Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

It’s Vampires Rock‘s 10th anniversary. In a newly published interview Steve Steinman, who created and stars in the show, talks about the last 10 years and also pays tribute to the Devil Queen herself!

The show has attracted some famous names in its time on tour too, in 2007 Eddie Ojeda of hit rock band, Twisted Sister, played guitar in the show, and he was followed by Toyah Willcox, who toured in the show for two years as the Devil Queen, the long suffering wife of Baron Von Rockula.

Steinman says: “Toyah wanted to be in the show but there wasn’t a suitable character for her to play so we wrote one specially. Toyah was great; she introduced the show to a new audience. I remember in one of our first meetings we were discussing what type of costumes we would design for her and she said ‘Oh don’t worry darling, I’ve got the perfect thing in my wardrobe already’ – that was Toyah, she was made to be in a show like this!”

• Continue reading at All Media Scotland.

A few more recent online reports about the V&A ‘Club to Catwalk’ exhibition, including more great shots of Toyah’s Melissa Caplan outfit:

• Hardzine: Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 80s – Review: Playing homage to the eccentricity of 80s fashion and the eclectic inspirations behind it, the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Club to Catwalk exhibition captured in essence the radical theatrics of 80s design – Continue reading…

• Chinti & Parker: ‘Club to Catwalk’ at the V&A Museum: Chinti and Parker’s perpetual love of outlandish prints and zingy colour combinations has meant that we’ve been dying to get down to the V&A’s ‘Club to Catwalk’ exhibition since it opened in July.  A retrospective on how London’s vibrant Eighties club scene sparked a new wave of design inspiration – Continue reading…

• House of Helen: V&A Club to Catwalk: 1980s Fashion Exhibition: Last month, the iconic V&A museum opened their Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s exhibition. The 1980s was a poignant era in fashion history. It saw the birth of London Fashion Week and institutes such as the British Fashion Council – Continue reading…

• Club to Catwalk: In Conversation: Toyah is participating in a special event with Caryn Franklin and Brix Start-Smith on Friday 8th November. The details have yet to be added to the V&A event schedule but not doubt soon will be.

• Dreamscaping @ Club to Catwalk: View all of our Club to Catwalk news updates here.

A comprehensive review of the recent Jack Up The 80s festival, including kind words about Toyah, by eFestivals.co.uk.

Jack Up The 80s hits all the right notes on the Isle of Wight

Toyah is an artist who is as well known for her TV work these days as she is for her music, however despite her other career, music is still her first love, something that she showed today, even though she was performing to a small crowd, you could see that the buzz she was getting. Her performance was still as vibrant as when she first started. This emotion spilled over to the crowd, who despite only being familiar with a few of her songs quickly warmed to the show.

• Read the full review at eFestivals.co.uk. View the full version of their Toyah photo here. (Photo © eFestivals)

Thousands of families, friends and even faithful pets danced the weekend away at the fourth Upton International Music Festival.

More than 4,000 people turned out for the three-day event, which kicked off on Friday in Fish Meadow and boasted something for all.

There was a real family atmosphere with young and old enjoying performances from stars including 80s soul favourite Alexander O’Neal, Chesney Hawkes and West Country legends the Wurzels.

Also on the bill was Pershore resident Toyah Willcox, Slade and the Official Bucks Fizz.

People even paid homage to some of the bands on stage by dressing in brightly coloured gear from the 1960s and 70s. Speaking to your Worcester News on Saturday, festival spokesman Steve High was in upbeat mood. “It’s a great atmosphere,”.

• Continue reading at the Ledbury Reporter. (Photo © Ledbury Reporter)

Hair was back-combed and fluorescent leg-warmers pulled up to celebrate 25 years of an Island charity which supports adults with learning and physical disabilities.

Osel Enterprises, a charity most famous for its Way Forward Programme and Island-sourced bottled water Wight Crystal, celebrated its quarter century at the weekend with a Jack Up the 80s party, sponsored by Jack FM.

Around 2,000 people dug out the shoulder pads and shell suits and headed to the Garlic Festival site in Newchurch to enjoy the festivities with live music from 80s legends, including Bad Manners, Katrina and the Waves, Toyah and Heaven 17 among many others.

• Continue reading at County Press. (Photo © Malcolm Harrison)

Review: The Human League, Howard Jones and Toyah Willcox

The Human League prove they’re still in a league of their own when it comes to giving the 80s bandwagon full throttle.

Thirty years ago, when proms didn’t trouble us or our pockets, the school disco was the place to be…

Toyah definitely gives her relatively thin hits back catalogue some welly, belting out It’s A Mystery with gusto and filling in the blanks with covers. She knows her place – as warm-up gal to Messers Jones and headliners The Human League and just seems happy to be at Tatton entertaining  a 40-something nostalgia-drenched crowd.

• Continue reading at the Manchester Evening News.

Northern Pride event attracts thousands

Thousands of people took part in Newcastle’s annual gay pride event.

Now in its sixth year, it is one of the biggest celebrations in the North East of lesbian, gay, and transgender life, with organisers hoping to beat last year’s record attendance of 23,000.

The parade began at the Civic Centre, and moved through the city centre to end at Exhibition Park. Festivities included performances by Toyah Willcox and Amelia Lily, and there are market stalls and a fun fair.

• Continue reading at BBC News Tyne & Wear.

Birmingham’s well known landmarks: But for a city so linked to heavy metal, many sounds have left its clubs to find fans aroud the globe. In the 1980s in particular, Birmingham bands were among the biggest around. While Toyah found fame in post-punk pop, UB40 were at the forefront of British reggae and Duran Duran became the biggest band on the planet.

Newcastle Pride takes place this Saturday. Entertainment Editor Gordon Barr has the details

Amelia Lily, Toyah and Katrina, of the Waves, headline this year’s Newcastle Pride on Saturday.

The festival, celebrating the region’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, could boost the Tyneside economy by around £1m.

Last year Newcastle Pride attracted around 23,000 visitors for the one-day event held in Newcastle’s Exhibition Park, many of whom came from around the UK. And organisers believe this year’s line-up will bring in even bigger crowds – giving a huge boost to hotels, restaurants and bars across the city and beyond.

• Continue reading at Chronicle Live.

Toyah is referred to a couple of times in this, comprehensive and interesting, new article by The List on how British pop music changed through the Eighties.

1980s British pop – The ideological and musical battles of the decade we can’t seem to recover from

As Tracey Thorn and Duran Duran’s John Taylor hit the Edinburgh Book Festival, Alan Bissett explores the music of the 80s

UK music kicked off terrifically in the 1980s, drawing inspiration from three key 70s co-ordinates: David Bowie, Kraftwerk and punk. The Sex Pistols, having scoured the landscape of rock dinosaurs, cleared the way for an energetic New Wave. Lyrical wit and edgy textures were crushed into pop gems by Joy Division, Elvis Costello, Gary Numan, The Police, Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow and Toyah Willcox.

… Where Toyah Willcox, at the start of the decade, had wanted to ‘turn suburbia upside down’, the Hit Factory wanted everyone to move there. It spelled out British pop’s long-term doom.

• Continue reading at The List.

Eighties’ stars turn out for charity’s birthday party

Some of the biggest pop acts of the 1980s — such as Bad Manners, Toyah and Heaven 17 — will be helping the Island celebrate the 25th anniversary of local charity, Osel Enterprises.

Osel Enterprises will be staging Jack Up the 80s: The Wight Crystal 25th Party at the Isle of Wight Garlic Festival site, Bathingbourne Lane, Newchurch, over the weekend of Saturday, August 10, and Sunday, August 11.

The festival will feature chart-topping bands and artists from the era, including Bad Manners, Heaven 17, Katrina and the Waves, Doctor and the Medics, Eddie and the Hotrods, Toyah, Matchbox, Orange Street and top tribute act, Bootleg Blondie, together with The Hoosiers.

• Continue reading at the Isle of Wight County Press.

• BBC News: How ’80s club culture came to the catwalk: A new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looks at how clubbers’ style in the 1980s transferred to the world of fashion. Was it the point at which the underground went mainstream and is there any equivalent today? (This includes a photo of Toyah’s Melissa Caplan outfit – Thanks to Giddy Gavin) – Continue reading…

• V&A Museum Instagram: In the club with a Melissa Caplan dress worn by Toyah and a Sue Clowes outfit worn by Boy George in the 80s! #clubtocatwalk – Continue viewing…

• V&A Twitter: London’s 80s fashion was a result of the fusion between club and catwalk. #ClubToCatwalk – Continue viewing…

• V&A Facebook: Would you let yourself in? Clubbers, fashion designers and pop stars from the 80s and today were out in force at the V&A last night to celebrate the opening of the summer fashion exhibition Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s – Continue viewing…

• Fashion Loves Photos: You Spin Me Right Round: On Monday I was lucky enough to be invited to a private view of the V&A’s new Club To Catwalk Exhibition (includes a photo of Toyah) – Continue reading…

• Clash: Club To Catwalk: London Fashion In The 1980s: The exhibition everyone’s talking about is here. ‘Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s’ is the exhibition likely to take the ‘must see’ title from ‘David Bowie Is’ when the latter ends in August – Continue reading…

• Sanrizz: Sanrizz Styles Wigs For Victoria & Albert Museum Exhibition Catwalk to Club: London Fashion in the 1980s (includes a photo of Toyah) – Continue reading…

• You Tubing with Club to Catwalk: My visit to the Club to Catwalk Exhibition at the V&A, La mode des années 1980 exposée à Londres,

• i-D: Club to Catwalk, V&A: The V&A’s summer blockbuster Club to Catwalk celebrates the way club life has influenced the fashion scene from the 80s through to the present day, as reflected in early issues of i-D – Continue reading…

• Club to Catwalk | Blitz Kids: Fearlessly experimenting with sex and drugs and fashion, the story of the Blitz kids is an alternative history of the eighties when style was all, and how you looked was who you were – Continue viewing…

• Statigram: Club to Catwalk Photo feed – Continue viewing…

1. TAROT CARDS Every morning I pull just one card from my deck of tarot cards to help shape my day. I am rather impetuous so I use my daily card to curb my natural impulses.

Some people believe tarot cards are a form of black magic or senseless new age mysticism but for me they are a practical way of talking directly to the universe.

I am currently using a beautiful deck of cards called Kat Black’s Golden Tarot which Robert bought me. It depicts female saints using Renaissance art work. The cards don’t just guide me they are beautiful too.

2. BEST FRIENDS For 10 years I was completely absorbed with looking after my ailing parents and losing them both left a huge void in my life.

My dad Beric died in 2009 and my mum Barbara passed away two years later. Since then I have been busily reconnecting with my best friends. Robert and I don’t have children so our closest friends are very important to us.

• Continue reading at The Express.

A new show at the V&A celebrates the creativity of the 80s clubbing and fashion scenes in London. We find out what inspired the decade’s cool kids. We asked those who were there about dressing up, making images and dancing till dawn.

Toyah Willcox on the pop wardrobe: “Melissa Caplan made my costumes from the 70s to the mid-80s. I was very influenced by futurism and reading a lot of Marge Piercy. Look and image were very important – there was already incredible pressure to look feminine and sexy but I wanted to look individual and strong. I didn’t have any role models except Little Nell from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I remember stepping out on to the stage in 1981 at Hammersmith Odeon and seeing row after row of people looking identical. Every image I created was like setting a fire off in someone’s mind.”
Toyah Willcox is a singer and actor

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

• London Evening Standard: They were there: partying along to the decade that fashion forgot: From Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s is the story of how the club scene influenced fashion in the decade that some consider one giant fashion faux-pas. Toyah Willcox was there, along with the likes of Zandra Rhodes, Andrew Logan, Steve Strange and milliner Stephen Jones (Photo © Evening Standard) – Continue reading…

• Now. Here. This.: The Time Out London Blog: Last night, we went down to the V&A’s glitzy private view for the their new exhibition ’From Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s’ which opens to the public tomorrow, July 10. The cream of the 1980s club culture crop were out in full force (and make up); the show was officially opened by Spandau Ballet guitarist and Blitz club regular Gary Kemp. He was joined by other key music and fashion figures including Duran Duran’s John Taylor and Nick Rhodes, Toyah Willcox, Zandra Rhodes, Stephen Jones, Lulu Kennedy, Pam Hogg, Patrick Cox, Betty Jackson and Steve Strange – Continue reading…

• Toyah tweeted a photo taken at the V&A today and said: “Absolutely thrilled/surprised by presence of my Melissa Kaplan outfit at brilliant #Clubtocatwalk Exhibition @ V&A“.

• Tatler: Club to Catwalk private view: Talk about Culture Club. The V&A has curated an exhibition of clubbing fashion from the Eighties and all the scenesters were at the private view – Continue reading…

Music legends help bring back days of the students’ union

Aberdeen University Union’s former glory days as one of the Granite City’s magnets for music-lovers will be recreated in The Lemon Tree next month.

A line-up including iconic punk princess Toyah Willcox, Ultravox’s Midge Ure and Union favourites Blues ‘n’ Trouble has been assembled for one of the hottest gigs of the year at The Lemon Tree on Saturday, August 17.

Christened “Re:Union”, all profits from the night will be going to the Aberdeen Student Charities Campaign, and one of the organisers, Karen Grayburn, is promising concert-goers a memorable and evocative night. “It’s going to be a nostalgic night for anybody who has ever eaten a pie in the Dungeon or bought a ticket from Union Travel,” she said.

• Continue reading at the Inverness Courier.

BA High Life has ten pairs of tickets to give away for Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 10 July—16 February 2014. Featuring more than 85 outfits, it showcases new looks from the decade’s most experimental designers.

Club to Catwalk explores the creative explosion of London fashion in the 1980s, how the impact of underground club culture was felt far beyond the club doors and reinvented fashion worldwide. More than 85 outfits by designers such as John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood and Katherine Hamnett will be on display together with accessories by designers including Stephen Jones and Patrick Cox.

• Enter the competition at BA High Life. (Closing date: 31/07/13)

Cheshire Life has teamed up with Tatton Picnic Concerts to offer 20 lucky people the chance to win a pair of tickets to one of the shows on the 20th and 21st July.

The beautiful lakeside setting of Tatton Park will come alive this summer with The Human League on Saturday 20th and Katherine Jenkins on Sunday 21st July.

Dust off your dancing shoes and join The Human League for an astounding evening of electro classics. The 80s legends will be supported by Howard Jones and Toyah Willcox for the party night of the summer.

• Enter the competition at Cheshire Life. (Closing date: 12/07/13)

Singer and actress Toyah Willcox will be in South Yorkshire this Friday to compere Rotherham’s One Voice singing celebration.

Toyah will lead the choir – 1,800 Rotherham schoolchildren – at the New York football stadium.

Rotherham MBC: Toyah’s In Town: Singer and Actress Toyah Willcox is coming to Rotherham on Friday to compere Rotherham’s One Voice singing celebration.

Toyah Willcox will be in town on Friday July 5 to host and compere the Rotherham Children’s Festival singing celebration, “One Voice”. Toyah, who has had a career as a singer and actress for over 30 years’ is delighted to be part of such a magical event.

• Continue reading at The Star, and Rotherham MBC.

Toyah Willcox says she can’t wait to play Jack Up The 80′s.

When we caught up with her recently Toyah said “I love the IOW it’s such a pretty place. I last played on the Island in the mid 90′s.”

Toyah first hit the charts in 1981 with the Four from Toyah EP. It’s A Mystery was the big hit on the EP and lots more hits followed.

Join Toyah on Sunday afternoon, 11th August as she takes the Island by storm in a not-to-be-missed appearance…

• Continue reading at Jack Up The 80s.

A new article on The Power Of Three. The film has its Canadian premiere this weekend.

Getting The Power of Three made into a feature-length film on a shoestring budget was a labour of love for all involved.And according to its Lake Country-based writer/producer, it’s also a case of art imitating life.

“It was basically a decision of three friends to make a movie that people our age would like,” said Ann Cameron, who wrote the screenplay and produced it. “So before we wised up and knew any better, that’s what we did.”

Set for it’s Canadian premiere June 29 at Creekside Theatre, The Power of Three is a feel-good comedy about three 50-something actresses who reunite after many years apart, with the idea of making a film and resurrecting their moribund careers at the same time. Filmed in and around Hampstead, London, England in 2009-10, it stars British actress Toyah Willcox as Michelle, South African native Brumilda Van Rensburg as Olivia and Cameron’s first cousin, Torontonian Robin Craig of Wind at My Back and Degrassi fame as Lizzie.

• Continue reading at The Daily Courier. View Dreamscape’s recent news on the film here.