And after 30 years in showbiz, there is no sign of the mutli-talented Toyah slowing down, as she prepares to embark on a series of English Heritage Picnic Concerts with other famous faces from the 1980's, which will be arriving at Battle Abbey later this summer.

The 80's icon said: "I have the same commitment for everything I do and the fact I'm a 49-year-old woman who is still incredibly successful in business is amazing.
"I'm still on stage, I have got bookings around the world, I'm making two albums and of that I'm very proud.

"The fact is most people hit 30 and think it's over."

Since 1977, Toyah has enjoyed huge success as a singer, both as a solo artist and with numerous bands. She has also appeared in a number of films including Quadrophenia and Jubilee, as well as alongside Katherine Hepburn in The Corn Is Green. And her theatre credits include Midsummer Night's Dream, Peter Pan, Sally Bowles in the West End revival of Cabaret and the starring role in the critically acclaimed Calamity Jane.

But despite all these roles and numerous others, Toyah still feels she can achieve more in her acting career. She said: "There's been lots of acting, although I feel my acting career has yet to happen.

"Although I have done lots, I still feel there's loads I want to do."

Toyah is currently writing several dramas, with one featuring a character she would personally love to play.

"There's character I am creating for a TV series at the moment and she is an ex-alcoholic psychic and she's also psychotic!" she laughs. "I love the idea of someone with all this power and can't handle it."

On top of the music and acting, Toyah has won over a new generation of fans, thanks to her appearance on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and voicing the introduction on kids TV show The Teletubbies. Toyah has many fond memories of Battle after recording her second album, The Blue Meaning, in the town.

And in 1983 she visited Hastings for the filming of the straight-to-video movie Murder - Ultimate Grounds for Divorce, alongside Roger Daltrey and Toyah's Quadrophenia co-star Leslie Ash.

She is looking forward to returning to 1066 country for Party! at Battle Abbey on Saturday August 25, appearing alongside Bananarama, Belinda Carlisle, Midge Ure, T'Pau and Nick Heyward.

Toyah said: "I love these concerts. They're an absolute delight and it's pure nostalgia."

Speaking about her fellow performers, Toyah added: "We are all such good friends and we all work together a lot and I have to say I adore all of them because they have written such classics.

"I adore their music, especially Belinda Carlisle's, so I'm going to be having great fun."

• Tickets for Party!, on Saturday August 25, starting at 7.30pm, cost £29 (concessions £27).Tickets for the Last Night of the Battle Abbey Proms, starring Lesley Garrett, on Sunday August 26, starting at 7.30pm, cost £24 (concessions £22).
For tickets, call See on 0870 890 0146 or Ticketmaster on 0870 333 6206.
Alternatively, visit www.picnicconcerts.com

[ News Souce: www.bexhilltoday.co.uk - Wed 23rd May 2007 ]

We have a unique opportunity to quiz Toyah about her unique career that includes being a punk icon, star of films and West End Musicals and even a stint in the jungle!

If you have a question for Toyah email the Panto team and we will do the rest*. 

*Your question will be filmed for future promotional use 

[ Source: www.readingarts.com - Fri 18th May 2007 ]

Holly Willoughby brings you the latest gossip and exclusive interviews with the judges and contestants as another couple are sent home. Tonight, Toyah Willcox joins Holly in the studio (exclusive to ITV2).

Greasd Lightin': Results : ITV2 - Saturday 26th May : 9.25pm
Greased Lightin': Results : ITV2 Plus 1 - Saturday 26th May - 10.25pm

Please click on the pictures to visit Paul Lomas' MySpace to view a clip of Toyah performing 'Echo Beach' last Saturday.

[ Thanks to Glyn Whelan for the pics ]

We are delighted to announce the 2007/2008 pantomime is Jack And The Beanstalk.
Starring Toyah Willcox and Chris Lillicrap this years panto is set to be the best ever!
 

Booking is now open and there is a special early bird family rate of £12 a ticket if you book and pay before 1st August 2007. The Proper Pantomime Company follow the success of Aladdin with the spectacular children's favourite Jack and The Beanstalk. Starring Toyah and Chris Lillicrap with Harvey James returning after his crowd pleasing antics as Wishee Washee in Aladdin.

Sat 8th Dec 2007 - Sun 6th Jan 2008
Early Bird Family £12 a ticket (4 tickets max 2 adults)available until 1st August 2007
Off Peak performances: £12 - £18
Peak Performances: £12 - £19.50
All January performances all tickets £10

[ Thanks to Glyn Whelan - more pics soon ]

Echo Beach
It's A Mystery
Sweet Child 'O' Mine
I Want To Be Free

She was wearing black jacket, with four silver starfish on, and black boots.

[ Thanks to Paul Lomas ]

This is the second Blackpool Pride and this year is under the banner "Born Free". Toyah, and the other evening singers/bands, are billed as "Born Free - The Concert".

Have a great time all those who are going along, say hi to Toyah, wish her a belated Happy Birthday, and if possible take a pic for Dreamscape ;o))

[ Thanks to Paul - Paul's Toyah MySpace ]

See our News update from Saturday 21st April for the first flyer.

[ Thanks to John - www.theclub-stoke.co.uk ]

I know she was so certain she didn't want children that she was sterilised 20 years ago. I know she has one of showbiz's more unconventional marriages, husband, guitarist Robert Fripp living and working in the US while her home - where the couple meet up periodically - is in Worcestershire.

I know she had a facelift in 2004, because she wrote a book about it. And I know she has a tense relationship with her mother because Willcox tells us so among the home truths in a frank online diary.

Apparently, Willcox accepted years ago that if her life is an open book, no one need go digging to find any secret chapters.

"I don't get pestered by the press. I don't have problems with the paparazzi. There just haven't been any problems because honesty is disarming."

Now she wants to bare her soul about something else - the topic of women growing old. "I feel very strongly that no one talks about the journey a woman makes from the age of 48 to 60. It's a mammoth journey," says Willcox, who is 49 tomorrow. "In Inuit culture, it is the most powerful part of a woman's life. In western culture, it is deemed as the hag, the termagant. But it is phenomenally exciting and challenging.

"In the west, the menopause is seen as some horrendous illness, but it's there for a reason. Women become infertile physically, but mentally I believe we become more fertile. I'm fascinated about that. I've never felt more ready to sit down and write than at this age."

So why, if she is so comfortable with the passing years, did Toyah undergo a facelift after her 2003 stint in the I'm A Celebrity jungle drew catty comments about her haggard appearance?

"I had the facelift to look well," she replies. "I was incredibly healthy, but I was looking as if I was terminally ill. I didn't want people looking at me for the rest of my life asking if I was OK. My surgery was purely to freshen me up." So, it is no surprise to hear her say that the best time of her life is right now.

"I love my life. I have a fantastic time. I'm unbelievably wealthy, I work every day and my work is an absolute joy," she says. 

Nostalgia

At the same time as seizing the day, though, she is also happy to wallow in nostalgia with yet another 1980s tour, which will put her on stage at Tatton Park, with the likes of Bananarama and Belinda Carlisle on July 29.

"Yes, it's shameless nostalgia. For me, it is not a dirty word," she says. "We are playing music that people went to school to, had their first crushes to, possibly their first marriage to."

It is 30 years since Birmingham-born Willcox first hove into public view in Derek Jarman's acclaimed punk movie Jubilee. A part in the quintessential mod movie Quadrophenia followed, then a string of pop hits through the Eighties. 

But her CV also runs from Shakespeare to the Teletubbies, Songs Of Praise to TV's Good Sex Guide. She is turning to writing more recently, not just songs but also a book currently with publishers and a TV drama script.

"I'm not an intellectual snob. I treat everything with equal enthusiasm. I never think I shouldn't have done a job. Everything has a beneficial side."

So, what was the beneficial side of I'm A Celebrity?

"Apart from the £1m it made me, it led to the four scripts a week and the average of four TV programmes a month I get offered," she says. 

At her busiest, Willcox claims to work 20-hour days, and is constantly turning down projects, particularly reality TV shows and anything to do with lifestyle and fashion.

"I say no to 70 per cent of what I'm offered. I'm planning for the next 10 years. If it is something I really can't get into - shopping, designer handbags or shoes - I'm just not interested. 

"I don't shop; I have someone that sends me stuff. I don't wear high heels. It's just not part of my life. I don't have time to shop. 

"I run a property business in the south of France. I have a game show business. I am writing scripts now and doing endless concerts."

Gates for the Here and Now show at Tatton Park open at 4pm, while the concert begins at 7.30pm. Tickets are £29 (with £2 discounts for groups of ten or more. Under fives go free). To book tickets call 0870 060 1768 or click here for the Halle show on July 28 show and here for the Here and Now July 29 show. 

[ News Source: www.manchesterevening news.co.uk - Thu 17th May 2007 ]

• Many Happy Returns to Toyah, who celebrates her 49th Birthday today. Here's a couple of highly rare pictures of, a pre and post-Jubilee, Toyah to mark the occasion. Thanks for all the great music and memories Mrs Fripp!

[ Thanks to Andi Westhorpe ]

Toyah Willcox, singer and actress in Jubilee and The Tempest 

The actor Ian Charleson introduced me to Derek. He thought we were kindred spirits. Every generation has its oddballs and Derek and I were oddballs in the 1970s. He was an absolute radical in every way – artistic, sexual and political. When I met him at his flat in 1977, the first thing that surprised me was that every man in his flat was naked. I didn’t really know what homosexuality was, but he was living with a very beautiful boy, Yves, and there were two other boys in the shadows. We had tea. Derek asked me to look at a script under the sofa, which was for Jubilee. I took the part that had the most lines. In the early days he filmed all of us on Super 8. 

He called me after giving me the part in Jubilee to tell me there wasn’t enough money and my part had to be cut. I was absolutely f***ing devastated and he must have heard it in my voice because he put me back in and I strongly suspect he didn’t take his own fee for the film as a result. 

In my very first scene I had to jump into bed with Ian and another actor, Karl Johnson. I pulled back the sheet and they were both naked. I gawped. Derek shouted, “What’s wrong?” I asked whether it was really necessary that they were naked. He thought it was funny I had never seen male genitalia up to that point. After Jubilee, I was on benefits, a struggling actress, and once a week he would make me a lovely meal – mushroom soup and bread. 

Next I played Miranda in his Tempest. He had such a wealth of knowledge. If Jubilee had been all about the egos and a bit like working in Warhol’s Factory, this was much more Derek as a serious film-maker. He would rarely lose his temper. He might shout: “If I can fing do this, you can fing do this.” Then it was over. 

When I became a pop star a few people were keen to see me fail. Not Derek. He was always supportive. It was hard to keep in touch but Derek and I exchanged Christmas cards. His were always embossed with lovely drawings. Because he was always such an eloquent gentleman it was amazing to see those angry canvases he painted about dying and prejudice before he died. They affected me hugely: they conveyed the way people with a terminal illness must feel. I was desperate to see him but Keith, his partner at the end, said it wasn’t possible and I respected that. The one memory I really treasure of Derek is laughter. Laughter was etched on his face all the time. 

[ News Source: www.timesonline.co.uk - Saturday 12th May 2007 ]

Photographs... presents... books... chocolate prunes... wishes from BBC Radio 2... and a rather interesting painting by Toyah all help to make it a memorable day!

[ Source: www.dgmlive.com - Wed 16th May 2007 ]

But the real star of the show is the re-creation of a 19th century stage, complete with sound machines and dressing up area, on which visitors can appear in an eight-minute production of Hamlet. 

If audience participation is not your thing, there’s also video of film extracts, on and off stage at the Theatre Royal, including 1913 footage of Jonston Forbes-Robertson in Hamlet and a 2007 performance by Toyah Willcox as Aladdin.

Please click below for the full article.

[ Source: www.24hourmuseum.org.uk - Fri 11th May 2007 ]

The lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transsexual community of the town and further afield will party away the weekend under the motto of Be Proud, Be Yourself, Be in Blackpool for Pride'.

It is the second such weekend in the town and organisers believe Pride 2007, which has cost around £50,000 to organise, will be bigger and better than last year's inaugural event.

Blackpool Pride will begin with a Camp and Colour procession from South Shore close to the Pleasure Beach. The parade, which begins at 10.30am, will make its way along a 3.5mile route on the Promenade ending at the Metropole Hotel.

The focus of the celebrations will then transfer to the North Pier, with their Queer on the Pier party. Many other gay pubs and clubs are hosting special events for the weekend. There will be many attractions on the pier, including a fun fair, wrestling ring, dog show and a dance arena.

A cabaret and theatre show will be staged at the end of the pier, featuring a range of artists including gay icons Toyah Willcox, Hazel Dean and Nikki French.

Blackpool Pride chairman Mark Sargent said: "If you live in Blackpool then being gay, lesbian, transsexual or bi-sexual is so much more readily acceptable compared to many places.

"We should celebrate the community that nurtures us and surrounds us with care. Two years down the line, Blackpool Pride is going quite literally from strength to strength."

The event has received a message of support from one of the UK's leading actors, Sir Ian McKellen. He said: "I do love to be beside the seaside so i wish that work didn't prevent me from coming to Blackpool Pride.

"To all those luckier than me who can be there, have a wonderful day."

[ Source: www.blackpoolcitizen.co.uk - Tuesday 15th May 2007 ]

It's a Dean Stockings creation, featuring a picture of Toyah from a series of great shots he took back in late 2005.

Please click on the picture or below to go download and add to your desktop, in anticipation of the full 'Latex Messiah' being made available for download soon!

[ Source: Official Toyah MySpace - Sunday 13th May 2007 ]

A DVD of the show will be available to buy from Monday 18th June, and is already being listed by the usual online retailers.

Toyah is an audience guest on the nostaligafest programme, recorded last month.

[ Thanks to Rachel Doyle - green top in the cage - look out for her! ]