Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

All of our 2020 news, so far, has just been added to the News Archive  >> The archive dates back to the start of Dreamscape, which was created during 1999, as the old millennium was coming to an end, and launched in March 2000 at the dawn of the new one!

We are fast approaching 21 years online and during that time the website has been a constant source of Toyah news, releases, interviews, press, appearances, television, radio, films and much more…

Covering numerous eras from those years: Velvet Lined Shell, In The Court Of The Crimson Queen, Toyah & The Humans, From Sheep Farming To Anthem Tour 2011, Calamity Jane, Toyah Solo, I’m A Celebrity and many more.

Our News Archive also has many posts from the classic years of Toyah’s career (1976 – 1999). There’s a lot more news to come… 2020 has brought many great Toyah releases and next year it’s set to continue with the Safari back catalogue being reissued in deluxe formats, as well as many live dates.

• Take a trip to the Toyah past! Browse 21 years and thousands of news posts by clicking here!

Great News! The Noise In Your Head box set by Toyah & The Humans, released on 3rd July, has entered the Sales Top 100 at number 29 and the Independent Top 50 at number 6 on The Official Charts, published yesterday. Click below to see Toyah’s tweet. (Photo © Toyah Willcox)

• Browse our recent, Toyah related, Official Charts news posts.

Dreamscape’s Toyah news for February to April 2020 has now been archived. Interviews, press clips, official news, Toyah’s tweets, radio appearances, releases, television listings and much more. Click below to visit our News Archive, where you can plough through 240 months of Toyah news.

Toyah Solo also entered The Official Charts Independent Albums Top 50 at number 10.

Toyah Solo entered The Official Charts Album Sales Top 100 at number 34.

Missed this at the time! Earlier this month Toyah Solo charted on The Official UK Album Chart midweek Top 100 at number 51.

This follows In The Court Of The Crimson Queen charting on the Official Album Top 100 countdown last April. See screenshots of those charts here.

Just over three weeks until Toyah Solo is released, on 28th February. Toyah’s first retrospective box set release, with seven CDs, a DVD, bonus songs and booklet.

• Official Toyah: Toyah Solo 7-CD/DVD Box Set: Toyah Solo is a new 7 CD + DVD anthology of collected works by Toyah, released 28 February 2020 by Edsel Records – Continue reading…

• Super Deluxe Edition: Toyah Solo 7CD+DVD Box: A new box celebrating Toyah’s career is on its way • Signed set sold out | Toyah’s solo career is to be celebrated in a new box set due next month from Demon. Toyah Solo mops up the era from 1985 onwards when Willcox signed as a solo turn to Sony’s Portrait Records and then subsequent EG releases, and comprises of seven CDs and a DVD plus a 48 page book. (If you’re a cursory fan and a bit confused and wondering ‘hang on, wasn’t she always solo?’ it transpires that up until then, Toyah was the name of the band she fronted.) – Continue reading…

• DGM Live: Toyah Set Due Feb: Toyah Willcox has a major retrospective box set release due in February. The 7CD set also comes with a DVD includes the albums she released on the EG label. Robert Fripp is a frequent collaborator appearing on 1987’s Desire, 1988’s Prostitute and in 1991, along with Trey Gunn, Tony Geballe and drummer Paul Beavis, Ophelia’s Shadow – Continue reading…

• Demon Music Group: Toyah – Solo (Standard Edition): This 7 CD + DVD box set (the first Toyah box set ever) features six albums (Minx, Desire, Prostitute, Ophelia’s Shadow, Take The Leap, Velvet Lined Shell) and 44 bonus tracks – Continue reading…

• Dreamscape: Toyah Solo: Our news archive for Toyah’s new box set – Continue reading…

Our patron Toyah Willcox has a special message for you. Make sure you vote for The Old Rep and The Snow Queen in the Birmingham What’s On Readers Awards 2020!

Dreamscape’s Toyah news for October 2019 to January 2020 has now been archived. Interviews, press clips, official news, Toyah’s tweets, live gig info, radio appearances, releases, television listings and much more. Click below to visit our News Archive, where you can also explore 19 years and 10 months of past Toyah news – dating all the way back to March 2000!

Toyah Willcox returns again to Acapela. Book early to avoid disappointment.

Household name, pop icon, TV presenter, and stage/screen actress (Calamity Jane, Cabaret, Peter Pan, Jubilee, Quadrophenia) Toyah comes to Acapela in July with her Acoustic, Up Close & Personal show.

This is a unique chance to experience Toyah in an intimate setting where music and stories take centre stage. This lively, entertaining and revealing show comes in the form of Toyah performing an unplugged set of her well-loved hits and classic songs, alongside recalling stories from her colourful, thirty-five-year career.

A talented duo of guitarists, Chris Wong and Colin Hinds, accompany Toyah on meticulous and melodic acoustic versions of the hits It’s A Mystery, Thunder In The Mountains, I Want To Be Free and Good Morning Universe through to Sensational.

• Continue reading/Book tickets here.

The first of two rescheduled Crimson Queen Tour dates takes place tonight at The Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton. The original date was 18th October 2019 and all tickets remain valid. Further details and last minute ticket booking link is available here or by clicking below.

Look who’s coming to Selby Town Hall’s biggest ever spring season…

Selby Town Hall’s spring season will be its biggest ever with 27 live shows between February and the start of June, plus a trio of Edinburgh Fringe previews in July.

“There’s the usual mix of folk, Americana, stand-up, pop, rock, theatre and more with chart-toppers, cult indie royalty, a Grammy winner, the radio voice who guided my teenage pop dreams, a primetime impersonator tinkling the ivories and even a 13-piece orchestra,” says Selby Town Council arts officer Chris Jones.

“We had a good end to 2019 with a surprise listing in the Guardian as one of the UK’s best tiny venues and that seems to have spilled over into 2020 with strong early sales. It’s full steam ahead.”

The programme’s headline stars include punk princess, actor, television presenter and Top Ten hit maker Toyah with her stripped-back Acoustic, Up Close & Personal show on February 21; Mark Radcliffe: Loser?, a solo show of words and songs from the BBC6 Music and Radio 2 presenter, on April 2, and impersonator Alistair McGowan, in his new-found guise as a classical pianist, in The Piano Show on May 22.

• Continue reading here.

NB: Selby Town Hall at Twitter say: We’ve now sold out for Arabella Weir, Toyah, Paul Sinha, Way Down Wanderer and Lucy Porter – great work people of Selby and environs!

Tonight sees Toyah plays her first live date of the year, and indeed the new decade! An Acoustic, Up Close & Personal gig at The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre, Havant in Hampshire. Further details and last minute ticket booking link is available here or by clicking below.

Wow! It’s release has only just been announced and already Toyah Solo is doing incredibly well at Amazon: #1 in New Wave & Post-Punk, #1 in Box Sets (CDs & Vinyl), #1 in Pop Rock and #2 in CDs & Vinyl. Pretty impressive. But that’s just half the story, as these stats are for the Limited Edition version (which appears to have already sold out) of the forthcoming box set. The other version of the set (without the signed print) is at #2 and #3 on these sales charts too!

Stay tuned to this website for a Toyah Solo Newsy Bits & Pieces! update soon. Browse further info on Toyah’s first box set release at toyahwillcox.com and the official order page.

Toyah Solo is a new 7 CD + DVD anthology of collected works by Toyah, released 28 February 2020 by Edsel Records

RELEASE DATE: 28 February 2020
CAT NO: TOYAHBOX01
FORMAT: 7 CD + DVD in wallets in 2-piece box with 48 page booklet

An Amazon Exclusive edition features a signed print and is strictly limited to 500 copies.

The first Toyah box set ever features six studio albums (Minx, Desire, Prostitute, Ophelia’s Shadow, Take The Leap!, Velvet Lined Shell) alongside 44 bonus tracks, including rarities, B-sides, collaborations, and several unreleased tracks, plus a DVD of promo videos and a brand new exclusive interview filmed in December 2019.

In 1985, after five studio albums and two live albums with her band, Toyah decided to go solo, and signed to Sony’s portrait label. The album Minx contained two hit singles, Don’t Fall In Love (I Said) and Soul Passing Through Soul, as well as covers of Alice Cooper’s School’s Out and Rare Bird’s Sympathy. 1987’s Desire, featured appearances from Robert Fripp and Ron Wood and Toyah’s cover of Echo Beach, and now contains the previously unreleased outtake “Mesmerised. Prostitute (1988) was an arresting and fascinating departure from the pop formula, a trend continued by 1991’s Ophelia’s Shadow. In 1994, Take The Leap” featured new songs and intriguing revisits of several of her earlier pop hits. 2003’s “Velvet Lined Shell took Toyah back to her guitar punk roots.

Amongst the bonus tracks are Toyah’s collaborations with Tony Banks, Trey Gunn, German band Kiss Of Reality, Family Of Noise and This Fragile Moment. The lavishly-illustrated 48 page booklet features annotation about each album written by Toyah herself. Also featured is an essay on the period covered by the box by Toyah’s official archivist and compiler of this box set, Craig Astley. As Craig says: “eclectic is an often-overused word but is an accurate description of this intriguing and revelatory body of work. From unashamed pop and avant-garde to progressive rock and back to punk, the Common factors throughout are Toyah’s voice and lyrics but moreover, a sense of forging and following her own creative solo path”.

• Continue reading about Toyah Solo at toyahwillcox.com.

The fantastic cover art for Toyah’s first ever box set release – Toyah Solo. A new 7 CD/DVD anthology released 28 Feb by Edsel Records. Includes 6 studio album across 7 discs w/ 44 bonus tracks, B-Sides, rarities & collaborations.

The full contents of the aforementioned Limited Edition version of the Toyah Solo box set. Toyah tweeted: Sssooooooo Very Excited! Toyah Solo has been 3 years in the making. It’s a beautiful box set of some of my most adventurous music plus previously unheard material. ENJOY XXXX

As recently posted, and following this year’s Quadrophenia screening/Q&A + Gig, Toyah will return to Square Chapel Arts Centre in early 2020 for a Jubilee screening/Q&A and a new full-band electric concert.

As well as this, Square Chapel Arts Centre are also screening The Tempest, along with a Q&A with Christopher Biggins.

All of these events are taking place in February 2020 as part of LGBT History Month – We are delighted to be celebrating LGBT History Month with a series of live events and special film screenings.

• Browse details of the Jubilee and The Tempest screening events, as well as the full diary for LGBT History Month, at the Square Chapel Arts Centre website.

Toyah’s December/Christmas 2019 blog is available to read at The Official Toyah Willcox website.

Toyah says “Happy Christmas Everybody!” and talks about 2019, gigs, film shoots, Christmas and life! As well as looking ahead to 2020: “2020 is bringing some very well timed surprises, especially as I am gearing up to tour with Hazel O’ Connor, in fact quite a few surprises are coming over the following year for my fans and record collectors.”