TOYAH ON
BBC BREAKFAST TIME
WITH FRANK BOUGH
1.4.1987

FRANK BOUGH: At the moment, she's making her mark on the stage in the London revival of “Cabaret”. She's a female lead in that, “Sally Bowles”

And to top that, she's now releasing a new single. It's a re-release of “Echo Beach”, originally by Martha and The Muffins and here's a taste from it (a clip of the video plays)

FRANK: She's here. Good morning

TOYAH: Good morning

FRANK: Why were you drawn to “Echo Beach”?

TOYAH: Oh gosh, about eight years ago when it was brought out it was a phenomenal period in new wave music. The Martha and The Muffins version was very understated, they were a guitar band and I just wanted to bring it up into '87. For me it's a fabulous piece of pop music

FRANK: You get these ideas yourself, do you? I just wonder how you organize your career these days. Because you're so busy doing so many things. I mean, you said "OK, I want to do “Echo Beach”". Did you or did somebody bring you to that or . . . ?


TOYAH: Someone suggested “Echo Beach” to me. I was making an album which is out at a later date, called “Desire”, and I'd written most of the material for that, and someone suggested “Echo Beach”

But I do like the track very much, and it's been a nice piece of music to work on, but usually I write my own stuff

FRANK: You do that during the day do you, when you're not up on stage performing in the evening?

TOYAH: I was making the album when I was asked to audition for “Cabaret”. I went along and queued up with everyone else to do the audition and got the job. So I then had to finish off the album very quickly, and “Echo Beach” came at the end of that particular period

FRANK: That's interesting - you still have to audition, do you?

TOYAH: Oh, yes! Sometimes I'm lucky and I'm asked, but the audition for me is the greatest part of the work, because it's terrifying! You're lined up with about 40 others, and it's “thank you, goodbye, go away” and it's not very good for your ego

FRANK: But wonderful when they say “come and do it”?

TOYAH: Yes, it is wonderful

FRANK: Lots of people I've spoken with on this program who are successful, they have a talent, obviously, to a lesser or a greater degree, but the thing they have above all other things is energy. Do you have energy to pursue that long list of achievements?

TOYAH: It's energy and it's tolerance. You're criticised all the time, which can be a little depressing, but it's the tolerance and the patience and the sheer willpower to want to work

I mean, I love my work. I find nothing more soul destroying than being out of work. And many actors and actresses are out of work more than they are in work


FRANK: And you don't like anything that interferes with it? You're typically an enthusiastic anti- drugs campaigner, aren't you?

TOYAH: I believe that the body is a machine that we've been given, and you treat it with great respect - the way you treat your car. Even more so than your car. I just don't think drugs are necessary

But I think within the English society, where you've got a majority of young people who are bored and out of work, what else can you expect them to do? Drugs are too easy to get hold of

FRANK: Tell me - you've had enormous success. Do you worry that it might just go pop one day, every day?

TOYAH: Oh God, every day! I worry about it constantly. That's part of the driving force. So it's part of the enjoyment of it. It's this kind of this sadism. You might one day be nothing. For me I am what I do

FRANK: Well, you do it exceedingly well. I wish you well with “Echo Beach”. Is it just released now? It's not registered in the charts, is it?

TOYAH: It's out today

Watch the interview HERE