Birmingham’s very own punk queen Toyah Willcox returns this month (Oct 31st) to perform a very special Halloween show at the Birmingham Ballroom.
LTW’s Ross Cotton took the chance to ask Toyah about her memories whilst recording her album ‘The Changeling’ and her future plans.
The iconic pop star, actress and TV personality is reigniting her triumphant forth album ‘The Changeling’, to celebrate its 30th anniversary and the mark of the gothic era. After a sell-out touring stint earlier this year, and a well deserved star awarded at the ‘Kings Heath Walk of Fame’, it comes as no surprise that our local girl is in high demand.
• Continue reading at Louder Than War.
Pop Star Toyah Willcox: How I stood up to BBC gropers in the Eighties
Toyah Willcox, the pop star, says she stood up to the men sexually assaulting girls at the BBC in the Eighties.
As the list of women who claim to have been subjected to unwelcome male attention at the BBC seems to lengthen daily, Toyah Willcox insists that she at least made it clear that she was having none of it.
“You either had to stand up to it or play into it,” the feisty 54-year-old pop star informs me at Annabel’s nightclub, where Nicholas Coleridge was launching his novel The Adventuress. “I’m feisty, I always have been, even then. I was deemed quite old at 20, among men, and that probably saved my bacon, in a way. You knew, in any case, that there were certain men that you shouldn’t be alone with.”
• Continue reading at The Telegraph.
Toyah Willcox is arguably the busiest she has ever been.
These days split very much between acting and singing, the ’80s legend who set the template for many modern musical maidens returns to Sheffield and Corporation on Saturday in a very different guise to her last visit – playing The Wicked Queen in panto at the Lyceum.
“Actress/singer,” she says when asked what goes on her passport these days. “Because you want to get into different countries you’re not going to put controversial person, troublemaker.”
She’s got a point. In her post-punk heyday Toyah was something of a mould-breaker. With costumes as outrageous as she was outspoken, pop hadn’t really come across someone like her before.
“I was being very successful at a time when it was a novelty for a woman to be successful. When you look at the 1980s the glass ceiling was being raised daily and I came into the music business as a strong woman who knew what I wanted with a strong identity. That sense of novelty continued for quite a while.
• Continue reading at The Star.
Toyah’s October blog is available to read at toyahwillcox.com. Click below to leap on over.
Toyah dropped in on Wynne’s Cakes in Stoke-On-Trent on the way to her Glasgow gig and enjoyed some marshmallow cakes. Wynne’s John and Carl also delivered a yummy cake backstage at the Manchester Academy concert. (Photos © Official Toyah)
Metalville webzine reviewed Toyah’s Changeling Resurrection II gig at Sheffield Corporation earlier this month. Read by clicking below (Photos © Metalville webzine)
Another couple of opportunities to catch Toyah’s 1982 episode of Tales Of The Unexpected.
Tales Of The Unexpected: Sky Arts 2: Tuesday 30th October: 1.00pm
Tales Of The Unexpected: Sky Arts 2: Wednesday 31st October: 00.45am
Tales Of The Unexpected: Sky Arts 2: Wednesday 31st October: 6.00am
Blue Marigold. Series 5, Episode 1. Dropped by her agency for her diva-like behaviour, supermodel Marigold’s mental health deteriorates. Years later, she plots a comeback. Director: Giles Foster. Starring: Toyah Willcox, Ralph Bates, Sharon Duce, Helen Fraser, Billy Hamon, Edward Jewesbury.
Celebrity Ghost Stories UK: Bio: Thursday 25th October: 11.00pm
Sue Cook reveals creepy encounters with a malevolent nutcracker and a UFO, Toyah Willcox speaks of a spooky apparation, and Alex Fearns discusses sinister sounds he caught on tape.
The full transcript of Toyah and Robert’s Love and Marriage interview, which aired on BBC4 earlier this month, is available at The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive. The full episode is also available to view online at You Tube. (Thanks to Lärwi)
Toyah’s Changeling Resurrection II hits Glasgow tonight for a much anticipated gig at The Classic Grand. It’s the third date of the Autumn tour (Manchester Academy tomorrow night!) and is sure to be a great night. (Thanks to Andi for the re-designed BNW doll photo)
Apologies for the lack of updates recently, there will hopefully soon be a bumper news catch-up when I’m feeling a bit better – had an operation on my back last week and currently feeling very sore!
It’s her fans’ favourite record – but it’s taken 30 years for Toyah Wilcox to face up to playing The Changeling album again.
The popular singer, actress and TV personality released the album in 1982, and it captured a dark, stressful time in her life. It’s only now that she feels she can perform it.
“The important thing about The Changeling and now is that I feel I can face it again,” she says ahead of her show at Classic Grand in Glasgow on Friday.
• Continue reading at the Evening Times (free registration required).
A shiny new Toyah collage… Click to zoom! This is the final post for the time being. Regular updates will resume in a few week’s time.
There are a lot of “Fuck Yeah” blogs, dedicated to a plethora of bands, singers, actors etc, at tumblr… One of the best has to be Fuck Yeah Toyah. Bringing you an abundance of rare Toyah photos and memorabilia, as well as the odd bootleg recording…
A few Toyah bits and pieces from ‘Tellurian’, the Toyah Fan Club Newsletter which ran from 1986 until 2001: The Times: A Childhoood. View here. Toyah Willcox, interviewed by Deanish, plus a few ‘Ophelia’s Shadow’ related clippings. View here.
Over the last, almost, 13 years Dreamscape has been sent thousands of photos of Toyah from the numerous live gigs, tours and PA’s of the late 90′s, through the Noughties and into this decade (the Teenies?). Welcome to Fotofriends, an occasional feature focusing on the fans (and photographers) who took some of those photos.
Toyah fan Damon King has taken some great shots of Toyah over the last 25 years. Dreamscape has included many of them over the last 13 years, including some fantastic photos from the last two UK tours. That’s Damon below right with Toyah at the O2 Academy Islington in November 2011. (Thanks Damon)
Photos from: 1: 25th Anniversary Gig, Mean Fiddler, London (October 2003), 2/4: From Sheep Farming To Anthem Tour, O2 Academy Islington, London (November 2011), 3/7: Take The Leap Tour, Borderline, London (October 1993), 5/9: From Sheep Farming To Anthem Tour, Leicester Square Theatre, London (June 2011), 6/8: The Changeling Resurrection UK Tour, Bush Hall, London (April 2012).
The BBC have released the official synopsis for episode three of Love and Marriage.
To Have and to Hold (Episode 3 of 3)
The effects of the sexual revolution, the empowerment of women and the growth of a global consumer society based on individual choice were only fully played out in the last decades of the 20th century, when the divorce rate increased to an all-time high of one in three marriages.
This final episode explores how marriage has adapted to these pressures by looking at the ups and downs of five couples whose relationships personify modern marriage. It looks at the mixed-race marriage of Mo and Ann Chaudry and their rags-to-riches journey which resulted in a millionaire lifestyle and a happy family. Kate and Harry Benson had a glamorous Lady Di-style wedding but their marriage almost followed suit, nearly ending in divorce. They both became marriage guidance counsellors and Harry now heads up the new Marriage Foundation.
Rock stars Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp reveal their romantic love story, their ups and downs and how they have kept their 25-year marriage strong.
• Continue reading at bbc.co.uk.
Minder: ITV4: Wednesday 10th October: 6.00pm
Minder: ITV4: Thursday 11th October: 8.50am/12.50pm
All Mod Cons. Drama series about the shady dealings of a spiv and his reluctant sidekick. While Terry is trying to evict two squatters, Arthur decides to sell Terry’s flat without his permission. Meanwhile, Terry gets a job minding at a local club and ends up getting into more trouble than he had planned for when he realises the club’s manager is on the fiddle. Starring: George Cole, Dennis Waterman, Toyah Willcox, Simon Cadell, James Ottaway, and Tony Osaba. (Series 2, Episode 8, 1980). Also showing on ITV4 HD and ITV4 +1.
A new article on Toyah, from the Birmingham Mail.
Brummie punk singer Toyah Willcox fronts new walking campaign – after hip replacement surgery
Brummie chart star Toyah Willcox is stepping out to front a major walking festival – with her new hip. Fifty-four year-old Toyah, who shot to fame in the eighties with hits including It’s A Mystery, is the ‘face’ of the National Trust’s Great British Walk this autumn.
• Continue reading at the Birmingham Mail and/or The Sunday Mercury.
Fuck Yeah Toyah continues to be updated with brilliant Toyah content, including rare photos (howabout this absolute rarity from around the time of the ‘Anthem Tour’, 1981?) and audio.
Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Home: Thursday 11th October: 12.00pm
Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Home +1: Thursday 11th October: 1.00pm
Celebrities hunt for a new home. Gaby Roslin helps punk-pop princess Toyah Willcox search for a second home, in Richmond upon Thames, with a budget of £650,000.
• A rare photo of the Toyah band, circa late 1979, has recently appeared on eBay. It looks like it was taken in a pub while the band were on tour. The listing says: “The shot is date stamped 29 Oct 1979 by the UK pop music newspaper that received it”. Great photo!
• All Toyah: Continues to grow!
• Pause, Rewind, Obsess: Quadrophenia: …has a cult following but, despite some terrific scenes and some memorable characters (like the gnomish, lovesick, little pre-punk girl played by Toyah Willcox), it feels even more narratively half-baked than Pete Townshend’s musical scenarios tend to be.
• Critical Mass: Improvisation and carving: This article includes a photo of the cast of The Ebony Tower.
• Canterbury People: Canterbury girls chance to be in Marlowe Theatre’s Sleeping Beauty: Budding young actresses have the chance to star in the Marlowe Theatre’s pantomime. Sleeping Beauty will be at the Marlowe Theatre from November 30 to January 20 and star singers Gareth Gates and Toyah Willcox.
