Toyah Willcox
Encyclopedia
Toyah Ann Willcox is an English actress and singer. In a career spanning more than thirty years Toyah has had 13 top 40 singles, released 22 studio albums, written two books, appeared in over forty stage plays and ten feature films, as well as voicing and presenting numerous television shows including Brum, Watchdog
and Songs of Praise
.
, Birmingham
. Her father Beric Willcox ran a successful joiner
y business and owned three factories. Her mother Barbara Joy (née Rollinson) was a professional dancer whom he fell in love with after seeing her on stage in Weston-super-Mare
, with Flanagan and Allen
and married in 1949. Barbara Willcox had to give up her career after giving birth to Nicola (b. 1950) and Kim (b. 1953), Toyah's older sister and brother, respectively. Asked why her parents might have called her so, Toyah said in a 1981 interview: "I don’t know, they won’t tell me, but its definitely my birth name. There is a town in Texas, called Toyah, and Toyah in Red Indian means 'water'. My parents deny that's where they got it from".
Toyah was born with a twisted spine, clawed feet, a clubbed right foot, one leg two inches shorter than the other and no hip sockets. Because of this she endured years of painful operations and physiotherapy. Her physical condition was a cause of difficult times at school. "When I was bullied at school, it was coz of my character. I was a weak child, I was incredibly small. I had a speech impediment, I was the perfect bait for bullying. My dad took me out the back and taught how to punch the hell out of someone and from then on I was never bullied again", Toyah recalled.
Years later she described her relationship with her mother as complicated, saying she "hasn't hugged her mother since she was 12 and can't see it ever happening". Later she gave much credit to her parents, though. "I've never gone hungry. I never suffered though lack of money in any way. Not because of my parents, anyway. They wanted the best for me, like all parents do for their children. They wanted me to have a very good education, to be polite child, to be taught good manners and have a future", she recalled in 1980. In fact, until the age of seven Toyah remembered having been very close to her mother, if only for the reason of being very ill and having to be taught how to walk and talk. Then Barbara had another child, a daughter called Fleur, who died. "When she came home from hospital there was a bit of a distance between us. It was never talked about again", Toyah remembered. At the launch of her autobiography in 2000, the singer said: "We had a very violent relationship together. I was the violent person. And I didn't want her to kind of suffer by the book and I hope I represented her very well. Coz she really was a wonderful woman with a child from hell." In another interview of the time, Toyah said: "My mother ... taught me how to walk, she was one that was trained to give me the physiotherapy to straighten my own spine so twice a day we would go through this routine. So she was disciplinarian in my life from a very - well right from when I can remember. So it was natural she was the first person I should rebel against. And I regret that our relationship was very often violent. ... And [now] I feel very strongly towards my mum that she sacrificed everything to give me the freedom I have today".
C of E College where she was noted for absence from the class room and setting off alarm clocks during a speech by a visiting MP, one Margaret Thatcher
. Suffering from dyslexia
, which, by her own admission, turned her into an "angry, rebellious" teenager, she achieved just one 'O' Level pass in music. The ambition to sing and act started at about nine. "I was incredible dreamer when I was at school. ... I just felt trapped. ... I wanted to escape, really", she remembered. This had to do also with her upbringing which she described as "very strict".
As a teenager, obsessed with aliens and the concept of alienation, Toyah felt she couldn't fit in with anything. "I loathed suburbia, I loathed the idea of getting married and having kids. I just thought, Where the hell do I belong?" she recalled. In 1974 Toyah started to exercise her rebel instincts in experimenting with hair. "I just looked like something off another planet. And I was very very lonely. Noone would come near me. Buses wouldn't pick me up, boys wouldn't come near me", she remembered. In the mid-1970s, as the punk movement started to gain ground, Toyah saw something she might belong to, even if she understood little about punk politics.
A friend suggested that she should see the Sex Pistols
. "It wasn’t that I saw Sex Pistols and thought Oh that changed my life. I saw them and my reaction was, I can do better, I go to London to do it. ... From then on I knew I didn’t have to behave in a social norm. Because I wasn't alone". By the time she formed her first band, though, Toyah was already an aspiring young actress.
Drama School in Birmingham. "Already by then I was known in Birmingham for being the oddball that walked around with dyed hair. And you’ve got to remember that this is pre-punk, this was about 1973-74", she later recalled. While in drama school she had to earn her own way to pay her fees because in here, ironically, she proved to be the one member of her year who didn’t get a grant (the man who took her grant meeting wrote down on a piece of paper, which she saw: "She has a lisp and isn’t attractive"). "I worked in all the theatres in Birmingham so I'd go to drama school from 10 to 5 , then I'd go to the Alex Theatre or the Hippodrome Theatre and I'd dress the stars who were on tour", she recalled. All of those stars without exception, including Judy Geeson, Simon Williams and Sylvia Simms took a liking to her; by this time she was known in theatre clique as the 'Bird Of Paradise'.
After one year at the Old Rep, 18-year old Toyah had done some extra work at a BBC Pebble Mill TV station. A month later director and playwright Tony Bicat was looking for a girl to play the leading role in the BBC 'Second City Firsts' play Glitter (along with Noel Edmonds
and Phil Daniels
). And so Toyah has got the part of Sue, the girl who sang with the band called Bilbo Baggins and was dreaming of appearing at the Top of the Pops
. In the course of the 30-minutes play Toyah performed two songs (she co-wrote): "Floating Free" (an acoustic ballad, with Phil Daniels accompanying her on guitar) and "Dream Maker". In the 1981 interview, having learned the play's footage had been wiped, Toyah commented: "Its the best thing they could have done with it, really. It was the first time I ever sung in public, and I was shaking like a leaf ... and I was so fat!" It was Glitter, though, that launched Toyah's career: it appeared that Kate Milligan and Maximilian Schell
were watching that play. They offered her a place with the National Theatre
in London, where she's got the part of Emma in Tales from the Vienna Woods. "So I got a phone call the following day saying come down to London and I went down to London with a carrier bag and never went back", Toyah remembered. It was at this time that she formed a band, Toyah. In the National Theater Toyah was known as The Animal, the nickname John Gielgud
gave her after she with a girlfriend "discovered you could have a backwards wheelchair race" and she wheeled herself "into John’s private parts".
In the summer of 1977 a National Theatre actor Ian Charleson
(best known for his role in Chariots Of Fire
) thought that Toyah was someone that his friend, film director Derek Jarman
should meet and took her to tea on Tregunter Road in Fulham
at Derek's flat. The director picked the script of what later proved to be a seminal punk epic Jubilee (called Down With The Queen at the time), said "it’s a punk movie and I don’t know what we’re going to call it. But it's fun, it anarchic", and threw it on Toyah's lap saying: "Pick any part you want". "So I picked Mad because she had the most lines in the film. And Derek then said 'of all the characters if any have to be cut because of lack of money, it's going to be Mad. Because she is superficial, she doesn’t serve a purpose', and I said 'how wonderfully anarchic, I still want it'", Toyah remembered. In a month's time he did have to cut Mad from the film, but, seeing Toyah greatly upset, gave up his fee on the film so that she could play the role she was craving for. "After that Derek became like a surrogate father because he knew what it was like to go hungry and so did I", Toyah recalled. Later she cited Jarman as one of her greatest inspirations:
Psychologically, though, the filming was difficult. "I'd never seen a nude person before. ... And there was this scene where I jump into bed with two brothers and get the lighter out and the first time we did it they had their clothes on and then we did the take and I jumped into bed and they had nothing on! I completely freaked out. I'd never seen a nude man before!", she told Paul Morley in a 1980 interview.
Toyah continued to gain strong roles, notably, Monkey in 1979's Who
album-inspired Quadrophenia
, which boosted her reputation of a provocative and anti-establishment
figure. Later she recalled the circumstances: Later she admitted of her awareness of it being a strong career move. "I wouldn't have stayed otherwise. Getting up at five, catching pneumonia. I didn't have a day off. I had to keep going, there was this nurse with me the whole time. I really was very ill. But I realised the film was ... benefiting me", Toyah said.
Then the Sex Pistols
started on their own film, "The Great Rock And Roll Swindle and for a while, when Russ Meyer
was due to direct, Toyah was going to take part in the movie. Then, her role fell through. Instead, she teamed up with Derek Jarman again to play Miranda in his innovative version of The Tempest
, which won her a nomination as Best Newcomer at the 1980 Evening Standard
Awards. "Derek offered me Miranda which was the first time I've really ever experienced Shakespeare and was very frightened of doing it but refused to give it up because I like a challenge and that was the biggest challenge in my acting career yet", Toyah recalled. Her 'wild child' performance, described as "naive and knowing", exotically "puffed out" her image, according to Paul Morley. "I knew it would benefit my acting career within the acting world. ... Punk rock star Toyah Willcox doing Shakespeare. It had that sensationalist aspect about it. But not only has it benefited my acting career. It's opened up a new audience for me", Toyah commented.
In 1979 on London's Royal Court Theatre
stage Toyah played Sharon in Nigel Williams
' Sugar And Spice, the play about "hate, despair and sexual derision", climaxing with an unsettling jab of physical violence (the main character Steve having his genitals twisted out by the broken whisky bottle). "I was offered the part of Carol, who is the bird that ends up naked, and I instantly refused it. I just couldn't handle a part like that. I sent the script back, and was offered the part of Sharon, which I was quite happy to take. ... The nudity would freak me out. Completely", she explained in the 1980 NME
interview. The part took six weeks to learn and still proved demanding, lots of words Toyah muffled on stage. "You get to the point where if you're not concentrating I find I'm talking a load of gibberish because I'm missing certain words out. I'm not thinking about what I'm saying, and the cast are looking at me in horror. You do things like that 'cos there's so many lines, you forget you are talking sense", she explained. Still she insisted on having at least one stage play a year, merely as a mental stimulant. "'Cos it's training, really good training. ... Film can be so related and you don't have to concentrate so much. I just find it a good refresher course. It just makes you think", she told ZigZag in 1980.
Also in 1979 Toyah appeared as Tallulah in Stephen Poliakoff
's American Days at the ICA
, playing alongside Mel Smith
, Antony Sher
and Phil Daniels and, the same year, opposite Katharine Hepburn
in the made-for-television movie The Corn is Green
, directed by George Cukor
. Toyah remembered how she had to go and do an audition with 2000 other hopefuls for the film after the Emlyn Williams
book:
"Katherine Hepburn just fell in love with me the first time I met her and I say that modestly because she actually admitted she did... She loved my eyes, she said they were full of fire", Toyah was saying in her 2000 interviews.
Toyah played Calamity Jane
at the Shaftesbury Theatre
and was a guest vocalist in the anniversary tour of The Rocky Horror Show
at the Royal Court Theatre
. She had many television roles, including series such as Quatermass
(1979) and Minder
. She starred opposite Laurence Olivier
in The Ebony Tower
(1984), also appeared on Kavanagh QC
and Secret Diary of a Call Girl
.
During the late 1980s and 1990s Toyah forged ahead with a career as a stage performer. Notable credits include Trafford Tanzi
(at the Mermaid Theatre
, leading role), Cabaret (Sally Bowles), Three Men and a Horse (winner of Olivier Award for Best New Comedy), the UK tour of Arthur Smith's Live Bed Show. In 1990 she played Costanza in the national tour of Amadeus
. She has also appeared as a presenter of programmes such as Songs of Praise
, Holiday
(BBC
), and Good Sex Guide Late as well as being a guest on several shows such as The Heaven and Earth Show
, Through the Keyhole
and Loose Women
.
In 1999 she took the lead in the children's television series Barmy Aunt Boomerang
. She also provided the voices for the children's television programmes Teletubbies
and Brum
. She has also appeared in the reality television series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and I'm Famous and Frightened!
.
In the 2000s Toyah had a busy schedule with theatre commitments, including appearing on stage in London's West End
performing the title role of Calamity Jane
(nominated for an Evening Standard
Award for Best Musical) at the Shaftesbury Theatre
in 2003. In June 2008 Toyah appeared on Living With The Dead on LivingTV
to share her experiences living in her haunted home. On 24 July 2008 Toyah appeared on the UK ITV1
This Morning (TV series)
to discuss her role as a vampire in rock musical Vampires Rock
. More recently, Toyah played Queen Ivannah in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
at the Lyceum
in Sheffield
for the 2009 Christmas season.
which featured Joel Bogen
on guitar
, Mark Henry on bass
, Steve Bray on drums, Peter Bush on keyboards, and herself on vocals, cutting (according to AllMusic) "a very striking visual image at this time with bright orange hair with pink tips". She never considered herself a musician. "I was writing poetry. Most of the poetry that went onto an album called Anthem. But I’ve never really been a musician. I’m a lyricist primarily. ... So back then I was writing poetry and
learning what I loved about a song", she later remembered.
In London, Toyah lived in a place called Mayhem, the converted British Rail warehouse serving as a studio which started off as a "sort of over ambitious multi-media idea and the whole idea was for anyone to go in there and try and create something", according to Toyah. It was there that the band Toyah recorded their first demos. For the lack of proper bed she slept for a while in a "second-hand" coffin, reportedly used by the French Red Cross to transport victims of fatal accidents.
While doing Quadrophenia Toyah Willcox was getting a lot of press and the band was doing well. Up to two thousand people would turn out at gigs, which were huge crowds for an unsigned band. They did a showcase for Safari Records
and the label signed them on the spot. "Which amazed me, because I'm a live performer, I need my audience, I need my interaction and we were performing in a small rehearsal studio that smelt of beer and piss. But this worked well. It meant I could go back to Quadrophenia and say to Sting: I've just been signed!" Toyah remembered. The band had its first critical success with the debut single "Victims of the Riddle", which topped the UK Indie Charts. Then came the Sheep Farming in Barnet
EP, produced by Steve James and Keith Hale. Initially released in Germany, in 1979 it was re-released as an LP, comprising the original six tracks, "Victims of the Riddle" A and B sides and three tracks that were previously unavailable on vinyl. Toyah's debut album, The Blue Meaning
, went up to #40 in the UK Albums Chart
in June 1980. By this time she severed all ties with punk aesthetics. "I don't use punk whatsoever because my philosophies are so different, my morals are so straight. I'm not a punk, I'm a modern woman", Toyah said in a 1980 TV interview.
In January, the live album Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!
, recorded at the Lafayette Club in Wolverhampton
the previous June, made it to Top 30, backed up by a TV documentary "Toyah". By now the original band had broken up. "I played mother to that band for two years and they just walk out on me. It's left me bitter, but I know I can survive without them", Toyah said in an interview. The new lineup consisted of Phil Spalding, Nigel Glocker, and Adrian Lee, only Joel Bogen remaining and Toyah.
1981 saw Toyah's strengthened presence in the charts with hits like Four from Toyah
EP (#4, February 1981, including "It's a Mystery"), the second album Anthem
that went up to #2 in May 1981 to be later certified platinum, "I Want To Be Free
" (#8, June 1981), "Thunder In The Mountains
" (#4, October 1981) and Four More From Toyah EP (November 1981, #14). She became one of the first acts to score regularly in the UK Singles Chart
with EPs, which were also successful on an international level. In the end of the year Toyah won the Smash Hits
Reader's Poll 1981 in two categories: "Best female singer" and "Most Fanciable Female" (beating Kim Wilde
to the second place). In 1981 she alone, according to Safari, sold in the UK more units than the whole of the Warner Bros.
put together.
In 1982, the The Changeling
album was released, produced by Steve Lillywhite
; marking a turn for a more goth-tinged sound, it went up to #6 in the UK. "Changeling was a reaction because I wasn't ready to write... I should have had another six or twelve months to address the album. It was all written in the studio. I think it's a good album, it says something very powerful. But it was a painful album and a very painful period in my life where I just had to move back into acting, which was Trafford Tanzi", Toyah remembered. Changeling was followed in the same year by a double live album Warrior Rock: Toyah on Tour. Also in 1982, Toyah appeared in Urgh! A Music War
, a British film released in 1982 featuring performances by punk rock, new wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980, in which she performed her hit, "Danced". Three more of her singles, "Brave New World", "Ieya" and "Be Loud Be Proud" have made it into the top 50. Later in the year Toyah was voted Best Female Singer at the British Rock and Pop Awards, since restyled as The BRIT Awards
.
The making of Love Is The Law (1983) was the happiest period of her life, according to Toyah, when "...everything was going right. I was starring in a stage play called 'Trafford Tanzi', which won me especially huge critical acclaim, and I was about to star in a film, 'The Ebony Tower' with Lord Laurence Olivier
just as soon as the album was finished... It was a killer timetable but I loved it with a passion", she remembered. By this time, though, her popularity started to decline: the album reached #28 (with singles "Rebel Run" and "The Vow" peaking at #24 and #50 respectively), but the 1984 greatest hits compilation, released by K-tel
and called confusingly Toyah Toyah Toyah, failed to chart.
and released the solo album Minx (#24, 1985) which contained several cover versions, that Alice Cooper
's "School's Out
". In 1986, Willcox released The Acoustic Album on Aardvark Records, featuring strings from Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
and produced by Oliver Davis.
The same year she also sang lead on the Tony Banks
track "Lion of Symmetry."
In 1986, Toyah married UK guitarist Robert Fripp
and formed with him a new band Sunday All Over the World which released critically acclaimed Kneeling at the Shrine album. Her next solo album Desire
(1987) was less successful although the single with her version of "Echo Beach
" made it top 50. Then in 1988 Prostitute
came out, an album through which Toyah vented her frustrations which started to accumulate as a result of having made the transformation "from all-powerful artist to invisible woman" in the course of just one year of marriage. This experimental concept album, marking a considerable divergence from previous works, was released on E.G. Records
. The attitude to Prostitute, according to Toyah, in the UK and the US was radically different:
Robert Fripp joined his wife on her 1991 album Ophelia's Shadow
(1991) which, along with Dreamchild
(1994), received good reviews.
In 2001 Toyah was awarded a prestigious Honorary Doctorate by the University of Central England in recognition of her distinguished achievements in performing arts, media and broadcasting. The 2001 May issue of Q magazine
named Toyah number 48 in their top 100 Greatest Women in Music poll, as voted for by readers of the magazine. She returned to music in 2002 with new material for a limited edition Little Tears of Love EP and a one-off preview concert at Ronnie Scotts. The same year she sold out eleven stadium gigs for the Here and Now Tour. She continued to perform with her band, releasing a mini-album Velvet Lined Shell
(2003, Little Tears of Love material included) on her own record label, Vertical Species Records, showcasing a darker, edgier direction. In 2004 she performed as part of The Best of the 80s Tour in the UK alongside Nick Heyward
, Curiosity Killed the Cat
and Altered Images
. A live DVD in 2005 followed, the year which also saw The Safari Singles Collection, parts I & II (1979–1981/1982–1983) being issued.
In May 2007, she collaborated with Bill Rieflin as The Humans
for live dates in Estonia
where she's been invited to personally the Estonian President. According to Northern Echo, that resulted "from reading one of her husband's emails". The invitation was for him to go, but he wasn't keen, so Toyah accepted. "In England, that doesn’t have much of a career prospect because people want me to sing like the Toyah they’ve known for 30 years. But in other places I can step away from that," she later commented.
Also in 2007 Toyah signed a new worldwide publishing deal with Zomba Music. She continued to write and record solo material with long-term collaborator Simon Darlow. On October 29, 2007 a new single "Latex Messiah
" came out, followed by the In The Court Of The Crimson Queen
album, written and produced in collaboration with Darlow and released by Willow Recordings Ltd. on September 15, 2008.
As part of Liverpool's European Capital Of Culture year, she performed for the first time ever at the newly opened Liverpool Echo Arena
and Conference Centre. In 2009, a new version of Vampires Rock
was created, called Vampires Rock Christmas, and Toyah is back in her role as the Killer Queen, next to the writer and one of the stars of the show, Steve Steinman.
On July 5 she played at the Bents Park, South Shields in a live outdoor concert, and in October 2009 she made a guest appearance in the BBC1 drama series Casualty
.
In 2009, Toyah continued to perform with The Humans, featuring Bill Reiflin, Chris Wong and occasionally husband Robert Fripp. Described as "European experimental meets West Coast American grunge", The Humans recorded their debut We Are The Humans in Seattle in 2008 and released in Estonia in May 2009 to coincide with the band's return to play before the country's president at Tartufest. The album received a UK digital release in September 2009, along with a Humans single, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'." In the end of the year Toyah came seventh in a BBC series naming the 'Queens of British Pop,' as voted for by the British Public. In 2010, Toyah with The Humans performed at the London Roundhouse Haiti Earthquake Fundraiser concert.
On June 17, 2011 Toyah Willcox commenced on a special From Sheep Farming To Anthem tour, celebrating the 30th anniversary of her breakthrough hit "It's A Mystery" and the platinum-selling album Anthem, starting at the London's Leicester Square Theatre. The set, including selections drawn exclusively from Toyah's first three albums, Sheep Farming In Barnet, The Blue Meaning and Anthem. garnered good reviews.
In 1980 writer Paul Morley
described Toyah's roles as having had "great attraction" and being "bright boosts". Solidly established ("and undeniably hot", in words of Morley), she had at the time much less credit as a musician, desperately wanting, meanwhile, her music to be as accepted as her acting. On the way those two world interacted, Toyah commented:
Toyah often emphasized the fact that music and acting for her complimented one another: "I got to do both. I like both for totally different reasons but I find if I escape for a few months from music to do some acting, then when I’m acting I’ll probably write a lot of lyrics". "I like being busy the whole time. I like having to think the whole time. When I'm at my tiredest I get my best ideas. So if I had to do one career I would find it incredibly frustrating coz it wouldn't satisfy my imagination enough", she said in an ATV 1980 documentary. "There was a time when I was doing two movies and an album... Quadrophenia and Quatermass and the Sheep Farming In Barnet LP. I didn't sleep for two weeks and I was very happy", Toyah told Paul Morley in 1980. On distinction between the two careers, she remarked: "When I'm acting I'm someone else's puppet. I'm the director's or writer's puppet. ... You feel that you are eating other people's minds to create a totally separate person. You're creating something that doesn't exist, and it's great. You feel like a creator", adding: "I've got two personalities that both need feeding at the same time. I couldn't tell you what they are. I've got the snob in me and I've got the commoner in me. The snob does the acting and the commoner the music".
In 2002, Toyah became a prominent opponent of planned accommodation centers for asylum seekers near the Worcestershire village, Throckmorton. Protesting together with more than 1000 villagers, Willcox said, "The villagers are not anti-asylum seekers and they are not racists", adding that "It was not a simple black and white issue." Commenting on the Government's plans to build asylum centres in other rural areas, Toyah said "This is only the first of 15. The sheer scale is mind-boggling. This is a small country - it's all happening illegally."
In November 2007, Toyah took on the role of sponsoring the Black Country Urban Park for the Peoples £50M BIG Lottery. In April 2008, Toyah took part in the Great Walk To Beijing alongside other celebrities to raise money for Olivia Newton-John
's Cancer charity.
.
series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
. She is also credited with voicing the widow Fantine
in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's version of Les Misérables
. In December 2006, she joined the radio drama series Silver Street
on the BBC Asian Network
as Siobhan Brady.
As a teenager she became uncertain about her sexuality even more. "I went out with guys first when I was about 13 to 15 and then I just stopped. I never actually went out with a woman or anything … I generally thought I was a lesbian purely coz I wasn't interested in men but at the same time I wasn't interested in women. And that's why I concentrated so hard on my career from such an early age", she recalled. As the band Toyah started to gain ground, the singer felt put off by the groupie scene. "All I ever see of woman is usually groupies. They disgust me. How can they jump into bed with someone they've just met is beyond me. ... I just don't understand. There's no brain there as far as I'm concerned. ... I can put up with them. As soon as they get to me they change. They want to talk to you rather than pull your body. But as soon as I see them pulling, I just leave the room. I don't want to be associated with that at all. The band used to go out pulling every night and I just used to go back to the hotel. I wouldn't go anywhere with them", she told Paul Morley in a 1980 interview.
, Dorset
Toyah married Robert Fripp
of King Crimson
and "I got married because I had found my soul mate, not because I wanted to be married", she said in a 2008 interview.
Shortly after her marriage Toyah underwent a sterilisation operation as she is incapable of carrying a child full-term due to her childhood illnesses and she has said that neither she nor her husband wants children. Asked if she had any regrets about that later, Toyah said: "No. The morning I woke up from the operation I was in tears, I felt I’d interfered with my femininity but since then no. You don’t have a child just because you're a woman, you have a child because you have calling and I did not want to be put in a position of terminating a birth when I felt so strongly that actually psychologically being pregnant would damage me. It was something that I really really thought about and I perhaps suffered for six weeks after but since then it's been a liberation". However, she and her husband have arranged their wills so as to leave their entire fortune to the establishment of a musical educational trust for children.
For the first 19 years of their marriage the couple lived largely separate lives due to the demands of their careers: she in Pershore
, Worcestershire
, UK, Fripp in the US, and rarely saw each other for more than 12 weeks every year. "But [Robert's] in semi-retirement now, so he's home, I cook for him twice a day and I really like it. We're having lovely lovely autumn years of our marriage, it's really nice", Toyah said in 2006 radio interview.
Toyah has also appeared in many shows looking back on popular culture, including the 'I'm a celebrity' series, and various 'Top 100 favourite' shows.
Watchdog (TV series)
Watchdog is a BBC television series that investigates viewers' reports of problematic experiences with traders, retailers, and other companies around the UK...
and Songs of Praise
Songs of Praise
Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional Christian hymns. It is a widely watched and long-running religious television programme, one of the few peak-time free-to-air religious programmes in Europe Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional...
.
Biography
Toyah Willcox was born in Kings HeathKings Heath
Kings Heath is a suburb of Birmingham, England, five miles south of the city centre. It is the next suburb south from Moseley on the Alcester Road.-History:...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
. Her father Beric Willcox ran a successful joiner
Joiner
A joiner differs from a carpenter in that joiners cut and fit joints in wood that do not use nails. Joiners usually work in a workshop since the formation of various joints generally requires non-portable machinery. A carpenter normally works on site...
y business and owned three factories. Her mother Barbara Joy (née Rollinson) was a professional dancer whom he fell in love with after seeing her on stage in Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
, with Flanagan and Allen
Flanagan and Allen
Flanagan and Allen were a British singing and comedy double act popular during World War II. Its members were Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen...
and married in 1949. Barbara Willcox had to give up her career after giving birth to Nicola (b. 1950) and Kim (b. 1953), Toyah's older sister and brother, respectively. Asked why her parents might have called her so, Toyah said in a 1981 interview: "I don’t know, they won’t tell me, but its definitely my birth name. There is a town in Texas, called Toyah, and Toyah in Red Indian means 'water'. My parents deny that's where they got it from".
Toyah was born with a twisted spine, clawed feet, a clubbed right foot, one leg two inches shorter than the other and no hip sockets. Because of this she endured years of painful operations and physiotherapy. Her physical condition was a cause of difficult times at school. "When I was bullied at school, it was coz of my character. I was a weak child, I was incredibly small. I had a speech impediment, I was the perfect bait for bullying. My dad took me out the back and taught how to punch the hell out of someone and from then on I was never bullied again", Toyah recalled.
Years later she described her relationship with her mother as complicated, saying she "hasn't hugged her mother since she was 12 and can't see it ever happening". Later she gave much credit to her parents, though. "I've never gone hungry. I never suffered though lack of money in any way. Not because of my parents, anyway. They wanted the best for me, like all parents do for their children. They wanted me to have a very good education, to be polite child, to be taught good manners and have a future", she recalled in 1980. In fact, until the age of seven Toyah remembered having been very close to her mother, if only for the reason of being very ill and having to be taught how to walk and talk. Then Barbara had another child, a daughter called Fleur, who died. "When she came home from hospital there was a bit of a distance between us. It was never talked about again", Toyah remembered. At the launch of her autobiography in 2000, the singer said: "We had a very violent relationship together. I was the violent person. And I didn't want her to kind of suffer by the book and I hope I represented her very well. Coz she really was a wonderful woman with a child from hell." In another interview of the time, Toyah said: "My mother ... taught me how to walk, she was one that was trained to give me the physiotherapy to straighten my own spine so twice a day we would go through this routine. So she was disciplinarian in my life from a very - well right from when I can remember. So it was natural she was the first person I should rebel against. And I regret that our relationship was very often violent. ... And [now] I feel very strongly towards my mum that she sacrificed everything to give me the freedom I have today".
Years of alienation and rebellion
Toyah attended the private school EdgbastonEdgbaston
Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....
C of E College where she was noted for absence from the class room and setting off alarm clocks during a speech by a visiting MP, one Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
. Suffering from dyslexia
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
, which, by her own admission, turned her into an "angry, rebellious" teenager, she achieved just one 'O' Level pass in music. The ambition to sing and act started at about nine. "I was incredible dreamer when I was at school. ... I just felt trapped. ... I wanted to escape, really", she remembered. This had to do also with her upbringing which she described as "very strict".
As a teenager, obsessed with aliens and the concept of alienation, Toyah felt she couldn't fit in with anything. "I loathed suburbia, I loathed the idea of getting married and having kids. I just thought, Where the hell do I belong?" she recalled. In 1974 Toyah started to exercise her rebel instincts in experimenting with hair. "I just looked like something off another planet. And I was very very lonely. Noone would come near me. Buses wouldn't pick me up, boys wouldn't come near me", she remembered. In the mid-1970s, as the punk movement started to gain ground, Toyah saw something she might belong to, even if she understood little about punk politics.
A friend suggested that she should see the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
. "It wasn’t that I saw Sex Pistols and thought Oh that changed my life. I saw them and my reaction was, I can do better, I go to London to do it. ... From then on I knew I didn’t have to behave in a social norm. Because I wasn't alone". By the time she formed her first band, though, Toyah was already an aspiring young actress.
Acting career
After her O-levels (which she took late, having lost a year to have corrective surgery on her feet) Toyah left school at about 17 and I went straight to Old RepOld Rep
The Old Rep is a theatre located in Station Street in Birmingham, England, managed by Birmingham City Council.Construction began in October 1912 and it was opened on February 15, 1913 with a performance of Twelfth Night and then a reading by its founder, Barry Jackson, of a poem written by John...
Drama School in Birmingham. "Already by then I was known in Birmingham for being the oddball that walked around with dyed hair. And you’ve got to remember that this is pre-punk, this was about 1973-74", she later recalled. While in drama school she had to earn her own way to pay her fees because in here, ironically, she proved to be the one member of her year who didn’t get a grant (the man who took her grant meeting wrote down on a piece of paper, which she saw: "She has a lisp and isn’t attractive"). "I worked in all the theatres in Birmingham so I'd go to drama school from 10 to 5 , then I'd go to the Alex Theatre or the Hippodrome Theatre and I'd dress the stars who were on tour", she recalled. All of those stars without exception, including Judy Geeson, Simon Williams and Sylvia Simms took a liking to her; by this time she was known in theatre clique as the 'Bird Of Paradise'.
After one year at the Old Rep, 18-year old Toyah had done some extra work at a BBC Pebble Mill TV station. A month later director and playwright Tony Bicat was looking for a girl to play the leading role in the BBC 'Second City Firsts' play Glitter (along with Noel Edmonds
Noel Edmonds
Noel Ernest Edmonds, is an English broadcaster and executive, who made his name as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presented many light entertainment television programmes, including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops, The Late, Late Breakfast Show, Telly Addicts, Noel's Saturday...
and Phil Daniels
Phil Daniels
Philip W. "Phil" Daniels is an English actor, most noted for film and television roles as "cockneys" such as Jimmy in Quadrophenia, Richards in Scum, Stewart in The Class of Miss MacMichael, Mark in Meantime, Kevin Wicks in EastEnders, DCS Frank Patterson in New Tricks and Edward Kitchener "Ted"...
). And so Toyah has got the part of Sue, the girl who sang with the band called Bilbo Baggins and was dreaming of appearing at the Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
. In the course of the 30-minutes play Toyah performed two songs (she co-wrote): "Floating Free" (an acoustic ballad, with Phil Daniels accompanying her on guitar) and "Dream Maker". In the 1981 interview, having learned the play's footage had been wiped, Toyah commented: "Its the best thing they could have done with it, really. It was the first time I ever sung in public, and I was shaking like a leaf ... and I was so fat!" It was Glitter, though, that launched Toyah's career: it appeared that Kate Milligan and Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961...
were watching that play. They offered her a place with the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in London, where she's got the part of Emma in Tales from the Vienna Woods. "So I got a phone call the following day saying come down to London and I went down to London with a carrier bag and never went back", Toyah remembered. It was at this time that she formed a band, Toyah. In the National Theater Toyah was known as The Animal, the nickname John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
gave her after she with a girlfriend "discovered you could have a backwards wheelchair race" and she wheeled herself "into John’s private parts".
In the summer of 1977 a National Theatre actor Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
(best known for his role in Chariots Of Fire
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
) thought that Toyah was someone that his friend, film director Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
should meet and took her to tea on Tregunter Road in Fulham
Fulham
Fulham is an area of southwest London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, SW6 located south west of Charing Cross. It lies on the left bank of the Thames, between Putney and Chelsea. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
at Derek's flat. The director picked the script of what later proved to be a seminal punk epic Jubilee (called Down With The Queen at the time), said "it’s a punk movie and I don’t know what we’re going to call it. But it's fun, it anarchic", and threw it on Toyah's lap saying: "Pick any part you want". "So I picked Mad because she had the most lines in the film. And Derek then said 'of all the characters if any have to be cut because of lack of money, it's going to be Mad. Because she is superficial, she doesn’t serve a purpose', and I said 'how wonderfully anarchic, I still want it'", Toyah remembered. In a month's time he did have to cut Mad from the film, but, seeing Toyah greatly upset, gave up his fee on the film so that she could play the role she was craving for. "After that Derek became like a surrogate father because he knew what it was like to go hungry and so did I", Toyah recalled. Later she cited Jarman as one of her greatest inspirations:
Psychologically, though, the filming was difficult. "I'd never seen a nude person before. ... And there was this scene where I jump into bed with two brothers and get the lighter out and the first time we did it they had their clothes on and then we did the take and I jumped into bed and they had nothing on! I completely freaked out. I'd never seen a nude man before!", she told Paul Morley in a 1980 interview.
Toyah continued to gain strong roles, notably, Monkey in 1979's Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
album-inspired Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia (film)
Quadrophenia is a 1979 British film, loosely based around the 1973 rock opera of the same name by The Who. The film stars Phil Daniels as a Mod named Jimmy. It was directed by Franc Roddam in his feature directing debut...
, which boosted her reputation of a provocative and anti-establishment
Anti-establishment
An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine New Statesman to refer to its political and social agenda...
figure. Later she recalled the circumstances: Later she admitted of her awareness of it being a strong career move. "I wouldn't have stayed otherwise. Getting up at five, catching pneumonia. I didn't have a day off. I had to keep going, there was this nurse with me the whole time. I really was very ill. But I realised the film was ... benefiting me", Toyah said.
Then the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
started on their own film, "The Great Rock And Roll Swindle and for a while, when Russ Meyer
Russ Meyer
Russell Albion "Russ" Meyer was a U.S. motion picture director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, actor and photographer....
was due to direct, Toyah was going to take part in the movie. Then, her role fell through. Instead, she teamed up with Derek Jarman again to play Miranda in his innovative version of The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
, which won her a nomination as Best Newcomer at the 1980 Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
Awards. "Derek offered me Miranda which was the first time I've really ever experienced Shakespeare and was very frightened of doing it but refused to give it up because I like a challenge and that was the biggest challenge in my acting career yet", Toyah recalled. Her 'wild child' performance, described as "naive and knowing", exotically "puffed out" her image, according to Paul Morley. "I knew it would benefit my acting career within the acting world. ... Punk rock star Toyah Willcox doing Shakespeare. It had that sensationalist aspect about it. But not only has it benefited my acting career. It's opened up a new audience for me", Toyah commented.
In 1979 on London's Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
stage Toyah played Sharon in Nigel Williams
Nigel Williams (author)
Nigel Williams is an English novelist, screenwriter and playwright.-Biography:He was educated at Highgate School and Oriel College, Oxford, is married with three sons and lives in Putney, south-west London...
' Sugar And Spice, the play about "hate, despair and sexual derision", climaxing with an unsettling jab of physical violence (the main character Steve having his genitals twisted out by the broken whisky bottle). "I was offered the part of Carol, who is the bird that ends up naked, and I instantly refused it. I just couldn't handle a part like that. I sent the script back, and was offered the part of Sharon, which I was quite happy to take. ... The nudity would freak me out. Completely", she explained in the 1980 NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
interview. The part took six weeks to learn and still proved demanding, lots of words Toyah muffled on stage. "You get to the point where if you're not concentrating I find I'm talking a load of gibberish because I'm missing certain words out. I'm not thinking about what I'm saying, and the cast are looking at me in horror. You do things like that 'cos there's so many lines, you forget you are talking sense", she explained. Still she insisted on having at least one stage play a year, merely as a mental stimulant. "'Cos it's training, really good training. ... Film can be so related and you don't have to concentrate so much. I just find it a good refresher course. It just makes you think", she told ZigZag in 1980.
Also in 1979 Toyah appeared as Tallulah in Stephen Poliakoff
Stephen Poliakoff
Stephen Poliakoff, CBE, FRSL is an acclaimed British playwright, director and scriptwriter, widely judged amongst Britain's foremost television dramatists.-Early life and career:...
's American Days at the ICA
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
, playing alongside Mel Smith
Mel Smith
Melvin Kenneth "Mel" Smith is an English comedian, writer, film director, producer, and actor. He is most famous for his work on the sketch comedy shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Griff Rhys Jones.- Early life :Smith's father, Kenneth, was born...
, Antony Sher
Antony Sher
Sir Antony Sher, KBE is a double Olivier Award winning South African-born British actor, writer, theatre director and painter.- Early years :...
and Phil Daniels and, the same year, opposite Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
in the made-for-television movie The Corn is Green
The Corn is Green (1979 film)
The Corn Is Green is a 1979 television drama film starring Katharine Hepburn as a schoolteacher determined to bring education to a Welsh coal mining town, despite great opposition. It was directed by George Cukor, the tenth and last collaboration on film between the director and the actress, and is...
, directed by George Cukor
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
. Toyah remembered how she had to go and do an audition with 2000 other hopefuls for the film after the Emlyn Williams
Emlyn Williams
George Emlyn Williams, CBE , known as Emlyn Williams, was a Welsh dramatist and actor.-Biography:He was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family in Mostyn, Flintshire....
book:
"Katherine Hepburn just fell in love with me the first time I met her and I say that modestly because she actually admitted she did... She loved my eyes, she said they were full of fire", Toyah was saying in her 2000 interviews.
Toyah played Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane
Martha Jane Cannary Burke , better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans...
at the Shaftesbury Theatre
Shaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
and was a guest vocalist in the anniversary tour of The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show is a long-running British horror comedy stage musical, which opened in London on 19 June 1973. It was written by Richard O'Brien, produced and directed by Jim Sharman. It came eighth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals"...
at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
. She had many television roles, including series such as Quatermass
Quatermass (TV serial)
Quatermass is a British television science fiction serial produced by Euston Films for Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network in October and November 1979. Like its three predecessors, Quatermass was written by Nigel Kneale...
(1979) and Minder
Minder (TV series)
Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
. She starred opposite Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
in The Ebony Tower
The Ebony Tower
The Ebony Tower by John Fowles is a collection of five short novels with interlacing themes, built around a medieval myth: The Ebony Tower, Eliduc, Poor Koko, The Enigma and The Cloud.-The Ebony Tower:...
(1984), also appeared on Kavanagh QC
Kavanagh QC
Kavanagh QC is a British television series made by Carlton Television for ITV between 1995 and 2001. It has been shown on ITV3 as recently as August 2011; series 1–6 are available on Region 2 DVDs....
and Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Secret Diary of a Call Girl is a British television drama broadcast on ITV2 from 2007-2011 based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous "Belle de Jour," starring Billie Piper as Belle, a high-class London call girl. The series was written by Lucy Prebble, who is also known as the author of The...
.
During the late 1980s and 1990s Toyah forged ahead with a career as a stage performer. Notable credits include Trafford Tanzi
Trafford Tanzi
Trafford Tanzi is a play by Claire Luckham. Originally performed in Manchester in 1980, it later played in Liverpool before achieving commercial success in London.-Plot:...
(at the Mermaid Theatre
Mermaid Theatre
The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre at Puddle Dock, in Blackfriars, in the City of London and the first built there since the time of Shakespeare...
, leading role), Cabaret (Sally Bowles), Three Men and a Horse (winner of Olivier Award for Best New Comedy), the UK tour of Arthur Smith's Live Bed Show. In 1990 she played Costanza in the national tour of Amadeus
Amadeus
Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979...
. She has also appeared as a presenter of programmes such as Songs of Praise
Songs of Praise
Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional Christian hymns. It is a widely watched and long-running religious television programme, one of the few peak-time free-to-air religious programmes in Europe Songs of Praise is a BBC Television programme based around traditional...
, Holiday
Holiday (TV series)
Holiday was a long-running UK television programme on BBC One, and was the oldest travel review show on UK television. It was aired on the channel from 1969 until 2007.-Overview:...
(BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
), and Good Sex Guide Late as well as being a guest on several shows such as The Heaven and Earth Show
The Heaven and Earth Show
The Heaven and Earth Show was a BBC television programme that aired on Sunday mornings from 10am to 11am on BBC One. The show ran for nine years between 1998 and 2007, looking at spiritual and moral issues...
, Through the Keyhole
Through the Keyhole
Through the Keyhole was a British panel game, hosted by Sir David Frost where panellists are given a video tour of a mystery famous guest's property and attempt to identify them. As of 1996, it is produced by David Frost's own production company, Paradine Productions at The Leeds Studios , and has...
and Loose Women
Loose Women
Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...
.
In 1999 she took the lead in the children's television series Barmy Aunt Boomerang
Barmy Aunt Boomerang
Barmy Aunt Boomerang was a children's comedy series which aired on BBC1 in the UK from 16 September 1999 to 14 December 2000. Sebastian's world is turned upside down by the arrival of his unconventional Australian aunt Boomerang...
. She also provided the voices for the children's television programmes Teletubbies
Teletubbies
Teletubbies is a BBC children's television series targeted at pre-school viewers and produced from 1997 to 2001 by Ragdoll Productions. It was created by Ragdoll's creative director Anne Wood CBE and Andrew Davenport, who wrote each of the show's 365 episodes. The programme's original narrator was...
and Brum
Brum (television)
Brum is a children's TV programme about the adventures of a car of the same name. It was produced by Ragdoll Productions for HIT Entertainment and first broadcast in 1991. It was initially directed and written by Tom Poole and produced by Anne Wood, latterly directed and written by Vic Finch, Paul...
. She has also appeared in the reality television series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and I'm Famous and Frightened!
I'm Famous and Frightened!
I'm Famous and Frightened was a Living TV reality TV show in which 8 celebrities stayed for three nights in a "haunted" castle. They had to then do terrifying challenges in order to raise money for charity; each one was evicted until only the winner was left.The first series aired on Friday 12...
.
In the 2000s Toyah had a busy schedule with theatre commitments, including appearing on stage in London's West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
performing the title role of Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane
Martha Jane Cannary Burke , better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans...
(nominated for an Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
Award for Best Musical) at the Shaftesbury Theatre
Shaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
in 2003. In June 2008 Toyah appeared on Living With The Dead on LivingTV
LIVINGtv
Sky Living is a UK television channel owned by British Sky Broadcasting, who purchased the Living TV Group group in 2010. Originally launched as UK Living in 1993, the channel changed its name to Living TV in 1997 and then to Living in 2007. On 1 February 2011 Living changed its name to Sky Living...
to share her experiences living in her haunted home. On 24 July 2008 Toyah appeared on the UK ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
to discuss her role as a vampire in rock musical Vampires Rock
Vampires Rock
Vampires Rock is a musical stage show which premiered in 2004.It is performed by the group headed by Steve Steinman, who had appeared on Stars in Their Eyes as Meat Loaf. The group has toured for several years with The Meat Loaf Story....
. More recently, Toyah played Queen Ivannah in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
at the Lyceum
Lyceum Theatre (Sheffield)
-History:Built in 1897 following a traditional proscenium arch design, the Lyceum is the only surviving theatre outside of London designed by the famous theatre architect W.G.R. Sprague and the last example of an Edwardian auditorium in Sheffield...
in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
for the 2009 Christmas season.
Career in music
Toyah's performance in Glitter (1976), which some years later she remembered as embarrassing, provided nevertheless a crucial impulse to start musical career of her own. "Inspired by the band, the equipment, the volume, the ambience ... my mind was set. I had to put a band together myself, or get into one ... quick!", she said. In 1977, while with the London's National Theatre playing Emma in Tales from the Vienna Woods, Willcox fronted a band called ToyahToyah (band)
Toyah is the name of the band fronted by Toyah Willcox between 1977 and 1983. The only other consistent band member throughout this period was Joel Bogen, Willcox's principal co-writer and guitarist.-Background :...
which featured Joel Bogen
Joel Bogen
Joel Bogen is an English rock and punk guitarist. He worked with Toyah Willcox from the late 1970s to 1983 as the guitar player in her eponymous band and was the co-writer on nearly all of the material they recorded. Bogen also produced Heaven, the 1997 debut album of neo soul artist Jai, for M&G...
on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, Mark Henry on bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, Steve Bray on drums, Peter Bush on keyboards, and herself on vocals, cutting (according to AllMusic) "a very striking visual image at this time with bright orange hair with pink tips". She never considered herself a musician. "I was writing poetry. Most of the poetry that went onto an album called Anthem. But I’ve never really been a musician. I’m a lyricist primarily. ... So back then I was writing poetry and
learning what I loved about a song", she later remembered.
In London, Toyah lived in a place called Mayhem, the converted British Rail warehouse serving as a studio which started off as a "sort of over ambitious multi-media idea and the whole idea was for anyone to go in there and try and create something", according to Toyah. It was there that the band Toyah recorded their first demos. For the lack of proper bed she slept for a while in a "second-hand" coffin, reportedly used by the French Red Cross to transport victims of fatal accidents.
While doing Quadrophenia Toyah Willcox was getting a lot of press and the band was doing well. Up to two thousand people would turn out at gigs, which were huge crowds for an unsigned band. They did a showcase for Safari Records
Safari Records
Safari Records was an UK independent record label based in London and operating between 1977 and 1985. Safari Records was formed early in 1977 by Tony Edwards , Andreas Budde and John Craig who previously ran Purple and Oyster Records...
and the label signed them on the spot. "Which amazed me, because I'm a live performer, I need my audience, I need my interaction and we were performing in a small rehearsal studio that smelt of beer and piss. But this worked well. It meant I could go back to Quadrophenia and say to Sting: I've just been signed!" Toyah remembered. The band had its first critical success with the debut single "Victims of the Riddle", which topped the UK Indie Charts. Then came the Sheep Farming in Barnet
Sheep Farming In Barnet
Sheep Farming in Barnet is the debut album by Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, released in 1979 by Safari Records. The album was originally released as a 6-track extended EP, dubbed an 'Alternate Play' record by Safari, and was later expanded into full-album status...
EP, produced by Steve James and Keith Hale. Initially released in Germany, in 1979 it was re-released as an LP, comprising the original six tracks, "Victims of the Riddle" A and B sides and three tracks that were previously unavailable on vinyl. Toyah's debut album, The Blue Meaning
The Blue Meaning
The Blue Meaning is the second album by Toyah, released in 1980 by Safari Records. Although not the first full-length release, this is often considered to be the band's first "proper" album....
, went up to #40 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
in June 1980. By this time she severed all ties with punk aesthetics. "I don't use punk whatsoever because my philosophies are so different, my morals are so straight. I'm not a punk, I'm a modern woman", Toyah said in a 1980 TV interview.
In January, the live album Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!
Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!
Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! is a live album recorded by Toyah on 17 June 1980 at the Lafayette Club in Wolverhampton. The concert was also filmed by ATV as part of a TV documentary about the band and its eponymous singer....
, recorded at the Lafayette Club in Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
the previous June, made it to Top 30, backed up by a TV documentary "Toyah". By now the original band had broken up. "I played mother to that band for two years and they just walk out on me. It's left me bitter, but I know I can survive without them", Toyah said in an interview. The new lineup consisted of Phil Spalding, Nigel Glocker, and Adrian Lee, only Joel Bogen remaining and Toyah.
1981 saw Toyah's strengthened presence in the charts with hits like Four from Toyah
Four from Toyah
"Four from Toyah" was the sixth UK single, and second EP by the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released in 1981. It was the first to feature the new band lineup of Willcox, Joel Bogen, Phil Spalding, Nigel Glockler and Adrian Lee. This was the breakthrough single for the band,...
EP (#4, February 1981, including "It's a Mystery"), the second album Anthem
Anthem (Toyah album)
Anthem was Toyah's most successful album to date, propelling them into both the UK Album Charts as well as the singles charts with releases of "It's a Mystery" and "I Want To Be Free"...
that went up to #2 in May 1981 to be later certified platinum, "I Want To Be Free
I Want To Be Free
"I Want to Be Free" is the seventh UK single by the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released on 7 May 1981.Backed by an appearance on Top of the Pops, and bolstered by the performance of the previous single, "I Want to Be Free" entered the UK Top Ten with a peak at #8, and helped push...
" (#8, June 1981), "Thunder In The Mountains
Thunder in the Mountains
"Thunder in the Mountains" is the eighth UK single by the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released in 1981.The single, which was not included on an album at the time, continued the success of previous hits...
" (#4, October 1981) and Four More From Toyah EP (November 1981, #14). She became one of the first acts to score regularly in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
with EPs, which were also successful on an international level. In the end of the year Toyah won the Smash Hits
Smash Hits
Smash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at teenagers and young adults and originally published in the United Kingdom by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time...
Reader's Poll 1981 in two categories: "Best female singer" and "Most Fanciable Female" (beating Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde is an English pop singer, author and television presenter who burst onto the music scene in 1981 with the number 2 UK Singles Chart new wave classic "Kids in America". In 1987 she had a major hit in the United States when her version of The Supremes' classic "You Keep Me Hangin' On"...
to the second place). In 1981 she alone, according to Safari, sold in the UK more units than the whole of the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
put together.
In 1982, the The Changeling
The Changeling (album)
The Changeling was Toyah's follow-up album to the critically acclaimed Anthem. Although it has a similar overall sound, the band's writing took a darker, almost gothic direction...
album was released, produced by Steve Lillywhite
Steve Lillywhite
Steve Lillywhite is an English Grammy Award winning record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited for working on over 500 records and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including XTC, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dave Matthews Band, U2, Peter Gabriel,...
; marking a turn for a more goth-tinged sound, it went up to #6 in the UK. "Changeling was a reaction because I wasn't ready to write... I should have had another six or twelve months to address the album. It was all written in the studio. I think it's a good album, it says something very powerful. But it was a painful album and a very painful period in my life where I just had to move back into acting, which was Trafford Tanzi", Toyah remembered. Changeling was followed in the same year by a double live album Warrior Rock: Toyah on Tour. Also in 1982, Toyah appeared in Urgh! A Music War
Urgh! A Music War
Urgh! A Music War is a British film released in 1982 featuring performances by punk rock, New Wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980. Among the artists featured in the movie are Magazine, The Go-Go's, The Fleshtones, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, XTC, Devo, The Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Dead...
, a British film released in 1982 featuring performances by punk rock, new wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980, in which she performed her hit, "Danced". Three more of her singles, "Brave New World", "Ieya" and "Be Loud Be Proud" have made it into the top 50. Later in the year Toyah was voted Best Female Singer at the British Rock and Pop Awards, since restyled as The BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
.
The making of Love Is The Law (1983) was the happiest period of her life, according to Toyah, when "...everything was going right. I was starring in a stage play called 'Trafford Tanzi', which won me especially huge critical acclaim, and I was about to star in a film, 'The Ebony Tower' with Lord Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
just as soon as the album was finished... It was a killer timetable but I loved it with a passion", she remembered. By this time, though, her popularity started to decline: the album reached #28 (with singles "Rebel Run" and "The Vow" peaking at #24 and #50 respectively), but the 1984 greatest hits compilation, released by K-tel
K-tel
K-tel International is an "As-Seen-On-TV" company, which is most noted for its compilation music albums, such as "The Super Hits" series, "The Dynamic Hits" series and "The Number One Hits" series...
and called confusingly Toyah Toyah Toyah, failed to chart.
Solo career
In 1985, Toyah Willcox disbanded her group, signed to a major label, Portrait RecordsPortrait Records
Portrait Records was a sister label of Epic Records and later of Columbia Records. Cyndi Lauper and Sade signed with Portrait, but their contracts were absorbed by Epic after that incarnation of the label was shuttered....
and released the solo album Minx (#24, 1985) which contained several cover versions, that Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
's "School's Out
School's Out (song)
Female pop duo Daphne & Celeste, released a cover of the song in 2000. The chorus is based on Alice Cooper's hit of the same name, and some other elements of that song have been retained, although much of the song is "original", in a pop-rap style...
". In 1986, Willcox released The Acoustic Album on Aardvark Records, featuring strings from Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
and produced by Oliver Davis.
The same year she also sang lead on the Tony Banks
Tony Banks (musician)
This article is about the musician. For other people named Tony Banks, see Tony BanksAnthony George "Tony" Banks is a British composer, and multi-instrumentalist, who performs as a keyboardist and a guitarist...
track "Lion of Symmetry."
In 1986, Toyah married UK guitarist Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
and formed with him a new band Sunday All Over the World which released critically acclaimed Kneeling at the Shrine album. Her next solo album Desire
Desire (Toyah album)
Desire is the second album released by Toyah Willcox as a solo artist.It is more typical of her band's earlier albums rather than its more commercial predecessor Minx, although it didn't entirely escape the imposition of cover versions, including "Echo Beach", originally recorded by Martha and the...
(1987) was less successful although the single with her version of "Echo Beach
Echo Beach
"Echo Beach" is a song recorded by the Canadian group Martha and the Muffins in 1979. It was released as a single from their album Metro Music in 1980 and won the Juno Award for Single of the Year. It was certified gold in Canada on October 1, 1980, a month after Metro Music achieved gold status...
" made it top 50. Then in 1988 Prostitute
Prostitute (Toyah album)
Prostitute is Toyah Willcox's 1988 album. It is a concept album and highly experimental in nature, marking a considerable divergence from previous works. It is uncompromising in its style, containing no obviously "radio-friendly" tracks....
came out, an album through which Toyah vented her frustrations which started to accumulate as a result of having made the transformation "from all-powerful artist to invisible woman" in the course of just one year of marriage. This experimental concept album, marking a considerable divergence from previous works, was released on E.G. Records
E.G. Records
E.G. Records was a UK-based artist management company and independent record label, mostly active during the 1970s and 1980s. The initials stand for its founders, David Enthoven and John Gaydon. The pair signed on as managers of King Crimson in early 1969, during the formative stage of the band and...
. The attitude to Prostitute, according to Toyah, in the UK and the US was radically different:
Robert Fripp joined his wife on her 1991 album Ophelia's Shadow
Ophelia's Shadow
Ophelia's Shadow was the fourth solo album by Toyah Willcox, and showcases a new direction in her work. Moving on from the experimental Prostitute, it showcases a more progressive style of music....
(1991) which, along with Dreamchild
Dreamchild (album)
Dreamchild was the sixth solo album released by Toyah Willcox since leaving Toyah, and was released in 1994 via Cryptic Records in Germany. It is the album with the least amount of input from Toyah herself, as almost every track was composed by Mike Bennett, with Toyah contributing lyrics to only...
(1994), received good reviews.
In 2001 Toyah was awarded a prestigious Honorary Doctorate by the University of Central England in recognition of her distinguished achievements in performing arts, media and broadcasting. The 2001 May issue of Q magazine
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
named Toyah number 48 in their top 100 Greatest Women in Music poll, as voted for by readers of the magazine. She returned to music in 2002 with new material for a limited edition Little Tears of Love EP and a one-off preview concert at Ronnie Scotts. The same year she sold out eleven stadium gigs for the Here and Now Tour. She continued to perform with her band, releasing a mini-album Velvet Lined Shell
Velvet Lined Shell
Velvet Lined Shell is a 6 track mini-album by Toyah Willcox. It was cited as a return to her punk roots. Recorded in her home town of Birmingham, most of the tracks have a deliberately raw feel to them, with Willcox naming Nick Cave and Garbage amongst her newer influences.Like Toyah's first album,...
(2003, Little Tears of Love material included) on her own record label, Vertical Species Records, showcasing a darker, edgier direction. In 2004 she performed as part of The Best of the 80s Tour in the UK alongside Nick Heyward
Nick Heyward
Nick Heyward is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the frontman of the early 1980s band Haircut One Hundred, and also had a briefly successful solo career after he left the band in 1983.-Haircut One Hundred:Nick Heyward formed Haircut One Hundred after the...
, Curiosity Killed the Cat
Curiosity Killed the Cat
Curiosity Killed the Cat was a British pop band that found success in the UK Singles Chart in the late 1980s and early 1990s.-Career:The band tried to play soulful, jazzy, and funky pop music and was initially signed to Phonogram Records' Mercury imprint. They first came to notice of the UK music...
and Altered Images
Altered Images
Altered Images were an early 1980s Scottish New Wave / post-punk band. Led by lead singer Clare Grogan, the band branched into mainstream pop music, and had a string of chart hits between 1981 and 1983.-Early career:...
. A live DVD in 2005 followed, the year which also saw The Safari Singles Collection, parts I & II (1979–1981/1982–1983) being issued.
In May 2007, she collaborated with Bill Rieflin as The Humans
The Humans (band)
The Humans are a rock band featuring singer Toyah Willcox, former REM drummer Bill Rieflin and musician Chris Wong. The band have released two studio albums, We Are The Humans and Sugar Rush and have performed live in the UK, Estonia and the USA....
for live dates in Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
where she's been invited to personally the Estonian President. According to Northern Echo, that resulted "from reading one of her husband's emails". The invitation was for him to go, but he wasn't keen, so Toyah accepted. "In England, that doesn’t have much of a career prospect because people want me to sing like the Toyah they’ve known for 30 years. But in other places I can step away from that," she later commented.
Also in 2007 Toyah signed a new worldwide publishing deal with Zomba Music. She continued to write and record solo material with long-term collaborator Simon Darlow. On October 29, 2007 a new single "Latex Messiah
Latex Messiah
Latex Messiah is the 22nd single release by the British rock singer Toyah Willcox. Written by Toyah and collaborator Simon Darlow, it was her first single release since 1994 and also her first digital release...
" came out, followed by the In The Court Of The Crimson Queen
In the Court of the Crimson Queen
- Personnel :* Toyah Willcox - vocals, author* Simon Darlow - drums, violin, producer, co-author* Alan Sawyers - artwork* Dean Stockings - photography-External links:* @ www.toyahwillcox.com....
album, written and produced in collaboration with Darlow and released by Willow Recordings Ltd. on September 15, 2008.
As part of Liverpool's European Capital Of Culture year, she performed for the first time ever at the newly opened Liverpool Echo Arena
Liverpool Echo Arena
Echo Arena Liverpool is the arena half of ACC Liverpool located on the former King's Dock in Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. The BT Convention Centre forms the other half of the complex...
and Conference Centre. In 2009, a new version of Vampires Rock
Vampires Rock
Vampires Rock is a musical stage show which premiered in 2004.It is performed by the group headed by Steve Steinman, who had appeared on Stars in Their Eyes as Meat Loaf. The group has toured for several years with The Meat Loaf Story....
was created, called Vampires Rock Christmas, and Toyah is back in her role as the Killer Queen, next to the writer and one of the stars of the show, Steve Steinman.
On July 5 she played at the Bents Park, South Shields in a live outdoor concert, and in October 2009 she made a guest appearance in the BBC1 drama series Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
.
In 2009, Toyah continued to perform with The Humans, featuring Bill Reiflin, Chris Wong and occasionally husband Robert Fripp. Described as "European experimental meets West Coast American grunge", The Humans recorded their debut We Are The Humans in Seattle in 2008 and released in Estonia in May 2009 to coincide with the band's return to play before the country's president at Tartufest. The album received a UK digital release in September 2009, along with a Humans single, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'." In the end of the year Toyah came seventh in a BBC series naming the 'Queens of British Pop,' as voted for by the British Public. In 2010, Toyah with The Humans performed at the London Roundhouse Haiti Earthquake Fundraiser concert.
On June 17, 2011 Toyah Willcox commenced on a special From Sheep Farming To Anthem tour, celebrating the 30th anniversary of her breakthrough hit "It's A Mystery" and the platinum-selling album Anthem, starting at the London's Leicester Square Theatre. The set, including selections drawn exclusively from Toyah's first three albums, Sheep Farming In Barnet, The Blue Meaning and Anthem. garnered good reviews.
Two careers as one
Since Toyah's move to London in the mid-1970s her acting and musical careers developed in parallel, causing lots of misunderstanding. "I think people found me either fake, or couldn't put me in a compartment", Toyah later commented on the way her work in theater and the reputation of "High priestess of punk" collided.In 1980 writer Paul Morley
Paul Morley
Paul Morley is an English journalist, who wrote for the New Musical Express from 1977 to 1983, during one of its most successful periods, and has since written for a wide range of publications...
described Toyah's roles as having had "great attraction" and being "bright boosts". Solidly established ("and undeniably hot", in words of Morley), she had at the time much less credit as a musician, desperately wanting, meanwhile, her music to be as accepted as her acting. On the way those two world interacted, Toyah commented:
Toyah often emphasized the fact that music and acting for her complimented one another: "I got to do both. I like both for totally different reasons but I find if I escape for a few months from music to do some acting, then when I’m acting I’ll probably write a lot of lyrics". "I like being busy the whole time. I like having to think the whole time. When I'm at my tiredest I get my best ideas. So if I had to do one career I would find it incredibly frustrating coz it wouldn't satisfy my imagination enough", she said in an ATV 1980 documentary. "There was a time when I was doing two movies and an album... Quadrophenia and Quatermass and the Sheep Farming In Barnet LP. I didn't sleep for two weeks and I was very happy", Toyah told Paul Morley in 1980. On distinction between the two careers, she remarked: "When I'm acting I'm someone else's puppet. I'm the director's or writer's puppet. ... You feel that you are eating other people's minds to create a totally separate person. You're creating something that doesn't exist, and it's great. You feel like a creator", adding: "I've got two personalities that both need feeding at the same time. I couldn't tell you what they are. I've got the snob in me and I've got the commoner in me. The snob does the acting and the commoner the music".
Social activities
In 1987 Toyah was invited to make a speech at Women of Year ceremony in presence of Princess Diana, expressing her views on the subject of how being handicapped incites creativity and craving for fuller life experience.In 2002, Toyah became a prominent opponent of planned accommodation centers for asylum seekers near the Worcestershire village, Throckmorton. Protesting together with more than 1000 villagers, Willcox said, "The villagers are not anti-asylum seekers and they are not racists", adding that "It was not a simple black and white issue." Commenting on the Government's plans to build asylum centres in other rural areas, Toyah said "This is only the first of 15. The sheer scale is mind-boggling. This is a small country - it's all happening illegally."
In November 2007, Toyah took on the role of sponsoring the Black Country Urban Park for the Peoples £50M BIG Lottery. In April 2008, Toyah took part in the Great Walk To Beijing alongside other celebrities to raise money for Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
's Cancer charity.
Autobiographies
Toyah has had two best selling books published. Following her 2000 autobiography Living Out Loud, Toyah had a further autobiographical book published in 2005 documenting her experience of cosmetic surgery, Diary of a FaceliftDiary of a Facelift
Diary Of A Facelift is the second book written by Toyah Willcox.Diary Of A Facelift is an autobiographical account of her experiences with cosmetic surgery and was released in the UK on the 17th March 2005...
.
Radio
She has been heard on radio including the 2002 BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
This article is about the BBC Radio 4 series transmitted from 2002 to 2010. There is also a U.S. produced series, which began in 1998, that transmits under the same title....
. She is also credited with voicing the widow Fantine
Fantine
Fantine is a character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables.- Backstory :"Fantine was one of those beings which are brought forth from the heart of the people... She was called Fantine because she had never been known by any other name...""All four were ravishingly beautiful. As to Fantine,...
in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's version of Les Misérables
Les Misérables
Les Misérables , translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century...
. In December 2006, she joined the radio drama series Silver Street
Silver Street
Silver Street was a radio soap opera, the first such to be aimed at the British South Asian community, and was broadcast on the BBC Asian Network. It was introduced in 2004 as part of the Sonia Deol show, which was replaced from 24 April 2006 by the Anita Rani show, and until 12 May 2006 each...
on the BBC Asian Network
BBC Asian Network
BBC Asian Network is a British radio station serving those originating from and around the Indian subcontinent. The music and news comes out of the main urban areas where there are significant communities with these backgrounds. The station has production centres in Birmingham, Leicester and London...
as Siobhan Brady.
Private life
From early childhood Toyah was aware she didn't fit into gender stereotypes. In a girl school she was always a tomboy, very aggressive and physical, always in rough and tumble fights. In 2003 Toyah remembered:As a teenager she became uncertain about her sexuality even more. "I went out with guys first when I was about 13 to 15 and then I just stopped. I never actually went out with a woman or anything … I generally thought I was a lesbian purely coz I wasn't interested in men but at the same time I wasn't interested in women. And that's why I concentrated so hard on my career from such an early age", she recalled. As the band Toyah started to gain ground, the singer felt put off by the groupie scene. "All I ever see of woman is usually groupies. They disgust me. How can they jump into bed with someone they've just met is beyond me. ... I just don't understand. There's no brain there as far as I'm concerned. ... I can put up with them. As soon as they get to me they change. They want to talk to you rather than pull your body. But as soon as I see them pulling, I just leave the room. I don't want to be associated with that at all. The band used to go out pulling every night and I just used to go back to the hotel. I wouldn't go anywhere with them", she told Paul Morley in a 1980 interview.
Marriage
In 1986 in PoolePoole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
Toyah married Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
of King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
and "I got married because I had found my soul mate, not because I wanted to be married", she said in a 2008 interview.
Shortly after her marriage Toyah underwent a sterilisation operation as she is incapable of carrying a child full-term due to her childhood illnesses and she has said that neither she nor her husband wants children. Asked if she had any regrets about that later, Toyah said: "No. The morning I woke up from the operation I was in tears, I felt I’d interfered with my femininity but since then no. You don’t have a child just because you're a woman, you have a child because you have calling and I did not want to be put in a position of terminating a birth when I felt so strongly that actually psychologically being pregnant would damage me. It was something that I really really thought about and I perhaps suffered for six weeks after but since then it's been a liberation". However, she and her husband have arranged their wills so as to leave their entire fortune to the establishment of a musical educational trust for children.
For the first 19 years of their marriage the couple lived largely separate lives due to the demands of their careers: she in Pershore
Pershore
Pershore is a market town in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Avon. Pershore is in the Wychavon district and is part of the West Worcestershire parliamentary constituency. At the 2001 census the population was 7,304...
, Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
, UK, Fripp in the US, and rarely saw each other for more than 12 weeks every year. "But [Robert's] in semi-retirement now, so he's home, I cook for him twice a day and I really like it. We're having lovely lovely autumn years of our marriage, it's really nice", Toyah said in 2006 radio interview.
With Toyah (band)
| Title | Recorded | Highest Chart | Date of release | Re-issue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheep Farming in Barnet Sheep Farming In Barnet Sheep Farming in Barnet is the debut album by Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, released in 1979 by Safari Records. The album was originally released as a 6-track extended EP, dubbed an 'Alternate Play' record by Safari, and was later expanded into full-album status... |
1979 | - | 22 February 1980 | 1990, 2003 |
| The Blue Meaning The Blue Meaning The Blue Meaning is the second album by Toyah, released in 1980 by Safari Records. Although not the first full-length release, this is often considered to be the band's first "proper" album.... |
1980 | 40 | 14 June 1980 | 1990, 2003 |
| Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! is a live album recorded by Toyah on 17 June 1980 at the Lafayette Club in Wolverhampton. The concert was also filmed by ATV as part of a TV documentary about the band and its eponymous singer.... (live) |
22 (certified Silver) | 17 January 1981 | 1990, 2006 | |
| Anthem Anthem (Toyah album) Anthem was Toyah's most successful album to date, propelling them into both the UK Album Charts as well as the singles charts with releases of "It's a Mystery" and "I Want To Be Free"... |
1981 | 2 (certified Gold) | 20 May 1981 | 1999 |
| The Changeling The Changeling (album) The Changeling was Toyah's follow-up album to the critically acclaimed Anthem. Although it has a similar overall sound, the band's writing took a darker, almost gothic direction... |
1982 | 6 (certified Silver) | 2 June 1982 | 1999 |
| Warrior Rock: Toyah On Tour Warrior Rock: Toyah On Tour Warrior Rock: Toyah On Tour is a live double LP recorded on 17 July and 18 July 1982 at London's Hammersmith Odeon at the end of Toyah's 25 date The Changeling tour.... |
20 | 10 November 1982 | 2003 | |
| Love Is The Law | 1983 | 28 | ? | 2005 |
| Mayhem | 1985 | - | ? | 2005 |
As a solo artist
- Minx (1985) #24 (UK Albums ChartUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
) - DesireDesire (Toyah album)Desire is the second album released by Toyah Willcox as a solo artist.It is more typical of her band's earlier albums rather than its more commercial predecessor Minx, although it didn't entirely escape the imposition of cover versions, including "Echo Beach", originally recorded by Martha and the...
(1987) - ProstituteProstitute (Toyah album)Prostitute is Toyah Willcox's 1988 album. It is a concept album and highly experimental in nature, marking a considerable divergence from previous works. It is uncompromising in its style, containing no obviously "radio-friendly" tracks....
(1988) - Ophelia's ShadowOphelia's ShadowOphelia's Shadow was the fourth solo album by Toyah Willcox, and showcases a new direction in her work. Moving on from the experimental Prostitute, it showcases a more progressive style of music....
(with members of King CrimsonKing CrimsonKing Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
) (1991) - Take the Leap!Take The Leap!Leap! and Take the Leap! are the names for Toyah Willcox's project subsequent to Ophelia's Shadow. It consists of six new tracks, either previously unrecorded or written for the new album, and eight older tracks re-recorded with her new band....
(Japan-only release, same content as Leap!) (1994) - DreamchildDreamchild (album)Dreamchild was the sixth solo album released by Toyah Willcox since leaving Toyah, and was released in 1994 via Cryptic Records in Germany. It is the album with the least amount of input from Toyah herself, as almost every track was composed by Mike Bennett, with Toyah contributing lyrics to only...
(1994) - Looking BackLooking Back (Toyah album)Looking Back was the Toyah Willcox's seventh solo album, and, like Take The Leap! before it, contained re-recordings of classic Toyah tracks...
(re-recorded versions of old tracks) (1995) - The Acoustic AlbumThe Acoustic AlbumThe Acoustic Album is Toyah Willcox's eighth solo album, which consists of acoustic re-recordings of classic Toyah tracks, some of which feature string arrangements performed by members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra...
(re-recorded versions of old tracks) (1996) - Velvet Lined ShellVelvet Lined ShellVelvet Lined Shell is a 6 track mini-album by Toyah Willcox. It was cited as a return to her punk roots. Recorded in her home town of Birmingham, most of the tracks have a deliberately raw feel to them, with Willcox naming Nick Cave and Garbage amongst her newer influences.Like Toyah's first album,...
(mini album) (2003) - In the Court of the Crimson QueenIn the Court of the Crimson Queen- Personnel :* Toyah Willcox - vocals, author* Simon Darlow - drums, violin, producer, co-author* Alan Sawyers - artwork* Dean Stockings - photography-External links:* @ www.toyahwillcox.com....
(2008)
With Toyah (band)
- Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! (compilation)Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! is a compilation of tracks by Toyah, mostly from singles and EPs...
(1984) - Best Of Toyah (1994)
- Live & More: Live Favourites & Rarities (1998)
- The Very Best of Toyah (1998)
- Proud, Loud & Heard: The Best of Toyah (1998)
- The Safari Singles Collection Part I: 1979–1981 (2005)
- The Safari Singles Collection Part II: 1982–1983 (2005)
- Good Morning Universe - The Very Best of Toyah(2008)
Collaborations
- The Stranglers & Friends Live in ConcertThe Stranglers & Friends Live in ConcertThe Stranglers and Friends: Live in Concert is a live album by The Stranglers, first released in 1995 .In the spring of 1980, Hugh Cornwell was in Pentonville Prison for drugs possession...
(with The StranglersThe StranglersThe Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
et al., lead/backing vocals on four tracks) (1982) - Lion of Symmetry (with Tony BanksTony Banks (musician)This article is about the musician. For other people named Tony Banks, see Tony BanksAnthony George "Tony" Banks is a British composer, and multi-instrumentalist, who performs as a keyboardist and a guitarist...
on the album Soundtracks) (1986) - The Lady or the Tiger (with Robert FrippRobert FrippRobert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
) (1986) - Kneeling At The Shrine (with Robert FrippRobert FrippRobert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
, Trey GunnTrey GunnTrey Gunn is an American musician, known for his membership in progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003, playing Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick.-Biography:...
, and Paul Beavis, as Sunday All Over The World) (1991) - Kiss Of Reality (with Kiss Of Reality, lead vocals on six tracks) (1993)
- The Third Star(by Trey GunnTrey GunnTrey Gunn is an American musician, known for his membership in progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003, playing Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick.-Biography:...
, lead vocals on the track Symbiotic) (1996) - Cabaret (with Nigel PlanerNigel PlanerNigel George Planer is an English actor, comedian, novelist and playwright.Planer is perhaps best known for his role as Neil Pye in the cult BBC comedy The Young Ones. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked and Hairspray...
) (1997) - How to Dress Sensibly (with various artists collective created by English EccentricsEnglish EccentricsEnglish Eccentrics is a London-based fashion design label, which creates bespoke one-off designs for celebrities and seasonal collections for a wider audience...
, backing vocals on track One Cup of Tea) (2007) - We Are The HumansWe are the HumansWe Are The Humans is a 2009 studio album by The Humans. It is the debut release by the experimental band formed by singer Toyah Willcox, former REM drummer Bill Rieflin and musician Chris Wong. The band performed their first concerts, previewing the album, in Estonia in October 2007. The album was...
with The HumansThe Humans (band)The Humans are a rock band featuring singer Toyah Willcox, former REM drummer Bill Rieflin and musician Chris Wong. The band have released two studio albums, We Are The Humans and Sugar Rush and have performed live in the UK, Estonia and the USA....
(2009) - This Fragile MomentThis Fragile MomentThis Fragile Moment is a little known album within Toyah Willcox's discography that comprises experimental songs derived largely from live-in-the-studio group improvisations...
Toyah Willcox, Robert Jürjendal, Arvo Urb, Chris Wong and Markus ReuterMarkus ReuterMarkus Reuter is a German musician, composer and record producer, specialising in touch guitar playing and loop music. Recently he has expanded his activities by moving into instrument design.-Biography:...
(2009) - Sugar RushSugar Rush (album)Sugar Rush is a 2011 studio album by The Humans. It is the second full-length release by the experimental band formed by singer Toyah Willcox, former REM drummer Bill Rieflin and musician Chris Wong. The album was released in the USA on 27 September 2011 via The End Records and in the UK/Rest of...
with The HumansThe Humans (band)The Humans are a rock band featuring singer Toyah Willcox, former REM drummer Bill Rieflin and musician Chris Wong. The band have released two studio albums, We Are The Humans and Sugar Rush and have performed live in the UK, Estonia and the USA....
(2011) - Live At Scala London EP with The HumansThe Humans (band)The Humans are a rock band featuring singer Toyah Willcox, former REM drummer Bill Rieflin and musician Chris Wong. The band have released two studio albums, We Are The Humans and Sugar Rush and have performed live in the UK, Estonia and the USA....
(2011) Digital release available with the purchase of Sugar Rush UK CD album
Singles / EPs
- With Toyah (band)Toyah (band)Toyah is the name of the band fronted by Toyah Willcox between 1977 and 1983. The only other consistent band member throughout this period was Joel Bogen, Willcox's principal co-writer and guitarist.-Background :...
:Title Year Highest Chart Date Victims of the Riddle Victims of the Riddle"Victims of the Riddle" was the debut single from the post-punk band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released on July 27, 1979. The single, and its B-side, "Victims of the Riddle " were eventually featured on the LP version of Sheep Farming In Barnet, which was itself an extended reissue...1979 - - Sheep Farming in Barnet EP Sheep Farming In Barnet EPSheep Farming in Barnet was the second single by Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, released in 1979 by Safari Records. Originally released as a 6-track extended EP, dubbed an 'Alternate Play' record by Safari, the single was later expanded into full-album status, including the previous single,...- - Bird in Flight / Tribal Look 1980 - - Ieya IEYA"Ieya" was the fourth UK single from the post-punk band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released in 1980. It was later remixed and re-issued in 1982....- - Danced (Live) Danced (Live)"Danced " is the fifth UK single from the post-punk band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox. Their first and only live single, it was released at the end of 1980....- - Four from Toyah Four from Toyah"Four from Toyah" was the sixth UK single, and second EP by the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released in 1981. It was the first to feature the new band lineup of Willcox, Joel Bogen, Phil Spalding, Nigel Glockler and Adrian Lee. This was the breakthrough single for the band,...
EP1981 4 28 March 1981 I Want to Be Free I Want To Be Free"I Want to Be Free" is the seventh UK single by the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released on 7 May 1981.Backed by an appearance on Top of the Pops, and bolstered by the performance of the previous single, "I Want to Be Free" entered the UK Top Ten with a peak at #8, and helped push...8 16 May 1981 Thunder in the Mountains Thunder in the Mountains"Thunder in the Mountains" is the eighth UK single by the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released in 1981.The single, which was not included on an album at the time, continued the success of previous hits...4 3 October 1981 Four More from Toyah Four More From Toyah"Four More From Toyah" was the ninth UK single, and third EP by the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released at the end of 1981....
EP14 12 December 1981 Brave New World Brave New World (single)"Brave New World" is the tenth UK single by the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released in 1982. It was to be the only single release from The Changeling....1982 21 22 May 1982 Ieya (re-issue) 48 17 July 1982 Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard) Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard)"Be Proud Be Loud " is the twelfth UK single by the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released in 1982.The single, and its B-side were not included on an album at the time, though both would eventually be included on the 2005 reissue of Love Is the Law, while the title track became the...30 9 October 1982 Rebel Run Rebel Run"Rebel Run" is the thirteenth UK single by the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released in September 1983, over a year after the band's previous single. The single reached number 24 on the UK Singles Chart, Spending a total of 5 weeks on the chart. It became 'Toyah's' seventh and...1983 24 24 September 1983 The Vow 50 12 November 1983 - As a solo artist:
Title Year Highest Chart Date "Don't Fall in Love (I Said)" 1985 22 27 April 1985 "Soul Passing Through Soul" 57 29 June 1985 "World in Action" 93 21 September 1985 Echo Beach Echo Beach"Echo Beach" is a song recorded by the Canadian group Martha and the Muffins in 1979. It was released as a single from their album Metro Music in 1980 and won the Juno Award for Single of the Year. It was certified gold in Canada on October 1, 1980, a month after Metro Music achieved gold status...1987 54 25 April 1987 "Moonlight Dancing" - - "Out of the Blue" 1993 - - "Now and Then" 1994 - - "Little Tears of Love" (Limited Release Sold Via Concerts) 2002 - - "Latex Messiah (Viva La Rebel in You)" (Digital release) 2007 6 (iTunes Rock) 29 October 2007 "21st Century Supersister" (Digital release) 2011 TBC 06 November 2011 - Collaborations:
- "Nine To Five" (with Adam AntAdam AntAdam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...
as Maneaters) (1982) - "Lion of Symmetry" (with Tony Banks) (1985)
- "Killing Made Easy" (with Family of Noise) (2004) (Limited release)
- "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" (with The HumansThe Humans (band)The Humans are a rock band featuring singer Toyah Willcox, former REM drummer Bill Rieflin and musician Chris Wong. The band have released two studio albums, We Are The Humans and Sugar Rush and have performed live in the UK, Estonia and the USA....
) (2009) (Digital release) - "Re-Joyce (In The Bleak Midwinter)" (with The Hazel O'ConnorHazel O'ConnorHazel O'Connor is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of a soldier from Galway who settled in England after World War II to work in a car plant...
Collective) (2010) - "Fallen" (Yomanda feat. Toyah) (2011) Digital release - reached #15 on iTunes Electronic Chart
- "Nine To Five" (with Adam Ant
Filmography
- JubileeJubilee (1977 film)Jubilee is a 1977 cult film directed by Derek Jarman. It stars Jenny Runacre, Ian Charleson, and a host of punk rockers. The title refers to the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977.-Plot:...
(1977) Mad - The Corn is GreenThe Corn is Green (1979 film)The Corn Is Green is a 1979 television drama film starring Katharine Hepburn as a schoolteacher determined to bring education to a Welsh coal mining town, despite great opposition. It was directed by George Cukor, the tenth and last collaboration on film between the director and the actress, and is...
(1979) Bessie Watty - The Tempest (1979) Miranda
- QuadropheniaQuadrophenia (film)Quadrophenia is a 1979 British film, loosely based around the 1973 rock opera of the same name by The Who. The film stars Phil Daniels as a Mod named Jimmy. It was directed by Franc Roddam in his feature directing debut...
(1979) Monkey - The Ebony TowerThe Ebony TowerThe Ebony Tower by John Fowles is a collection of five short novels with interlacing themes, built around a medieval myth: The Ebony Tower, Eliduc, Poor Koko, The Enigma and The Cloud.-The Ebony Tower:...
(1984) Anne - AnchoressAnchoress (film)Anchoress is a 1993 British drama film directed by Chris Newby. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival....
(1993) Pauline Carpenter - Julie and the Cadillacs (1999) Barbara Gifford
- The Most Fertile Man in Ireland (1999) Dr Johnson
- The Power of Three (2011) Michelle
TV appearances
- QuatermassQuatermass (TV serial)Quatermass is a British television science fiction serial produced by Euston Films for Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network in October and November 1979. Like its three predecessors, Quatermass was written by Nigel Kneale...
(1979) Sal - Shoestring (1979)
- MinderMinder (TV series)Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
(1980) - Tales of the UnexpectedTales of the Unexpected (TV series)Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. Filming began in 1978.The series was an anthology of different tales...
(1982) Marigold - Blue Marigold episode - Dear Heart A BBC comedy sketch series Toyah appeared in, playing a number of characters, including Super Advice Person, Jules Says, and Gina & Tina (1982)
- The Ebony TowerThe Ebony TowerThe Ebony Tower by John Fowles is a collection of five short novels with interlacing themes, built around a medieval myth: The Ebony Tower, Eliduc, Poor Koko, The Enigma and The Cloud.-The Ebony Tower:...
(1983) Anne (The Freak) - with Laurence OlivierLaurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright... - Pop Quiz Christmas Special (1984)
- French & SaundersFrench & SaundersFrench and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television show written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act....
(1988) Herself - Boudicca (1988)
- Cluedo (1990) Miss Scarlet (An ITV Programme)
- First Night on TV (1992) (Toyah hosted this arts programme)
- Thirty Years in the TARDIS (Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
Documentary. VHS release AKA "More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS) (1993) Herself - The Ink ThiefThe Ink ThiefThe Ink Thief is a 1994 British children's TV show, shown on the ITV channel during their CITV segment. It starred Richard O'Brien and Toyah Wilcox. The series was produced by Animus Entertainment for Tyne Tees Television.-Plot summary:...
(1994) "Dog" - Kavanagh QC (1995)
- The Good Sex Guide Late (1996)
- Presenting...Toyah on VH1 (1997)
- Light Lunch" (1997)
- Boys From The Black Country - The Slade Story (1998) (Toyah presents this programme)
- Never Mind The Buzzcocks (various appearances 1998-2005)
- It's Slade (1999) (Toyah appears in this documentary)
- Barmy Aunt BoomerangBarmy Aunt BoomerangBarmy Aunt Boomerang was a children's comedy series which aired on BBC1 in the UK from 16 September 1999 to 14 December 2000. Sebastian's world is turned upside down by the arrival of his unconventional Australian aunt Boomerang...
(1999) - Rock Legends (2002) (Herself)
- Open House Panto Special (2002)
- QueenMania" (2005) (Toyah performs the Queen song 'Don't Stop Me Now")
- Proud Parents. Channel 4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
(2006) Herself - Secret Diary of a Call GirlSecret Diary of a Call GirlSecret Diary of a Call Girl is a British television drama broadcast on ITV2 from 2007-2011 based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous "Belle de Jour," starring Billie Piper as Belle, a high-class London call girl. The series was written by Lucy Prebble, who is also known as the author of The...
(2007) - In Your Dreams (2008) Herself
- Living With The Dead (2008)
- Celebrity Mastermind (2008)
- Psychic Therapy (2009) Herself
- Celeb Experiences (2009) Herself
- Hole In The Wall (2009) Herself
- Celebrity Brides Unveiled (2008) Herself
- Celebrity Life Skills (2009) Herself
- The One Show (2009) Toyah discusses Marc Bolan and his influence on her
- CasualtyCasualty (TV series)Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
, BBC TV Series, Season 24 Episode 6, guest appearance, Hazel Tillier, (screened 10 October 2009) - Celebrity Ready Steady Cook Christmas Special (2008) Herself
- "Celebrity Ghost Story UK" - herself, telling the audience of her personal experiences with the paranormal, including a ghost maid, the devil, and a haunted house.
Toyah has also appeared in many shows looking back on popular culture, including the 'I'm a celebrity' series, and various 'Top 100 favourite' shows.
Music videos
- Toyah at the Rainbow (1981) (live recording from Rainbow Theatre)
- Good Morning Universe (1982) (live BBC recording from Theatre Royal, Drury Lane)
- Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! (1984) (companion to K-tel LP of same name; compilation of four pop videos and one live track)
- Wild Essence - Live in the 21st Century (2005) (live recording)
Other music compilations
- Urgh! A Music WarUrgh! A Music WarUrgh! A Music War is a British film released in 1982 featuring performances by punk rock, New Wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980. Among the artists featured in the movie are Magazine, The Go-Go's, The Fleshtones, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, XTC, Devo, The Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Dead...
(1981) (live performances by various artists, featuring Toyah's Danced)