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Toyah Willcox

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Toyah Willcox

Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958 in Kings Heath, Birmingham) is an English actress and singer. She currently lives in Pershore, Worcestershire, UK, with her husband Robert Fripp.

Career

Toyah Willcox trained as an actress at the Old Rep Drama School in her home town of Birmingham and first became well-known during the punk rock era, her appearances in Derek Jarman's 1977 film Jubilee and 1979's Who album-inspired Quadrophenia launching her as a provocative and anti-establishment figure, an image she eventually abandoned.

File:Toyah brave.jpg
Toyah was well-known during the punk rock era, such as in this 1982 video for "Brave New World".

Fronting a band known as Toyah, her singing career was slow to take off and the band released six singles in the UK before finally hitting the charts in 1981, with "It's A Mystery" and "I Want To Be Free". In 1983, she was voted Best Female Singer at the British Rock and Pop Awards — since restyled as The BRIT Awards, or "BRITs" — and in 1986 she married UK guitarist Robert Fripp. She was one of the first acts to score regularly in the UK Singles Chart with EPs. Also in 1986, Willcox sang lead on the Tony Banks track "Lion of Symmetry". However her chart career was short lived, only four singles made the UK top twenty, and by 1987 she could only just scrape into the top fifty with her version of Echo Beach.

Since then, she has become a well-known (and more conventional) face on television and in theatre. She has played straight roles, including in Quatermass (1979) and in Shakespeare plays, and appeared as a presenter of programmes such as Songs of Praise, Holiday (BBC), and Good Sex Guide Late as well as being a guest panellist on several shows. In 1984 she starred opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in The Ebony Tower.

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!.

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 Facelift.

She has been heard on radio including the 2002 BBC Radio 4 series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In December 2006 she joined the radio drama series Silver Street on the BBC Asian Network as Siobhan Brady.

She continues to perform with her band, releasing a live DVD in 2005, and has a busy schedule with theatre commitments, including appearing on stage in London's West End performing the title role of Calamity Jane at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 2003.

In 2007 she collaborated with Bill Rieflin as The Humans for live dates in Estonia. Previews of this material can be heard at "The Humans Myspace page"..

Toyah is writing, recording and co-producing new solo material with long-term collaborator Simon Darlow. A preview of one of these songs, "Latex Messiah" can be heard at Toyah's official MySpace page as well as clips of new songs "Lesser God" and "Heal Ourselves". Toyah is currently negotiating a worldwide publishing deal with Zomba

"Latex Messiah" is scheduled to be released as a single on October 29th 2007; the associated album, In The Court Of The Crimson Queen, is scheduled for release in Spring 2008.

In November 2007 Toyah took on the role of 'sponsoring' the Black Country Urban Park for the [£50M BIG Lottery].

Discography

Albums

With Toyah (band)

Title Year Highest Chart[1] Date
Sheep Farming In Barnet 1979 - -
The Blue Meaning 1980 40 14th June 1980
Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! (live) 1980 22 (certified Silver) 17th January 1981
Anthem 1981 2 (certified Gold) 20th May 1981
The Changeling 1982 6 (certified Silver) ?
Warrior Rock: Toyah On Tour 1982 20 ?
Love Is The Law 1983 28 ?
Mayhem[2] 1985 - -

As a solo artist

Compilations

With Toyah (band):

  • Toyah! Toyah! Toyah![3] (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)

Collaborations

Reissues

With Toyah (band):

As a solo artist:

Singles / EPs

Collaborations:
  • "Nine To Five" (with Adam Ant as Maneaters) (1982)[4]
  • "Lion of Symmetry" (EP with Tony Banks) (1985)
  • "Killing Made Easy" (limited release with Family of Noise) (2004)
With Toyah (band):
Title Year Highest Chart[5] Date
Victims Of The Riddle 1979 - -
Sheep Farming In Barnet EP (AP) (1979) 1979 - -
Bird In Flight/Tribal Look 1980 - -
IEYA 1980 - -
Danced (Live) 1980 - -
Four From Toyah EP 1981 4 28th March 1981
I Want To Be Free 1981 8 16th May 1981
Thunder In The Mountains 1981 4 3rd October 1981
Four More From Toyah EP 1981 14 12th December 1981
Brave New World (single) 1982 21 22nd May 1982
Ieya '82 1982 48 17th July 1982
Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard) 1982 30 9th October 1982
Rebel Run 1983 24 24th September 1983
The Vow 1983 50 12th November 1983
As a solo artist:
Title Year Highest Chart[6] Date
"Don't Fall In Love (I Said)" 1985 22 27th April 1985
"Soul Passing Through Soul" 1985 57 29th June 1985
"World In Action" 1985 93 21st September 1985
Echo Beach 1987 54 25th April 1987
"Moonlight Dancing" 1987 - -
"Out Of The Blue" 1993 - -
"Now And Then" 1994 - -
"Little Tears Of Love" (limited release) 2002 - -
"Latex Messiah (Viva La Rebel in You)" (Digital release)> 2007 - 29 October 2007

Filmography

TV Appearances

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

Notes

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ collection of unreleased & archive material
  3. ^ Also known as Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! All The Hits. This K-tel release is sometimes confused with the earlier 1980 live album of the same name but it contains different material: it's a compilation of various studio-recorded singles-chart hits and other tracks originally released between 1979 and 1983.
  4. ^ Released as cash-in single. Originally appeared on the Jubilee Original Soundtrack album.
  5. ^ [2]
  6. ^ [3]
  7. ^ TV Easy magazine, Issue 22-28th Sept, page 4

References

  • Astley, Craig (2000 - 2006). "Official Toyah Willcox Web Site, The". {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Evans, Gayna (July 1982). Toyah. Proteus. ISBN 0-86276-102-6.
  • Gilligan, Bev & Driscol, Margarette (1982). Official Toyah Special, The. Grandreams ltd. ISBN 0-86227-071-5. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Roberts, David (23 May 2003). British Hit Singles (16th Edition). Guinness World Records ltd. ISBN 0-85112-190-X. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • West, Mike (April 1982). Toyah. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-0062-0.
  • Willcox, Toyah (17 August 2000). Living Out Loud. Hodder & Stoughton ltd. ISBN 0-340-74570-3. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Willcox, Toyah (17 March 2005). Diary of a Facelift. Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN 1-84317-135-X. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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