Adam Ant was interviewed by BBC News today…
Goddard also appeared alongside a then unknown Toyah Willcox in Derek Jarman’s 1978 punk film Jubilee – but said it had been “surreal” rather than an anti-royal statement. The apocalyptic fantasy focuses on the activities of a wild girl gang in 1977.
He added: “I think Jubilee was really a piece of film, a surreal kind of journey that just happened to land slap bang into the middle of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. I wasn’t doing it to make a statement about the Royal Family or anything like that. I left that to people like The Clash, certain bands that love to be political, which I’m not.”
• Continue reading at BBC News.
Thousands of people were taken on a trip back through time at the first Decades Festival in Workington at the weekend.
The three-day music feast saw acts including Toyah Willcox, The Quireboys and David Van Day wow the crowds on a baking hot weekend. The atmosphere was electric around the town centre pubs where the festival was based.
Toyah Willcox was perhaps the most anticipated artist in the build-up to the festival and she didn’t disappoint. The 1980s punk princess played to a bumper crowd at Club Ice on Saturday night. The audience reacted wildly to her energetic stage presence, her flamboyant metal-studded dress and brightly-coloured headwear.
• Continue reading at the Times & Star.
… At Workington Festival
Music stars David Van Day, Toyah Willcox and Ed Tudor-Pole are among the acts performing at new Workington festival Decades this weekend.
The three-day festival of music, from the 1960s to the 1990s, kicks off tonight at 7pm and is based around the town’s popular pub ‘circuit’. Acts will perform at Club Ice, Red House, The Well, Circuit Bar, Dukes, Chasers, Vine Bar, The Royal British Legion, Curwen Arms and Yankees. Van Day will take the stage at Club Ice tonight, followed by local performer Tony Herald and folk musician Edwin Duke.
The club will tomorrow see performances from 80s star Toyah, The Kommitments and local band No Idea. Doors open from 7pm.
• Continue reading at the Times & Star.
Toyah playes ‘Birmingham Pride’ on Sunday 3rd June and she is included in the, just published, Birmingham Pride Guide. There’s a full-page ad on page 18 and a news clipping on 37.
A record crowd of 6,000 packed into the heart of Cookham for an eighties rock festival.
Let’s Rock the Moor, which took place on Saturday, was sold out.
The event, which began in 2009, attracted its biggest crowd yet with headliners Billy Ocean, Heaven 17, Toyah and Go West singing to 6,500 people on a brand new site at Marsh Meadow. Organiser Nick Billinghurst said: “The crowds were fantastic, full of energy. It was mostly local people from Cookham, Maidenhead, Marlow, Wycombe, so everyone was very well behaved. Toyah actually called them a posh crowd.”
• Continue reading at Bucks Free Press. (Photos © Bucks Free Press)
Singing legend Billy Ocean serenaded nearly 7,000 people in Cookham on Saturday at the biggest Let’s Rock the Moor! festival to date.
The sell-out event attracted its largest crowd ever, with 6,500 tickets snapped up and a brand new site set up on Marsh Meadow to fit everyone in.
It was headlined by Eighties icon Ocean, who performed hits including Caribbean Queen and Love Really Hurts Without You to a crowd of all ages.
Children’s TV favourites Pat Sharp and Dave Benson Phillips shared presenting duties at the event, introducing acts such as Toyah, Boney M and Heaven 17.
Rain stayed away from the festival, which is now in its fourth year, and families enjoyed a range of food and drink as well as plenty of attractions for children.
Proceeds are expected to exceed £20,000; the majority of which will be split between two main charities which fit in with its family feel.
(All photos © Maidenhead Advertiser)
Thousands of Eighties music fans descended on Cookham on Saturday to see the likes of Billy Ocean and Toyah play Let’s Rock The Moor. The event, now in its fourth year, was held on Marsh Meadow and all 6,500 tickets sold out.
• Continue reading, and view their gallery, here. Read a review of the concert here.
A couple of news reports on Sunday’s marathon five-hour-plus Dave Lee Tribute Show, at The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, have been published today:
• This is Kent: Stars shine in tribute show for Canterbury panto star Dave Lee: Toyah starred with Dave Lee in four panto seasons. (Photo: Tim Stubbings)
• Kent News: Poignant Dave Lee tribute show raises a massive £30,000.
• Toyah is also namechecked in a new interview with Paul Hendy, of Evolution Pantomimes. Read Panto production is a family affair for Paul at, ‘This is Kent’, here.
The 11-date tour marks the 30th anniversary of legendary albums The Changeling and Warrior Rock – tickets on sale now/Friday 4th May
Toyah announces The Changeling Resurrection II UK Tour for Autumn 2012
Following the success of a sold-out spring tour mark three decades since the release of Toyah’s fourth album, The Changeling, the former punk pixie is taking the show back out on the road; this time coupling it with the anniversary of her second album of 1982, the live record Warrior Rock.
The new dates will see the diminutive star perform a ‘true celebration and re-interpretation’ of what is undoubtedly one of her finest works, alongside a collection of hit singles including I Want To Be Free and Thunder In The Mountains. In more recent times, Toyah has continued her highly credible career as a TV and film actress and made a number of high profile guest appearances. Thankfully, in recent years she has returned to her first love as a highly decorated punk pop star with a distinctly theatrical accent.
• Continue reading at ‘All Gigs’ here.
Toyah is included in a new article by ‘Vogue’: 100 Definitive Hairstyles: From Cleopatra to Kate Moss, see the 100 most definitive hairstyles: TOYAH WILLCOX – The singer’s choppy and wildly-coloured hairstyles epitomised her rebel spirit.
Thousands will be raised for disadvantaged children at a fundraising Eighties concert next month. Let’s Rock the Moor, on Saturday, May 12 is set to be the second biggest Eighties event in the country, with the proceeds going to worthy causes.
The line up includes Billy Ocean, Go West, Heaven 17, Toyah and Modern Romance, and will be hosted by Pat Sharp. Tickets are £24 for adults and £14 for children aged three to 12. Visit www.letsrockthemoor.com for details.
• Continue reading, at the ‘Maidenhead Advertiser’, here.
There’s something for everyone in the week-long Stortfest Crawl, a spectacular celebration of music and the arts which launches next Sunday.
Dozens of venues across town are getting in on the act, hosting gigs, poetry recitals, comedy nights, family fun days and loads more activities for all ages and tastes. The event is being co-ordinated by the team behind the long-running Stortford Music Festival, which is taking a break from its regular format at St Mary’s Catholic School in Windhill.
Headlining the proceedings is 80s New Wave and punk-pop sensation Toyah Willcox, who is marking the 30th anniversary of her celebrated album The Changeling with a concert at Rhodes.
• Continue reading, at ‘Herts & Essex Observer’, here.
A new article, by Chris Limb, on his memoir ‘I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan’.
After a while the novelty of there being an Amazon page for my book began to wear off. It was no longer enough for me to browse to it and look adoringly at a page on which the spaces in the dynamic web template were filled by my own creation’s meta-data. So I had self-published. How was I going to promote it? Even though it was now available in paperback and ebook, the thing wasn’t going to sell itself.
• Continue reading, at ‘Catmachine’, here.
The ‘British Theatre Guide’ website include details on Sleeping Beauty in their latest “panto news” update. No new info but they do use a, previously unpublished, full-length photo of the main cast.
Evolution Productions have also announced full casting for their version of Sleeping Beauty at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury which will feature Toyah Willcox as Carabosse, Gareth Gates as the Prince, Ben Roddy as the Dame, Lloyd Hollett as the Storyteller, Katrina Bryan as the Fairy and Faye Brookes as Sleeping Beauty herself.
• Visit ‘The British Theatre Guide’ website here.
(The full photo is also being used in the, just published, Marlowe Theatre Summer brochure)
The print version of the ‘Exeter Post’ review of Wednesday night’s gig. Dawn Killick’s 9/10 appraisal is full of positivity for Toyah and the gig.
… she then sang Dawn Chorus, Angel and Jungles Of Jupiter: the latter showcasing the talents of the band and also the higher range of her voice, with Toyah sounding better than ever.
View a larger version of the scan. (Thanks to Chris Cox)
Wow! Another fantastic review for the tour. I must say it’s good to finally hear journalists say what we, Toyah’s fans, have been saying for 30-odd years!
Toyah Willcox played the tunnels in a special 30th anniversary tour to celebrate her 1982 albums, The Changeling and Warrior Rock.
Toyah burst on to the stage in her signature striking headdress and delivered a high energy performance for well over an hour and a half, with three whirlwind costume changes.
The opening number was Good Morning Universe, which highlighted her still very youthful voice, then moved to Creepy Room and Castaways. By this time the crowd was moving and swaying with exaggerated hand movements in time with Toyah’s. Then, for the first time since 1981 at the Hammersmith Odeon, she played Brave New World, which, she admitted, made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck.
• Continue reading at ‘This is Exeter’ here.
Gareth Gates and Toyah head to Canterbury for Marlowe Theatre’s Sleeping Beauty
Panto fans are in for a real treat again at the Marlowe Theatre – it’s been revealed Gareth Gates and Toyah Willcox will be heading to Canterbury for Sleeping Beauty.
Pop Idol runner up Gareth and Dancing on Ice star Gareth and former “punk princess” Toyah will be joined by Katrina Bryan, better known as Nina from the CBeebies series Nina and the Neurons, and Ben Roddy. Last year’s production of Cinderella was seen by a record-breaking number of people (more than 83,000).
• Continue reading at Canterbury People.
Another positive review for Saturday’s Brighton gig.
Resplendent in headwear which would make Vivienne Westwood shake her head and tut, Toyah Willcox gave her audience a lesson in stagecraft, turning a messy dress rehearsal into a command performance through sheer chutzpah and professionalism. Fully aware of the irony implicit in a woman of ‘(almost) fifty-four’ belting out the lyrics ‘I don’t wanna go to school’, she introduced one of her biggest hits with a giggle and the words ‘let’s get childish’.
• Continue reading at ‘The Latest’ here.
A five star review, and another gallery of excellent live Toyah photos, for ‘The Changeling Resurrection’ @ Brighton by ‘This Is Not Retro’.
Not only does Toyah look fantastic but she’s in fine voice too, confidently romping through a setlist of classic material with obvious glee and enjoyment.
• Continue reading at ‘This Is Not Retro’ here.
That photo seems to have a life of its own!
The latest sighting is at the, excellent, ’80s Actual’ website, in an article from Saturday. The article is a look back on a July 1982 press report on the rise of compact discs, but also included in the ‘The Sun/Bizarre’ scan is the Simon Fowler photo accompanying news about the book ‘Toyah’ by Mike West (again!)
Toyah Can’t Bare It: This is pop star Toyah as she hoped her fans would never see her. The bare-breasted portrait was taken by photographer Simon Fowler for Mike West’s new biography of the singer published by Omnibus at £2.95. (Typically ‘The Sun’ is incorrect. The photo was taken in 1979 as Toyah details in the Sounds interview from 1982)
They have played some of the biggest venues in the world, sold millions of albums and had countless chart hits. And in July, some of the best known stars of the 1980s will take the stage in Glasgow Green for their only Scottish date.
The line-up includes Rick Astley, whose Never Gonna Give You was the UK’s top selling single of 1987. He will be joined by former Go-Go’s lead singer Belinda Carlisle, “Wherever I Lay My Hat” singer Paul Young, Toyah Willcox, Curiosity Killed the Cat, T’Pau and The Real Thing, who scored a No.1 in 1976 with You To Me Are Everything.
The gig, on Saturday July 21, co-incides with the hugely popular Glasgow Show and will round off a top weekend of music.
• Continue reading, at the ‘Evening Times’, here.
