom, Manchester, Oxford & Glasgow. (Thanks to Rob Cope)

It looks like Toyah and the Sleeping Beauty cast will be lighting up a lot of lives this Christmas, with not one, not two, but three Christmas Lights switch ons. In Herne Bay (16 Nov/5pm),  and Deal (22 Nov/7.30pm) and Dover (24 Nov/5.30pm).

Dover Locals: Christmas starts in Dover the 24th November this year as the Town Council are hosting the annual Christmas Switch-on event: The light switch on will take place at 5.30pm in the Market Square with the Mayor of Dover being supported by the cast of the Marlowe Theatre’s Sleeping Beauty who include amongst others; Gareth Gates, Toyah Willcox and star of the west end, Faye Brookes.

Visit Canterbury: Christmas Lights Switch On at Herne Bay (Fri 16th Nov): Christmas Lights switch on with live music and the stars from the Marlowe Panto Sleeping Beauty. The event starts at 4pm, Christmas light switch on at 5pm.

Herne Bay TP: Panto Stars to Switch On the Herne Bay Lights: The stars for the Marlowe Panto, Sleeping Beauty, including Gareth Gates and Toyah will be switching on Herne Bay Christmas Lights,on Friday 16 November 2012.

• Browse all of our Sleeping Beauty at The Marlowe Theatre 2012 news.

A, low quality, mini-gallery of previously unseen Toyah photos from 1979. Great shots!

Come along to Toyah’s Creepy Room with the special Changeling Resurrection II Halloween show at Birmingham Ballroom on Wednesday 31st October. Vote for your song choice. Tickets available here. (Official flyer rejigged slightly to fit here – View the original here)

Toyah has just been added to schedules as a guest on ‘BBC Radio 6Music’ next Thursday on Steve Lamacq’s Roundtable.

Steve Lamacq’s Roundtable: BBC Radio 6Music
Thursday 1st November: 6.00pm
Toyah is amongst the esteemed musical minds joining Steve to review the latest releases.

Toyah tweeted about this exhibition on Friday.

Toyah Willcox opens Tooting art exhibition created by Nepalese children

Pop legend Toyah Willcox officially opened a new art exhibition showcasing the work of Nepalese children.

Images are being displayed in The Bedford Hill Galley, located in St George’s Hospital Nicholls Ward, with the singer joined by Nepalese ambassador Dr Suresh Chalise to celebrate the opening on Friday. The artwork forms part of the Children’s Art for Children project, a charity which helps schoolchildren create art for disadvantaged children.

• Continue reading at Your Local Guardian.

Screen caps from the trailer for the forthcoming Doctor Who DVD set The Legacy Box. Click here to view larger versions of the caps and below to view the trailer at You Tube.

There are five dates left of The Changeling Resurrection II UK Tour: Bridport, Redhill, Birmingham (Halloween Special), St Albans and, the Rewound & Extended finale in, Brighton. Click below for all the details. (Thanks to Damon King)

More Saturday Show photos. These were taken when Toyah co-presented the programme in 1983. Please click below to zoom. (Thanks again to Ray Sears for the photos)

Fantastic photos of Toyah taken when she guested on The Saturday Show in 1982. Please click below to zoom. (Thanks to Ray Sears for these rare shots)

Sensational photos of Toyah from last night’s gig at Islington Academy, London. View larger versions of all of these at Dreamscape’s TCRII Gallery. (A huge thank you to Damon King)

• View a larger version of the above Changeling Resurrection II @ London collage here.

Great shots of Toyah from last night’s Changeling Resurrection II gig at the Islington Academy, London. A good time was had by all, including Toyah who tweeted: “London was magnificent! Utter joy! One of my favourite concerts of all time! Thank u“. View larger versions of these photos, and more, at Dreamscape’s TCRII Gallery. (Many thanks to Angus Turner)

On this day, 21st October 1982, exactly 30 years ago Toyah made their final studio appearance on Top Of The Pops – performing Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard).

• The third series of Pointless Celebrities began airing last night on BBC1. There will be nine episodes in the series and Toyah will guest on one of them, having recorded her appearance in early February with Cheryl Baker.

• Kent News: The Marlowe’s Sleeping Beauty panto to be dedicated to late comic Dave Lee: He may no longer be with us, but much-loved comic Dave Lee will be playing as big a part as ever in this year’s Marlowe Theatre pantomime. In fact, the whole production of Sleeping Beauty, which stars Pop Idol singer Gareth Gates and eighties legend Toyah Willcox, will be dedicated to Dave, who died of pancreatic cancer in January aged 64.

• Friends Reunited: Toyah Willcox, 1985: A portrait of actress and singer Toyah Willcox.

• Nigel James Digital: Toyah Willcox plays Sheffield Corporation club: 80′s diva performs to a packed room!

• Turner Classic Movies: The Tempest – Derek Jarman’s Acclaimed 1979 Adaptation of the William Shakespeare Play.

When this album was released in 1991 I bought it immediately of course – it had been three long years since ‘Prostitute’ – but my music tastes had changed radically through the mid-80s to the early-90s: Mudhoney, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Fugazi, Big Black, Ministry, Ride, The Smiths, The Wedding Present were just some of my favourite bands, but I still had a real soft spot for Toyah, being a loyal fan since 1980, and always bought everything she released and still followed her eclectic career… ‘Ophelia’s Shadow’ was an album that took a while to grow on me – something like 10 years! I didn’t really appreciate it’s brilliance immediately, it took until around 2000 for that to happen – Over the last few years it’s become one of my favourite Toyah albums and over the last year I’ve listened to it more than ever. Happy 21st birthday!

Toyah Willcox brings her autumn 2012 tour The Changeling Resurrection to Bridport’s Electric Palace on Friday, October 26.

The gig celebrates the 30th anniversary of Toyah’s chart-topping albums, The Changeling, and Warrior Rock and comes hot on the heels of her acclaimed spring tour, which generated five-star reviews and sold-out shows.

With new images created especially for the tour and material not performed in 30 years, it is a true celebration and re-interpretation of one of Toyah’s finest albums, alongside many of her most well-known hit singles.

• Continue reading at the Dorset Echo.

Low quality mini-gallery of the full (of what’s available) photo session from 1980. These were published in ‘Fab 208’ magazine that year and have only been available in cropped versions until very recently. Click below to browse all our Classic Toyah posts. (Thanks to Andi)

A great photo of Toyah is included at The Tatler website in a gallery of images from last week’s Nicholas Coleridge book launch. Another of Toyah is also featured at The Media Eye as the lead photo in their coverage of the event, in the Around Town section.

A comprehensive new interview with Toyah, from Penny Black Music.

With her fiery hair and soaring, near operatic vocals, Toyah Willcox was one of the most striking and iconic singers of the early 1980s.

Willcox, who was brought up in Birmingham, first came to prominence as an actress, appearing in Derek Jarman’s 1978’s punk epic ‘Jubilee ’and the Who-inspired ‘Quadrophenia’(1979), and also acting alongside Katherine Hepburn in the made-for-TV film ‘The Corn is Green’.

By 1980 her musical career, which she had run concurrently with her acting career, had also begun to take off. With her band which was also called Toyah, she released five studio albums, ‘Sheep Farming in Barnet’ (1979), ‘The Blue Meaning’(1980), ‘Anthem’(1981), ‘The Changeling’(1982) and ‘Love is the Law’(1983). She also had seven Top 40 single hits, including in 1981, her most successful year, three Top 10 hits alone with ‘Four from Toyah’, ‘I Want to Be Free’ and ‘Thunder in the Mountains’.

Since Toyah folded in 1983, Toyah Willcox, who has been married to ex- King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp since 1986, has gone on to release another ten studio albums under her own name.

• Continue reading at Penny Black Music.