TOYAH ON
BBC RADIO
HEREFORD & WORCESTER
WITH TAMMY GOODING
3.3.2020

TAMMY: ("I Want To Be Free" plays) It's really weird playing someone's records when they're sat in front of you and they know the words to all the songs … Toyah, welcome! How are you?

TOYAH: I'm really well, thank you. Very happy to be here

TAMMY: I'm thrilled to have you here. You've only had to come down the road -

TOYAH: I know, a beautiful sunny day in Worcestershire. There are clouds in the sky but it's just so lovely. I want to be in Worcestershire and not London … I'm always having to be in London -

TAMMY: Home is Worcestershire generally, in Pershore?

TOYAH: I always head back here after my concerts. I played Scarborough on Saturday, which was a mind-blowing concert and I drove all the way back, walked through the front door just before 4 in the morning in my stage costume (laughs)

TAMMY: Brilliant!

TOYAH: I always get home. This tour I'm about to start with Hazel O'Connor – I have a wonderful boy from Worcester, who's going to drive me to and from my house because knowing I can come back I feel more stable. It's just knowing you'll be in your own bed at night

TAMMY: So home is your solace, it's your safe space?

TOYAH: It's very much my safe space, yeah. Cooking my own food and shopping in the shops I see every day 

TAMMY: I was chatting to Nigel Clarke of Dodgy last week -

TOYAH: Well, I've nicked his driver (laughs)

TAMMY: What small world!

TOYAH: He's my neighbour!

TAMMY: He said to me "I live in Pershore". I said I've got to ask you do you live anywhere near Toyah and he played it down and he said "I know Toyah and Robert, they're a lovely couple"

TOYAH: I see Nigel every day!

TAMMY: I knew it! Busted! There you go! What's special about Pershore? What's the draw?

TOYAH: It's a very close community. It's a community that looks after and keeps an eye out on everybody. It's very real and I've been going there since I was three years old. The house I live in - my mother took me to tea when I was three years old. It was the Willow Tea Rooms

TAMMY: No!

TOYAH: So I have such an infinity with the place. If you see someone but you don't know their name, but you see them every day on the street and they're not looking well, everyone will ask them if they can help

TAMMY: That's lovely

TOYAH: It's that kind of place. It's very special

TAMMY: Good for you. I love that! In spite all the fame and excess and all the hits over the years there's something very grounding with that for you ... You seem … just normal! (laughs)

TOYAH: I know people in LA who are thinking of moving to Pershore. Gary Numan came to Pershore two years ago (above, with his wife Gemma and Toyah's husband Robert) HE fell in love with it. I was with Nick Mason of Pink Floyd two nights ago and he's coming to have a look

People are just so fascinated by this rather eccentric idea of having a normal life and a high profile career, which is something that my husband and I have managed to do. Everyone is just so attracted to Pershore

TAMMY: That must be lovely actually, that you can walk down the street without all the hullabaloo -

TOYAH: It's really unusual for anyone to bat an eyelid

TAMMY: That's nice. We need to talk about this tour

TOYAH: Yes!

TAMMY: We briefly talked about it before Christmas but now you're here in person and we can have a proper yarn about this. It's the "Electric Ladies of The 80s". It's Toyah, it's Hazel O'Connor. The dates are here, there and everywhere but I think the closest one to us is going to be Birmingham Town Hall, April the 25th. Tell us about the tour. You've known one and other for ever, haven't you?

TOYAH: Hazel and I first met each other when Hazel (below with Toyah and Kim Wilde in 1982), myself and Kate Bush were sitting in a room together 1978, waiting to audition for the film "Breaking Glass". Hazel obviously very famously got the film and wrote all the music for it and won all the awards. Kate went on to do "Hounds Of Love"

I went on to do "Quadrophenia", work with Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier and have five platinum albums. It's one of those amazing things that circumstance puts very unusual people together. That's the first time all three of us ever met. And Kate's been to Pershore 

TAMMY: Has she?

TOYAH: Yeah, we smuggled Kate into Pershore

TAMMY: No! What does she think about it?

TOYAH: Kate loves it. When her little boy was very young my father used to take him out on his boat. This is before anyone knew she had a little boy. So we used to sneak her into Pershore

TAMMY: That's incredible!

TOYAH: Yeah, that's the kind of place (it is), you can do that kind of thing. So anyway, I digress. Hazel and I, the only time we have ever been on stage together was we were singers for The Stranglers, when Hugh Cornwell went to prison during the big punk era

We haven't really worked together, like sing face to face since. We do the 80s venues, the big arenas and the festivals but someone has finally put us together on tour!

TAMMY: How is that coming together?

TOYAH: We had our first rehearsal in November and it was absolutely brilliant. It was like “it works! It works!” We were so excited! So we come together to start rehearsing in the beginning of April. Hazel has asked to go on first because she works with only two musicians. There is Sarah, her keyboard player and Claire, her saxophonist. That's how Hazel always opens the show

Then my band, which is a full electric band, will go on and play all the big hits with her. Then I come on and do my part of the concert with my band. Then Hazel and I have this rather epic end section where we are covering everyone from Iggy Pop right through to Bob Marley and The Wailers. We want the audience up on their feet, we want them in tears of joy. They can all join in and we send them home with a big smile on their face

TAMMY: This opportunity to reminiscence is beautiful, to take a trip down memory lane. We start our program with a thing called "The Top Ten From When?" every day and we invite people to guess the year and share memories

You mentioned Iggy Pop there, Bob Marley and The Wailers - alongside your own hits ... we are going to be transported back to a time, aren't we? Because it makes you feel good, doesn't it?

TOYAH: Absolutely. I've had over 13 Top 40 hits and my last one was last year so there's a lot to cram in. Hazel probably has the same amount of hits, so there is going to be a lot of memory lane, a lot of shared memories. Because obviously we're human beings and we've got memories too. I find when I share my memories of my experiences of when I made songs with the audience, they're absolutely enthralled and transfixed

For example when I wrote "Thunder In The Mountains" it was the day Diana and Prince Charles got married. I had a stalker, who found out where I lived and the stalker's finger was on the doorbell all day. They were ringing the phone all day ... I had to deliver this song "Thunder In The Mountains"

I couldn't get out of the apartment. So I tell this story to the audience and I say the reason this song is so brash and it's about kicking everyone's backsides is because I was stuck in my apartment because of a stalker! You put the whole thing in context and this is what we'll be doing. We'll be giving you context to the songs. There will obviously be one foot in the 80s and one foot in the present

TAMMY: The other thing is that you've worked all your lives and you're fortunate to be able to still do it as it were. All these years on you're still making the hits. We talked about your recent album in the last chat (in April 2019) It must feel good to look down the line and think "look what I've done"?

TOYAH: From where I am now, because I turn 62 on my next birthday, it's feeling good and that's because last year was unbelievable. I made five movies and toured non-stop. This year is exceptional because my entire catalogue is going to be re-released due to demand. "Toyah Solo" (above), the box set came out on Friday. It ent straight into number one of the pre-order charts. That's 7 CD's that I made from 1985 right through to present day

In the next two months I've also got 5 vinyl albums coming out. Then I have another box set in the summer and then in the autumn my first four albums are being re-released. So it's an exceptional year. As well as doing Toyah and Hazel I'm doing massive festivals and I've got three movies being released. It didn't expect that at this age ...

TAMMY: No wonder you need Pershore to be your safe space, your solace!

TOYAH: I need my normality

TAMMY: Yeah, I'll say. I'll let you into this as well, dear listener, that Toyah's been here all day because people from all over the place want to talk to her! She's still here, fresh as a daisy. You've got energy, girl! (Toyah laughs) I'm going to play "I Want To Be Free". Can you tell us bit about what was going on when you created this song?

TOYAH: This song started its actual existence when I was 14 years old. I was in school, Edgbaston, Birmingham. I was dyslexic. I was in a maths class and I wrote down on the maths paper “I don't want to go to school, I don't want to be nobody's fool, I want to be free”

TAMMY: Wow! I love it!

I Want To Be Free plays

TAMMY: When you're in your car, you're sat at the traffic lights and you're singing along. Then the person sitting next to you catches you singing and you feel embarrassed ... Toyah's sat in front of me and I'm here singing along to her record. I felt like a bit of a banana then ...

TOYAH: That's great. That song was written to sing along to

TAMMY: Good! I enjoyed it! I remember my my older siblings playing those all the time. It felt to me you were this woman who stood up for women. You were a pioneer, you were in control of your destiny. Did you feel that way?

TOYAH: No! (They both laugh) But I mean we can all bluff, can't we? When you're young you believe the world belongs to you. You don't realise there's a price or that you have to use effort to do it. I was just determined to be myself and be an individual and be heard

I came from the background of being the youngest in the family. I was considered the runt of the litter, almost the joke of the day. The joke was on me

So when I left home I felt I had a lot to prove. I steamrolled my way through everything. I probably didn't have to. I probably could've just honed a bit more technique and done a bit more studying and got there like that

TAMMY: You showed them. After our chat here are you going back home to Pershore or ... ?

TOYAH: Yes, I have a husband that needs feeding. Some of his band members are coming up tonight. He has a band called King Crimson so they'll need feeding as well

TAMMY: Fantastic! This isn't me paying you lip service or anything but you look great. You mentioned your age earlier and you're quite frank and open about it. “I'm 62”. You don't look it! You look good!

TOYAH: Thank you. Obviously because I'm on stage four nights a week and I do movies I'm always having to keep my weight down, which isn't ideal and it's not necessary for most people in their lives. The beginning of January this year I was not feeling terribly well. I'd just completed three movies and I was basically exhausted

I realised that I'd been on the road between these three movies just eating food out of service stations and eating meat when I never normally eat meat. So I went back to vegetarianism in January and it's done me the world of good. I'm probably going to stick with it. I've eaten fish for the last ten years but I've even that up now. I drink 4 to 5 litres of water a day -

TAMMY: Five litres?!

TOYAH: It's very difficult because you have to go to the loo every ten minutes

TAMMY: I'm trying to be a little healthier and I was reading about drinking two litres -

TOYAH: It's very difficult. I'm barely five foot tall and trying to get five litres of water into this body is not easy (Tammy laughs) But if you can drink 3 to 4 litres it makes a huge difference. We're only eating fresh fruit and veg. Very few potatoes. I've managed to wean my husband off potatoes and I'm not aching the way I used to ache

I'm also doing posture realignment with a sports physio in Pershore, which is helping enormously. You've got to remember I'm in the car 8 hours a day four days a week. So it's all helping tremendously

I just don't see why I should get into my 60s and slow down or be made to slow down because my body is not performing. I believe we can still perform at a certain level right up until we're 70, late 70s 

TAMMY: Incredible. All power to you. That fact that with vegetarianism you feel less achy is quite -

TOYAH: I feel clearer. My head is clearer. I just feel energised

TAMMY: Good for you. You're an inspiration, Toyah

TOYAH: And it's quite cheap as well ...

TAMMY: Well, it is cheaper to be fair (laughs)

TOYAH: My darling husband took me to this gorgeous restaurant the other day and it was one that specialised in meat. I said can I just have bowl of vegetables and you could tell they were like “why are you here?” 

TAMMY: (laughs) An innovator, both you and Hazel O'Connor. So Hazel doing her stuff, you doing your stuff. The two of you coming together doing all those fantastic covers, telling the tales and stories. You two were meant to be together, I think. You both strike me as similar kindred spirits

TOYAH: Yes. It's taken 40 years for this tour to happen and it's never too late. It couldn't be a better time for this to happen and we're both really excited about it

TAMMY: What are your best memories from that time?

TOYAH: Everything. It was wonderful. Doing Top Of The Pops (above), this iconic programme and you're on with other people that you've always admired

TAMMY: Who were you on with?

TOYAH: My first Top Of The Pops was with The Human League, Adam Ant, Ultravox … that's all I can remember. It might've been X Ray Specs as well. It was a gorgeous experience. Made me so happy. It validated me in my family, that I was someone who was going to achieve. It changed my life for ever doing that show

TAMMY: How amazing. I remember seeing you and knowing “she's from Birmingham like me, she's local”. All that kind of thing. Going up to Oasis market, my sister taking me, all that stuff -

TOYAH: The smell of patchouli oil (Tammy laughs) And then going to the Saturday morning disco at Top Rank -

TAMMY: Top Rank! My sister used to go there -

TOYAH: I used to drink milk with Coca Cola in it and dance until midday ...

TAMMY: Absolutely brilliant!

TOYAH: 300 kids in Top Rank every Saturday morning. We would just gang together outside and run through the city centre and no one could stop us. It was hysterical! People seeing this tidal wave of teenagers coming towards them -

TAMMY: Absolutely brilliant. And here you are now. It's nice and calm in Pershore

TOYAH: As if ...

TAMMY: (laughs) So how many films have you got coming out this year?

TOYAH: I've got three coming out this year

TAMMY: Give me one in particular that we should look out for?

TOYAH: "To Be Someone" is due out in April. This is the majority of the cast of "Quadrophenia". It's not "Quadrophenia 2". It's a gangster movie, it was so much fun to make! I loved every minute of it. The thing about the Quad cast is we are inseparable -

TAMMY: It was Phil Daniels and Lesley Ash?

TOYAH: Phil isn't in this film. In this film it's myself, Leslie Ash, Trevor Laird, Mark Wingett, Gary Shail and a few of the others. We're all joined at the hip. We love each other immensely. A very happy film to shoot. So that's out this year. I've been filming a wonderful true story called "Give Them Wings" about a paraplegic football fan, who I play the mother of

This amazing man Paul Hodgson would go in his wheelchair and goad the opposition fans and get beaten up. He would do it week after week after week and eventually someone took him … I don't know if I can tell you this – it's the surprise ending but someone put him in a paraglider and he did something. It's the most amazing true story

I play his mother. She had a stroke while she was quite young and this paraplegic looked after his stroke ridden mother. It's one of those stories about how the system failed them. So that's due out this year as well

TAMMY: It's all go. Gets busier and busier and good for you, I say. Why should folk come along and see you and Hazel in the "Electric Ladies of the 80s" tour?

TOYAH: Because we're going to be reminding people of the glorious memories of the 80s but also putting everything back in context of today. There's no reason why the music of the 80s, that meant so much to everyone like you, can not have good memories as well for today

TAMMY: Definitely. I'm going to let you go and have your lunch now because you've been at it all day -

TOYAH: I'm going to go and cook it for my husband!

TAMMY: Toyah, it's been a pleasure to see you and to chat to you once again. We'll go out on "It's A Mystery". What's the story?

TOYAH: The story is that when I was asked to record this I said this is going to be the end of my career. It's all about vulnerability but I will do it just to prove a point! It was one of the biggest selling singles of the 80s! (laughs) And I'm not complaining!

TAMMY: I shouldn't either. Toyah, it's been a pleasure. Thank you

TOYAH: Thank you very much!