#toyah bbc

[toyahinterviews]

BBC THREE COUNTIES RADIO WITH BABS MICHEL 24.6.2023

BABS: Have you thought about going to see Milton Keynes International Festival? If you haven't, I'm going to give you the best reason that you need to go. I have to be still, my 11 year old self, because the first time I saw this absolute queen on Top Of The Pops it just blew my mind. She was singing “It’s A Mystery”. It was 1981, I think,  it was miss Toyah Willcox! Welcome to the show, Toyah! TOYAH: Thank you so much. It was 1981. I remember it well, I think it was March or February     BABS: When I was watching the television, but just couldn't get over your whole look, your image, your voice, the power in it. It was like nothing else and it was just liberating for a little 10 year old girl watching. "I want to be her. If I can be anything can I be her, please?" What was it like for you? TOYAH: It was fabulous for me. Going back to 1981 it was unheard of for a female to have brightly coloured hair. It was unheard of to have that absolutely independent image. So when I appeared on the scene on Tops Of The Pops, it had an a groundbreaking effect. Overnight I suddenly was the biggest name in Europe. I just didn't expect it. It changed my life forever   That one appearance on Top Of The Pops meant I couldn't pop down to the newsagents anymore. When I was being driven down High Streets doing radio tours, every window on the High Streets all over the UK had a poster of me, which was extraordinary BABS: Oh, my goodness. I mean the fact that you have sustained for all of this time, Toyah, being at the top of your game. If people don't realise I want to just play them a little bit of the Isle of Wight Festival last weekend. Just have a listen to this at home Plays of clip of Toyah and Robert performing “Rebel Yell” 18.6.2023. Watch it HERE

BABS: Oh, miss Toyah! You have them in the palm of your hand! (Toyah laughs) I watched it and I was just like oh, my God! How is she still so brilliant at this?! 

TOYAH: (laughs) I just loved the Isle of Wight. It was extraordinary. It was really one of the highlights of the year but we're going to have a highlight at Milton Keynes on the 28th of July. We're going to make sure in that beautiful The Stables Spiegeltent that we deliver exactly the same performance for that audience BABS: I think if people haven't seen you, they've got to come. It's very reasonably priced, £38 mark, which for festivals really good value, especially because you're going to be there. And I've got to ask is Robert playing as well, your husband? TOYAH: This is a "Toyah and Robert Show" BABS: Aaah! OK. If people have not seen you and Robert doing “Sunday Lunch” ... it's the best thing ever. Can I say my boyfriend particularly likes you in the gold leaf thing (below) (they both laugh) That was one of his highlights. I want to know how hard that was to do? Toyah  has basically covered her top part in just gold leaf. How it's staying on ... I don't even know! TOYAH: I'm very good with gold leaf. I do a lot of crafting and I do quite a bit of artwork where I use gold leaf so it's not that hard to keep on. A bit of olive oil and gold leaf does the trick (they both laugh) BABS: Some of the comments on your “Sunday Lunch” channel are just the best. Some of the men comment on there how lucky they think Robert is … They're amazing those comments and you look amazing! Absolutely amazing! TOYAH: You're very kind. I turned 65 this year BABS: No! TOYAH: I’m just starting to feel ... hmm ... it’s showing now BABS: (laughs) What?! TOYAH: I made the most of lockdown and did these really wacky films while I could (laughs) “Sunday Lunch” has really taken off globally. It’s huge and it's had on YouTube alone over 77 million hits. I think totaling up with Facebook and Tik Tok it goes up to 111 million. It's a very large identity now. We've always presented fun. The idea is that every year is the best year of your life   Robert and I, as a team, really want to do is say that life is a journey and it's a very positive journey. Every year we have is an honour and we try to make it the best year of our lives. My husband is 77, we've both got aches and pains, but we're loving what we do. We love music and we just don't see why we should be any different to who and what we were in the punk movement (they both laugh)  

BABS: That's what I love about it. It's so unapologetically fabulous. It's in your face. It's sexy. It's funny. Just the two of you together. Here's the most brilliant straight man to you, isn’t he? TOYAH: He's stunning. He's a very clever straight man because he steals the scene every time. His little face when I get up to things (Babs is cracking up laughing) I think he's one of the cutest human beings in the world   Sometimes he's just looking at me disapprovingly, which just makes him even more lovable. Other times he's afraid or he's laughing his head off. He just cannot stop being the cutest man in the world 

BABS: Oh, this makes me so happy! You're saying you're giving it the bird (the middle finger) to what people think you should be like, at whatever age. You're saying actually, no, this is who we are. We're going to do this for as long as we can and we do not care. And the numbers don't lie, do they? Because you've really connected with people TOYAH: I think a lot of people just wanted to see this. I know so many people of my age personally. We don't feel our age and we're not ready to just stop because of our age. So we're challenging the perception of age   If anyone doesn't know who my husband Robert Fripp is he was the guitarist on David Bowie's “Heroes”. He's worked with Brian Eno. He's one of the world's top guitarists. He's produced Peter Gabriel. He worked with Blondie, Talking Heads. He's just worked with everyone in the world and is hugely respected   What we're doing on the "Toyah and Robert Show" is bringing classic, timeless rock into the auditorium. The whole idea is that this is classic rock - the way Beethoven, Mozart, Chekhov did. They're all classics, they don't age, they remain in their space eternally. Tthis is what this show is about BABS: There's a little bit of noise about what is this show going be like? Fripp and Willcox. It’s going to have a kind of meatiness about it. When I watched you on the Isle of Wight clip I just went yeah, 100% I'm going to Milton Keynes to watch that! Absolutely! TOYAH: (laughs) It's a rock show. We call it a "Rock Party". The whole idea is we really want people to feel free to dance, to join in or just listen. We want the audience to identify with the energy and the music that we're presenting. I's a large band. It's three guitarists, including Robert and each guitarist is a world class guitarist so it is a rock show BABS: Wow! What's not to love? You've got all of that and then you've got you. What other songs are you going to be covering? You’re going to obviously do some of your own songs?   

TOYAH: Yes. We can obviously cherry-pick because there is 50 years of brilliant rock and roll out there. We take people on a journey. We start with quite light-hearted songs like “Thunder In The Mountains”, which is a Toyah song. We do “Echo Beach”, which I put back in the charts in 1985 at n:o 21. We do Blondie, but we also do Black Sabbath and Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Marc Almond   So we really mix it up. What we've found is the way we placed the songs - the audience go crazy because we go from “It's A Mystery” into Black Sabbath. It's the most beautiful juxtaposition. It works and the audience just get it   BABS: I think it's going to be an amazing show. I must ask, just in general, when you're not doing all of this and you're not doing “Sunday Lunch”- are you still acting and presenting and just in other stuff? Because you're great at that too TOYAH: It's been very busy. Ironically, literally two months before the beginning of lockdown I had three movies coming out, which then came out during lockdown. I won best supporting actress for “The Ghost Of Borley Rectory”   In “Give Them Wings” I got the Richard Harris Award for Best Supporting Actress. So it's been very busy. And yes, both Robert and I are presenting. We're in the very beginning of pre-production of our own TV series

BABS: Brilliant! Will it be based on “Sunday Lunch” and will the gold be making an appearance? (laughs) TOYAH: No, it's all about music and the UK BABS: Oh, OK. Is that coming out later in the year, hopefully? TOYAH: Oh, gosh no, it won’t be made in time. This is for next year BABS: OK. It's just been an absolute joy to speak to you. I love “Sunday Lunch”. I've loved you since I was 10 years old TOYAH: Awww BABS: And now the fact that you're going to be on my doorstep next month is just brilliant. I can not wait, Toyah! Thank you so much for your time TOYAH: Thank you and have a wonderful few weeks in between then and now BABS: Thank you, Toyah! TOYAH: Bye!

LISTEN to the interview HERE

[toyahinterviews]

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND THE AFTERNOON SHOW 7.9.2022

NICOLA: First up this afternoon I am delighted to be joined by a musician and actor who has been shaking up counterculture and the pop charts for over 40 years. Toyah Willcox made waves in films like “Quadrophenia” and Derek Jarman's “Jubilee”.  

She blazed the trail on Top Of The Pops with hits like “It’s A Mystery”. And that's not to mention her TV stints in “Casualty”, “Kavanagh QC” and “Teletubbies” and that is not the half of it What I'm saying is Toyah was already amazing. But then in lockdown - did you see her? She and her husband, who is the King Crimson genius and collaborator Robert Fripp, made our Sundays. They did these YouTube renditions of classics from Radiohead, AC/DC Metallica - the list goes on And she and Robert Fripp also performed Grace Jones’, “Slave To The Rhythm”, which Toyah is now releasing as a single. She has got quite a history with the song and she's here to tell us all about it. Welcome back to the afternoon show, Toyah! TOYAH: Thank you so much. It's so wonderful to join you on this rather remarkable day, where so much is going on in the world!

NICOLA: There is a lot going on indeed. Toyah, you're having a new single out. What a song it is. And what fascinates me about “Slave To The Rhythm”, Toyah, is the life of this song and your involvement with it. Take us back to before the time it came to Grace Jones?

TOYAH: Well, there was a quite a history with it before Grace Jones. It was written by my long term writing partner, Simon Darlow (above (left) with Robert Fripp and Toyah) and I was the demo singer when this song was presented to Frankie Goes To Hollywood and they decided it wasn't for them But (the producer) Trevor Horn then picked the song up, he rearranged it, got more writers in alongside Simon and then produced it for Grace Jones and we all know the classic, brilliant version that Grace Jones did So about two months ago, Simon Darlow said to me "don't you  think it's about time you release your own version?" I was very nervous about it, because you cannot mend what isn't broken. Grace Jones’ version is absolutely perfect. And my husband Robert Fripp plays on it. It's myself, Simon Darlow - that's the three of us on it We have one of the original writers on it, Bruce Woolley, playing theremin and it's just a beautiful version. Our version is slightly reflective and gentle. That's all I can say about it in comparison to Grace Jones’ version, but it's very beautiful and the audience dance like crazy to it NICOLA: Oh, I'm not surprised. We are going to play it shortly. I'm fascinated by the fact that you inhabited this song for the first time decades ago. What are your memories of your connection to it at that point? It's got haunting quality that song as well, I think

TOYAH: I know and I actually can not remember singing that demo because 35 years ago I was writing constantly and making demos constantly. That was the nature of the business. We always had to submit new songs to the record labels   And I have very little memory other than when I first heard Grace Jones’ version I thought it was one of the most magnificent things I'd ever heard, as with every single she ever released. So when Simon Darlow mentioned to me “you do know you were the original singer on this track?” My reaction was “oh, was I?!” (Nicola laughs)   But you know, we do a lot as artists. The audience gets to see the cherry on top of the cake. That's when we walk on stage, we're all dolled up and we share our music with these wonderful people. But to get to that point, so much more goes on. And to be honest, I have virtually no memory of doing that demo (Nicola laughs) NICOLA: But you've brought it back to life and we are delighted about that. Simon Darlow, who co-wrote the original and is involved in this version of it also produced your most recent album, which was last year's “Posh Pop”. And that featured, Toyah, another long time collaborator under a pseudonym. Tell us about Bobby Willcox?

TOYAH: OK, I'm married to Robert Fripp (above with Toyah) of King Crimson and he's a very reluctant superstar. Everyone I know who has superstar credentials really want to be invisible and anonymous. And believe me I know a lot and my husband is one of them And when he played on this album, he didn't want to be known as Robert Fripp on “Posh Pop”. He wanted to be known as Bobby Willcox, which is his alias when he books into hotels around the world. So everyone now knows his name at every hotel he books into. He's he's changed his mind in recent months because next year, we're touring Sunday Lunch - NICOLA: Oh wow! TOYAH: And we're going out as Toyah and Robert. So he's very, very happy now to be known as Robert Fripp because he's entering the world of classic rock, whereas he's probably better known for prog rock and working with Bowie. So he's changed his mind and on “Posh Pop 2”, which we start recording in a couple of months, he will be known as Robert Fripp NICOLA: Ah, he’s stepping into the limelight under his own name. I think we last spoke around about the 2019 reworking of your album “In The Court Of The Crimson Queen”, which echoed the similar King Crimson title. Were you and Robert Fripp creative sparring partners from the off? Was there always a spark there?

TOYAH: It's very good question, Nicola. I'd say it's always been a point of creative friction because my husband works historically in a world where timing is absolute. And what I mean by that is if you're in a band and you're playing a time signature where there's 18 beats to a bar, you cannot have fluidity in that timing   I come from punk where everything is about fluidity and tightening. And if I want to shift a vocal across a bar, I will. So we've only really met creatively as successfully as we have in recent times with Sunday Lunch.   The lockdown allowed us to kind of grow together creatively. And thus, we are now probably huge influences in YouTube. We have over 111 million visits to our site. This could only have happened if we were locked in a house together and we were for two and a half years NICOLA: A lot of us were locked in a house together but none of us had the costumery, the musical ingenuity, the playlist. How did you decide on the songs that you wanted to cover? It was a great surprise every single week

TOYAH: I know. In the beginning it was just me choosing the material. I must say now Robert is so excited every week he comes to me with ideas. And initially I posted a 28 second clip of me teaching Robert to dance and it went viral within five minutes.   And that was April of the first lockdown. And what we learned very, very quickly from that was the responses we were getting were from people who were alone, who had no one, access to no one in this terrifying time And we decided that we would keep posting every Sunday lunch. And eventually we evolved into classic rock and this is because we learned something out about the world and the history of classic rock is that it's timeless. Classic rock is a universal language. It crosses every generation   Old people and you know - what is old? It's just a number but people in their 80s, 70s, 60s right down to those who are in their early teens love classic rock and we found a way of communicating with a broader span of generations through the use of classic rock songs NICOLA: I love the fact that you're both embrace classic rock. Your most recent album was called “Posh Pop” and there's another on the way - TOYAH: Yes  

NICOLA: In saying that do you think that at the heart of all this punk as an ethos, as a rebellion, with its lack of boundaries still drives your art in some way? TOYAH: Well, yeah, absolutely. I think rebellion is in my DNA. I was brought up that way. There's nothing I can do about it. I see the world through different glasses to everyone else. It's extraordinary. However when I tried to just fit in with everyone else I managed to just hit some kind of note that is rebellious. And believe me, I'm not trying! It’s me (Nicola laughs). So I've learned to accept it NICOLA: Oh, wow. You're gonna record “Posh Pop Two”  - I hope you're going to come to Scotland soon with your Sunday Lunches - TOYAH: I am! I'm coming on the Billy Idol tour. We play  the Glasgow Hydro on the 21st of October NICOLA: Oh, fantastic! Well, listen, (I’ll be) down the front for that. It's really, really lovely to speak to you. Thank you so much for coming on Toyah, and thank you for making those Sundays, for what felt like an eternal time, so much brighter. It was so important to people as well. And by the way - the costumes as well - that's a whole other conversation (they both laugh) For now though, absolute pleasure. Let us go back to this new single. Imagine Toyah recording the demo of this! And here she is, released this week, “Slave To The Rhythm”

[toyahinterviews]

TOYAH ON BBC RADIO SCOTLAND WITH BILLY SLOAN 30.10.2021

BILLY: Toyah Willcox has made her career as a successful singer and actress, and one of her first big breaks on the big screen was when she appeared alongside Phil Daniels and Sting in the film “Quadrophenia”. So was she a fan of the 1973 album first, before being cast as “Monkey” and the movie version of Pete Townshend’s mod rock opera? TOYAH: I was a fan of The Who. I've always been a fan of The Who. I didn't know “Quadrophenia” until I received the script from the production team. And then of course this opened up The Who for me even more, and the extraordinary writing abilities and talents of Pete Townshend. So I've always been attracted to Roger Daltrey’s voice, to the power, to the mod movement and the sheer the finesse of what The Who created has always been very attractive to me.   Unfortunately, my career started at a time in punk where punk was opposed to what The Who created, but the energy of “My Generation”  and all those songs was pure punk. And suddenly I found myself in “Quadrophenia” as an actress, and I was having to hide the fact that I was a punk rocker. But I always respected and love The Who because they were the original punks. BILLY: How did you actually get the part?

TOYAH: Franc Roddam, the director, asked me to get John Lydon – Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols through a screen test for the part of “Jimmy”. So I went along to John Lydon’s flat and ran through the scenes and he was absolutely astonishing. Firstly, he was a gentleman, he was an absolute treat to be with. There was none of that kind of persona of Johnny Rotten. He worked incredibly hard. He knew his lines. Then he and I went to Shepperton Studios where we shot our screen tests. I was playing “Steph”, he was playing “Jimmy”.   Then I didn't hear another thing and I was making a movie with Katharine Hepburn at Lee Electrics in Wembley and the production office and “Quadrophenia” was next door. So I walked around the outside of the building and saw Franc Roddam in his office and I banged on the window, and I said “Frank, give me a part because I did this favour for you. Give me a part”. John Lydon by the way didn't get the role of “Jimmy” because no one would insure the film if he was in it because of his reputation in the Sex Pistols.   But I knew that Franc Roddam hadn't cast the role of “Monkey” and he called me in and Phil Daniels was in the office at the time with him and Franc said if I could perform the party scene with Phil Daniels, he'd consider me for “Monkey”. We did the scene there and then and I got the job. BILLY: What kind of person was "Monkey"?

TOYAH: “Monkey” for me was the girl with the golden heart that didn't make good. “Monkey” was a drug dealer because she worked in a chemist and she was just slowly taking all the pills and selling them to her friends. And she wanted to be loved and she wanted to be the number one girl but of course she wasn't, “Steph” was the number one fantasy girl for every male in the film. And we all know who this character “Monkey” is. She's the one that is that girl in the gang, but it's the one with the golden heart. BILLY: And there's a real ensemble cast because Leslie Ash (as "Steph"), as you mentioned earlier, there's also Sting as the “Ace Face.” The cast also included people like a very young Ray Winston, Michael Elphick, who was "Jimmy's" father, Kate Williams, who was "Jimmy's" mother, Timothy Spall. And of course, Phil Daniels. And it's not hard to almost imagine anybody else playing “Jimmy Cooper” other than Phil, isn't it? TOYAH: Oh, Phil Daniels was absolutely perfect for the role. It's the most ultimate character I think he's ever created. He was so astonishing and breathtaking. And even today, as acting has evolved into a more naturalistic form, Phil Daniels was ahead of game. Its perfection and that's why the film is still as powerful as it is today.  

And looking back with hindsight now, I think Phil deserved more accolades. He deserved more nominations. But the film wasn't critically well received at the time of its release. And then the audience took it in their hearts and the audience, a generation after generation, the audience has returned to “Quadrophenia”, making it an absolute classic of its time. BILLY: The story of “Quadrophenia” is set in London and Brighton in 1964. And you had to be so accurate, recreating that time period in terms of the clothes and the haircuts and the locations and the scooters. How was that done? 

TOYAH: Franc Roddam was a documentary maker before making “Quadrophenia”, an award winning documentary maker and he wanted “Quadrophenia” to feel like a documentary. So he encouraged us to go out and socialise with people who had lived through the mod movement and still had the lifestyle within their lives. So we were going out at weekends and partying with people who've been mods, with people who have been rockers, and they did not hold back on the culture. They really immersed us in it.   Also, we were in dance studios in Covent Garden for three hours a day learning the dance movements, which we enjoyed so much, because as I’ve discovered with all great musicians around the world, Sting - great musician, great songwriter - can not tell his left foot from his right foot. Boy, did we have so much fun with that! This beautiful "Adonis" who we spent so much time with couldn’t dance, and we were just drawing focus to it all the time. Wonderful, wonderful man.     Other things that we did, we had to learn to ride scooters, we had to learn how to repair scooters, how it is to fall off a scooter. We needed to know all of this. We needed to know the dangers that surrounded us as well as the joys that surrounded us. And we immersed ourselves in this for about three months before principal shooting started.  

The incredible thing about the principal first stage shoot - we were shooting the riot scenes first and talk about a baptism of fire. We were in Brighton with 5000 extras shooting riot scenes (below) for 20 hour days. And that really bonded us as actors, because we had to protect each other, look out for each other, find food, find water, find toilets. I mean it was extraordinary. And then we made the rest of the movie, by which time we were a family. And we've remained family. We are one of the closest knit teams I have ever known in the whole of my career. And we remain that way. 

BILLY: One of the other real pivotal scenes in the movie is the dancehall scene where Jimmy is trying to impress “Steph” and he jumps up onto the balcony and then leaps off into the crowd. That must have been an incredible scene to be involved in. Was it? TOYAH: Yeah, I think we shot those in Southall, North London somewhere. It was really wonderful to do and Phil Daniels was completely committed to doing that jump. I mean it must have hurt like hell. I think the first jump he did was into boxes. I don't think there was a stunt person involved. I'm absolutely sure Phil Daniels did the jump in the dance hall sequence himself. It was incredibly good fun because we got to show off our dance prowess.   I was dancing mainly with the actor Phil Davies, who I just absolutely adore. It was lovely because within that sequence, all the characters were able to develop and signal to the audience who and what we were by the style of their dancing, which you don't normally get the chance to do in films and the mod dances were just gloriously precise. So all of us got a chance to shine in that sequence. BILLY: During the production of the movie there was some sad news when we learned that Keith Moon had passed away. What impact did that have on both the actors and the film production?

TOYAH: All of the actors were looking forward to meeting Keith Moon. All of us we just couldn't wait. This man was a legend. He was a bad boy, a great drummer. He had attitude. He was everything all of us wanted to be. But the week before we started principal photography, he died.   So when I first met The Who and I was in a room with The Who, with the producers, with the rest of the cast for the first time - it was literally the day after Keith Moon died. And the decision was made that the film was going to continue. They did think about discontinuing the film. And thank goodness it was kind of made in his honour and in his memory. But we were all brokenhearted that we were never going to get to meet this legend. And I think he would have been on site every day enjoying all of us and we'd have been enjoying him. And it was a huge loss. That potential was a massive, massive loss.

BILLY: You spoke earlier about the lasting affection for “Quadrophenia”. 42 years on - what do you think the legacy is of both the movie and the album? TOYAH: I think the movie is an astonishing film and an astonishing achievement made with no compromise, with great heart. And I think young people who feel diswoned by society will always find themselves and  their story in that movie. And that's incredibly important, especially at a time like this where young people have lost a year of their lives. I think the legacy of the music is great music never goes away.   Heritage music and music that was there first, that broke the mould first, that inspired many generations of musicians to come, is the music that will remain constant and “Quadrophenia” will remain constant. It's one of those albums along with my husband's album “In The Court Of The Crimson King”, with Sting’s and The Police albums - they're constant so “Quadrophenia” is up there with the greats. BILLY: We're asking everybody who takes part in the programme to choose their favourite Who track and naturally you have gone for a song from “Quadrophenia”. Which one is it and why?

TOYAH: My favourite Who song is “Rain On Me” because of the actual passion. It's about a young soul facing the future, just wanting their own place in the world. There's anger in it. There's hope, there's determination and it's an absolutely beautiful composition musically. And that is the song that I would choose.

[toyahinterviews]

TOYAH ON BBC RADIO LONDON WITH JO GOOD 23.1.2018

JO: Toyah Willcox is an award winning British rock legend with over 20 albums and 13 UK Top 40 singles. She has starred in over 40 stage productions and 10 feature films, including Derek Jarman's controversial film "Jubilee".   When it originally opened I believe Vivienne Westwood sent an open letter (NB It was an “open T-shirt”, below) to Jarman describing it as the "most boring and therefore disgusting film that I've been put through". Well, to a punk that's music to their ears.      

It's now being adapted for the stage. This time Toyah is playing the role of Queen Elizabeth the 1st and I'm so pleased to say she joins us on the afternoon show. Toyah, welcome. TOYAH: Thank you. The last time I was here, I remember I sang "I Want To Be Free" live to you     . . .

JO: It went out on a loop. I think we played it at the Christmas Special, the Easter Special, it went out again and again, thank you for that.

TOYAH: I just hope I was on tune and ....

JO: The thing about your voice … it doesn't age, actually, which is very interesting considering the amount of work you've done because it hasn't ever had a chance to rest, has it?

TOYAH: I've looked after it. I only sing four times a week. I could not do one of those tours where you are working for seven shows a week because I use so much range. I have a very large five octave range and I don't believe in doing the show if I can't hit my top notes. 

So I'm very protective and I turned 60 this year, and my voice is getting better and better. Really, I had my fame at a time when I was learning on my feet, but now I feel I am a singer and I'm getting there so I really want to look after it. It means so much to me.

JO: I'm proud of you, because I'm 63, and I think we are such a lucky generation - TOYAH: I totally agree JO: Because you've got great hair. I think that as long as you've got good hair and energy and you came bouncing in here, and we're both the same height and I said we look like bookends and I quite like at 63 being little. You said you'd like to be a foot taller? TOYAH: Yeah. I don't like being small, because it does affect how people speak to you. They speak down to you, not nastily but it's kind of . . . “well, she's small, we'll look down on her”. I have a real problem with it because mentally I feel I'm six foot tall, and then I have to keep reminding myself I'm barely five foot. I have a lisp and I hobble, so … I have to keep stopping to think that I am not Tina Turner. I'm not a supermodel. I'm short. I'd rather be a foot taller . . . JO: No, I think you're as Len Goodman called me “a pocket rocket” and you certainly are  - TOYAH: Len likes that phrase. I think he's called me that, he's not exclusive with it, obviously!

JO: I watched “Jubilee” on YouTube this morning, there are some clips, because I never saw it the first time around so I'm really looking forward to coming to see it at the theatre. I think this is an extraordinary opportunity for all of us to see it. I never saw it at the movies.   My goodness! You were always cutting edge. I remember when I last saw you I said I've been reading (Sir Laurence) Olivier's autobiography and when he was at the National he said "this young girl is hanging out of the tower (Toyah giggles) doing a vocal limber" and he said “who the hell is that?” and "they said “it's Toyah” and I went “who's Toyah?”" There you were at the National Theatre when no one like you - no punk worked at the National - TOYAH: 1976. I would absolutely rock the building because I was fresh from Birmingham. I had no idea of etiquette and behaviour. I was a wild animal, and I was so exhilarated and full of life because I was in this amazing environment so I would just shout out of the windows for wardrobe. I'd shout to wigs. Singing and running around, just feeling so lucky to be there.  

And I can remember on one occasion, the rest of my dressing room - there were six of us in the dressing room - we found some wheelchairs in the corridor, so we were racing them backwards around the corridors. I bumped into Sir John Gielgud, and he said (does a posh voice) “Toyah! This is the National Theatre, not the zoo and you are not a monkey”. It was a joy. I think people liked me and loathed me in equal measure . . .

JO: You took away the preciousness of the National. No one like you, no one like Toyah, no punk actress had ever gone into the National Theatre. It was all the Lords and the “luvvies” - and I hate that word, and then you turn up there.   You'd come from playing “Mad” in “Jubilee”, and she's the most extraordinary character. As I said I was watching it this morning – you with this sort of ginger, wonderful fuzzy head. Was that your own hair? 

TOYAH: Yeah     JO: I mean, shaven head which we'd never seen. Living in some kind of squat. Did you film “Jubilee” in London? TOYAH: Yes, it was all based from Derek Jarman's apartment in Butler's Wharf by Tower Bridge - JO: Before it was the groovy place it is now -     TOYAH: It was completely rundown and slightly bombed out, there was a brewery next door so there was a gorgeous smell of hops every day. There was an artistic community living in this warehouse. You had Andrew Logan, Sandra Rhodes, Derek Jarman, it was electric.   

And Derek particularly loved the punk movement and “Jubilee” in a way stood outside the punk movement because you can't make a movie and call it punk. It's a contradiction in terms, it's exploitation and Derek very quickly became aware of that when Vivienne Westwood, Malcolm McLaren, Siouxsie Sue – they all said they would have nothing to do with the film because it was exploiting the movement, and they were correct.   But Derek was an artist. Derek was a collage maker and at that time his style was about layering image and sound and story on top of each other to make a very rich experience. “Jubilee” was shot very much (on a) handheld (camera). It looked anarchic. He allowed us, the performers, to be anarchic. It had a great cast. The original cast was Ian Charleson, Richard O'Brien. Brian Eno did the music. It was a royalty of performers but also a royalty of punk artists as well, who agreed to do it - JO: And rumour has it that you were mates with Ian Charleson and that's how you met Jarman?     TOYAH: At the National Theatre     - JO: And then Jarman wanted you for the role of “Mad” but didn’t have a budget and said, “I don't know if I can afford you” and then said to all of the actors, “I won't have a fee. I'll pay you lot instead”. Is that true?

TOYAH: Yes. What happened Ian Charleson was making “Chariots Of Fire”, and he was at the National at the same time as me. He said “I want to take you to meet someone, I think you're made for each other” and it was Derek Jarman. Ian and I had tea with Derek and Derek handed me the script. At that time it was called “Down With The Queen”, something like that. He said “pick a part”.   So it's a story about an all female gang who raped and murdered men at a time of anarchy in the UK, slightly set in the future.  I went through the script, I knew that the punk icon Jordan had the lead in it, she played “Amyl" ("Nitrate”) and the next biggest role was “Mad”, the pyromaniac.   So I picked that role and Derek didn't even audition me, he probably trusted that because I was at the National Theatre I could act. And then a week later he phoned me and said he's had a cut in the budget and he’s had to cut characters and "Mad" had gone. He instinctively sensed that he broke me.     Everything - my dreams were relying on this film and I was a broken woman with that news. Three weeks later he found me - because back then you didn't have mobiles, didn't have email - and he found me, got in touch with me and he said “I could tell I had ruined your life in the moment I told you that. So I'm not going to be paid, my fee will pay for you to come back into the film.”  

And it was an extraordinary experience making the film because it was so hand to mouth. There were days where he couldn't pay for us to have sandwiches. He'd be in tears and he'd say, “I don't know what to do, I can not feed you”.  We said “don’t worry, we will  support ourselves, we want to be here.” And it was very much a production of everyone. Even outsiders like Andrew Logan coming in and throwing impromptu parties for us. Everyone wanted this film made. So we made it as an ensemble and we made it possible.   But Derek was very much the pivotal linchpin that kept it all running, and there were days when we didn't know if we were allowed to film on the streets so we ran out, and we just filmed and waited to be arrested. And then we ran back to base. It was beautiful, loving anarchy

JO: And do you think he’d be pleased to know it's now brought to the stage? TOYAH: Yes, he would, because Chris Goode, the director and writer of this particular version - he is passionate about the film. When the Manchester Royal Exchange invited him to put on stage anything he wanted to he chose “Jubilee” because of what it meant to him. He has bought it up to date, it's now present day, but it still very much hangs on to the story of the 1977 original.   But because we are leaps and bounds ahead within sexual politics and within politics general but we're still the same messed up world - we refer very much to gender politics, gender, sexual fluidity, gender fluidity and also today's politics that here we are again with the Tory government and the NHS is suffering, the young are having to go into debt to be students, that transgender people are still being beaten in the streets.   It's very much addressing all of that today within the original story of “Jubilee”. It's very clever, clever, it's very provocative. And another thing that Chris Goode has done - which I think is it stroke of genius - is the cast are all, in real life, political protestors. Thet're all actors but they're activists, which gives the play an incredible bravado and confidence.  

These very brilliant performers are not scared to strip off, they're not scared to offend the audience, and they live for real. Like we as punks - we lived as punks. These guys live as activists, and that has brought Derek’s “Jubilee” into the modern day with a younger generation of performers.

JO: How interesting as you say, and totally topical. And if you look back - I've read what you've said in interviews about your own youth. You said gender was never a big concern to you. You were very boyish, you were gender neutral? TOYAH: I chose to be a person, not an agenda and I used the term third gender. Well, now we have many, many genders. I still be prefer to be referred to as a person - JO: And you say and I agree with you - we're the same generation - all of that thrusting through the barriers that you certainly did and I suppose I did in my own tiny way - it was available to us. These kids now have taken the route that I never took, which is they're all qualified, they're all at university, they all have degrees ... and 50% are out of work. That is really worrying, isn't it? So we've taken a step forward and then 10 back.         

TOYAH: What concerns me is 40 years ago, when I was a punk rocker, everything was an opportunity, and I feel genuinely concerned that there's very little opportunity yet there is opportunity. With IT the way it is, with the technology the way it is . . .  If you have the right education and good ideas, there must be a way into the workplace.   I heard Billy Bragg say something utterly astonishing and it blew the top of my head off. About four years ago, he was writing for an anniversary of the “Titanic”, he wrote the most beautiful song about people that worked on the “Titanic" and he said he was the first member of his family that was not born to work in factories.   What frightens me today is within media young people are very much born to shop and to spend money, and to become ill. And what I mean by that is by entering into obesity. That really frightens me because they are being encouraged to be poor. If we don't address this  - what was phenomenal about punk was individual identity and punk opened up and pushed out the boundaries that if you had an idea that idea had a place, and it could move you forward in the world.   And I think young people need help to identify with that individuality as being part of what puts them in the workplace, their ideas have a footing there. So it does worry me incredibly that the young people today are in a completely different world to the world I came into.  

JO: Neither you or I have children and I often think it has enabled us to bounce around from job to job     - TOYAH: A lot of freedom, yeah     - JO: And it has given us a huge amount of freedom, hasn't it? I have God kids and nieces and nephews and all the rest of it and you watch them and you just think every generation thinks they're the luckiest but I truly believe we were and are -

TOYAH: Yes, I agree. We were very very lucky -    

JO: It was all out there for us  - TOYAH: It was all out there and we're still lucky  -

JO: I think punk was a voice that was listened to. It went across to the States and everything. Now ... what is there? What rebellions are there?     TOYAH: Let's just jump back to 77’ – I mean punk started really around 74’ but 77’ was the Jubilee year, we had the 1960’s, which was a huge social revolution, especially for women. It was the introduction of the pill, free love. You had amazing bands like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, then we had amazing artists like Bowie, who was just so creative. I mean what incredible role models we had.    

Now we live in a broader world where there isso much choice, and there's so many little niches. It's quite hard to find your inspiration, because you need to find a niche to find the inspiration within it. We were very lucky. I still think the luck is there.

I just think we actually need a bit of a revolution, hopefully a bloodless one that will rebalance everything. I have no respect for people who are multibillionaires, because they're doing it because they're not paying taxes, and their parents help them be where they are, it's so unfair. We need to find a way that everyone has the opportunities we had where class, nepotism and education didn't hold others away from being successful. We all deserve success, we all should be working in the workplace. JO: I'm going to go home and see this, it's at the Lyric (Hammersmith). What a perfect theatre for it to go. Did you open it in Manchester?  

TOYAH: At The Royal Exchange Theatre     -

JO: Oh, I love that! I haven't been to the new one. I remember the old one -

TOYAH: It's mind blowing  . . .  

JO: Is it? How was it received? Who is your audience? (Is it the) Toyah audience?   

TOYAH: Well, critically it was received - it took us all by surprise. It's a huge critical success. The audience to begin with were middle aged and middle class, and we lost about 40% in the interval. But then slowly we've found the audience that can stomach the violence, stomach the nudity, stomach the sex.

It is about an all girl gang who rape and murder men but it's also abut transgender politics at the same time. It really is an eye opener. And by Act Two people are shouting approval, they agree with the politics, and they're up on their feet, crying ... it's beautiful  -

JO: And apparently you were fangirled outside?  

TOYAH: Yeah! (laughs) I've been papped as well! It's been quite a morning!

JO: Of course you will (get papped)! She's going to leave here under a blanket! Toyah, thank you so much for coming in . . .

TOYAH: Pleasure, thank you, Jo.

(Toyah and Jo at the BBC London studios)

[toyahinterviews]

TOYAH ON BBC RADIO 4 WITH COLIN PATERSON 6.11.2017

TOYAH: It's the most defensive script I've ever read. It's political. It's sexual. It's rude. It's abusive and it's shocking. COLIN: Toyah Willcox on the first ever stage adaptation of "Jubilee" 40 years after the late director Derek Jarman's film TOYAH: It is the first ever punk rock movie to be made. We shot it in a bombed out part of London, near Tower Bridge, which is now the most expensive real estate area in the world. So the whole kind of weirdness of what we have today in comparison to back then is actually addressed in the play. COLIN: In the original film Toyah played "Mad", a pyromaniac in a murderous girl gang. For the stage version at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre she has swapped roles, playing Elizabeth the 1st who time travels to see what has become of her country. The script has been updated and will be changed every day to reflect what's in the news. TOYAH: It's a very sexually political version of "Jubilee". There's seven murders, very graphic murders within the play. And I think about five full on sex scenes. I think we constantly need to be reminded that life isn't always about comfort and shopping. I think it's one of the cleverest things I've ever been in.

COLIN: However, during the final week of rehearsals, it was decided to cut the section of the original script where "Amyl Nitrate" explains her manifesto for life, and describes the Moors murderer and Myra Hindley as a "hero" and a "true artist" for realising her dreams. The speech was in the play until late on ... what changed?

TOYAH: There's been discussion all along, group discussions, about whether that line should stay in. I think Derek Jarman put it in 40 years ago into the original film because of the shock factor and punks in the beginning did do things to shock. But as punk had its maturity and it developed ... for me punk took on a social responsibility and gave voice to those that were marginalised.   And I think today it undermines the whole play if in the opening scene there is homage to Myra Hindley. We all agreed as a group, who are performing in Manchester, that it was beyond disrespectful. I couldn't bear to even hear Myra Hindley's name. We did not want people going out of the theatre, not hearing the message of the brilliant politics within the play, because of this one line COLIN: You've had a remarkable career. There was the early 1980's, all the Top 10 singles and the Smash Hits awards. You did fims starring with Katharine Hepburn and Sir Laurence Olivier. Still, maybe, the work heard by the most people ... is the Teletubbies? TOYAH: Isn't that ironic? I put the top and the end voice on, it was a favour to a friend. The only time I needed security on the streets was during the arrival of Teletubbies. It was extraordinary! COLIN: It was just two lines you did? One at the start and one at the end? TOYAH: Yes, I wasn't even seen - it was just my voice. "The sun is setting in the sky. Teletubbies say goodbye."

COLIN: What would the punks in 1977 have made of you doing Teletubbies? TOYAH: I think they'd have loved it because I think Teletubbies was brilliantly surreal 

[toyahinterviews]

TOYAH ON BBC RADIO 4 WOMAN'S HOUR 20.2.2018

JANE GARVEY: Toyah Willcox is here. Good morning, Toyah. How are you? TOYAH: I’m good, thank you. JANE: Still a punk 40 years after your screen debut in Derek Jarman's punk film “Jubilee”. Are you still – I mean how do you define a punk? TOYAH: Well, a punk 40 years ago was someone that pushed out all the boundaries of conservatism. We were bohemian. We were artists, we were creatives. But also we were living at a time when we didn't like the future we were being presented with.  

And I think 40 years on - now, today, we’re in a similar situation and you can feel the pressure building that young people aren't liking the future they're being presented - JANE: Let's just hear you in your pomp. We have to play this really. This is “I Want To Be Free”. (The song plays) Now, you're in a stage re-imagining of "Jubilee", which we will talk about in a minute, but “I Want To Be Free” . . . How old were you when you sang that song? TOYAH: I was 23 years old when that came out. The lyrics started at the age 14 when I was at school and it was a symbol of my dyslexia. I just used to sit through classes not fitting in, not being able to keep up. JANE: And not understanding why you couldn't - TOYAH: And not understanding why and knowing I wasn't lazy and I used to just write poetry all day long. Then suddenly when I moved to London and I joined the National Theatre, when I was 18, that poetry started have relevance because I formed a band and could use it as lyrics. So the song has been with me since I was about 14 years. JANE: Do you still sing it? TOYAH: It is so iconic and I can't tell you - JANE: Because you’re a big live performer - 

TOYAH: I do four shows a week from any audience numbers from 150 a night to 60,000 tonight. And it's an iconic song. It means a lot to people. JANE: Oh, I know it does. TOYAH: I only say that because it's come as a surprise to me because we do it in “Jubilee” because the director Chris Goode said the song completely changed his life when he heard it at the age of 12. JANE: I remember reading Smash Hits and your EP “Sheep Farming in Barnet” - TOYAH: Oh, well done. JANE: It was reviewed. I remember thinking I must investigate this "Sheep Farming In Barnet". I mean you are a big part of everybody's adolescence  actually back then - TOYAH: Wel,l the the punk movement was gloriously technicolour. It was both political, but it was also surreal and I sit in the surreal. I've never been political. I've always - JANE: Well hang on - what do you mean you've never been political?

TOYAH: Well, I've always championed otherworldliness because I've always believed in 3rd gender, I've never liked being referred to as female. I've always wanted to be a person and I've been like that since I was a child. I fought against my mother when she used to force me into dresses. So a lot of my work is about the third gender. It's about otherworldliness because I have faith - JANE: Faith in what? TOYAH: I have faith that we are all part of a process. We are eternal and I have never ever kept that out of my work and it's always freaked people out. But suddenly to be 40 years on - I'm turning 60 … I believe every decade is a fruitful decade for everyone because we transform and go through so many different changes.    But suddenly to be working with the generation as I am in “Jubilee”, who have been enlightened by what I've done is an eye opener because I've always had to fight my own corner.

JANE: Now “Jubilee” on stage is quite a thing. And I saw it on Friday night and it was, at turns, a baffling, intoxicating, slightly mystifying and very energising. I have to say – (Toyah starts to speak) Go on - TOYAH: Let's go back to the roots. It's Derek Jarman - JANE: Yes, well, like many 70’s revolutionaries he was privately educated and a trustafarian type - TOYAH: Which is addressed in the play (they both laugh) and I can't give you a quote because everything is a swearword - JANE: You certainly won't be giving me that quote - TOYAH: But Derek's world was an openly  - JANE: Although I like that bit – (they both laugh) TOYAH: Derek’s world was an openly gay world at a time when homosexuality was illegal. So the first time I met Derek, Derek was dressed. I was dressed, Adam Ant was dressed - he was with me, but virtually everyone else in the building was naked. And this is reflected in the play, and you referred to it yesterday -

JANE: I did say - TOYAH: You’ve never seen so much nudity. But that is Derek's world. It is reflected - JANE: But seriously, Toyah, you went round to this gaff and most of the inhabitants didn't have any clothes on - TOYAH: And they were all male. JANE: What did you do? TOYAH: I looked at the ceiling a lot because I didn't know where to look and I didn't know how to react, which is one of the glorious affects the stage play is having on the audience. Because the Lyric Hammersmith has a very intelligent audience - JANE: Oh, highly! TOYAH: Who probably aren't used to this in-your-face nudity, which I look on as complete honesty that delivers a huge political message within the play. But the audience are looking at the ceiling a lot, some of them, and I think you might have been one of them on Friday - JANE: You didn’t know where I was sitting!

TOYAH: I wish I knew because I get to look at the audience a lot. I would love to have seen your reaction! JANE: To be perfectly honest, you know what? It's genuinely hard to know what to do with your face when you are looking at a lot of nudity on stage. It really is! I'm being totally honest with you. TOYAH: There’s male and female nudity. Great discussions happened in the rehearsal process about people who were willing to do this - JANE: Because not everybody does - TOYAH: Not everybody. Ironically the heterosexual sex scenes are clothed. The homosexual scenes are undressed and that's because of the brilliance of the actors. Just agreeing that the scene would be more honest and truthful if they weren't clothed. And all of this happens with a political message - JANE: That is why I am slightly baffled. What is the political message of “Jubilee”? TOYAH: OK. Transgender. Safety of gender fluidity. The message is how endangered these people are for being what they are. There’s a young generation out there who need to know that they have the freedom to choose their gender. Choose their sexuality.    

[toyahinterviews]

TOYAH ON BBC BREAKFAST 31.8.2021

(The "Zoom Zoom" video plays) LOUISE MINCHIN : I’m really excited! Toyah’s here! Good morning! TOYAH: Good morning! I’m excited! I watch you guys every morning! DAN WALKER: I can’t believe that all of that was shot on an iPhone basically? TOYAH: I shot it all in lockdown on an iPhone. DAN: That is a pandemic album then? TOYAH: It's a pandemic album. It's also an album about freedom and getting out again, hugging, kissing people, celebrating, dancing, celebrating those that you love as well, so (it's a) very up album LOUISE: It definitely is and it's also so you - you literally listen to 10 seconds … I know who that is.

TOYAH: Yes, and it's doing incredibly well. Midweek chart is five for me in the main charts, and we're trying to get me my first number one ... so let's see what happens - DAN: I can’t believe you haven’t had a number one album ... TOYAH: No … actually - by association, Teletubbies. I was the narrator on Teletubbies and they had a number one in the 90’s. LOUISE: I’d take that, Teletubbies number one - that's good!

TOYAH: So "Posh Pop" will be my highest chart placing possibly ever. Especially since 1985. It's gone crazy out there ... DAN: And in terms of - you're trying to sort of purposely make it fun. Having done this during lockdown - did you go against the national feeling if you like ... because people were struggling ... Did you think "I've got to sort of fight against this and make a really positive record"?

TOYAH: I didn’t have to fight against it. I felt really unified with with my Toyah YouTube audience. May last year, I put a video out of me teaching my husband to jive and with within five minutes (it had) 100,000 viewers. That was May. By January, we had 14 million viewers, and I've never felt so connected. It was the great leveller. There was no point being a rock star. We were suddenly agony aunts, and people were confiding in us and telling us incredible things.   (“Zoom Zoom” video plays) That's my husband Robert Fripp, the gorgeous man in the blue suit, who I adore, and my co-writer Simon Darlow (above on the left) in the red shirt. So we created a pod where we tested, so we only worked together during the five months this album was made. And then I shot the videos on an iPhone with a wonderful neighbour, who held the iPhone so I could get all the shots. LOUISE: Honestly - you are multitalented … I mean somebody is holding the iPhone but this is quite something!  

TOYAH: Yeah, that's my garden (Dan and Louise laugh) It was warmer in April than it is now. And that is my kitchen - LOUISE: Absolutely brilliant. Is this your kitchen? ("Levitate" and “Summer Of Love” videos play)

TOYAH: Yeah, we did it all on green screen DAN: Must be lovely - essentially that entire editorial control over everything? TOYAH: I loved it because no one can tell me what to do and I didn't tell my husband and my co-writer what we were shooting. I just put them in the picture holding a guitar, and then we just added all the green screen information behind it which allowed us to put really deep messages in when it came to the edit like “peace, no war” “summer of love”, “dance”, “have peace”, “make love”. LOUISE: Absolutely brilliant. Tell us about the title "Posh Posh"?   TOYAH: Well, if it was just a Toyah album - it became "Posh Pop" because my husband Robert Fripp is on it. World famous guitarist. In the top 40 of all time guitarists. If he wasn't on it, it could have been called "Pop Tart", or if it was just me it would be “Pop”

LOUISE: Right - so he's the posh bit TOYAH: He’s the posh bit because instantly around the world - and this is going to be my first international album and I'm 63! This is about my 29th album … because he's on it it's instantly perceived as something incredibly posh   LOUISE: Oh, that’s lovely and very useful having him in the house. From a guitar point of view -   TOYAH: Well, yeah. But what was beautiful about going into the studio - because Simon and I prepared everything. We recorded and wrote the songs first - we put my husband in the studio for half an hour once a week, handed him the chord chart and we said, “do whatever you want”. And we said "channel Blondie. Channel Talking Heads. Channel Bowie" - all of who he (has) worked with, and he just did one take and that’s it on this glorious album   DAN: That’s talent, isn’t it? TOYAH: It’s talent 

DAN: Is he involved – because you’re on tour next month. Is that right? TOYAH: I’ve been on tour for the last five weeks. He is now in the States and was hit by the hurricane in New York and had to move his outdoor venue indoors. So he gets home in two weeks.   I’ve been on the road now at least for five weeks doing the festivals, which is fabulous and carrying on! Because everyone you talk to in show business … all the gigs that were sold out last year are now buffered into this year. So we're very, very busy.   DAN: What's it like now having lived through the pandemic and everyone involved in the arts, as you said - the creative industries are so frustrated, not being able to perform. What's it like to have a crowd out there singing back at you now? TOYAH: I have to stop myself from crying. I just want to kiss the stage, and I'm meeting people face to face that I helped through lockdown. Some people who lost relatives who contacted me and asked me to do singing in their virtual funerals.  

I mean ... really deep connections that I'm now seeing face to face in the audience. And they're coming to say thank you and they're able to hug me now. So it's been a really intense, and remarkable time that's taught me a lot about myself, I've come out of this a much better person. LOUISE: Your enthusiasm is infectious. TOYAH: Sorry!     LOUISE: No - it’s brilliant! TOYAH: Is that a good thing or a bad thing? LOUISE: No - it’s absolutely brilliant! It really is and the album's actually fantastic. It's a great listen. Thank you very much for coming to see us, and spreading your energy.   TOYAH: Thank you. DAN: I do feel energised by sitting next to you. Thank you and hopefully we will sort out that album for you as well -because we can't have the Teletubbies being your only number one!

TOYAH: No, this has got to be number one, hasn’t it? (they all laugh) DAN: The new album is called “Posh Pop” LOUISE: Absolutely brilliant to see you, Toyah. Thank you very much indeed    

[toyahinterviews]

TOYAH ON BBC RADIO 2 WITH STEVE WRIGHT 24.8.2021

STEVE: Toyah is in that rare category of only needing her first name to know who we're talking about. She's a British pop icon, actor and a broadcaster with a career covering more than 40 years. Her last album of new material “In The Court Of The Crimson Queen” came out in 2008, and last year she reissued some of her acclaimed early albums. But now she's back with new music. Her album, “Posh Pop” comes out this Friday. It's 10 new songs that feature the guitar work of husband Robert Fripp from prog rock legends, King Crimson. He was only given a chord sheet and told to do whatever he felt like. Well, that's some kind of privilege by being your man. He can do what he likes.

TOYAH: Thank you so much! What a wonderful introduction. With Robert he wanted the freedom to just play in the moment and he's a good enough musician that he doesn't have to rehearse beforehand, especially a pop album. He came in for half an hour  one day a week, we handed him the code chart and he blew us away.   STEVE: He’s sensational, isn’t he, really? Here’s a thing about your good self - you been round quite a time and to still be doing it with the verve and the enthusiasm and the musicality that you do it with and that's on top of being a known actress ... how do you do it?

TOYAH: Well, you know we're in a great profession. It's just utterly enjoyable. Every single moment is so enjoyable. What happened during lockdown is all artists lost their audience and that started to get very scary and I have to perform. I completely identify with life through performance and I found myself needing to write songs and needing to make videos and God bless my mobile phone because I made 10 videos on it while making the album.   I just found that it was either an opportunity or nothing was going to happen. There was no middle ground. I started Toyah YouTube with "Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunch". 40 million visitors. The majority saying "thank you for making our Sundays. Thank you for making us laugh". The human life stories that came back to us were an inspiration from everyone who was working in the NHS, working in medicine around the world to those who are locked in single rooms with children and it just made us want to reach out and I think this is a human interest album.   It’s called “Posh Pop” for two reasons. One, Robert is playing on it and if he wasn't it would just be called pop (Steve laughs) ... Add Robert Fripp to something and it suddenly goes up a gear. Also, we wanted people to get back into their lives and dance and celebrate and be able to hug each other. And we wanted this album to be very very up and it’s pop songs.  

STEVE: It’s pop songs, yeah. I mean, with your older hits, they were something not outside of pop, but beyond pop and you can hear some of that in these songs. It's definitely you.   TOYAH: Yeah, it's a shared rebellion because even though I think I've always stood outside of every genre, my audience - they know what I am and I’m still performing to 15,000 people at festivals. I also do small gigs to 200 people and every night is a riot.   So my audience knows my voice, they know my personality and even within “Posh Pop” we’re picking out things that we’re passionate about. A song like “The Bride Will Return” is … every bride missed their wedding for 16 months so how can I not write a song about the bride will return? STEVE: It’s got a kind of a driving riff through it, a kind of underlay? Hasn't it really, that song?

TOYAH: I saw a clip about a bride in Beirut during a photo session when a warehouse blew up and this exquisitely beautiful bride, the photo caught the shock on her face. I went straight to my piano and started that tune and took it into the studio to my co-writer Simon Darlow and we just sat there in tears writing this song in honour of that bride.   STEVE: I always remember you being quite definite about what you wanted and the other thing I remember about you in those very early days was that you lived somewhere strange. I wasn't sure where it was. It might have been like a railway arch or something like that ...

TOYAH: It was a British Rail warehouse (Toyah in her office at "Mayhem", above). It was freezing!   

STEVE: But it was handy for the train! TOYAH: Very handy for the train. Every weekend Steve Strange would take it over and Boy George would turn up. Iggy Pop would turn up. We once had 400 people in this warehouse having a party for four days.   STEVE: I always thought that must be a great place to be. TOYAH: There was just one small problem.   STEVE: What? TOYAH: There was only one loo (Steve laughs)   STEVE: I know you're touring, in fact this Friday, Somerset, the Watchet Festival  ... TOYAH: Can’t wait! STEVE: August 27th. Have you done any gigs yet?   TOYAH: Yeah! Non-stop festivals - I did five last week. It's so special, you could just kiss the stage (Steve laughs) and everyone is just so happy and it's rained non-stop for a month -

STEVE: Doesn’t matter - TOYAH: Everyone’s really happy.   STEVE: Yeah. (Reads a list of upcoming gigs) You know, everywhere basically and then there's a thing, Toyah and Hazel O'Connor, Electric Ladies of The 80s tour dates, and that's in places like Buxton, Holmfirth, Gateshead, Manchester et cetera, et cetera. But that's June of next year, so we might mention that a little closer to the gig. TOYAH: Thank you so much, we’re trying to fit in all of last year's gigs.   STEVE: You’re obviously acting still. When's your next TV or play?   TOYAH: Well, there all backed up, so I had “To Be Someone” out in cinemas last month. That was me, Lesley Ash, Mark Wingate. Some of the cast from “Quadrophenia”. My next movie is (at) Halloween and it's called “The Ghosts of Borley Rectory” (Toyah as Estelle Roberts, below), which is a true story and I'm fabulous in it (Steve laughs) and I'm the female lead.   

STEVE: Yeah. I heard that, yeah TOYAH: I’m the female lead in “Give Them Wings” which is due for distribution in the autumn.   

STEVE: Tim (Smith, also in the studio), I know that you worked with Toyah in the past, up at Radio West Midlands.

TIM: Yeah long time ago we did a programme, you presented it,  I produced it and I always remember the fact that we had to surprise you with Robert right at the end of the programme. So I'm liaising with Robert Fripp thinking “oh my God, I got Robert Fripp on the phone”, but a delightful man, as I'm sure you're well aware, we had quite a lot of fun actually doing that. Yeah, long time ago.

TOYAH: Well, you've always been fantastic to work with Tim, I adored being in your company.

STEVE: Really?  

TIM: You’re very kind .

STEVE: Yeah … you’re the only one.

TOYAH: I thought I’d get that in.

STEVE: Yeah, I can tell.  

TIM: Tell Robert I played a lot of air guitar to this album, it’s brilliant stuff.

STEVE: Yeah, it's a great. It is really, really nice. It's great. Toyah’s new album “Posh Pop” is out on Friday. Good to talk to you again and hopefully next time we’ll see you. Stay safe and all of that.

TOYAH: Thank you so much. See you out there.  

STEVE: Okay, see you out there. There she goes, it’s Toyah everybody!