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)
… of Toyah’s finest space-agey, other-worldy, sci-fi related songs. I put this together as a playlist and, despite being recorded/released over a span of 29 years and eight studio albums, the songs really flow and work well as a collection. Please click below to view a larger version of the imaginary artwork (Thanks to Anji for her “Wow” at Facebook, it made me think maybe the design and title isn’t as bad as I initially thought ;))
Another quite rare, retro, Toyah article… this one from early 1981. I’m not sure which magazine but it was most likely to be one of the Sunday supplements, possibly ‘The Telegraph’ or similar: Toyah! Toyah! burning bright in the forests of the benighted acting and rock music industries. Illuminated by her twin talents for performing words and music, and fired by a scorching ambition, her dyed red hair dancing around her impish face like flames, Toyah Willcox is blazing parallel meteoric trails to exalted positions in both spheres (phew!). Click below to read. View all of our recent retro Toyah press articles & interviews here. (Thanks again to Andi)
If anything should definitely be considered “Classic Toyah” then surely it’s these two 1981 concerts? At The Rainbow, from February 1981, and Good Morning Universe – Live at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, from December 1981. Both were broadcast by the BBC and subsequently released on “BBC Home Video”. Here are a couple of Dreamscape tributes to two amazing gigs… Such a shame that The Changeling Tour the following year wasn’t similarly preserved! Please click on each to view larger versions. View another Rainbow mini feature here.
More great photos of Toyah in 1983. These were taken when Toyah was recording the Love Is The Law album while, simultaneously, starring in Trafford Tanzi at the Mermaid Theatre in London. Click on these to view larger versions. (Thanks to Andi)
Is it just me who can’t quite believe that Trafford Tanzi was almost 30 years ago!!?!! These great photos of Toyah, from various months through the Summer of 1983 while she was starring in the play at the Mermaid Theatre, were sold through the Intergalactic Ranchouse newsletters. Click on the photos to view larger versions. (Thanks to Andi)
Two retrotastic Toyah articles from early Eighties ‘Suzy’ magazine: Toyah: The Troublesome Kid!, from November 1982 (this includes some great live photos from ‘The Changeling Tour’), and A Hit Show For Toyah!, from July 1983 (with some shots of Toyah performing in Trafford Tanzi). Please click on each to view larger versions. (A big thank you to Paul Lomas)
A couple of pretend “adverts” for The Ebony Tower, using great stills from the ITV drama.
Rare, and amazing, photos of Toyah from 1980!! Photos from this session were used in a TV Times interview that year but these are all unpublished as far as I’m aware. (Thanks to Andi)
The Tempest has just been released for the first time on Blu-ray. Here is the Time Out cover feature/interview from 1980 published the week that the film was originally released. View the magazine cover here.
Toyah reflects… stage actress, rock singer, icon of the New Wave, star of ‘Quadrophenia’ and now Derek Jarman’s ‘The Tempest’, Toyah Willcox on creating her own image. Next Thursday Derek Jarman’s film of ‘The Tempest’ opens. Toyah Willcox, late of ‘Jubilee’ and ‘Quadrophenia’ plays Miranda. Chris Auty went in search of Ms Willcox…
Click here to read at Dreamscape’s Press Archive. View all of our recent retro Classic Toyah press articles & interviews here. (Thanks to Andi)
This has always been one of my favourite Toyah TV appearances, especially as there is very little footage from 1982 of live performances of songs from ‘The Changeling’: It’s BBC1’s Get Set For Summer from July 1982. The band perform ‘Castaways’, ‘Street Creature’ and ‘Brave New World’ and Toyah is also interviewed by Peter Powell. View all at Dreamscape’s You Tube playlist. (Thanks to Andi)
Another retro Toyah magazine interview. This one is from ‘Cosmopolitan’ magazine, published in 1983 (Main photo by Brian Aris): Amazing and unclassifiable, Toyah – rebel and bizarre pop star – is also an accomplished actress, starring opposite Lord Olivier in a TV film of The Ebony Tower. Click below to read, and here for part two. View all of our recent retro Classic Toyah press articles & interviews here. There are yet more here. (Thanks to Andi)
A couple of Toyah magazine items from the early 80’s: ‘With Love From Toyah!’; a mini article on Toyah’s make-up range, which had just gone on sale at the time, and ‘Four From Toyah’; four classic early 80’s Toyah photos. Click below to view larger. (Thanks to Andi)
A fantastic 1985 photo session by Terence Donovan… View more at Dreamscape’s Gallery.
‘Flexipop!’ was brilliant! If it wasn’t for the early ’80s magazine we might never have heard Sphinx or For You… Here’s an interview with Toyah (including a photo with the infamous bunny ears!) from one of the magazine’s final issues in late 1982: Seven days with pop star, bunny lover and trainee accountant TOYAH. Click below to read. View all of our recent retro Toyah press articles & interviews here. (Thanks again to Andi)
• View a 2010 Guardian article on ‘Flexipop!’. Visit Dark Neon for more from the FP! archives.
Andrew York has restored some previously posted photos, including creating a full Toyah image from the 1980 Smirnoff advert. Great work as always by Andrew. View all of our recent Andrew-related news posts. Please click on each preview below to view larger versions.
Three more photos of Toyah from the archives (and the 80s!!). 1. The final date of the ‘Good Morning Universe’ European Tour 1981 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane; 2. A rare shot of Toyah during ‘The Changeling Tour’ 1982; 3. A serene looking Toyah during the hectic days of Trafford Tanzi at the Mermaid Theatre, 1983. Click on each to zoom. (Thanks to Andi & Lärwi)
Yet another rare retro Toyah interview. This one is from ‘Rock Star News’ in 1980 and it’s vaguely bizarre. Definitely “of its time” but still an interesting read. Toyah talks ‘The Blue Meaning’, death dreams, her teenage years and more. Click below to read. View all of our recent retro Toyah press articles & interviews here. (Thanks again to Andi)
Another retro Toyah interview, this one from ‘Zig Zag’ magazine in mid-1980. Alan Anger follows Toyah on the first few dates of the, now legendary, ‘Ieya Tour’. It’s a really interesting read: Last time I did a feature on Toyah was in March. It was based on an interview with Miss Willcox just as she and her band began to take off outside London. Since then, Toyah have been regular chart toppers of the alternative charts, her appearance in Derek Jarman’s film of ‘The Tempest’ has received much acclaim and the band have, by now, completed a UK tour to coincide with the release of the new album, “The Blue Meaning”. Click below to read. (Thanks again to Andi)
Another Toyah article from the 80s. This one is from ‘New Chartbusters’ magazine, published in late 1980: Toyah Willcox is a very talented young lady who has achieved a much deserved reputation in both the theatre, and in such movies as Derek Jarman’s ‘Jubilee’ and ‘The Tempest’ as well as having just finished appearing in ‘Sugar and Spice’ at The Royal Court Theatre, London. Click below to read. (Thanks to Andi)
