News & New In The Archive


Celebrating The Best Of Toyah

Toyah has announced two special shows in
London and Coventry in October 2025

Tickets are available to book now

London
Coventry

Minx , Desire and Prostitute Pic Discs
Plus Deluxe 2CD Editions

Edsel/Demon Records are releasing Limited Edition Picture Discs of Minx (1985), Desire (1987) and Prostitute (1988) and expanded deluxe 2CD editions of Desire and Prostitute on 6.6.2025

Pre-orders are open now

MINX pic disc
Desire pic disc
Desire Deluxe CD from Amazon
Desire Deluxe CD from Townsend Music
Prostitute pic disc
Prostitute Deluxe CD from Amazon
Prostitute Deluxe CD from Townsend Music

The 2024 Minx Deluxe Packaging 2-Disc
edition is also available from

Townsend and
Amazon

More more details visit Official Toyah

New Limited

Edition T-shirts

Two brand new limited edition Official Toyah T-Shirts are available to order now. They feature illustrations celebrating Toyah’s Minx and Blue Meaning eras. They available only until 30.4.2025 so get yours now!

Order HERE

Sheep Farming and
Blue Meaning Picture Discs

Two limited edition picture discs of the 1980 Toyah albums Sheep Faming In Barnet and The Blue Meaning were released 21.3.2025 to mark each album's
45th anniversary

Order Sheep from Cherry Red HERE
and Blue Meaning HERE

NEW INTERVIEWS

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND 13.2.2025
LOVE YOUR WEEKEND, ITV 23.11.2024
TOYAH TALKS LOVE IS THE LAW 2024
TOYAH TALKS THE CHANGELING 2023
E4 THE LATE EDITION 24.3.2005
BBC1 LIFE AND TIMES 2000
KENNY LIVE, RTÉ, IRELAND 12.11.1994
ITV THIS MORNING April 1994
ITV THIS MORNING September 1992
ITV HTV WEST RECOLLECTIONS October 1987
SUMMER SUNDAY ITV TV-AM 19.7.1987
PEPSI LIVE! April 1987
BBC BREAKFAST TIME 1.4.1987
BBC1 WOGAN With Sue Lawley 16.4.1986
BBC BREAKFAST TIME June 1985
BBC PEBBLE MILL AT ONE 29.4.1985
SKY TRAX April 1985
BBC BREAKFAST TIME September 1983
HARTY, BBC1 16.11.1983
BBC GET SET, TRAFFORD TANZI SPECIAL 23.4.1983
BBC 1 BREAKFAST TIME 28.3.1983
SOUNDCHECK Issue 1, 1983
GET SET FOR SUMMER, BBC1 July 1982
COUNTDOWN AUSTRALIA 4.4.1982
SUOSIKKI, FINLAND December 1981
PARKINSON, BBC1 October 1981
TISWAS 26.9.1981
ATV TODAY May 1981
TISWAS 14.3.1981
BACK ISSUE FANZINE 1980

Check out all the new stuff on our sister page HERE 

TOYAH ON
BBC GET SET
TRAFFORD TANZI SPECIAL
WITH PETER POWELL
23.4.1983

PETER POWELL: (Toyah comes running in, they're in the wrestling ring where the play takes place) Tanzi! Otherwise known as Toyah. Take a seat. Or can we?

TOYAH: Oh, yes. A bit pagan here (sits on the floor)

PETER: One of these corners will do, I think. Not the kind of surroundings I expect to see you in, really, Toyah

TOYAH: It's wonderful though, isn't it? It's great

PETER: Love the gear you're wearing as well

TOYAH: It's kind of hunky (laughs)

PETER: Is this all part of the “Trafford Tanzi” look then?

TOYAH: Well yes, it's based in the wrestling ring. We're surrounded by the audience, so in a way you're trapped. It's like being in a cage. It's very cartoonish, the outfit, but it is based on a proper wrestling outfit

You've got to be able to move, and must have no restrictions. This cloak is just for show when you walk into the ring posing


PETER: What's the story then?

TOYAH: It's about the life of a girl from the time she's a baby to when she gets married. It's a feminist play. It's about how this girl suffers through the people around her, and she's a very innocent person. She gets beaten up. It's a comedy though (laughs). She gets married and the husband has an affair and that's the turning point in her life

She turns around says "right, I'm going to show you how independent I can be. I'll become come a wrestler". She becomes a wrestler and she becomes a champion. In the end she has a domestic argument with her husband and takes him on. She says "I'm going to fight you and I'm going to beat you". And that's what the play's about. It's building up to that big end sequence

PETER: Your husband is "Dean Rebel", who's gear I'm wearing at the moment, isn't it? When I came to see the play, which I thoroughly enjoyed - I've got to be honest - the whole place is in stitches, because there's a lot of comedy involved in it. I know there's an awful lot of Toyah fans there

TOYAH: They're wonderful! And of course they always scream for me, which is sometimes little embarrassing. The men are supposed to scream for "Rebel", and the women are supposed to scream for me. But it is an audience participation play, very much so. If the audience is quiet it drives you bonkers to do the play

But the fans have been great because they haven't shouted my name. They always shout “Tanzi!”. A big fear was you're going hear a lot of "Toyah! Toyah"!" but we haven't. It's been great

PETER: It's a very rough play, though, isn't it?

TOYAH: Yes but we've all been trained. We trained for two weeks but I'm not saying that we've become (to have) professional standards, but we've learned how to protect each other. Even though we look as though we're hurting each other, we're all responsible for each other's safety

We had a judo champion in called Howard Leicester, who put us through our paces for two weeks. And we had Mitzi Mueller in - who really is what I'm supposed to be, the European ladies champion. She came in and she was wonderful and she really threw us about. It was great


PETER: You're having to keep fit though?

TOYAH: Very fit

PETER: Very extensive training for yourself

TOYAH: Well, now the play is running that keeps us fit in itself, because it's three hours of solid running about. But when we were training, we were jogging every morning. We used to go jogging between nine and ten. Then we'd do wrestling for about eight hours, and in between that we had to play volleyball as well

PETER: Debbie Harry is doing your part in America

TOYAH: Yes, on Broadway! Lucky devil (laughs)

PETER: So when you finish wrestling - when you get out of the ring ... what happens next when the production closes?

TOYAH: At the moment I'm making an album in the daytime

PETER: So new music's not forgotten?

TOYAH: Oh gosh, no!

PETER: Everyone who has written in (has asked about it) -

TOYAH: In a way doing this play is using up all my physical energy, which there's too much of anyway. So by time I finish this play, which is 10 in the evening, I go and work on the album till six in the morning. My mind is ready to do the album - I've sort of got all of the tension out in the system

That's going really well. We go on tour in August. We're going to do England, going to do Europe, and then we're off to America. We'll be on tour until December

PETER: Great! So we're going to be able to see when you finish wrestling?

TOYAH: Oh, yeah!

PETER: Lovely


TOYAH: I'm afraid so

PETER: No, everyone wants to see you, I assure you. So listen, show us what you're made of (they get up)

TOYAH: OK

PETER: It's been a great pleasure interviewing you, Toyah (takes her by the hand and throws her around the ring with her ending face down on the floor. Peter puts his foot on her back)

You know, she does 10 three minute rounds of that, and she still sings a song at the end of it. And don't you go writing in to complain about my mistreatment (Toyah lifts her head up as to say “please do”. I'll see you next month

Watch the interview HERE

TOYAH ON
ITV HTV WEST
RECOLLECTIONS
WITH MARY PARKINSON
OCTOBER 1987

MARY PARKINSON: Hello and welcome to “Recollections”. My guest today has among her keepsakes a Victorian toy, a pair of platform sole shoes and a lucky charm bracelet. Once hailed as the "thinking man's punk" she's the talented singer and actress Toyah Willcox

TOYAH: Hello!

MARY: Toyah, not many of my guests have brought their underwear along, so I'm sure there's a good story about that pair of red knickers

TOYAH: Well, I haven't brought them along out of any form of disrespect, but when I was making “The Ebony Tower” (1984), it was a great laughing matter that throughout the whole of the film I had to wear red underwear. I got on very well with the makeup department, two wonderful ladies who became very close friends

At the end of shoot party they both very coyly came up to me and said “we bought you a little present” and it was in a tiny little package. I unwrapped it and there they were! (Mary laughs) Far too small for me to wear because I have generous English measurements, but it's lovely because it's from a French Marks and Spencer's

MARY: In fact it's a memorable film because you worked with Sir Laurence Olivier (below with Toyah)

TOYAH: Very memorable, yeah

MARY: Do you remember the first time you ever met him?

TOYAH: Yes, I was in the Granada (TV) buildings. I passed the audition and it was the first read through. This very charming elderly gentleman came up to me and asked me where the gents (toilet) was

I suddenly realised it was him. So I guided him to the gents and then I went to find the rehearsal room. We officially met over the script, as it were, and he was charming. Absolutely wonderful

MARY: Were you quite nervous at the idea, though, of working with such a great actor? Did it worry you?

TOYAH: I think I was more nervous about working with the media of film. I'd just come off stage from doing a season with “Trafford Tanzi” about female wrestlers.  I'd lost all my feminine grace and I was very very worried about working on film

On film your acting can be quite minute and on stage you're huge. I was more worried about coming down to that level. With Lord Olivier there was never any problems because he makes you instantly at ease. He's a born charmer


MARY: But nevertheless you actually had to strip. I mean most of the film you were sort of semi-naked. Did that worry you a bit?

TOYAH: Oh, it worried me totally. Because even though you're in character ego wise you're very aware of all the things that you feel insecure about. So yes, it was nerve-racking. But on the first day the director stripped too, which was so hysterical (Mary laughs) we asked him to put his clothes back on

When it came down to the big strip, Lord Olivier was great. He was very charming. He looked straight out when he talked to you. He talked to you sideways, and was full of discretion. But it's not something I'd like to make a career out of because I don't feel confident like that. And people remember you for that rather than for the quality of your work

MARY: You've been acting a long time. And in fact, some years ago, you acted with Katharine Hepburn - another great actress. What were your sort of lasting impressions of her?

TOYAH: I felt very safe with her. I had very bad knowledge of camera technique when I made “The Corn Is Green” (1979) She gave me lots of advice about performing to the camera but ignoring the camera at the same time, which is so valuable to a 19 year old - which I was then

MARY: So you were lucky actually to have that chance to do it. In fact, your next little item is to do with luck, because it's a lucky charm bracelet. What's the story behind that?

TOYAH: I find this a slightly melancholy story. I was with my mum (below with Toyah), I was about seven years old and she was going through the attic. She got out this suitcase full of clothes and in among the clothes was this little charm bracelet. It's silver. I don't know how old it is

She said it was hers, but I've suddenly realised that there's a Taurus symbol on it. I'm a Taurus, my brother's a Taurus. My mother's a Libra. So I don't know whether it's hers or her mother's or what because my mother has never talked about her family. I think she lost her family when she was quite young

So I said to mom “I love it”, because it was glittery and I didn't have any jewellery at all. She said I could have it. The most influential part of this is that it has a sphinx on it. I've always, from as far back as I can remember, been in love with Egypt and Egyptology. So it meant a lot to me

MARY: Your mother was rather mysterious about her family. Did that make her a rather remote figure for you?


TOYAH: In childhood we were very close. I wasn't a very well child. I was born with a few physical defects and I depended on my mother a lot. I had to literally learn how to walk, learn how to speak, and learn how to read. It was all very, very slow. I was always ill in the stomach. I couldn't digest food very well

So I was totally physically and emotionally dependent on my mother so we were very close. Then one day I woke up and I suddenly realised that there's a big world out there and I want to be a part of that world. I grew away from the family background

MARY: What about your father? Because you have a little Victorian toy there that reminds you of him

TOYAH: I love this. My father and my mother were very into antiques. I went into a junk shop with my father and found this. I must say I'm not sure whether I was with mum or dad when I found this, but I always relate this to my father

For me this sums up Christmas and the security of Christmas. The fire burning and all those safe feelings that a family gives you. I don't know what it is. I don't know where it comes from. It's a little bird on a stone

MARY: Was he very supportive with you during the difficult times?

TOYAH: He was a disciplinarian, but at the same time he was the most anarchic person I've ever known. High moral standards, but at the same time broke every rule that irritated me. When it came down to going to school and keeping those rules. Like indoor and outdoor shoes and changing knickers after gym, all that. My father wasn't interested in that. He was more interested in the worldly vision I had inside me of being part of the world

MARY: You've got couple more things from your childhood. The little tiny locket

TOYAH: This is the first thing I ever bought with my pocket money. It's a tiny gold locket. It was 12 and six (12 shillings and six pence) I saved up my pocket money I think for a year. Mum took me into the jewellers and I said “Oh, I want that”

It opens up and inside it I keep a little ball of fur from a rabbit I had. The rabbit was called Snowy and it was my best friend for two years. I didn't let anyone near this rabbit. In the morning I'd get up and he'd be in the garden. I'd call him and he'd come into the house, up the stairs and get in bed with me until mum chucked us out. I have a little picture of him. It's a terribly grubby transparency

MARY: This is the tiddly little Toyah. It's a very old little picture

TOYAH: It suffered many toffee sticky fingers

MARY: So you kept it all the way through

TOYAH: Snowy was such a friend and he was a relationship with an animal that some old women have with their dogs. It's something that you never let go of. He actually bit anyone that came near me. I was the only one that could go near him, (we were) very close


MARY: What about school then? I mean if you were sort of thinking, well, there's a big world out there. You were not very successful at school?

TOYAH: No. What I didn't like about school was the laws of femininity that were being put upon me. You had to learn to knit and had to learn to sew because one day you'll have babies. I never felt I'd have children and I never felt that I'd get married early. I always wanted to have a career. Because I wanted to act and sing I was thought of as a bit of a loser because these weren't careers. These were dreams

MARY: Were you a bit of a rebel? Were you naughty at school?

TOYAH: I was absolutely awful. I was dyslexic and very slow. At one point I was almost genius at mathematics, which is quite common in dyslexia, but by the time I was 11 that started to fade pretty quickly. No one could understand me. No one got on with me. It was purely my own fault. I disliked any petty rules, such as you can't go through that door or you have to go through that door

MARY: You were thrown out of the art class. Was that deliberate on your part?

TOYAH: I can show you why I thrown out the art class. I only wanted to draw gravestones or things like this. I had an absolute obsession with death, which I think is very much part of the growing up. This is one of my first drawings of my view of the world

It was a dome. I called it the dome. I carried on drawing science fiction type things - things that carried on into my my working life as a singer because I found it all very important for my image

MARY: You had difficulty - in fact you were dyslexic?

TOYAH: Yes. It made my mind very visual because I couldn't think in letters or numbers. I thought in images. So my mind was very creative on that level. In fact I've got a poem here that isn't part of the vocabulary I made up, but I used it on an album that became a platinum album ("Anthem", 1981) It's called “The Journey”, so I'll quickly read it to you. Can you bear it?

MARY: Yes, I can

TOYAH: I was 12 when I wrote this, and it goes

“We scan their skies with stardust eyes
and kiss their rainbow mind
So we jumped right down and played the
clown to their glittering kind
They clapped and cheered, it was mighty weird
but we have to go home
So we went back to the ship for our cosmic trip
right through their dome
On through the skies, we tell no lies, we were
all upon our own”

I had this obsession about aliens and being alien


MARY: That came in through your career afterwards?

TOYAH: Yes

MARY: Part of this sort of rebellion actually came out into your clothes, because you then started to wear outrageous clothes as well. We've got these extraordinary shoes. I mean I used to wear platform shoes but -

TOYAH: I think these are a work of art

MARY: What's the story behind these?

TOYAH: When I was 12 I started wearing platform shoes, much to the dismay of my family. I'm small. I'm 4"11 so when the platforms came in, it meant the world to me. Boys started looking at me. By the time I was 14 my tastes had become more exotic. These are made out of wood and leather, and they're studded. These were my best (shoes)

MARY: Was it possible to wear them?!

TOYAH: Well, yes. It's an art form to wear a platform shoe. You have to have very strong ankles and very good balance. After two years I could dance and run in these

MARY: So you used to go out in those?

TOYAH: I used to go to the disco in them. I was the envy of the whole of Birmingham that I could wear these. Most of my girlfriends thought I was utterly mad and it was quite justified - they were very envious that I could actually get away with wearing these. They suited my personality. I danced all evening. I'd go to a disco from six till about midnight and not stop dancing and wear these at the same time

MARY: What did your parents think? I mean they sent you to this rather good school and so on

TOYAH: They were very dismayed. By that time I was quite weird. I was always wearing black. I started dying my hair secretly. I had a kind of blue black color, a pointed fringe, pointed sides, and a shaved head at the back so I looked like Dr Spock (in "Star Trek")

By this time my mother, at one point - it was rumored - had a word with the Samaritans about me (Mary laughs). I was very, very insular. I'd lock myself in my room. I ate on my own. I cooked my own food and had to be left alone

MARY: Extraordinary. You were quite young in the 60's, so you weren't actually part of the people that were flashing around and enjoying the 60's but you were growing up. Were you aware of the 60's?

TOYAH: Oh, yes, because my sister (Nicola, below with Toyah) was eight years older than me. My brother was five years older than me. It was wonderful to witness my sister being a part of the 60's and my parents rebelling against the 60's. I was about nine just witnessing the mini skirts and the sexual revolution

My brother used to smuggle me into midnight movies in Worcester. We'd go at the weekends. 12 o'clock the cinemas would show late night movies - they were soft porn. I used to go with all his friends. They drove around in army Jeeps

So at two in the morning we'd come out of the cinema. I'd be drunk because alcohol would pass around quite freely. We'd go off, and we'd drive around the chalk pits at Breedon Hill in these Jeeps, having a wild time till the sun came up


MARY: So you didn't miss the 60's at all?

TOYAH: No. Then I'd go back to bed and mum would wake me up at 10 thinking I've been in all night - and I had a hangover

MARY: Who were your pop heroes then?

TOYAH: Marc Bolan was my first one. I think what I recognised in him was the visual aspect. Vision always meant a lot to me. The glitter teardrop he had, the corkscrew hair, the platforms he wore. The songs he wrote influenced me greatly. They were all about this planet called "Rarn"

MARY: How did you actually get into pop then yourself?

TOYAH: I was at the National Theater. I was 18 and I joined the National Theater Company for nine months and formed the band when I was there. Coming from Birmingham I was very naive. London terrified me. I knew nothing. But my naivety carried me through, because it gave me a braveness

I wasn't sensitive to bitchery and to people digging the dagger in your back, which is very commonplace when you're a newcomer in the industry. So I just plowed straight into a room and said, "oh, I heard you play guitar. Come and write with me." It was literally as simple as that

MARY: You brought with you a selection of your costumes. Did you know what you wanted and did you help design them?

TOYAH: It's interesting. My main designer was Melissa Caplan. I met her at a party. I didn't know who she was and she didn't know who I was. I said, “I'm looking for a type of costume that is made by hand, designed in the mind, but depicts childhood”, I suppose. She came up with this one (below). This is one of her first ones. I'll hold it against me

It's hand-painted cotton because cotton lasts. I was going on the road for years at the time and it had to last on stage with kids pulling it apart. This goes over a black dress. I view this as as a piece of jewellery because it is an accessory. It's based on the Egyptian theme again, all the serpents and the snakes and things. She also did this one, which I wore on stage. Again, this is hand-painted suede with gold studs. That's a jacket

MARY: Beautiful!

TOYAH: She was very good at that

MARY: You often get the feeling that stage clothes look great in the light, but don't bear looking at close up. That's absolutely gorgeous

TOYAH: Also they're one-offs, which is very important. Now, this one isn't Melissa Caplan. This is an Italian designer. It's hand signed. I'm not very into extravagance. These came from the simplicity of Melissa's mind - she's very intelligent. But it was for free

MARY: I understand, yes


TOYAH: She didn't charge hundreds of thousands of pounds to make them. She created them and enjoyed creating them. This was £500 pounds and I thought it was extortionate. It's a neck scarf and it is very beautiful

MARY: That is beautiful

TOYAH: So I treated myself to that. But I treasure Melissa's more than anything in the world because of the heart that they came from. I'll show this one next. This is a rubber dress. This came from a young designer I found in Hyper Hyper (at Kensington Market). It's latex rubber and you wear it like a glove. It's incredibly tight

It takes two people to zip you in, and you can't wear anything underneath. Once you put it on you polish it with Mr. Sheen (furniture polish) and it becomes very glass like - like black water and it reflects everything. The only problem is when you get hot you sweat and then it slides off - which happened to me in Germany two years ago, much to the joy of - (Mary laughs)

MARY: Would you wear that with the big boots?

TOYAH: Yes, these thigh boots. I've got lousy short legs so thigh boots are my saving grace. I wear those on stage most of the time. The heel's very important to me. I've learned how to run and dance in them, you know - the usual story

This one is one of my designs. I had this design (made) for (a concert at) Hammersmith Odeon. I call it the "Picasso print". I wanted something that when we opened on stage the spotlight could be on this - on me, and then the spotlight grew, and there we were (all) standing there. This is hand-painted cotton

MARY: So really it's a combination of the actual designs and the effect on stage and so on

TOYAH: I think image, fashion and music go hand in hand. Another piece I'd like to show you is this

MARY: It's like a baseball mask

TOYAH: It's based on the skeletal structure of a baseball helmet. I had a suit of armor made out of red perspex (below) with huge shoulders that I wore on (the "Rebel Run", 1983) video and on stage. This is a headdress. Because I was shooting the video so quickly the designer Simon had to have it cast in bronze because it's the only way he could get it to me overnight. So this is actually a bronze (piece). Then on the road later I had a replica made in chrome with the microphone in the jaw piece

MARY: When you're on stage and you're in your black shiny dress and your high heel shoes - it's a very sort of sexy, brash Queen of Punk (look) and all that. Do you feel very powerful when you're whipping that audience up into a frenzy?


TOYAH: These costumes are symbols of power. I think that there is a part of femininity that is very symbolic of power. It can go against you. There's a story when I played in Bath. I think it was 1979 and the National Front used to recruit at our gigs because my band was Jewish and it would send us into a kind of war with them

We whipped this Bath audience up into a frenzy. There was about 5000 people in this hall, and they were Sieg Heiling (doing the Nazi salute) at us. I couldn't get the band to carry on playing because they just didn't want to know. So my guitarist went in and was fighting away. I went in to save him. In the end the National Front gang disappeared and we carried on with the gig

Then we realised they'd gone off to get the rest of the National Front in the area who were by this time surrounding the building. The police had to come and get us out. We crawled out of the loo window. But that's the negative side of it all

MARY: Do you feel a bit responsible, though, for -

TOYAH: Oh, you have a huge responsibility. You are setting an example within your life to these people. You're doing something that they probably would desire to do too. You have to keep standards. You have to set an example. Undoubtedly

MARY: As you say there is another side to the fans - we've got some lovely things here that the fans have sent you. You have some rings -

TOYAH: These I wore all the time. I don't wear them so much now. These are a symbol to my fans of me - as well as the ankh, the Egyptian cross. Tiny thing I have there (shows her ankh earring). These are eye rings. They're made out of glass eyes set in silver. Most of my fans wear these. It's a standard uniform. I see this as the third eye. It's the all seeing eye. It's the eye of that sees creation and is creative

Some people say it sees evil and wards off evil. This is intriguing. This came in a hollow book from a princess in Saudi Arabia who bought all my albums, but because of the Saudi Arabian laws she wasn't allowed to tell anyone. It's a gold ring. I don't know what the stones are. They're blue and red. Very beautiful. She said (in her letter) “please don't write back to me because the palace would be annoyed”

I checked her out and it was genuine. She was a genuine princess. (This is a) little Toyah ring from a very loyal fan. Also, I'd like to tell you about this. The diamond in this (ring) was left for me at the stage door at the Mermaid Theatre by an anonymous man who said, “thank you for everything you've done for me. Your work has kept me going”

MARY: “Thank you very much, (signed) Anonymous Man”

TOYAH: It's a diamond so I had that made into a ring

MARY: (the next item) Now that's beautiful!

TOYAH: This is phenomenal. Made by a fan. I think it's based on copper and enamel (below). It's the beetle. I wonder what they call the beetles in Egyptology. Can't remember. But anyway it's Egyptian. I wear it very rarely because it is delicate and I treasure it. It's something I'll keep for the rest of my life because of the workmanship that's gone into this

MARY: Are you really touched by fans who really love you and send you presents? Does it worry you a bit?


TOYAH: At one point it upset me because I didn't feel I was being loyal to what they saw in me. I felt guilt actually, because I'm a private person. In private life I'm quiet. I'm not a rock and roller that goes to wild parties and things like that. I am very much into mythology and the right side of a cult, which is what this represents to me - purely as a hobby

MARY: You said that you're quiet now, but this is the new Toyah, isn't it? In fact there was a stage in your life when you ran away from what you were and that's when you met Robert (Fripp), your husband. What were you running away from? What did you want to get rid of?

TOYAH: I think basically the society I was born into. I don't really believe in class structures. I'd like to see everyone born with equal chances

MARY: Didn't you also want to run away from the lifestyle you were leading?

TOYAH: You mean within the pop world?

MARY: Yes. The pop world – you change your image a lot

TOYAH: Well, it was exhausting. Also you're always on a pedestal. There came a time where I just wanted to scream and be really angry and be foul to everyone. I felt I had no right to be like that. Also because people were seeing me being a little bit godlike when I felt like Joe Public (normal) all the time. It does mess you up in there (points to her head)

MARY: What is the new Toyah? What is it? What have we got now?

TOYAH: (laughs) Well, the new Toyah isn't that new because I still feel very connected with this (the costumes she's brought in). What I do feel at the moment is that it's not appropriate for me to be like this. In 1981 it was appropriate for me to be like that and a time will come when it will be appropriate for me to be like that again

MARY: Now you're enjoying marriage to Robert

TOYAH: Well, we don't see each other that often because of my work. I'm on stage every night in the West End. When I'm not on stage I tend to be working on music. But what I felt was wrong was that I was living this glamorous pop star life when I didn't know music well enough

So now I'm studying music. It's very boring, very academic but I'm studying singing, studying playing the piano and studying dress design. So when I get my band together again I will really know what I'm doing. I won't feel a victim of everyone around me

MARY: Toyah, we've enjoyed you very much indeed and we look forward to all these new things that are going to happen. Thank you very much for joining us today

TOYAH: Thank you

MARY: And thank you for watching. I hope you've enjoyed it. From us all here goodbye

Watch the programme HERE

TOYAH ON
BBC1 BREAKFAST TIME
WITH SELINA SCOTT,
FRANK BOUGH AND
RUSSELL GRANT
28.3.1983

SELINA SCOTT: She has a demanding role which has required her to learn wrestling and as if acting wasn't enough she has her own rock band called Toyah, and many chart successes to her credit 

A clip from the Ulster Hall 8.4.1981 gig plays

SELINA: Strange looking back at three years ago

TOYAH: Cor, a chubby thing

SELINA: You're not

TOYAH: (That was) wonderful. That was in Ireland (below). Great audience. Later that night I fell in into the audience and they ripped my costume to pieces. It was one of my favorite costumes as well

SELINA: Oh, surely you had something left underneath?

TOYAH: Oh, yeah, a sort of dress but they nicked the best bit of it, which is the painted part

SELINA: You're the girl that Terry Wogan has described as "looking like an unmade bed"

TOYAH: Apparently that's supposed to be a compliment

SELINA: Was it?

TOYAH: But my mum's after him for that. That really upsets her

SELINA: These men pass around comments about girls getting up in the morning looking the way they do and really they have no right, have they?

TOYAH: Oh, no. Not at all

FRANK BOUGH: My mum is also after Terry Wogan, who's said nasty things about me

SELINA: What has he said?

FRANK: I can't remember, but he's always knocking me

TOYAH: We should form a society. "Rock Against Wogan" (laughs)

SELINA: I'd love the cameras to pick up the back of your hair because it's fascinating. It looks like little weasel tails, doesn't it? Look!

TOYAH: It's supposed to be like animal skin

SELINA: Why did you go and have that done?

TOYAH: Well, one of my hairdressers called Robert Lobetta was nagging me to grow my natural color back, which is black. One of the only ways to introduce my natural coloring is putting it in the ends as well, so it won't look too bad when the roots grow back

But another reason is it's very animalistic and the part I'm playing at the moment, "Trafford Tanzi", is quite aggressive. I thought it'd be nice if, while she's flying through the air and fighting men, the hair looks like an animal as well. I'm trying to introduce that instinct into the play

SELINA: Do you find that many children follow your style to the letter and will go out and get their hairdressers to do that?

TOYAH: Not so much children because I always advise that young kids should not go about dying their hair. It's not good for you, really. But a lot of teenagers, say, from about 15 upwards kind of copy me

But I think you should create your own look because this is part of my personality. This is part of me. It's not a contrived thing at all


SELINA: But you have a tremendous following and also therefore a tremendous responsibility to the teenagers who are copying you

TOYAH: I'd never encourage anybody to damage themselves in any way. This machine is so important to us all and we must love and respect it

SELINA: OK, Toyah, we'll come back to you. We're going to talk about your new “Trafford Tanzi” play

FRANK: Can I ask you - don't you get doors shut in your face when you appear in places looking like that? You say you don't dye your hair. You once changed your hairstyle and coloring every day for a week. Do some people say "go away, you can't come in here"

TOYAH: Not so much in England. In foreign countries I've actually had harassment from the police because of the way I look. They just think I'm up to no good, which is quite frightening when you're in a country where you can't talk the language and heavies with guns drag you away at an airport. It terrified (me) It's usually because of the way I look

FRANK: You should wear a suit like me. Nobody harrasses me

Later in the programme

SELINA: Toyah Willcox is our guest of the day and she's been listening to you (astrologer RUSSELL GRANT) with rapt attention, haven't you?

TOYAH: Oh, yeah

SELINA: Do you believe the things that Russell says?

TOYAH: Oh, yes but most days I don't even read a horoscope in case it's bad, (then) I'll believe it's bad and things like that

SELINA: Can you guess Toyah's birth sign?

RUSSELL: Well, Taurus – Toyah Taurus! Now that was a faux pas. But it wasn't, actually. I always think that Toyah reminds me of a lump of wholemeal bread

TOYAH: (sarcastically) Nice!

RUSSELL: Well, it is. Secure, a mouthful is all you need because it fills you up. There is this wonderful earthiness about you. So there's no doubt it's Taurus as far as I'm concerned


SELINA: Is that right?

TOYAH: It is

RUSSELL: The security factor, I believe, is important to you simply because there is a need to have that security around you. Do you find that? Especially on material things?

TOYAH: Yes, I find that within this profession I'm in you need the security of knowing that you've got work the next day. I find that's very important. As for emotional security ... I'm quite a jealous person

RUSSELL: It can be a possessive sign

TOYAH: (I have a) terrible temper when it goes. I am definitely the bull in the china shop

FRANK: You hit the nail on the head when you talked about having energetic - I mean, she is an immensely energetic lady

RUSSELL: (There's) a very tremendous amount of power as Taurus. It can go on. It's like a marathon runner of the zodiac. And it's very sensual. It loves to touch (and be) tactile

Very often its relationships are just touching someone without anything else. There is this need to be very close to people. And the loyalty factor -that must be important to you?

TOYAH: Oh yes, I am loyal but I haven't noticed I need to touch people

RUSSELL: The last two and a half years have been a very important transforming time, in fact. Now, Toyah, over the next year you can do your own thing

But I would suggest that come 1984-85 when Saturn begins to oppose your your sun sign, it's a very, very good time then to live off of what you have been doing. So I would build now for 1984-85

SELINA: Yes, I was going to say let's take a look at Toyah acting. She's currently starring in “Trafford Tanzi” at London's Mermaid Theatre

But as though acting isn't demanding enough, she also has her own rock band Toyah and many chart successes to her credit. And here she is now

A selection of music clips play

SELINA: I wonder why you bother acting when you can sing like that


TOYAH: Oh, acting fulfills the soul

SELINA: Does it?

TOYAH: So does music ... I suppose (laughs) I'm just greedy

SELINA: But everyone there was looking at you, reacting with you, being with you

TOYAH: The audiences can be so wonderful. I spark off the audience. I get my energy from the audience reaction

SELINA: What kind of age groups are you talking about?

TOYAH: Everybody. I mean we get we get kids about five. We even had a guy called Raymond who followed us around, who must have been quite near 40. He was quite stunning. They all bop along in the audience. It's lovely to see people enjoying themselves. The atmosphere is great

SELINA: I was wondering if you belong more to the punk cult looking at your hair and your dress and everything

TOYAH: Not really, not anymore. I started off in that field. Punks are very proud people and their music is quite political. My music is based in fantasy, really, and my politics are quite bizarre and quite naive. So I'm not really a serious punk person

SELINA: You just sound so mature too, don't you? (Toyah laughs) We'll come back to you later on

Later in the programme

FRANK: Toyah has been performing prodigious feats of strength on the stage and here in the studio. Hey, show us your muscles

TOYAH: Oh, my mum will kill me. This is what's happened to me in two weeks (rolls up her sleeve and shows her arm muscles)

SELINA: Oh! How did you get that?

TOYAH: Picking up men (laughs)

FRANK: I told you if you said that the press would say "Toyah Willcox picks up men". That's what they do

TOYAH: Right. Right on


FRANK: It must be making you feel terrifically well

TOYAH: Very well indeed

FRANK: I have a vague memory of days when I was fit. You do feel much better

TOYAH: Oh, yeah. I must say the whole cast have been through what I've been through. They're wonderful people to work with. I enjoy it so much. I never like to leave the theatre each night because they're such great people

SELINA: But do they enjoy being jumped on by you? 

TOYAH: We jump on each other. It's wonderful. It's such a good play. It's a brilliant play

FRANK: Does it all take place in the wrestling ring?

TOYAH: Yes, in the round (ring) so that you're surrounded by the audience. But the play carries itself. It's so exciting. It's for the whole family, really. The language is a bit strong here or there -

FRANK: But what does it say? I mean it's a curious allegory, isn't it? To use a wrestling ring?

TOYAH: Well, for me it's about a woman who's so gullible she's taken in by her husband. The husband's having an affair with her best friend and she turns around and says "why should I take this? I'll get you back at your own game"

He's a wrestler so get I him back by wrestling him. Not through strength but through speed and being quick with the brains

FRANK: There's argument wrestling -

TOYAH: She wins. She catches him out because she's quick and he can't get hold of her, as it were

FRANK: You're a very articulate lady and you've packed a tremendous amount into your life so far. You're 24, no more than that. Is that a bit like you? I mean are you argumentative and determined to say things and have a strong point of view about anything?

TOYAH: Only when I'm being used. I hate being used and I hate being lied to. The profession is still a very male profession. The one thing I won't take is having wool pulled over my eyes. I'm not so much argumentative. I stick up for myself rather than remain silent

FRANK: You don't trust people too much, do you?

TOYAH: Oh, I do. I do. But once lied to ... then I don't trust people

Watch the interview HERE

TOYAH ON
ATV TODAY
MAY 1981

HOST: Toyah Willcox has just had a Top 10 hit. She's got another racing up the charts, and is currently on tour. She's not one to mince words, as this clip from a documentary made by ATV now shows

A clip from the Toyah documentary plays. Toyah says touring is very tiring

HOST BOB WARMAN: After all you said, just just a few months ago - here you are. You're back on tour again?

TOYAH: Oh, yes. Well, I always contradict myself. I mean you've got to tour. I think it's so important to prove that you're a real person, that you're flesh and blood. So many female artists - you don't see them on tour. I just think it's very important to prove yourself. That's all

BOB: It's quite interesting what you were just saying on film. Anyone seeing that, I'm sure, would get absolutely the wrong impression

TOYAH: Yes! Nasty me! (laughs) You've got to be tough. I think if you're a woman in a male dominated world, you've got to be slightly better or prove yourself more than the man has to - before a man would accept you on their level

BOB: But do you think we do live in a male dominated world?

TOYAH: At the moment -

BOB: Female monarch, female Prime Minister?

TOYAH: I think in London it's a very sort of unisex type of world. But I think once you get up North, you've still got chauvinism. Chauvinism rules type thing, and I find that a lot on tour. The male audiences become more chauvinistic as you go up North

BOB: But they come to see you, don't they?

TOYAH: Oh yeah. They're all fun

BOB: I'd like to ask you how you arrived at the point that you are now, because you had a very orthodox upbringing in Birmingham. You went to a Church of England School. You left school with, I think, one O Level in music

TOYAH: Yeah, very brainy (they both laugh)

BOB: So does this mean that you always wanted to do what you're doing now?

TOYAH: Oh, totally. I was an incredible dreamer when I was at school. It wasn't exactly the school ('s fault). I was just very bored. I just felt trapped, and I wanted to get out. I wanted to act and sing

I think that the ambition started when I was about nine. I just wanted to escape, really. I had a very strict upbringing, which sort of made me want to be zany and rebel and things like that

BOB: Well, you're certainly not afraid of work, are you? Do do a fantastic amount of work

TOYAH: I love it. It's great fun

BOB: Would you prefer acting or singing?


TOYAH: Oh, I've got to do both. I like both for totally different reasons. I find if I escape from my own music for a few months to do some acting, then while I'm acting I'll probably write a lot of lyrics. So I benefit from doing both, totally

BOB: So you're looking forward now to finishing your tour and going back to doing a bit of acting?

TOYAH: Oh, yes

BOB: That's marvellous. Thanks very much for coming in and joining us

TOYAH: Thank you

BOB: I know you had to break off from a very very busy schedule. We won't let you go without hearing a clip from your latest single "I Want To  Be Free"

TOYAH: Yes. Let me go (laughs)

Watch the interview HERE