Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Talented singer and actor Toyah admits her pop stardom was literally a case of “life imitating art”, coming soon after she was cast in a BBC play as a wannabe pop star who breaks into the Top of the Pops recording studios.

Speaking at the Rewind 80s Festival in Henley-on-Thames, Toyah recalled her first acting break aged 18 in the BBC play Glitter, playing alongside Phil Daniels, who was later to act alongside her again in the cult mod film Quadrophenia.

Toyah said: “I was spotted on the streets of Birmingham around 1973/74 because I had green and yellow hair! A director asked me to come and audition with Phil Daniels, and to play his girlfriend in a BBC2 drama and I got the part.

“The biggest irony was that I was playing a girl who wrote a song and broke into the Top of the Pops studios to sing the song in the studios; so talk about life imitating art!

“I was pretty instantly well known as an actress from the age of 18 and I was very successful as an actress right up until 1981 when I started having hit singles. I was the hottest name in the acting industry after I started at the National Theatre.”

• Continue reading at Music-News.com.

An Interview with Toyah at Rewind Festival South 2016.

Toyah is the cover star of the August 2016 issue of Henley Life magazine , with an 80s Icons/Rewind feature inside.

HENLEY LIFE – August 2016

WHAT’S HOT THIS MONTH – REWIND!
• Experiences: A Night at the Zoo
• We Interview: 80’s Icons & DIY presenter Nick Knowles
• My Henley Life: Olympian Will Satch

REGULARS:
• Diary Highlights – ‘What’s On’ and where.
• Food & Drink : Cornwall Delights.
• Beauty : Summer Haircare.
• Fashion : Summer Holiday Packing
• The Directory: Find local goods and services

• Further info here. The digital issue of the magazine is available to read online here.

Rewind South 2016 was 10 days ago, but here’s a newly published review, from the Henley Standard, of the festival anyway…

The weather gods were not kind to Rewind this year, with a very windy weekend punctuated by some heavy rain showers.

However, this did not in any way deter the thousands of Eighties pop fans who visited the riverside site — and certainly not the 23 acts who performed for them.

The festival proper opened with regular Rewind star Tony Hadley — but this time he performed a 45-minute set with the Southbank Sinfonia behind him, as well as the Tony Hadley Band. Fittingly for an artist who cites David Bowie as one of the major influences on Spandau Ballet, he opened with Life on Mars.

More than 30 years on from the band’s Eighties peak, Hadley’s voice has held its strength and power — and ably covered Bowie’s anthem, as well as an Elvis Presley number and Spandau Ballet’s biggest hits. The synthpop era of the early Eighties was well represented by artists such as Hazell Dean, Toyah and Jimmy Somerville, while the big voices came in the form of Rick Astley and Leo Sayer.

• Continue reading at the Henley Standard. (Photo © Henley Standard)

Torrential rain is about as welcome at a 80s summer festival as a wasp in your leg-warmers. But when rain soaked the Rewind Festival South crowd every day, forcing them to cover up their colourful costumes, a true disco fever helped to revive their dampened spirits.

Other upbeat acts included the ever-exuberant Leo Sayer who at 68 danced around the stage to songs like You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, with the energy of someone half his age.

And it was certainly a mystery to the audience how Toyah, who sang hits like I Want To Be Free, retains her youthful good looks.

Ringing in the changes at Rewind South for the first time ever was Erasure’s flamboyant Andy Bell who headlined on Saturday night. The Henley crowd were treated to classics like Sometimes and Respect as Andy dazzled the audience in his sequinned shorts.

• Continue reading at Music-News.

Did you make it to the Rewind Festival last weekend? Muddy Stilettos was hanging out with the stars (*cough*), or at the very least, performing aerial rugby-tackles on any Eighties icons close enough to assault.

And look what we have here! Only the brilliant Toyah Willcox, with barely a bruise on her. Anyone who was old enough to take ‘O’ levels, chainsmoke multi-coloured ciggies or borrow their brother’s Chopper bike will remember Toyah – the dyed-to-a-cinder hair, the multi-coloured make up, and the impossibly catchy It’s a Mystery to I Want to Be Free.

She lives in Pershore (just south of Worcester, geography meisters) and these days aside from trilling and actiing for her living, the Eighties pocket rocket also loves to read, make her own jewellery (that masterpiece around her neck in the photo above, she created that) and, well, read on to find out more…

• Continue reading at Muddy Stilettos. Browse all of Dreamscape’s Rewind South 2016 news.

Toyah and Hazell Dean at Rewind South 2016 yesterday. (Photo © Hazell Dean)

Toyah at Rewind South 2016 yesterday. View more photos here. (Photo © Get Reading)

A total of 40,000 people will descend on Temple Island Meadows near Henley for the eighth annual Rewind South festival this weekend. The Eighties pop extravaganza will kick off tonight (Friday) with a welcome party headlined by West Country folk band The Wurzels.

Tomorrow’s performers include Rick Astley, whose latest album, 50, topped the charts this week, Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet, Jimmy Somerville, the Trevor Horn Band, Toyah, Leo Sayer and Andy Bell of Erasure.

The festival concludes on Sunday with appearances by Adam Ant, Earth, Wind and Fire, M People’s Heather Small, The Beat, The Blockheads and Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory, among others. There will be scores of attractions around the site including an inflatable church where revellers can get “married”, real ale and cocktail bars, food stalls, a roller disco, a funfair and a second stage featuring local performers.

The weather is expected to be warm and overcast with sunny spells and the chance of the odd shower tomorrow. Organiser David Heartfield said: “Everything is looking great for the weekend. We’re looking forward to it. It has been incredibly hot this week so I’d welcome slightly cooler weather.”

• Continue reading at the Henley Standard.

Toyah Willcox gives us the lowdown on Rewind Festival

We caught up with the punk princess to talk all things 80s music and Rewind

In 2014 she topped the iTunes Rock chart with her American band The Humans, and this year will see more music releases and touring – including a stop off at Rewind Festival South in Henley.

This year will see her fifth performance at the mega music weekender. But what is it that keeps bringing her back to Rewind?

Toyah said: “This is what I do, it simply is what I do. I do all sorts of festivals including Glastonbury and all of that, but the one thing about Rewind is that it’s just designed brilliantly.

“The audience love it and it’s just such good fun. There are a ridiculous amount of artists and the production standards are out of this world.

“I do still get nervous in the festival environment, but I have a job to do. I remember performing and turning around to give the band a wink and seeing us on this huge massive video wall – it’s such high quality.”

• Continue reading at Get Reading.

Virtual Festivals: The world’s biggest ’80s music festival is back: Get ready to change the clocks, this summer we’re going back to British Summer Time 1980. Rewind Festival returns with three unique editions across the UK: Rewind Scotland in Perth, Rewind North in Cheshire and Rewind South in Hanley-on-Thames – Continue reading…

Festival Insights: 80s music festival Rewind to return this summer: Rewind, the world’s biggest 80s music festival, will return with three UK festivals during July and August 2016 – Continue reading…

Toyah is playing two of the three Rewind Festivals this Summer –  Rewind Scotland (Scone Palace, Perth: July 22 – 24, 2016) and Rewind South (Temple Island Meadows, Henley-On-Thames: August 19 – 21, 2016). Visit the Rewind Festival website by clicking below.