TOYAH ON
BBC BREAKFAST
WITH JON KAY AND
SARAH CAMPBELL
AUGUST 2025

SARAH CAMPBELL: Let's talk about your album, because it's not just the songs from there as you might have heard them. There's lots of unique, different things that people won't have heard before. So tell us about the 12 minute instrumental

TOYAH: It's a 45 year career retrospective, a double album. It has the original demo of “It's A Mystery” on it, which has about a 12 minute vocal intro and then another 12 minute instrumental. So myself and the writer, Keith Hale, went into the studio to turn it into a single. I wasn't confident about this song at all because I'm so tomboyish

This song is so beautifully vulnerable and it just was an instant hit. It sold about 75,000 units a day. It took us so much by surprise and it changed my life forever. This year I'm about to be guesting on Adam Ant's tour. We're announcing that next week -

JON KAY: I think you just did!

TOYAH: I've just done it (Jon laughs)

JON: Sorry Adam!


TOYAH: I'm really excited about because I made a movie with Adam Ant in 1977 ("Jubilee", Toyah with co-star Jordan, above) I am playing The Union Chapel, Warwick Arts Center. Then I'm on the road with Big Country. But next year - 49 dates of storytelling in theaters, which is going to be so exciting. Very personal, music, stories, films behind me

JON: Who's been helping you going through the archives? How does that work? Selecting the music?

TOYAH: I have the most brilliant archivist in the world. I met him when he was four years old. His mother brought him into my dressing room, I think somewhere like Glasgow or Newcastle and I became a pen pal (with him). I very quickly realised he knew more about me than I do (Jon laughs)

JON: How old is he now?

TOYAH: About 42

JON: (laughs) I was going to say six

TOYAH: Absolutely stunning. He found tracks such as a song called “Worst In Me” which I wrote with my husband, Robert Fripp. He found this. It took 10 years to find it but he's tenacious. He wouldn't let go. We found it in France

SARAH: Brilliant. He's doing a lot of the work for you?

TOYAH: He does everything for me (Sarah laughs)

JON: You have to ask him about things from your own history and he can tell you?

TOYAH: He delivers a tape to me and he says “this is so brilliant. You did it in such and such” and I go “that's not me”. I don't remember it”. He's my brain at the moment

SARAH: Amazing. That is great. And you do a lot of work with your husband as well?


TOYAH: Yes

SARAH: That's lovely. You're still creating music together and working together?

TOYAH: Absolutely. As social media kicked off in lockdown we started with 100,000 viewers. We're now up to 150 million and we do it because it cheers people up. There's no production values. We're just giving people a reason to laugh at us and with us. We realised in lockdown people needed a lot of cheering up. So we still do it five years later but we love it

JON: Whether it's those videos on YouTube or embracing Tiktok, I guess, is what you think has kept you connected to the audience and the audience of social media -

TOYAH: Funny enough Facebook, social media, YouTube. Not so much Tiktok - I think we're too old for TikTok!

JON: People use your music, don't they, on TikTok -

TOYAH: Oh, yes

JON: And they mouth to it and that kind of thing

TOYAH: They definitely use images on me but social media. Social media was the greatest stepping stone into this millennium that we could have had. Because we're old!

JON: We hear a lot of negative stuff about social media, but for you career wise -

TOYAH: It's been a real positive and to connect with people who are vulnerable. And a lot of my fans are attracted to me because I'm very up. We feel so connected, and we love our audience. We really do 

SARAH: It's been lovely having you

TOYAH: Thank you so much!

SARAH: It's been an absolute joy. The new album “Chameleon - The Very Best Of Toyah” is out on the 5th of September

TOYAH: Thank you


Listen to the interview