Award winning musical pioneer Nile Rodgers is to be made a Companion of The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) on Friday, 27 July 2018.
The award-winning composer, producer and guitarist will be one of seven luminaries of the arts and entertainment world to receive the accolade from LIPA’s co-founder Sir Paul McCartney at the Institute’s annual graduation ceremony. Nile, who co-founded the ground-breaking disco band Chic in 1976, is one of the industry’s most sought-after producers and collaborators and was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame last year.
Toyah Willcox – who’s maintained a successful career as both a musician and an actor for over 40 years – will also be made a Companion. LIPA awards Companionships for two reasons: outstanding achievement and practical contribution to students’ learning.
Nile Rodgers and Toyah Willcox will be joined by Broadway and West End sound designer John Leonard, former CEO of Sony Music UK and Ireland Paul Burger, Ali Campbell – who’s a leading community arts practitioner and teacher, international lighting designer Felice Ross and dancer and choreographer Dean Lee.
Toyah will be in attendance at The Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts, aka LIPA, this week, to receive an honour from possibly the most famous Liverpudlian on the planet… Paul McCartney
Toyah says in her latest blog: At the end of the month Paul McCartney is awarding me a Fellowship to LIPA in Liverpool. I need to write a short two minute speech to inspire the students….the challenge is how to condense such a message into two minutes!
The Top 20 of Toyah’s Top 60 was revealed last night by Official Toyah. Good to see so many Toyah classics, especially Thunder In The Mountains high up in the list. Just a brilliant pop single. Click below for the full Top 60, via various versions, at Toyah’s You Tubechannel. #toyah60
Toyah is celebrating her 40th year in music and her 60th Birthday later in the year with four special gigs, one of which takes place at The Fleece in Bristol on 1st November. Click on their promo image below for full details of all four gigs at Toyah’s Official Gigs page.
A fab weekend of concerts for Toyah: “THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! to everyone who made Minehead, Lets Rock Leeds, Devizes and Bognor the best weekend ever! 4 concerts in 3 days…..bring it on xxx photos courtesy Gail Foster“. Click below to visit Toyah at Twitter.
Toyah’s 1980 album The Blue Meaning was released 38 years ago today. Full of atmosphere, drama and great songs, accompanied by Toyah’s fantastic imagery, it was ahead of its time, and still sounds amazing in 2018!! See a larger version of Dreamscape’s anniversary image here and click below to see Toyah’s tweet about the album.
Fans recently submitted their votes for their Toyah Top 10.
The votes were received and counted and Official Toyah will be revealing the full Top Toyah 60 countdown over the coming weeks.
The countdown continues… The Toyah Top 60 poll results playlist now includes 50-41. The songs added here start at 50 with The Furious Futures up to Run Wild, Run Free at 41.
There is now less than one month to go until Toyah’s 60th Birthday. It’s a landmark event, just as her 50th was too. This site went cuurrazzzzy with content and birthday posts in the lead up to, and on, 18th May 08 – As did The Official Toyah Willcox Website – Actually they brought us a brand new, and quite stunning, website. Full of colour, info and Toyah goodies… Just sensational!
Excitement is building as it’s now less than a week until Desire – Toyah’s wonderful 1987 studio album – is made available on limited edition translucent red vinyl.
The album is being released for a trio of reasons – as part of Record Store Day 2018, as well as in celebration of Toyah’s forthcoming 60th Birthday and also to help commemorate her incredible 40 years as a recording artist.
This new edition includes, for the first time, an inner sleeve which features Desire-era Toyah photos as well as the full album lyrics.
Toyah’s penultimate blog before turning 60 is available to read at toyahwillcox.com. Toyah talks about her forthcoming birthday and the decade of her 50s: “Now I am gearing up for my 60th birthday! With the knowledge that the next decade can pass even faster I am grabbing the bull by the horns and getting ready for the ride of my life” – Click below to read.
• Above: Blog link image to mark the release of Desire for Record Store Day 2018 this month.
Nile Rodgers among new LIPA Companions
Nile Rodgers and Toyah Willcox will be joined by Broadway and West End sound designer John Leonard, former CEO of Sony Music UK and Ireland Paul Burger, Ali Campbell – who’s a leading community arts practitioner and teacher, international lighting designer Felice Ross and dancer and choreographer Dean Lee.
