Harry Potter, My Space and wildlife all made their way into my quick-fire chat with 80's singer Toyah Willcox.  

She is the first in a luminary of stars to twinkle in the Gazette, as we hurtle towards an 80s extravaganza on July 21, when IML Concerts bring a host of the top artists of the decade to perform in the shadow of Alnwick Castle.  

With an impressive CV spanning stage, screen and sound, the former punk has starred in Brit film epic Quadrophenia, provided voice-overs for cult child's TV series Teletubbies and written two books.  

Her varied career has also given her a local claim to fame-appearing in panto alongside Warwick Davis, who played Flitwick, of Harry Potter fame, which was partly filmed at Alnwick Castle.  

And she says she is looking forward to taking to the stage with Midge Urne, Go West, ABC, T'Pau and Berlinda Carlisle, who she says are like 'Family'.  

"It's going to be great," she enthused. "We are like family, we've known each other for years, and when we get together we are terrible gossips. We always said, in the 80s people got expelled to my music, fell in love to Belinda Carlisle and divorced to Go West."  

Fans of her music are in for a treat, as Toyah promises to belt out all the hits, like It's a Mystery and I Want to be Free. She can't decide which number from her extensive musical career she would pick out her favourite, saying, "It will be all my hit songs, and I try to inject enthusiasm and love into everything I do."  

And she is also soon to make an appearance on the small screen, alongside naturalist David Attenbrough, in a series on Britain's disappearing wildlife. Saving Planet Earth will hit our screens on June 28, and Toyah admits she was shocked by what the programme uncovered.  

She said: "I am a fan of anything natural, and that is how that came about. I was really shocked by the sort of animals that are in danger of becoming extinct, like Salmon and Swans because they are loosing their natural habitat."  

Toyah is no stranger to TV, also presenting a show the the Foreign Property Channel, and says she has invested wisely in property abroad herself, and also runs a gameshow company, Eccentric Games.  

"I really enjoy investment, I think women are good at it," she said. She spends hours online managing her bussinesses but confesses she hasn't quite got the hang of web phenomenon MySpace.  

"Some fans came up to me after a gig and said 'You don't even know where your MySpace page is, do you?" she reveals, "I am terrible at MySpace."  
 

Northumberland Gazette
June 2007