Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Liam Rudden: How can Ferris Bueller be 60 and Toyah Willcox 63 when in my head I’m still 23?

Last week, I nipped down to Carlisle to see Toyah Willcox in concert, a wee bundle of energy as always, as she revisited 40 years of hits for an hour or more I was a teenager again… until she mentioned she is now 63. Now, I don’t know about you, but in my head the icons of my youth have remained trapped in a time bubble that allows them to defy the ageing process. Consequently, it’s only when reminded of their advancing years I remember that I too am old.

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.

The second great review of the day for Posh Pop, this from Liam Rudden in the Edinburgh Evening News.

Fabulous​,​ flawless, five star pop from Toyah

It’s a mystery how time has flown. I remember clearly the first time I heard the name Toyah Willcox.

I was 15, hanging around the square behind the family home in Leith when a purple-mohicaned punk called Pete appeared. He was visiting pals in the scheme and we got talking about music. He was a fan of a singer who, he claimed, could unite mods, rockers and punks. Some feat in those days.

“Everyone charges to the front when she comes on,” he said, adding, “They don’t even fight when Toyah’s singing.” The next day I headed to Ards Record Shop on Great Junction Street and found a copy of Sheep Farming In Barnet. One listen and I was hooked.

That was 42 years ago, it’s still a brilliant album as is Toyah’s latest, Posh Pop, released last weekend. Reunited with long term collaborator Simon Darlow and with husband Robert Fripp on guitar, Posh Pop is at once reflective and optimistically forward thinking.

…Barefoot On Mars, my highlight of the album, is an arrestingly emotional, uplifting​ and joyous tribute. A tear-inducing salute to Toyah’s mother, it ​will ​touch the soul of ​anyone who has ​​lost a ​truly ​loved one.​ ​A degree of lightness returns with Rhyth​​m ​I​n ​M​y ​H​ouse​, ​an easy listening ​number brought to life with ​unicorn​s​ and bubbles​, which is followed by ​Summer ​O​f ​Love and an unapologetic Sixties’ ‘love and peace’ vibe​.

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News. This review is also published in The Falkirk Herald and The Southern Reporter. See more Posh Pop reviews.

Toyah At Home is referenced in a new article from the Edinburgh Evening News: Venues glow red as Edinburgh’s entertainment landscape fights for survival

Every Saturday at 11am, again on Facebook, I pop on to join Toyah Willcox for At Home with Toyah. Once more it’s a platform that allows the singer and actress to remain creative and perhaps more importantly stay connected with her fans.

• Continue reading at Edinburgh Evening News. Episode 16 of Toyah At Home airs this morning.

Edinburgh singer Shirley Manson has written a heart-felt apology to her teenage inspiration, Toyah Willcox

Edinburgh singer and iconic Garbage front-woman Shirley Manson has revealed how Eighties pop star Toyah Willcox inspired her in a heartfelt post on her Facebook page, in which she recalled seeing the diminutive punk princess at The Playhouse in 1982.

Introducing Toyah to nearly 300,000 followers on her Facebook page, Shirley wrote, ‘This is Toyah Willcox and this is a true story. I loved her growing up but I never admitted it publicly because I knew deep down that it wasn’t considered very cool by the serious music press to do so. The worst possible thing for me at that age was to be thought of as uncool. However truth was she fascinated me and I think it’s fair to say I studied her. By that I mean I obsessed over photographs of her in magazines and tried to emulate her fabulous, esoteric style, copy her make up, style my hair like she did.’

Singer and actress Toyah fronted the band of the same name between 1977 and 1983 scoring chart success with hits like It’s A Mystery, Thunder In The Mountains and I Want To Be Free. She also appeared in cult movies such as Jubilee, The Tempest and Quadrophenia.

After recalling how Toyah was considered ‘pretty mainstream’ back in the Eighties, Shirley remembered seeing the singer, who is now 62, at The Playhouse, ‘I was 15 and pretty mainstream myself but as I said, needed more than anything to appear cool to my peers so I kept my tastes to myself. I went to see her play when she came to The Edinburgh Playhouse in the summer of 1982. I remember the undeniable, visceral thrill of seeing Toyah on stage…. The impact of seeing your idols on stage, in the flesh for the first time was something immense and extraordinarily overwhelming… I just remember the lights and lusting after Toyah’s hair and being utterly transfixed.’

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.

Hurricane Toyah makes the cover of The Guide in today’s Edinburgh Evening News. (Thanks to Liam Rudden/Toyah)

Edinburgh fans will be first to hear Toyah’s new songs live

It wouldn’t be wrong to introduce Toyah Willcox as an iconic 80’s pop star but such a tag tells a very small part of her story.

Actress, presenter, author, it was in the late-70s that the then ‘punk princess’ first exploded onto the music scene with the EP Sheep Farming In Barnet. The albums Blue Meaning, Anthem, The Changeling, Minx and Love Is The Law all followed, along with many more.

Her latest album, In The Court of the Crimson Queen, released on Friday 12 April, brings the singer/songwriter back to Edinburgh for her first headline gig in the Capital since selling out The Playhouse in 1982.

n the intervening years, of course, Toyah has been no stranger to the city, appearing in numerous ‘Best of the 80s’ tours as well as starring in the play Picasso’s Women at the Festival and in musicals such as Calamity Jane.

Consequently, it’s clear the diminutive powerhouse performer is looking forward to returning on 25 April to play The Liquid Room.

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.

• Crimson Queen Interviews: Toyah has given numerous press and radio interviews for In The Court Of The Crimson Queen‘s release. I’ve linked to a few of the radio interviews which have aired yesterday and today. Keep an eye and ear out for further soon…

• Sparkling Songs Fit For A Queen: Edinburgh Evening News/Scotsman journalist Liam Rudden recently reviewed In The Court Of The Crimson Queen and has also just interviewed Toyah. He tweeted a photo of the album press pack, as well as a new ITCOTCQ photo of Toyah. See both below. (Photos © Liam Rudden & Official Toyah)

• London Celebrity Sighting: Toyah was “papped” arriving at BBC Radio’s studios in London yesterday – See a selection of photos…

• Action Medical Las Vegas Night: Toyah was Special Guest at this charity event in Peterborough last Friday night. The audience took numerous “selfies” with Toyah – See a selection of photos…

Liam Rudden: Dancing in the hurricane with the Crimson Queen

When Toyah Willcox sings that she danced in the hurricane, drums driving a hypnotic rhythm in the background, you can just picture the scene.

So opens In The Court of The Crimson Queen, her new studio album, reimagined from an earlier release of the same name with five brand new tracks added, including the opener of Act I, Dance In The Hurricane. And what an opener it is. Raw, emotional and with an entrancing narrative, this old-school floor filler finds the singer still on the top of her game. With an irresistible beat and simple but effective hook, Toyah’s message remains as simple and clear as it has always been Be Loud, Be Heard, Be Proud.

Split into two acts – Act I has eight tracks, Act II another seven – In The Court of The Crimson Queen is the result of a collaboration with co-writer and producer Simon Darlow, he also plays all the instruments. The title, a nod to her husband, King Crimson’s Robert Fripp.

Willcox and Darlow first wrote together as far back as 1978 and influences of their previous hits Rebel Run and Don’t Fall In Love hover like ghosts throughout this release. The second track of Act I, Sensational, is a punchy uplifting bundle of joy that, like Dance In The Hurricane, is sure to become an anthem in its own right, if it hasn’t already.

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.

Toyah Willcox to play first headline gig in Edinburgh for 25 years

From punk princess to cult stage and actress, Toyah Willcox has announced she will celebrate 40 years of music at the Liquid Room next year with her first headline concert in the Capital for more than 25 years.

Charismatic, outspoken and impossible to categorise, Toyah played her last full gig in the city in 1982 when she wowed The Playhouse, having previously built her Edinburgh fanbase with gigs in venues such as Tiffany’s and The Odeon in the late 70s and early 80s.

One of the UK’s most iconic household names and now also an award-winning rock legend and well loved stage/screen actress and composer, the concert will also celebrate another milestone in the singers’ life – Toyah turned 60 in May of this year.

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.

Punk Princess Toyah Willcox is all set to roll back the years at the Playhouse on Sunday when she leads the 80’s Invasion Tour to the Capital, in the company of Paul Young, Martika and China Crisis.

The four iconic artists from the decade that fashion forgot will be performing on the same bill together for the first time, so expect a raft of familiar hits.

Toyah has had a incredibly diverse career over the years with major hit records and many stage and screen roles to her credit, but it was in the 80s that she became one of Britain’s biggest household names.

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening 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.

Great article, by Liam Rudden, in yesterday’s Edinburgh Evening News (see above), which also solved the longtime “mystery” of this photo – “No stranger to Edinburgh, one of Toyah’s earliest visits was in May 1978, when she caught up with Colin Chisholm of Bilbo Baggins (pictured) for the premiere of Jubilee.” – Thanks Liam

She may be 56 and stand a mere 5ft 1in tall, but there’s no denying that actress, singer and TV presenter Toyah Willcox remains a powerhouse of energy on stage. Last Friday, her 1979 track Danced proved just that… and no doubt left more than a few of us in the audience with sore ankles the next day, having stupidly joined in with the bouncing. We are old enough to know better.

Actually, it’s hard to believe that is 32 years since I went to my first Toyah gig – The 1982 Changeling Tour at the Playhouse, for those who may have been there. Back then she easily sold out the 3000 seater… and I had dyed orange hair. Friday was a more intimate affair and all the better for it… I’ll pass on a hair update.

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.

• Edinburgh Evening News: Enjoy the creative genius of Jarman: Liam Rudden: Like many of my generation, it was the 1978 film Jubilee that introduced me to the work of film-maker, artist and gardener, Derek Jarman. Now considered a cult classic, it featured a very young Toyah Willcox, equally youthful Adam Ant, and starred Jenny Runacre and Edinburgh’s own Ian Charleson – Continue reading…

• Flexipop! Facebook: Toyah had a decent showing in the Top Tens you sent in for the Flexipop! Readers’ Ultimate Top 40 Singles Of The 80’s Chart with Thunder In The Mountains being the most popular choice. Released in 1981, it was her eighth UK single and not included on an album at the time – Continue reading…

• Sounds Of The 80s: View a full transcript of Toyah’s recent BBC Radio 2 interview at The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive…

• Get Bucks: Bowie fan celebrates Friars anniversary after catching the star’s shirt: The exhibition also features… the classic double neck guitar used by Genesis founder Mike Rutherford, Howard Jones’s 1983 Moog keyboard rig, and an amplifier used by U2, a stage costume worn by Toyah Willcox, and Lol Coxhill’s saxophones – Continue reading…

The collaboration celebrates the life and work of Jarman in a year that marks the 20th anniversary of his death.

Jarman died in 1994, aged just 52, but his legacy lives on. In the 20 years since, his films have lost none of their relevance and remain influential, with public interest increasing substantially in recent years.

Edinburgh also plays a key role in Jarman’s fascinating story, as he brought several films – starting with The Tempest – to the Edinburgh’s International Film Festival.

With the help of the British Film Institute, the film season will include features such as Caravaggio, The Tempest, The Angelic Conversation, War Requiem, Jubilee, Wittgenstein, The Garden, Blue, The Last of England, Edward II and Glitterbug, alongside more experimental films and rarely seen shorts.

• Continue reading at the Edinburgh Evening News.