Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Toyah was interviewed this week by the Birmingham Post, in a joint feature with other 80s musicians. Here are a few quotes from the article.

Toyah is part of an all-star Let’s Rock cast of 80s pop artists. Martin Fry and Mark White of ABC. Pauline Black of The Selector. Electro pop pioneers OMD and Level 42’s Mark King.

Flame haired singer Toyah Willcox was a Top Of The Pops regular through the 1980s

“Top Of The Pops was an event, every time,” she says. “It’s a show I used to watch with my family and to actually be on it was an honour.”

“I worked and I worked and I worked and I worked – there was no time for celebration.”

“A hit meant more work and more work; the management kept us going 24/7. The excitement knowing I was at number four in the charts with Four From Toyah/It’s A Mystery was immense. That alone was a celebration. I’d toured five years solidly for that success so, when it came I kept working.”

Now here’s a super trouper: Toyah’s voice is glowing with energy as she charms audiences with her snappy and uplifting Posh Pop

The 1980s are having a moment. As several of today’s young stars revive the sound of synth-pop, a decade that was once derided is beginning to resemble a golden age.

Its music scene was a flourishing ecosystem, full of distinctive creatures from Sade to the late lamented Meat Loaf. Every week on Top Of The Pops they brought us all together to gawp or giggle at them. Younger readers may not believe this, but we even had a serious prime minister.

One of the most 1980s things about the 1980s was the annual vote for the Most Fanciable Human Beings, as chosen by readers of Smash Hits. In December 1981 the male winner was Adam Ant. The female one, seeing off Kim Wilde and Debbie Harry, was Toyah Willcox. ‘Oh God,’ she said. ‘I never expected that.’ Forty years on, she takes the stage in the unlikely setting of a Berkshire boarding school. The Whitty Theatre at Luckley House School is small but perfectly formed, and so, at 63, is Toyah.

Looking around at the audience, I find myself wondering if The Oldie magazine has a readers’ poll. As a singer, actress and TV presenter, Toyah is a super trouper: you could get exhausted just from reading her Wikipedia page.

Undaunted by lockdown, she formed a bubble at home in Worcestershire with her husband Robert Fripp, the legendary King Crimson guitarist, and her co-writer Simon Darlow. The resulting album, Posh Pop, put Toyah back in the Top 30 for the first time since 1984.

On the side, she entertained herself and her fans with Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch, a series of YouTube videos. Each one is a jokey cover version of a classic, from The Who’s My Generation to The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks.

• Continue reading at the Daily Mail.

I was sad to hear of the death of Janice Long at Christmas. I grew up through the 80s listening to her BBC Radio 1 show and loving many of the bands she championed, most notably The Smiths, Echo & The Bunnymen and Manic Street Preachers.

Janice was the first woman to have her own daily show on Radio 1. A true pioneer!

I also often listened to Janice’s BBC Radio 2 show much later on. She was a true music fan and a great broadcaster who was so good at her job it felt like you were listening to a friend. She will be greatly missed.

Janice interviewed Toyah many times, most memorably in 1983 (Love Is The Law era), 1985 (Minx era), and 2021 (Posh Pop era). Toyah also guested twice on The Janice Long Review Show on Vintage TV in 2012, and was one of the artists Janice chose on her NOW 80’s show Janice Long’s Ladies With Attitude.

Toyah paid tribute to Janice on Boxing Day, saying: “Dear wonderful Janice Long championed women in music. Janice has been in my life my whole career, my deepest sympathy to all her family, friends, listeners and fans. Too young to lose you. Toyah xxx”

There have been many tributes to Janice over the past few days, from her friends, work colleagues and many of the bands she supported via her radio shows over the years.

The Guardian said: “The DJ Janice Long, who has died aged 66 following a short illness, became a pioneer in broadcasting as the first woman to have her own weekday show on BBC Radio 1 and the first to become a regular presenter of Top of the Pops. Unlike some of the prominent DJs with whom she shared the airwaves during the first part of her career in the 1980s, Long was a genuine music fan, credited with giving a helping hand to a number of artists whom she had championed, including Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Primal Scream, Manic Street Preachers, the Teardrop Explodes, Amy Winehouse and the Coral.”

• Read The Guardian‘s full Janice Long obituary here.

• See Toyah’s tribute to Janice here.

• Browse Dreamscape’s Janice Long news archive here.

• Click on the screenshots – from Toyah’s appearance on Vintage TV’s The Janice Long Review Show in 2012 – to view larger versions. (Thanks to Paul for the 1985 Radio Times clipping)

A few screen caps from Toyah’s guest appearance on BBC Breakfast this morning. There were bursts of It’s A Mystery, Thunder In The Mountains (both Top Of The Pops performances), Levitate, and Zoom Zoom. Toyah talked about Posh Pop, You Tube, Sunday Lunch and much more! See a clip from the interview at BBC Breakfast‘s Twitter.

Toyah Willcox recalls trying to scrap with Adam Ant

Toyah Willcox has weighed in on the time-honored rumours about her once trying to beat up New Romantic figurehead Adam Ant.

Toyah recently sat down with NME to discuss her debut appearance on Top Of The Pops way back in 1981. The episode saw Toyah tear through her track ‘It’s A Mystery’, alongside performances from Adam Ant and Australia’s sweetheart Joe Dolce… ahhhhh…. shaddap you face!

“Even though I knew Adam Ant and had done Jubilee with him, I was still star-struck by the whole event,” Toyah recalled of the performance.

When asked whether or not the rumours about her trying to beat Adam Ant up were true, she revealed: “Yes! He formed a band for Jubilee that was needed in a scene called the Maneaters – I was the singer for it, and Adam’s wife, Eve, was the bassist. The problem was, I was too individualistic and I already had the Toyah Band.

• Continue reading at Tone Deaf.

Toyah Willcox remembers trying to beat up Adam Ant: “I was a terrible scrapper”

Toyah Willcox has recalled an altercation with Adam Ant on the set of Derek Jarman’s iconic punk film Jubilee.

Discussing her debut appearance on Top Of The Pops in 1981 for NME‘s ‘Does Rock ‘n’ Roll Kill Braincells?!’ feature, Willcox recalled being on the same bill as Ant. “Even though I knew Adam Ant and had done Jubilee with him, I was still star-struck by the whole event,” she said.

Asked about whether rumours about her once trying to beat Ant up were true, she added: “Yes! He formed a band for Jubilee that was needed in a scene called the Maneaters – I was the singer for it, and Adam’s wife, Eve, was the bassist. The problem was, I was too individualistic and I already had the Toyah Band.

• Continue reading at the NME.

Some of the biggest pop stars of the ’80s will take part in a brand new online weekly series with an innovative business model that helps touring artists affected by the current lack of live shows to generate income.

That Was Then… This Is Now! will arrive next month in a pay per view format hosted online, allowing for artists to share equally in the revenue. For full details on the broadcast visit www.thisisnow.tv.

The series, consisting of five editions, will be broadcast live at 7pm on Thursday evenings, a nod to the classic Top Of The Pops timeslot.

It aims to provide a modern twist on the quintessential living room comfort watch of popular music television that has been missing from screens for generations.

Each episode of the series will feature multi-artist line-ups… The first series of the show will feature artists such as Paul Young, Kim & Marty Wilde, Toyah, Steve Harley, Chesney Hawkes, The Fizz and many more.

That Was Then… This Is Now! will be broadcast online via pay-per-view live streaming service TicketCo.TV. Its full HD quality and crystal-clear sound can be enjoyed by viewers on any device.

• Further info/book a ticket at This Is Now. View a print article, featuring Toyah, by the Knaresborough Post. Browse our That Was Then… This Is Now! news archive.

A Brand New, Innovative Online Music Streaming Show

80s Artists Unite For Series Featuring Brand New Live Studio Performances and Exclusive Interviews

Show Will Provide Income for Heritage Artists Affected By Lockdown

Some of the biggest British popstars of the 80s will take part in a brand new online weekly series, featuring performances and interviews, with an innovative business model that helps touring artists affected by the current lack of live shows generate income.

That Was Then… This Is Now! will arrive next month in a pay per view format hosted online, allowing for artists to share equally in the revenue. For full details on the broadcast visit www.thisisnow.tv.

The series, consisting of 5 editions, will be broadcast live at 7pm on Thursday evenings (a nod to the classic Top Of The Pops timeslot), and deliver a modern twist on the quintessential living room comfort watch of popular music television that has been missing from screens for generations.

Each episode of the series will feature multi-artist line-ups consisting of brand new and exclusive live studio performances shot in the highest 5k resolution, with presenters Mike Read and Sky TV’s Hayley Palmer, as well as interviews.

That Was Then… This Is Now! was produced independently by Mike Stock, who is best known for his work in the incredible hit-making team Stock, Aitken and Waterman in the 80’s and 90’s. Alongside hosting the series, Mike Read joins Mike Stock in an executive role in the show’s creation. Having been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for being a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for music chart series Top of the Pops, children’s show Saturday Superstore, and music panel game Pop Quiz.

The first series of the show will feature artists such as Paul Young, Kim & Marty Wilde, Toyah, Steve Harley, Chesney Hawkes, The Fizz and many more.

• Continue reading at Cardiff Times. Visit the official That Was Then… This Is Now! website.

Paul Young, Kim Wilde, Toyah, Steve Harley and Chesney Hawkes back from the 80s for new show ‘That Was Then… This Is Now!’

Some of the biggest British popstars of the 80s will take part in a brand new online weekly series, featuring performances and interviews, with an innovative business model that helps touring artists affected by the current lack of live shows generate income.

That Was Then… This Is Now! will arrive next month in a pay per view format hosted online, allowing for artists to share equally in the revenue.

The series will be broadcast live at 7pm on Thursday evenings (a nod to the classic Top Of The Pops timeslot), and deliver a modern twist on the quintessential living room comfort watch of popular music television that has been missing from screens for generations.

• Continue reading at the Wakefield Express. See also msn.com/entertainment.

Toyah Willcox: ‘You can’t copy me, I’ve trademarked my name’

Toyah Willcox, a National Album Day 80s ambassador, has copywritten her name to stop copycat artists from emerging

“I gave girls the right to believe in themselves. I was getting 10,000 letters a week, most of them starting with ‘I’ve just been expelled from school for dyeing my hair pink,’” reflects Toyah Willcox, the singer and actress whose electric hair and rebellious anthems lit up the charts in the 1980s.

A Top of the Pops fixture with hits like It’s A Mystery, I Want To Be Free and Thunder In The Mountains, accompanied by a video of Toyah thundering across a barren landscape on a chariot, the empowered image portrayed by the Birmingham-born singer directly inspired Shirley Manson and other singers who adapted her punk style.

The only pop star to have acted opposite Laurence Olivier and appeared in two films directed by arthouse auteur Derek Jarman, before going on to narrate the BBC’s Teletubbies, Toyah, 62, has now trademarked herself as a one-word “brand.”

• Continue reading at inews.co.uk.

Christmas 1984, Toyah guested on the Pop Quiz Christmas Special on BBC1. The programme aired at 4.15pm on Christmas Eve.

This was the penultimate edition of the original Pop Quiz. There were four series, plus five specials, 48 episodes in total, with Toyah guesting four times. The final Pop Quiz Special aired a few days later on 28th December 1984. Though there have been a number of revivals since.

Pop Quiz was a British television quiz programme that originally aired on BBC1 from 4th July 1981 to 28th December 1984 with a Top of the Pops special on 4th January 1994 hosted by Mike Read. It was then revived from 21st May to 9th July 1994 on the same channel but this time hosted by Chris Tarrant (Toyah also guested on this series, alongside Pete Burns). It was revived again on Red TV from 14th June to 30th August 2008 with Mike Read returning as host. He also hosted two specials on BBC Four in December 2016 and January 2017.

Greatest Christmas TV Moments: Channel 5:
Sunday 15th December: 11.05pm
Countdown of 50 festive crackers past and present, including classic soap moments, dramatic endings, sitcom specials, comedy sketches and light entertainment highlights that have made the television set the focus of the holiday season for decades. Highlights include famous couples Den and Angie, Jack and Vera, and Gavin & Stacey; popular double acts Morecambe and Wise, the Trotter brothers and Wallace and Gromit; Doctor Who meeting Kylie Minogue; perennial music show Top of the Pops; and the ultimate irony of sitting down to watch the Royle Family sit down to watch TV for an hour. All small-screen life is here – with jingle bells on. Featuring interviews with cast, crew and assorted celebrity contributors. (This features a short appearance by Toyah, talking about The Gruffalo and Robbie Coltrane)

Christmas 2016, and BBC Four aired a repeat Top Of The Pops, which was originally broadcast in October 1982 on BBC1, with Toyah’s studio performance of the single, Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard). This site described it as “iconic, classic and utterly unforgettable“.

While the retro TOTP aired, BBC Four also tweeted: “In 1982, Toyah was so famous, she even had a lion-tailed macaque named after her on Animal Magic, and appeared on the show to meet it“.

Greatest Christmas TV Moments: Channel 5:
Tuesday 10th December: 10pm
Countdown of 50 festive crackers past and present, including classic soap moments, dramatic endings, sitcom specials, comedy sketches and light entertainment highlights that have made the television set the focus of the holiday season for decades. Highlights include famous couples Den and Angie, Jack and Vera, and Gavin & Stacey; popular double acts Morecambe and Wise, the Trotter brothers and Wallace and Gromit; Doctor Who meeting Kylie Minogue; perennial music show Top of the Pops; and the ultimate irony of sitting down to watch the Royle Family sit down to watch TV for an hour. All small-screen life is here – with jingle bells on. Featuring interviews with cast, crew and assorted celebrity contributors.

Toyah Willcox: “I was high in the charts yet had to punch sex pests to be left alone”

Eighties singer Toyah Willcox was groped and sexually harassed during her pop heyday and had to be chaperoned to protect her from sex pest club bosses. The star, who had hits with It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free, has revealed a string of shocking encounters at the beginning of her career.

At a club where she was performing, she was warned that the owner expected to sleep with her and was urged to have an escort to the toilets. In another encounter, a director asked her to remove her top during an audition, forcing her to walk out. Toyah also fended off sex pests by punching them and reveals that the pressure to be thin was so great that she was weighed by a dietitian before being on Top Of The Pops.v The singer, who has just released the album In The Court Of The Crimson Queen, welcomes the #MeToo movement because it gives “vulnerable women a voice”. Toyah, 60, who first took to the stage in 1977, aged just 19, says: “It was unbelievable being a woman very much in a man’s world. We mostly played working men’s clubs, I don’t want to put these places down as the audiences were fantastic but you were just groped. There are even photographs out there of me being groped.

“Some extreme things have happened to me. My band really looked after me, though. I remember going to a club in Leeds in 1979. I arrived and my lighting man said, ‘Do not stay here alone, the owner thinks he has the right to sleep with you. Don’t even think of going to the ladies without one of us escorting you’.

“It’s cool, that’s what my band did, they looked after me. As for the casting couch, there’s one I’m actually quite proud of.This director was legendary. I arrived and I was asked to take my top off. I put two and two together and I just walked. But that happened in those days, it did happen.”

• Continue reading at The Express. NB. This article was created from quotes from Celebrity Radio’s recent interview with Toyah.

Toyah Willcox: The things that have remained constant are originality and energy

Almost 40 years after Toyah Willcox first appeared on Top Of The Pops, the ever-busy Birmingham-born performer is set to join other stars of the 80s at the Forever Young festival in Co Kildare this summer. Lorraine Wylie caught up with her

Toyah Willcox is a woman of many talents, proving her skill as an actress, producer, author, singer and songwriter in the past four decades. But for diehard music fans, she is best known as the ‘princess of punk’.

Between 1979 and 1981 her band Toyah released their first three studio albums, Sheep Farming in Barnet, The Blue Meaning and Anthem; it was the latter that truly launched Willcox into the spotlight and, as well as spawning hits such as I Want To Be Free and It’s A Mystery, earned her a gold disc.

This summer, fans will have an opportunity to hear material from Willcox’s most recent album, In The Court Of The Crimson Queen, when she joins a host of other stars of her era at the Forever Young Festival in Co Kildare. With that Irish visit in the pipeline and a British tour about to kick off, I caught up with the star who told me why, at 60, she still loves performing and what inspires her music today.

“I love doing live festivals,” she said. “The summer has arrived, the weather is great and you’re performing outside. It’s a fabulous way to communicate your music. I’m very much looking forward to coming to Ireland. There’s such a strong cultural identity there and I get such a warm welcome. My music is very much for my audiences who have travelled with me for the past 42 years.

“Although, I say that but when I look out at my audiences, they’re all under the age of 25. Today, I’m writing from the perspective of my age. I’m not interested in a historic perspective. My lyrics are a nod to things I experience at this age.”

• Continue reading at The Irish News. (Photo © Official Toyah)

Christmas 1984. Toyah guested on the Pop Quiz Christmas Special on BBC1. The programme aired at 4.15pm on Christmas Eve.

This was the penultimate edition of the original Pop Quiz. There were four series, plus five specials, 48 episodes in total, with Toyah guesting four times. The final Pop Quiz Special aired a few days later on 28th December 1984. Though there have been a number of revivals since.

Pop Quiz was a British television quiz programme that originally aired on BBC1 from 4th July 1981 to 28th December 1984 with a Top of the Pops special on 4th January 1994 hosted by Mike Read. It was then revived from 21st May to 9th July 1994 on the same channel but this time hosted by Chris Tarrant (Toyah also guested on this series, alongside Pete Burns). It was revived again on Red TV from 14th June to 30th August 2008 with Mike Read returning as host. He also hosted two specials on BBC Four in December 2016 and January 2017 – Please click on the caps below for larger versions.

Review: Toyah − the soundtrack to my life

The Birmingham-born star rarely tours but has just finished a sell-out four-gig run with full electric band to celebrate 40 years in the business after turning 60 earlier this year.

The agile singer-songwriter has always had boundless energy, her videos and lively performances on erstwhile TV music show Top Of The Pops will testify to this, and she shows no signs of slowing down at 60. She leapt around the stage, commanding it with her strong and quirky tribal dance moves and leaning out towards the audience astride stone pillars in the small, crammed venue.

Her voice is as powerful and moving as it always was, diving straight in with All In A Rage, she took us through the full back-catalogue including Danced, Good Morning Universe, Thunder In The Mountains, Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard), Rebel Run, I Want To Be Free, Brave New World and ending with her best-known hit It’s A Mystery.

• Continue reading at the North Somerset Times. (Photos © Karen Richards/North Somerset Times)

Toyah guests on BBC Radio WM’s The Other Side Of… tomorrow at Midday, discussing her career, early years, the music of Kate Bush and more. The programme has a running time of 60 minutes.

Listen to a short excerpt from the show – “I was not scared of being disliked by men” says Toyah.

The Other Side Of…: BBC Radio WM: Sunday 5th August: 12pm
Celebrating 40 years in show business in her 60th year. She talks about growing up in Kings Heath, how Top Of The Pops helped her stay alive and the power of Kate Bush’s music.

• Listen to the interview live while it airs or post airing at BBC iPlayer Radio. (Photo © BBC)

Pop Punk Princess Toyah Willcox Joins Jack Up The 80s Line Up

One of the most iconic artists of the decade, a regular on Top of the Pops and star of countless TV shows, charismatic Toyah Willcox is set to join hit makers T’Pau and Leo Sayer at Jack Up The 80s next August.

From punk princess to cult stage actress, Toyah is a uniquely gifted performer and an inextinguishable flame. She is one of Britain’s iconic household names, an award-winning rock legend as well as a much-loved stage/screen actress and music composer. In a career spanning over 35 years she has amassed 13 Top 40 singles, recorded 24 albums and toured live across the world.

Jack Up The 80s volume 6 will take place over the weekend of 11th and 12th August and this will be the festival’s second year at its new home Smallbrook Stadium in Ryde.

Owing to the success of the event earlier this year which saw sell-out crowds, 2018 tickets will be strictly limited. Mainstream Early Bird tickets go on sale on Monday 22nd January and will be available to purchase from www.jackupthe80s.co.uk.

• Continue reading at Island Echo. Browse Toyah’s confirmed gig dates and festival appearances for 2018 at toyahwillcox.com.

More airdates for Top Of The Pops, featuring the Rebel Run video.

Top Of The Pops: BBC4 
Saturday 22nd April: 0.00am/11.20pm
22.09.1983. Simon Bates and Mike Read present the pop chart programme, first broadcast in September 1983. Featuring Toyah Willcox, David Bowie, Nick Heyward, The Alarm, Howard Jones and Hot Chocolate.

Praying to the silent man…

‘Rebel Run’, released in September 1983, was Toyah’s 13th single in the UK.

This was one of only two singles to be released by Toyah in 1983 and was the debut from the album ‘Love Is The Law’. It was written by Toyah and Simon Darlow and reached number 24 in the UK Top 40.

Toyah made a memorable video for the single and promoted it with numerous appearances and interviews on shows including TVAM’s Summer Run, Hold Tight, The Saturday Show, Saturday Superstore, and German TV show Jugendabend. The video was also played on Top Of The Pops – being repeated later this month on BBC tv for the first time since the 1980’s.

Toyah said of the imagery: “This is the Rebel Run look. I was into armour. A friend, Simon, made a bronze headdress based on the skeletal structure of American football players.”

• Download ‘Rebel Run’ at iTunes, view the promo video, and the airing on Top Of The Pops. Watch Toyah perform the single on Hold Tight and Saturday Superstore. Listen to the song live at Hammersmith Odeon on the ‘Rebel Run’ Tour in December 1983. Andromeda Rising covered the song in 2005. Listen to their version here.