Post by petrolino on Aug 16, 2019 22:10:00 GMT
Toyah : Strelitzia
Toyah Ann Willcox was born on May 18, 1958 in Kings Heath, Birmingham, England. Her father Beric Willcox was a factory owner and her mother Barbara Joy (née Rollinson) was a professional dancer. Her name Toyah is most likely derived from a tiny town in Reeves County, Texas where aviatrix Amelia Earhart is believed to have stopped in September, 1928 to adjust her carburetor.
Willcox exhibited a strong theatrical spirit from an early age and seemed destined to enter the world of theatre. This enthusiasm saw her rise up rapidly through the wings of the English theatre establishment, graduating from assistant costumer to performer. She's worked alongside countless legends of stage and screen including Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier, John Mills and John Gielgud. She co-wrote some songs in the mid-1970s with friend and frequent co-star Phil Daniels, a union prompted by their participation in an early stage performance of Nick Bicat's play 'Glitter'. At the time, Willcox was about 16 or 17 years of age.
"This was my first professional acting. My first time in the studio on multi-camera. Technique eluded me but there was a spark that everyone seemed to recognise. All my life I had wanted to sing. This was my chance. In the play I had to sing with the band, Bilbo Baggins. Inspired by the band, the equipment, the volume, the ambience... my mind was set. I had to put a band together myself, or get into one... quick!"
- Toyah Willcox
In 1977, Willcox took on the role of Emma in 'Tales From The Vienna Woods' which was being staged at the National Theatre in London. This prestigious production of a 1931 play written by Odon Von Horvath was directed by Maximilian Schell and featured Kate Nelligan, Brenda Blethyn and Stephen Rea among its cast. Now living in London, Willcox took up permanent residence at a place called 'Mayhem' where she cut her first demos with a group of musicians. Adopting the name Toyah, the band released their first single, 'Victims Of The Riddle', on July 27, 1979.
Willcox's acting profile and theatrical personality had positioned her on the fringes of the punk movement. Interestingly, her recordings over the next few years would reflect the British rock industry's musical transition which peaked around 1979, as the ska revival began charting multiple albums, experimental synthesiser pop took hold, supersonic soul merchants emerged (some hailing from her home city of Birmingham) and an artistic posse known as the "new romantics" etched descriptive poetry through the creation of sounds and fashions born of the club scenes in London and Birmingham. Between the core creative years of 1977 and 1981, which saw the release of debut albums for some of Britain's most inventive rock and pop outfits, Willcox somehow tied them all together through the ambitious soundscapes of Toyah. Even more impressive is that this evolved via a near-complete band shake-up at the turn of the decade, leading to the creation of her most iconic musical work, 'Anthem' (1980).
Willcox met guitarist Robert Fripp of King Crimson in 1983, then again in 1985, they got married on May 16, 1986 and have lived happily together for 33 years.
'Jet Boy' - Blondie & Robert Fripp (performed on May 7, 1978 at a CBGB's benefit gig for Dead Boys drummer Johnny Blitz, stabbed 5 times but still standing)
'Fade Away And Radiate' - Blondie with Robert Fripp
Toyah : 5 Studio Albums
'Sheep Farming In Barnet' (1979) - Toyah
"Toyahz 1st l.p. which waz born from the 7" episode of the same name."
- Clifford Donaldson, Amazon
'Danced' - Toyah
'The Blue Meaning' (1980) - Toyah
"THE BLUE MEANING the album that launched IEYA and the helium song, was released 38yrs ago today! It went into the indie album charts at no.8 and rose to No.1. the following week. This was almost a year before my first chart single in March 1981."
- Toyah, Facebook
'Ieya' - Toyah
'Anthem' (1981) - Toyah
"After the shock of being asked to leave Original Mirrors (and it was a shock at the time) I bumbled about for a few months, doing casual work in betting shops for money, playing, hanging out and getting stoned with my mates The Dirty Strangers, remaining on the look out for something worthwhile to pursue in the music business. I remember once meeting a young (very young 20 I think!!!) Guy Pratt down at Hammersmith Rehearsal Studios at this time and us both being unemployed and musing over getting decent music careers. The next time I saw him, less than three years later, he was playing with Icehouse and I was playing with Mike Oldfield ... not bad progress for both of us!!!
Anyway ... through my connection with The Boys, a band that the Bernie Torme Band had supported in 1978 and who were signed to Safari Records, my name came up for consideration for the new Toyah band which had recently shed three members. Having been part of Original Mirrors was apparently a big plus on my minimal CV. I went up to meet Toyah and her band partner Joel Bogen in Rob Lyons' (Joel's best mate) flat in Mountfield Road North Finchley for a chat to see what it was all about. I loved the quirky nature of the material Toyah and Joel had been writing to date and their style really opened the door for me to become seriously experimental with my playing. I had to learn a lot of the previously recorded material for our first gigs together and I'd never really listened to anything like it let alone even THOUGHT of playing stuff like this. It was, I think, quite unique and there lay the attraction for me AND apart from my obvious musical ability and enthusiasm, I also proved to THEM that I could smoke pot for England!!!"
Anyway ... through my connection with The Boys, a band that the Bernie Torme Band had supported in 1978 and who were signed to Safari Records, my name came up for consideration for the new Toyah band which had recently shed three members. Having been part of Original Mirrors was apparently a big plus on my minimal CV. I went up to meet Toyah and her band partner Joel Bogen in Rob Lyons' (Joel's best mate) flat in Mountfield Road North Finchley for a chat to see what it was all about. I loved the quirky nature of the material Toyah and Joel had been writing to date and their style really opened the door for me to become seriously experimental with my playing. I had to learn a lot of the previously recorded material for our first gigs together and I'd never really listened to anything like it let alone even THOUGHT of playing stuff like this. It was, I think, quite unique and there lay the attraction for me AND apart from my obvious musical ability and enthusiasm, I also proved to THEM that I could smoke pot for England!!!"
- Phil Spalding, Music & Mayhem
'Jungles Of Jupiter' - Toyah
'The Changeling' (1982) - Toyah
"It was an album that was unexpected in its bleakness, as it followed ‘Anthem’ which was a very up, positive album. Back in 1980/81 you had to deliver two albums and four singles a year and tour at least three or four times a year, which was a kind of weird place to be in because you could never really fulfil anything 100%.
I remember at the same time I was also doing about fourteen interviews a day, so by the time I came to write ‘The Changeling’ I was feeling pretty burnt out, and so I just thought I am going to be truthful here. I am just going to write how I feel, and I felt really bleak at the time.
It was the beginning of 1982, and the Falklands War was also brewing, and it broke out while we were recording. My brother was in the RAF and on call. He had left the RAF in the 1970s, but was on call to go out and fight in the Falklands because of his training. We never expected a war again in our lifetime. It was the first feeling I had experienced of being completely out of control of the country you live in. You realised that you had no control on the decisions that it made, and so with ‘The Changeling’ I made no effort to be positive at all (Laughs).
It was one of the most horrible times in my life, and ‘The Changeling’ really reflects that. Like so many albums that reflect a downward emotional curve, it came out at a time in which a lot of people were feeling the same. A lot of the fans identified with it at the time, and I think that it also won me new fans as well."
I remember at the same time I was also doing about fourteen interviews a day, so by the time I came to write ‘The Changeling’ I was feeling pretty burnt out, and so I just thought I am going to be truthful here. I am just going to write how I feel, and I felt really bleak at the time.
It was the beginning of 1982, and the Falklands War was also brewing, and it broke out while we were recording. My brother was in the RAF and on call. He had left the RAF in the 1970s, but was on call to go out and fight in the Falklands because of his training. We never expected a war again in our lifetime. It was the first feeling I had experienced of being completely out of control of the country you live in. You realised that you had no control on the decisions that it made, and so with ‘The Changeling’ I made no effort to be positive at all (Laughs).
It was one of the most horrible times in my life, and ‘The Changeling’ really reflects that. Like so many albums that reflect a downward emotional curve, it came out at a time in which a lot of people were feeling the same. A lot of the fans identified with it at the time, and I think that it also won me new fans as well."
- Toyah Willcox, Penny Black Music
'Creepy Room' - Toyah
'Love Is The Law' (1983) - Toyah
"Few artistes have moved so effortlessly between mediums as Toyah Willcox. As an actor she appeared in some of the most important pop-culture films of the 1970s, playing ‘Mad’ in Derek Jarman’s controversial Jubilee and ‘Monkey’ in the seminal mod-revivalist Quadrophenia, but also performing in works as diverse as Jarman’s adaption of The Tempest and the final instalment of the Quatermass saga for ITV.
At the same time, she has released a slew of records that moved from the ferocity of her early post-punk albums, Sheep Farming In Barnet and Blue Meaning, through the peak of her commercial appeal, with the It’s A Mystery led Four From Toyah EP, and her image-defining LP Anthem, hitting numbers four and two in their respective charts.
The Steve Lillywhite produced follow-up, The Changeling, returned to darker themes with Goth trappings, while the final studio release under the Toyah band name, Love Is The Law, just scraped into the Top 30 album chart, with only one subsequent solo album achieving a similar status. But at the same time, a diversification into stage roles, television presenting and voiceovers ran side-by-side with an increasingly eclectic and well-respected run of solo records."
At the same time, she has released a slew of records that moved from the ferocity of her early post-punk albums, Sheep Farming In Barnet and Blue Meaning, through the peak of her commercial appeal, with the It’s A Mystery led Four From Toyah EP, and her image-defining LP Anthem, hitting numbers four and two in their respective charts.
The Steve Lillywhite produced follow-up, The Changeling, returned to darker themes with Goth trappings, while the final studio release under the Toyah band name, Love Is The Law, just scraped into the Top 30 album chart, with only one subsequent solo album achieving a similar status. But at the same time, a diversification into stage roles, television presenting and voiceovers ran side-by-side with an increasingly eclectic and well-respected run of solo records."
- Craig Astley, Record Collector
Toyah speaking in 1983