Birmingham music icon Toyah has a hand in Symphony Hall redevelopment
“I want the caption to be: I demolished it,” said Birmingham punk star Toyah Willcox, as she was photographed alongside local musician Rosie Tee outside the redevelopment of Symphony Hall’s foyer this week.
The Birmingham musicians were at the world-renowned music venue in the city centre to witness progress on the Making an Entrance redevelopment, which will create a performance space for talented local artists as part of a daily programme with free and affordable performances.
After the viewing of the Symphony Hall foyer redevelopment, Toyah met Town Hall Symphony Hall members and patrons to answer questions about her career, her current activities – including a performance as part of Electric Ladies of the 80s with Hazel O’Connor at Town Hall on April 25 – and her ambitions for the future.
Kings Heath musician Toyah has amassed 13 top 40 singles, recorded 25 albums, written two books, appeared in over forty stage plays, acted in more than 20 feature films and presented hundreds of television programmes.
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‘Let’s make it like an 80s school disco’, said the performers – and the Theatre Severn certainly had a party atmosphere when it came to the 80s Invasion.
Pop stars China Crisis, Toyah, Paul Young and Martika took to the stage in Shrewsbury on Tuesday, performing their nostalgic hits. Most of the shows I go to are chosen by my mum, and this was no exception. The show was opened by China Crisis, who did a great job of getting the mid-week crowd up and dancing.
We both found Toyah a real revelation, she looked absolutely stunning and had energy by the barrel on stage. She also interspersed her hits, including It’s A Mystery, Thunder In The Mountains and I Wanna Be Free, with tales of her time during the 80s. But it was her cover of Echo Beach, originally by Martha and the Muffins, that really got the crowd going.
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It’s a mystery solved: Singer Toyah’s swing-ing time in Shropshire
It’s a mystery – why was Toyah Willcox sitting on a swing in Shropshire?
The diminutive pop star from the 1980s, still packing out concert venues today, sprang a very special surprise for guests at a wedding in the county by performing for the bride and groom.
But no-one was more surprised than Toyah herself when she came across the swing in a hotel bedroom.
She was so taken aback she tweeted a photo of the red padded swing to her 8,000 followers on Twitter.
She sent fans a cryptic message asking them to guess where she was. Toyah had travelled to the region from Cardiff where she had performed to thousands of fans on Saturday night.
And despite a lifetime in the music industry, the “pocket rocket” admitted to being surprised herself when she walked into her hotel room – to find a swing hanging from the ceiling.
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