Toyah Willcox

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Toyah Willcox
Background information
Birth name Toyah Ann Willcox
Also known as Toyah
Born 18 May 1958
Origin Kings Heath, Birmingham, England
Genre(s) Punk rock, Rock music, New wave
Occupation(s) musician, actress, songwriter, producer
Instrument(s) vocals (plus guitar, keyboards occasionally)
Years active 1977-present
Label(s) Safari Records, E.G. Records
Associated
acts
Toyah (band), Sunday All Over The World, Kiss Of Reality
Website http://www.toyahwillcox.com

Toyah Ann Willcox (born May 18, 1958 in Kings Heath, Birmingham) is an English actress and singer. She currently lives in Chiswick, London, UK, with Robert Fripp.

Contents

Toyah Willcox trained as an actress at the Old Rep Drama School in her home town of Birmingham and first became well-known during the punk rock era, her appearances in Derek Jarman's 1977 film Jubilee and 1979's Who album-inspired Quadrophenia, launching her as a provocative and anti-establishment figure, an image she eventually threw off. Her singing career took off shortly afterwards, with hits such as "I Want To Be Free" and "It's A Mystery". In 1983, she was voted Best Female Singer at the British Rock and Pop Awards — since restyled as The Brit Awards, or "Brits" — and in 1986 she married avant-garde musician, Robert Fripp. She was one of the first acts to score regularly in the UK Singles Chart with EPs. Also in 1986, Willcox sang lead on the Tony Banks track "Lion of Symmetry".

Since then, she has become a well-known (and more conventional) face on television and in the theatre. She has played straight roles, including in Quatermass (1979) and in Shakespeare plays, and appeared as a presenter of programmes such as Songs of Praise, Holiday (BBC), and Good Sex Guide Late. In 1999, she took the lead in the children's television series, Barmy Aunt Boomerang. She also provides the voiceover for the children's television programmes, the Teletubbies and Brum. More recently, she appeared in the reality television series I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! and I'm Famous and Frightened!.

Following her 2000 autobiography Living Out Loud, Toyah had a further autobiographical book published in 2005 documenting her experience of cosmetic surgery, Diary of a Facelift.

She has appeared on radio including the 2002 BBC Radio 4 series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In December 2006 she joined the radio drama series Silver Street on the BBC Asian Network as Siobhan Brady.

She continues to perform with her band, releasing a live DVD in 2005, and has a busy schedule with theatre commitments, including appearing on stage in London's West End performing the title role of Calamity Jane at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 2003.

Toyah in the 1982 video for "Brave New World"
Toyah in the 1982 video for "Brave New World"

With Toyah (band):

As a solo artist:

With Toyah (band):

  • Toyah! Toyah! Toyah![1] (1984)
  • Best Of Toyah (1994)
  • Live & More: Live Favourites & Rarities (1998)
  • The Very Best Of Toyah (1998)
  • Proud, Loud & Heard: The Best Of Toyah (1998)
  • The Safari Singles Collection Part I: 1979-1981 (2005)
  • The Safari Singles Collection Part II: 1982-1983 (2005)

With Toyah (band):

As a solo artist:

Collaborations:

  • "Nine To Five" (with Adam Ant as Maneaters) (1982)[2]
  • "Lion of Symmetry" (EP with Tony Banks) (1985)
  • "Killing Made Easy" (limited release with Family of Noise) (2004)

With Toyah (band):

As a solo artist:

  • Thirty Years in the TARDIS (1993) Herself

  • Toyah at the Rainbow (1981) (live recording from Rainbow Theatre)
  • Good Morning Universe (1982) (live BBC recording from Theatre Royal, Drury Lane)
  • Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! (1984) (companion to K-tel LP of same name; compilation of four pop videos and one live track)
  • Wild Essence - Live in the 21st Century (2005) (live recording)

  1. ^ Also known as Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! All The Hits. This K-tel release is sometimes confused with the earlier 1980 live album of the same name but it contains different material: it's a compilation of various studio-recorded singles-chart hits and other tracks originally released between 1979 and 1983.
  2. ^ Released as cash-in single. Originally appeared on the Jubilee Original Soundtrack album.

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