Exmouth Journal: Toyah Confirmed for Exmouth Festival 2017
Toyah – the singer and actress best known for her early 1980s top ten hits It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free – will be one of the major headlining acts at this year’s Exmouth Festival.
She will be giving a free concert with her band at the Imperial Recreation Ground on Sunday, May 28.
News that Toyah Willcox would be featured in this year’s festival line-up was confirmed by Carla Hiley, Exmouth’s arts manager. It follows last year’s successful show by 1980s band Bad Manners, who drew around 5,000 people to the ‘Rec Ground.
“I had It’s A Mystery in my head – that’s probably the main reason!” said Carla, explaining why she had booked Toyah. “Secondly, I think that – like Bad Manners – she’s fun, she’s credible, I like her new stuff and her old stuff is classic.”
This year’s festival will run from Friday, May 26 to Saturday, June 3, following last year’s pattern of four days on the ‘Rec Ground, week-day shows in the Manor Gardens, finishing with West Country Traditions on The Strand.
“People seemed to enjoy it,” said Carla. “The feedback was that they liked the new venue, so I went with that again this year. Toyah is not the only one that I’m pleased about. There’s a great line-up, so it’s looking good.”
Toyah’s agent said the singer was ‘very much looking forward to the show.’
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