Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

Toyah’s bold, defiant and most experimental work, the 1988 solo album “Prostitute” is released for the first time as an expanded CD edition in deluxe 7” sized gatefold packaging on 6 June from Edsel.

This Deluxe 2CD Edition features a previously unreleased live recording of the album from Chichester. In November/December 1988 Toyah formed a new band Fripp Fripp with musician Robert Fripp and embarked on a 22-date tour. On the 7 UK and 15 European gigs Toyah performed the Prostitute album live, accompanied by Paul Beavis on live drums as the tour’s first act

For Toyah fans and collectors, it’s a fascinating document of Toyah performing an impressive volume of vocals, dialogue and lyrics with precision and defiance. The package includes rare imagery, ephemera and a new sleevenote by Toyah archivist Craig Astley.

The album was written and played entirely by Toyah Willcox and Steve Sidelnyk who went on to record and play live with Madonna (Ray of Light, Music), Seal and Richard Ashcroft, amongst many others. A fiercely independent lyrical work, it is sonically also a radical departure from previous albums comprising drums, vocal and guitar meshed with a scrapbook of samples and found sound.

Toyah explains: “I would get up at four in the morning and capture the dawn chorus, record church bells, snippets of conversations and producer Tony Arnold would marry them into the tracks. We worked as if we were compiling a scrapbook with glue and paper, old newspaper cuttings, lost love letters, odd thoughts and tons of fractured emotions.”

• Pre-Order Prostitute on 2CD and/or Picture Disc here. Read more info/the press release at toyahwillcox.com. See also the reissued album’s page. Watch Toyah announcing the release during last weekend’s Toyah At Home.

Released by Edsel on 6 June, Toyah’s 1987 solo album “Desire” receives its first ever standalone CD reissue as a new expanded edition in deluxe 7”-sized gatefold packaging.

This deluxe 2CD edition includes a second disc of 18 rare and ‘desirable’ bonus tracks including the 12” mix of lead single Echo Beach plus outtakes and B-Sides. Excitingly six previously unreleased tracks feature including the long-awaited release of the post-Desire rarity We Play Machines.

Originally issued on the EG label, the album was produced by Mike Hedges (Siouxise & The Banshees) and recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in the autumn of 1986.

This deluxe 2cd edition includes a second disc of 18 rare and ‘desirable’ bonus tracks including the 12” mix of lead single Echo Beach plus outtakes and B-Sides from the album sessions. Excitingly six previously unreleased tracks feature including the long-awaited release of the post-Desire rarity We Play Machines.

Rare live concert recordings of Desire songs have been unearthed especially for this release; Revive The World performed at The Orange Club, Kensington with Kiss Of Reality in 1992, Desire and Moonlight Dancing from 1994 plus Echo Beach from Toyah & Robert Fripp’s summer 2024 Rock Party Tour.

The Desire album recording sessions ran concurrent to Toyah starring in the Strand Theatre revival of celebrated musical Cabaret. Toyah appeared as the lead Sally Bowles, alongside Wayne Sleep in the Gillian Lynne-directed production. Although a cast recording was made of the Strand production it was before Toyah took over the role of Bowles. Ten years later, Toyah revisited Cabaret with a recording of four songs, one of which is a duet with British actor Nigel Planer. This marks the first time these tracks have ever been included on a Toyah release.

The Desire album includes an eclectic set of musicians across the 11 tracks with guest guitar spots from Ronnie Wood, Robert Fripp, and The League of Crafty Guitarists. Engineered by Haydn Bendall (Hounds of Love), the album’s lead single was a sparkling cover of the 1980 Martha & The Muffins’ new wave hit “Echo Beach”. Reissue compiled/project manager; Craig Astley.

• Pre-Order Desire on 2CD and/or Picture Disc here. Read more info/the press release at toyahwillcox.com. See also the reissued album’s page. Watch Toyah announcing the release during last weekend’s Toyah At Home.

On Friday 6 June 2025, Edsel/Demon Records will issue Limited Edition Picture Discs of the solo Toyah albums Minx (1985), Desire (1987) and Prostitute (1988).

All three are housed in special die-cut vinyl outer sleeves containing rare and unseen imagery. Available exclusively from Townsend Music.

Minx is presented as a Deluxe Edition, adding the 2 tracks from the original 1985 cassette/CD formats – never previously available on vinyl. The album’s two B-Sides also feature on the 14-song track list.

A Minx Deluxe 2CD Edition, released summer 2024, containing a second disc of rarities & previously unreleased demos, is also available.

• Pre-Order the Picture Discs here. Read the press release at toyahwillcox.com. Watch Toyah announcing the release during last weekend’s Toyah At Home.

Toyah plays Solfest 2025 in August. She will headline the Saturday night Solway Bar stage!

• Browse more details and buy tickets at the Solfest 2025 website.

Toyah is interviewed in the latest issue – #18 – of Blitzed magazine.

In the latest Blitzed we talk to Toyah where she summarises a very busy 2024 taking in multiple releases and re-releases together with her high-profile appearance in the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing programme. She discusses her ever popular YouTube channel and her gratitude for her fans.

• Pick up your copy of Blitzed magazine instore or order online.

It’s the first Toyah At Home of the new year, and Toyah is gearing up for an exciting year ahead.

There’s news of forthcoming Picture Discs of the classic albums Sheep Farming and The Blue Meaning, out on 21 March plus some rare footage.

Toyah Willcox reveals ‘main focus in life’ – and it isn’t husband Robert Fripp

Singer Toyah Willcox says she loved every moment of her recent appearance on Strictly. Now, she’s looking forward to joining Craig Revel Horwood’s 1980s musical and releasing a new album

Anyone who witnessed her spirited jive to Nutbush City Limits on the last series of Strictly Come Dancing would know that singer Toyah Willcox is not short on energy. And a quick glance at her schedule for 2025 would suggest she has no plans to slow down.

She will join the cast of NOW That’s What I Call A Musical next month, there’s a new album in the offing and if that wasn’t enough, she recently bought an old 1890s industrial water mill on the River Avon, which she is renovating and restoring back to its original structure.

“I love it,” she enthuses. “I spent all day yesterday removing trees that washed up in the floods; it’s a really physical project.

“I’ve always got something on the go. Anyone that sits still can’t bear being with me. I adore working and I always will. My main focus in life is my work. I think if I didn’t work, the boredom would eat me alive.”

• Continue reading at The Express.