Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

‘I hardly see him!’ Toyah Willcox reveals the secret to her thirty year marriage is separate houses… but insists she and her husband are still ‘very naughty in the bedroom’

She’s been happily married for three decades.

And Toyah Willcox has a pretty unorthodox way of keeping the spark alive, admitting on Thursday’s Loose Women that she and her husband have separate houses.

The 58-year-old, who wed Robert Fripp back in 1986, commented: ‘The secret is – please don’t quote me – I hardly see him!’

Speaking to the Loose Women, Toyah revealed that she and Robert have two houses, so although they spend much of their time together, there is somewhere to escape to.

• Continue reading at the Daily Mail.

Take on the purple trend in a midi dress like Toyah

Nineties rocker, Toyah Willcox, looked a far cry from her former punk self earlier today when she made an appearance on Loose Women wearing a demure midi dress!

Wearing a jersey wrap dress by Pure (click right to buy it now), Toyah accessorised her look with a statement coin necklace and a chunky arm cuff. With its wrap-around style, thigh-slit, side-ruching and jersey fabric, Toyah’s dress is perfect balance of classy and comfy! Make like Toyah and utilise the plunging neckline by stacking up with statement jewels.

• Continue reading at the Daily Mail. (Photo © ITV.com)

Don Maclean and Toyah Willcox to be honoured on Broad Street’s Walk of Stars

Panto dame and punk princess are to be given Broad Street stars at same ceremony

Punk princess Toyah Willcox and panto dame Don Maclean are the latest celebrities to be given a star on Birmingham’s Walk of Stars in Broad Street.

The pair will be awarded their stars during a special show hosted by Walk of Stars’ chairman Jasper Carrott at the Birmingham Rep from 2.30pm on Sunday, December 11. As well as performing at the show, Toyah and Don will receive their stars from Birmingham City Council leader Coun John Clancy.

More than 30 celebrities and achievers have been recognised with a star on Broad Street since Ozzy Osbourne received the first one on July 6, 2007.

• Continue reading at the Birmingham Mail.

Eighties icon Toyah Willcox is shooting a new film in Hull and East Yorkshire.

Written by Hull director John Godber, the singer plays the role of Pam Allen in the film about a Hull University theatre lecturer, played by Nick Figgis, who dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian.

The film, called Last Laugh , is scheduled to be released in April, and there is a possibility of a premiere in Hull as part of the City of Culture 2017 schedule.

• Continue reading at Hey Today.

Toyah Willcox starring in John Godber’s Last Laugh filmed in Hull with Nick Figgis

Famous 1980s singer Toyah Willcox is filming in Hull and East Yorkshire as part of the cast for a new film written by John Godber.

Willcox is playing the role of Pam Allen, in the film about a Hull University theatre lecturer, played by Nick Figgis with dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian.

The film, directed by Daniel Coll, and written by acclaimed Hull playwright and director John Godber, has been filmed in locations across the city over the past few weeks.

She tweeted about how much “fun” she was having during filming, saying; “Shooting Last Laugh in Hull with John Godber and Nick Figgis. Lots of fun xxx.”

• Continue reading at the Hull Daily Mail.

Acoustic shows such fun says Toyah as she heads to Colne Muni

Considering she has been touring constantly for almost 40 years, you might think that Toyah Willcox would have had her fill of live dates.

But, as she prepares to bring her acoustic show to Colne Muni at the weekend, the singer admits that these intimate performances are something she particularly looks forward to.

“We absolutely adore doing the acoustic shows,” she said. “Harmonically it’s just so nice not to have the drums banging away in the background and the songs kind of have a life of their own.

“It’s also great fun to tell the stories and it’s good to find something new people haven’t heard before.”

• Continue reading at the Lancashire Telegraph.

With the 80s Invasion tour coming up next year, Toyah will be performing along with other luminaries including Paul Young, Martika and China Crisis in a UK wide tour. At the moment Toyah is playing a solo tour all around the UK and she was gracious enough to spare us some time to talk about what type of holidays she prefers.

The singer’s earliest memories of breaks are spending time on the family boat moored on the river Avon and also at their caravan that was based close to the boat. This meant that from an early age Toyah was accustomed to packing – a task that she has had to carry out throughout her working life.

Cities are important places to Toyah, “I have written four albums in Seattle. I absolutely love that city – it’s a very green forest orientated city and its quite a harmonised hub of high rises but they kind of peter out into wooden shacks quite quickly and there is water everywhere.”

• Continue reading at Holiday Hypermarket.

Once known as the High Priestess of Punk, actor and singer Toyah Willcox will be in Oxted, at the Bluehouse Festival in the town’s URC Church, on October 21 to talk about the music industry.

The Bluehouse Festival will run from October 16-30 and the organisers are putting together a mix of entertaining events and thought-provoking authors and speakers throughout the event.

• Continue reading at the Edenbridge Chronicle.

‘Of current artists, I love FKA Twigs. She blows me away’: Punk queen Toyah Willcox reveals her cultural favourites

Which former punk queen’s taste ranges from Bilbo Baggins to Bill and Ben, from Henry V to Half A Sixpence? It’s a mystery no more…

My movie magic

Growing up in Birmingham, my mum would take my sister, brother and me to see musicals like The Sound Of Music, Half A Sixpence, or My Fair Lady at the big theatres. They were very formative cinematic experiences.

A film I can watch over and over again is the 2007 Sean Penn-directed movie, Into The Wild. I am passionate about hill-walking, and going off into nature on my own.

• Continue reading at the Daily Mail/Event.

Legendary rocker Steve Harley headlined Secret World’s first ever music festival.

Steve and his band Cockney Rebel, were joined by inspirational punk rocker Toyah Willcox and a host of Somerset bands for the inaugural Music in the Meadow one day festival.

Secret World Wildlife Rescue in East Huntspill, near Highbridge was packed on Saturday, September 10 for a day of fantastic live music and activities. Visitors have been flocking to events at Secret World for many years, but it’s usually for a chance to get close to wildlife.

All the money raised from Music in the Meadow will go towards Secret World’s work to rescue, rehabilitate and release injured and orphaned wildlife.

• Continue reading at the Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News. (Photo © Weekly News)

Hard to believe, I know, but my hair was once orange. Bright orange. It wasn’t meant to be. It was supposed to be blonde, but the dying process failed miserably, hence the Tangoed mullet. It was July 1982. I was 18 and stupidly excited as I had front row tickets to see Toyah a couple of days later at the Playhouse. The ‘hair-don’t’ proved serendipitous; when Toyah bounced on stage we appeared to have shared the same bottle of dye.

That was my introduction to the force of nature that is Toyah Willcox.

…Towards the end of that Playhouse gig, the front two rows ended sitting cross-legged up on stage as the elfin star danced around us belting out the classic Ieya.. actually, it might have been Danced … or maybe even Race Through Space, my favourite.

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.

Following her success in last year’s outdoor concert in a town park, Eighties pop punk princess Toyah is returning to Aylesbury but this time she will be indoors, at the Waterside Theatre as part of the 80’s Invasion Tour.

Joining her on stage will be fellow 80s stars, Luton’s Paul Young, Liverpool’s China Crisis and from America, Martika.

Toyah wowed the crowds during her outdoor gig, and sang with as much energy and passion as in her heyday, so she’s sure to be a hit on the Waterside stage.

• Continue reading at The Bucks Herald.

Looking for something fun to do in London this week? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered – from pop-ups to sherry evenings, here’s how to spend your week in the capital:

Thursday: 7. For a Free Production: Open Air Theatre
Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, with songs by the legendary Toyah Willcox and her song-writing partner, Simon Darlow. London’s Free Open-Air Theatre Season offers 40,000 free tickets for great theatre within the heart of London. Running since 2003, this is still London’s only ‘free to all’ annual festival of theatre.

• Continue reading at About Time Magazine.

WISE WORDS: Toyah Willcox Shares Her Idea Of Perfect Happiness

Toyah is joining Paul Young, Martika and China Crisis on tour in 2017.

For the latest in our WISE WORDS interview series – where stars from a whole range of fields share the important life lessons they’ve learned along the way – we’re posing some of the big questions to TOYAH WILLCOX.

Next year finds her joining the roll call for the 80s Invasion Tour. As she prepares once again to take to the road, she talks to HuffPostUK about some of the harder lessons she’s learned along the way, and what brings her greatest happiness…

What do you do to switch off from the world?
I love walking and I love being in big, wide-open spaces like hill tops or relatively easy to climb mountains. I just get everything I need from silence and being outdoors. It allows me to think and clear my mind. I like being very active and I can walk up to around eight miles a day every day.

How do you deal with negativity?
I don’t! I don’t deal with negativity at all! I think we’re naturally more tuned to hearing negativity than positivity and I find that aspect endlessly fascinating, that I can pick up two pages of glittering reviews and just one bad sentence is what you’ll remember. I think that says a lot about the human psyche, so the way I try and deal with it is I remind myself that most negativity has been expressed in passing and it isn’t held permanently. Someone that is negative is flippant and has just released a sentence and moved on to something completely different. I just don’t allow it to have a solid existence, I don’t allow it tangibility.

• Continue reading at The Huffington Post.

Make the most of your figure: Pink cap-sleeve midi dress and purple court shoes, £195, from LK Bennett – This beautifully made dress holds you in all the right places. It oozes sex appeal without being too revealing. Cocktails anyone?

Don’t flaunt your cleavage: Bell sleeve dress from Zara; suede court shoes, £195, from LK Bennett – I love the design— it’s both Swinging Sixties and New Millennium. I would wear it to a posh lunch with a chunky necklace of bright yellow citrine.

Never go too short: Dress, from Précis; pearl button cardigan, £19.99, from Zara; courts, £165, from Russell and Bromley – This is my least favourite. It’s so formal I feel like a headmistress in it.

Be glamourous 24 hours a day: Graphic print dress, from Biba at House of Fraser, gold sandals, £275, from Russell and Bromley – I firmly believe we can be glamorous 24/7, and this dress proves it. It’s chic, comfy and not too showy for any occasion from the school run to the opera. Just gorgeous.

Show off your waist: Paisley print blouse, £29.99, burgundy pencil skirt, £29.99, both from Zara. Green suede courts, £75, from Dune – As a working woman I could only wear this if I were playing princess for the day. The shoes are gorgeous — but just too high to be practical.

• Read the full feature at the Daily Mail. (Photos/Text © Daily Mail). View the print version of this feature, published yesterday, here.

‘We have had 40 years of practice at what we do’: pop icon Toyah Willcox is ready for the 80s Invasion in Greenwich

They may have ended over a quarter of a century ago but the 1980s will never really die. With its colourful fashion and experimental pop it seems everyone has a soft spot for the decade.

Pop star Toyah Willcox, whose hits included It’s a Mystery and Thunder in the Mountains, will play the 80s Invasion Tour at Indigo2 on March 16 alongside Paul Young, Martika and China Crisis.

She told us: “It is going to be a lot of fun. We have two hours of non-stop hits so I am looking forward to it a lot. I work with China Crisis and Paul Young all the time so we are very much old friends as well as family. I think it is going to be a bit of a giggle.

“We are well practised, we have had 40 years of practice at what we do so the shows tend to be quite sparkling and polished but we do have fun at the same time.” She added: “Eighties music is a phenomena and it seems to go from strength to strength.

“I’ve found this with nearly everything I did in the eighties – my films are the same. They bring new audiences. It must be something about that decade that rang in the changes.

“For me I think it was because songs were pretty epic back then.”

• Continue reading at News Shopper. See also This is Local London.

Toyah, Paul Young and China Crisis hit Rhyl for 80s nostalgia meltdown

Big names coming to Pavilion after “overwhelming public demand” for 80s revival night, which will also see Martika – of Martika’s Kitchen fame – perform in UK for first time in 25 years

Pop icons Toyah, Paul Young and China Crisis are riding back to North Wales on a wave of Eighties nostalgia. The evergreen stars will bring their ‘Invasion’ show to Rhyl next year and it’s sure to revive memories of punk haircuts, suave suits and timeless tunes.

They’ll be joined by US-based singer Martika – perhaps best known for her No 5 hit ‘Toy Soldiers’ released in 1989 – who will be performing in the UK for the first time in 25 years. Organisers say the show follows this year’s successful concerts and is being staged due to “overwhelming public demand”.

How can I buy tickets?

Paul Young, Toyah, China Crisis, Martika are at Rhyl Pavilion Theatre on Thursday, March 2, 2017. To buy £35.50 tickets ring 01745 330000 or visit www.rhylpavilion.co.uk. Tickets to meet and greet the stars cost £76 but check for availability.

All tickets go on sale tomorrow, (Friday, September 9) at 10am.

• Continue reading at the North Wales Daily Post.

How to be noticed after 50? Dress like a lady! Eighties punk Toyah Willcox reveals the secrets of her ladylike look

Toyah Willcox was a punk singer in the Eighties, and dressed to match | But at 58 she’s discovered that the best way to be noticed is to be feminine | She demonstrate her newfound love of skirts, dresses and subtlety

By Toyah Willcox For The Daily Mail

Back in my Eighties heyday as a singer, I wouldn’t have been caught dead in anything pretty or ladylike. The only thing remotely pink from this punk era was my hair.

But, at the age of 58, I’ve discovered a style secret which would leave the old rebellious Toyah reeling. The best way for me to be noticed isn’t to be outrageous. It’s to be feminine.

The clothes that made me famous wouldn’t suit me now. And that’s why I’ve decided to get rid of my old wardrobe. Some items are going to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The rest I am selling in aid of charity.

They are joyous clothes, but these days, I have a new look. I still, however, want to be noticed and look exciting.

• Continue reading at the Daily Mail. (Photo © Daily Mail)

Crime & Punishment: A Rock Musical

Nineties kids might remember Willcox as ‘Barmy Aunt Boomerang’ on CBBC, but she had a big career in the late ’70s and ’80s with hits like ‘It’s A Mystery’ and ‘I Want To Be Free’. All her old tunes make an appearance, with some new songs too. They’re fun, but tend to interrupt the rather arch, overwrought Russian melodrama and its philosophical inserts about moral superiority, rather than complementing or enlightening it.

The adaptation by Phil Willmott (who also directs and acts in the show) has its merits and although it’s a brisk 90 minutes it feels pacy rather than rushed. All the necessary beats, from heinous act through falling in love and eventual contrition, find their moment and there are some semi-decent bits of acting in there too.

• Continue reading at Time Out. Read other reviews of Crime and Punishment here. (Photo © Time Out/Sheila Burnett)

Review | ‘Crime & Punishment’ at The Scoop amphitheatre in London

Dostoyevsky meets steam punk in this bold retelling of the literary classic.

Setting a theatrical performance of Dostoyevsky’s brooding novel Crime and Punishment in a world of steam punk is a brave choice; accompanying it with a soundtrack made up of Toyah Willcox’s classic rock anthems is even braver. The production team at Gods and Monsters Theatre Company have not only attempted this, they’ve pulled it off with all the brazen authority of an axe-wielding Raskolnikov.

The classic Russian tale opens the new season at The Scoop in London, a 1,000-person sunken amphitheatre, and follows Raskolnikov as he justifies the brutal murder of a pawn broker with his belief that it was for the greater good of mankind, that by using the money he steals for good causes he has the right to go above and beyond the law. Directed by Phil Willmott, songs like ‘Love Crazy’ and ‘Who Let the Beast Out’ are intermingled with the tale, fitting surprisingly well with the heavy story and lifting it into a lighter tone that can be enjoyed more readily by all.

• Continue reading at Attitude. Read other reviews of Crime and Punishment here. (Photo © Attitude/Sheila Burnett)

Crime and Punishment: A Rock Musical is a semi-jukebox musical, in that Willcox’s back catalogue is raided for some of the numbers, and some brand new songs have been provided specifically for the show. Somehow it all works surprisingly well! The jukebox musical approach can sometimes make a show feel forced, as songs are shoe-horned into a storyline, but everything (bar an inadvertently funny It’s A Mystery) gels really well together. It may help if you are unfamiliar with Willcox’s work, as I am, however the themes in the chosen songs fit the feeling of the scenes in which they are included. Given Raskolnikov’s frustration & revolutionary fervour, rock music is definitely the best way to express these feelings. It’s also impressive that quite a sizeable novel can be condensed into a 100-minute show, that still has a tangible storyline running through it.

Crime and Punishment: A Rock Musical runs at the Scoop (London Bridge City) until 25 September 2016. Entry is free – donations can be made & programmes bought on the day.

• Continue reading at Mind The Blog. Read other reviews of Crime and Punishment here.

Talented singer and actor Toyah admits her pop stardom was literally a case of “life imitating art”, coming soon after she was cast in a BBC play as a wannabe pop star who breaks into the Top of the Pops recording studios.

Speaking at the Rewind 80s Festival in Henley-on-Thames, Toyah recalled her first acting break aged 18 in the BBC play Glitter, playing alongside Phil Daniels, who was later to act alongside her again in the cult mod film Quadrophenia.

Toyah said: “I was spotted on the streets of Birmingham around 1973/74 because I had green and yellow hair! A director asked me to come and audition with Phil Daniels, and to play his girlfriend in a BBC2 drama and I got the part.

“The biggest irony was that I was playing a girl who wrote a song and broke into the Top of the Pops studios to sing the song in the studios; so talk about life imitating art!

“I was pretty instantly well known as an actress from the age of 18 and I was very successful as an actress right up until 1981 when I started having hit singles. I was the hottest name in the acting industry after I started at the National Theatre.”

• Continue reading at Music-News.com.