How she survives the knocks 
 

It's a mystery - or - as Toyah would put it, a mythtery - as to why, with all the knocks she's had to take, she continues in the music business. 

The sometime actress, sometimes singer has a new album 'Desire' kicking around, and frankly, it doesn't look as if it'll top the charts. 

Still, there can't be many more positive people around. But how does she define herself, actress or singer? 

COMEDY 

"At the moment I'm rehearsing for a play at The National Theatre, called Three Men on the Horse, an American comedy about gangsters betting on a horse. 

"I do what I do, I suppose I'm an entertainer," she explains. 

"I don't think of myself as anything.  I don't do safe things. I don't believe in failure within my work, if it isn't a 
challenge it isn't worth doing. What the English call failure I call a good lesson." 
 

And Toyah should know, her recent West End show Cabaret folded. 
                           
When it comes to choosing material for her album life isn't so straightforward. 

"'Love's Unkind' was done for the management company. They asked me to do it to see what it would sound like, I think it's a load of trash, it's the one song I asked them not to put on the album." But there it is. 

With such a hectic schedule and a management company who ignore her own wishes, it must be a relief to get some time off. Not at all. 

"I only get Sundays off. I don't have much more time to relax. The only time I get is when I go to the theatre or to see a band. I view my work as my enjoyment." 

Pity the same isn't true for all of us