 TOYAH
GETS HER OWN BACK
Man who made her see red She's been up, she's been down. She's
been cosseted like a major star and humiliated
like a little girl
But now Toyah is getting her
own back. In the Channel 4 film Midnight
Breaks, she takes her sweet revenge on the
people who have made her professional life a
misery.
In the hard world of rock
music, she has often come across ruthless,
manipulative, glossy, record company executives.
This time around she gets to be
one. She plays Billy Jones, a tough rock band
manager.
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| "I hate the
character I play," says Toyah, "especially
her ghastly hair and clothes, but sadly in real
life she really does exist." Toyah is coy about revealing the
identity of this person but she does admit that
SHE in real life is a HE.
"He should
have been hung, drawn and quartered," says
Toyah, narrowing her eyes at the memory. "He
is no longer in the music industry and quite
rightly so.
"He was
totally insensitive," explains Toyah, "He
used to call me into his office, listen to my
demo tapes and give them marks between one and
five.
"I was
furious. I could have wrung his neck but he
thought he had the authority to do it.
"The
record company always put you under pressure to
produce. They seem to forget that the creative
process is very sensitive and vulnerable and that
the artist must be left alone."
These days
Toyah has grabbed the initiative of running her
own affairs. "I like being in control of my
life and I'm happy to be responsible for my own
successes and failures."
Toyah is no
stranger to failure. She was a huge success as a
punk singer in the Seventies.
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After five years of huge
acclaim, her high profile disappeared. "Literally
overnight the world turned me off. It was a
terrible shock to my system and I couldn't
understand what was going on. At the time I
blamed myself and thought the world was falling
down around my feet." What Toyah needed was a
knight in shining armour to rescue her and right
on cue along came guitarist Robert Fripp. It was
love at first sight for both of them.
"My
personal life had been terrible, but Robert has
given me independence and liberation for the
first time. When I met him there was no way I'd
go shopping on my own or drive off to Scotland on
my own. Now he can't stop me."
The couple live
the quiet life in Wiltshire with a rabbit called
Cecil. And Toyah likes it that way.
Daily Express -
1988
Thanks to
Jenny Parkin for providing this.
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