JANUARY 2021
HELLO AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!
IT’S A BRAVE NEW WORLD.
I am so sorry we are in a third “Lockdown”. This is hard but I am confident we are almost there, we are approaching the summit of this Virus and in a few weeks, possibly a few months, we will see normality again.
AND at that point this is going to be one hell of a year.
On Feb the 28th it will be exactly one year since I have performed live with my band. Who could ever have guessed this would happen.
When Lockdown started in 2020, April, we all expected to be back at work by September 2020 latest.
So many friends and fellow musicians have been to hell and back. I know I never want to go through this again, I also know retirement wont work for me, the last 12 months have proved that more than anything.
I dealt with the fear and uncertainty of it all by creating new work projects, so much so I have never been busier!
POSH POP, TOYAH ART and all the re-releases have kept the whole team working . . . not necessarily earning but hugely creative and satisfying.
As horrible as 2020 was it was also equally revelatory.
I actually got to know my husband!
The first revelation is, and this has never been a secret, but as a dyslexic I have bluffed and covered my tracks to success, because I have always had to learn and think outside of the box everyone was trying to make me fit into.
In Lockdown I discovered Robert, and this is a revelation, is so dyspraxic and exclusively left handed that he has covered his dyspraxia up with intellectual Blah Blah Blah towards the right handed majority. In Lockdown I discovered this all thanks to watching the “Yoda of Rock” trying to making an omelette!
TURN AWAY NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ A SPOILER AND IF YOU’RE A WOMEN TIED TO THE KITCHEN READ ON…THIS IS EGG SCIENCE TALK.
I tried to teach the Master Of Guitar to whisk an egg with a fork today and he reached for the hand whisk. To which I said “nope”, use a fork. Putting the fork in his left hand I said “Think about it” how do you whisk an egg with just a fork, the intention being to airate and combine the yolk and white.
He actually prodded the egg yolks with the fork prongs, then when I told him to turn the fork around, so the prongs pointed upwards, he turned it 360 degrees and got a little snippy with me, “I am Left Handed! I can’t do it the way right handed people can!” Thus I realised the Fripp is closer to my world of dyslexic bluff-dom than I ever dared dream.
When we had our beautiful house Rabbit, WillyFred, who we had for nine years, Fripp could not work out how to lift him up, no matter how many times I talked Robert through the moves, poor old bunny ended up upside down in his hands . . . DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS…. GENIUS ISN’T BORN PERFECT AND FAULTLESS, GENIUS FINDS ITS WAY TO THE SURFACE IN SPITE OF THE ODDS. This should give us all hope!
Our Christmas day was beautiful. It became a quiet world. Robert surprised me with a remarkable gift.
When I was 11 years old I started to draw otherworldly scenes inspired by science fiction and fantasy.
One such drawing had been hidden away in an old sketch book for 51 years, I called it “THE DOME”, it is a Flat Earth drawing and I discovered it again at the beginning of December and the paper was disintegrating. It was heartbreaking to see my earliest attempt at creativity suffer this neglect.
On Christmas morning Robert was so excited he said “I have to give you your big present first because I am going to burst if I don’t!” He handed me a large, 3ft by 4ft , package. I had no idea what it could be. As I opened the wrapper a beautiful Gold picture frame appeared and when I looked at the picture my mouth fell open and tears ran down my face.
Drawing of “THE DOME”, renovated at museum quality by a renowned art restorer, no sign of crumbling paper, creases or fading . . . it is almost exact as if it where 1970 again.
I am hugely grateful because up till this point it was like witnessing my past disappearing without any chance of saving it.
Hubby also gave me a beautiful Fender Guitar, its action and tonality is nectar, I will be playing this guitar in my next film.
My sister managed to get 3 large packages to us for Christmas day, socks, ties and a game called POO BINGO . . . a Poo recognition game . . . I am now feeling really well informed!
She also gave me a designer handbag, which totally blew me away!
Before the world shut down for the festive season I shot a pilot for TV which inadvertently led to an unexpected and life-changing face to face meeting with Ancestry.com at 10pm in Soho one Sunday night.
My fractious relationship with my Mum is well known amongst my long term fanbase. We never got on, we fought, we never showed affection, it was 51years of heartbreak and confusion. A lot of this reflected in my lyrics.
Ancestory asked to see me face to face because what they needed to tell me would be irresponsible for me to find out online.
Sitting with the head of the company he told me what happened to my mother when she was approx. 16 and my world crumbled.
How the press missed this one in the 1980s is impressive, because my mother’s history so pulled the rug from under my feet I am only just finding my balance again.
My mother, left so traumatised by a violent family incident was never ever able to express love again. It made the press at the time; this is why I am amazed no newspaper ever picked the story up.
My mother didn’t need a rebel daughter, she needed love and understanding, she needed therapy and support . . . she never got it.
I pray to God that he heals her and forgives me for being the extra challenge in her life that she couldn’t cope with.
Believe me there is a book and film in this remarkable story and it’s not about me. It’s about survival.
I wish you all Love, Hope, Health, Luck and your dreams come true in this extraordinary time.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD.
TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXX
FEBRUARY 2021
HELLO THERE!
I sincerely hope you are doing OK, in the last weeks there has been a building sense of “enough is enough!” With many people making contact to say they don’t feel they can take much more of this.
The end is in sight and a new normality will return.
My gut feeling is this cannot go on forever, the virus should weaken in the summer months and the majority of us will be vaccinated by late May.
Sadly I don’t think concerts will happen till late July, as venues have to open to full capacity to financially survive.
In the meantime POSH POP (to be released though DEMON MUSIC) goes from strength to strength. We have the release date for late July with teaser tracks being aired from early June, in time for our first live concerts around July, in what will be over 17 months of no live shows!!!!!!!!! Simon Darlow and myself continue to pen great songs that are fun and full of expressive optimism and anger in equal measure . . . perfect for live audiences.
We are now eight songs in. We tend to write very quickly, our latest song appeared to Simon as he played acoustic guitar watching me reverse into the studio driveway.
I got out of the car to him singing me the chorus . . . ”That’s great!” I said. “Yes, it literally came into my head as you where parking!” Creativity sneaks up on you in strange places.
Fripp has been in the studio weekly putting down burning guitar and Jeremy Stacey has delivered breathtaking drums from his studio in Frome. Jeremy has added an unexpected ingredient, rather than interpret the tracks with the same rage as Fripp, Jeremy sits on the beat keeping the tension without crossing into the wild interpretations Fripp is expressing.
He is so clever, having a background in Jazz he just knows where the focus needs to be, resulting in addictive, compelling songs. In having Fripp and Stacey on the album, during lockdown, we realise how fortunate we have been, because POSH POP has a world sound.
The last month in Fripp/Cox land has been CRAZY. Emine Saner wrote a stunning interview with me in the Guardian newspaper this week, the sensitivity and insight was refreshing, a woman supporting another woman. Many people have contacted me to say it’s THE interview of my career. I am grateful.
I have been approached a lot to write, not only about my career and attitude towards work but also about my relationship with my mother, a subject that is too raw for me to deal with on my own but I would certainly welcome Emine to write the book in collaboration with me if a publisher is seriously interested. I can’t wait to read all her future work.
THE BLUE MEANING will be re-released ten days after my birthday, on 28 May. Released though CHERRY RED RECORDS.
This is a beautiful package. It has been at least four years in the planning and well worth the wait. This album reached number 1 on the UK Independent Album Chart and entered the main UK Top 40 album chart in June 1980.
The 2-CD+DVD set includes 27 remastered bonus tracks including single mixes, live tracks, rarities and unheard demos. You can pre-order this now too.
Amongst the 20 previously unreleased tracks are the final recordings made by the Blue Meaning band including “Silence Won’t Do” as seen being recorded on the 1980 ITV documentary “Toyah”. it’s took 40 years for this to be heard!
There’s also 3 live tracks recorded at the ICA in London plus the very first recorded version of “Angels & Demons”. The full track list is here along with a preview of Silence Won’t Do. I thank all of you for the incredible support in the last months. TOYAH AND ROBERT’S SUNDAY LUNCH has reached a worldwide audience, which is breathtaking and humbling.
I have a strong sense of the looming pressure everyday life will have on us once Lockdown is over, realising that LD has given me very precious time to be obsessively creative, to develop Sunday Lunch, Toyah At Home and Agony Aunts as well as Posh Pop.
One thing I have learnt is the enforced shutdown has allowed me access to my original creative nature and I need to maintain this once freedom of movement is allowed again, because the value of connection to you all in the past year has made me a better person and a better artist.
The most unexpected development in my life is my guitar playing. I LOVE IT and I play for hours most days. Both Fripp and Darlow are amazed, because I’m seriously dyslexic but I’ve turned a corner thanks to an amazing teacher.
WATCH OUT . . . I might be rocking out on my beautiful pastille Fender at a venue near you in the not too distant future!
My guitar teacher is a devoted hardcore rocker, born in 1980. Standing over a foot taller than me. We make such a strange sight, (he is part of our creative pod) that I am going to develop some films with him…… more on that in April!
I wish you all Love, Health and your Dreams Come True and may you all remain safe as we reach the peak of this mountain and see how remarkable we all have been.
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
MARCH 2021
HELLO THERE!
I hope you and your loved ones are all safe.
This week there has been wild excitement that from the 21 June outdoor concerts can happen . . . AND possibly indoor too!
Within hours of this announcing Festivals across the UK practically sold out.
I am appearing at 8 of the LET’S ROCK events, plus many smaller festivals and when I look out over the audience it will be like seeing family again, I just cannot wait.
I was both shocked, overjoyed and slightly embarrassed two Fridays ago when Alice Cooper and his wonderful band had their band “meet up” online for their fans and played a clip if TOYAH AND ROBERT’S SUNDAY LUNCH: POISON. I felt like I’d been caught out by the teachers at school, doing something naughty. Alice and the band laughed their heads off . . . then came a communication a few days later for me to do an hour special online with the team who put Alice’s broadcasts together, this is planned for April.
We even made it into KERRANG, which not only is an honour but has seriously impressed my guitar teacher . . . a younger devoted hard core rocker, who now views Fripp and I as the leading grandparents of Rock!
With the events of the outside world coming closer to being part of our working life again, Frippy and I realise we need an incredibly strict, time efficient regime, our home life has been anything but quiet in the past 12 months and we intend to keep brand TOYAH AND ROBERT growing.
Presently, in lockdown my week looks like this:
MONDAY:
9AM Social Media filming for coming week as a safety precaution if I can’t film close to day of broadcast because of TV commitments.
10AM: two hours of press
12AM: Talk to agents, Record Label, promoters and future film producers, read film and TV synopsis linked to work offers.
1AM: Lunch, if time.
2AM: photo and video shoots for POSH POP.
5PM: 2 hours of guitar lessons
7PM: remote cameras arrive from CH5, set up cameras ready for next day.
TUESDAY:
9AM: CH5 Filming. Pack up remote cameras for pick up.
1PM: set up lunch for POSH POP photo and video shoot.
2PM: film and shoot till its dark.
7PM: Complete the lyric artwork orders for that week.
WEDNESDAY:
10 AM: Studio all day.
5PM: rehearse TOYAH AND ROBERT’S SUNDAY LUNCH, and rehearse AGONY AUNTS.
THURSDAY:
10AM: Studio all day
5PM: Guitar lesson
7PM: Shoot Sunday Lunch and Agony Aunts.
FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY.
Prep for the following week. Check all photo and video footage for POSH POP and check all edits for Social Media.
Both Frippy and I have decided that our output on social media is really important, it has given us a connection with our audience that we don’t want to lose. This means a lot of future planning as to how we will communicate when the two of us are on opposite sides of the world later in the year. It is of course totally possible thanks to technology, but the time differences will be the challenge, sound checking, being on stage at different times and the constant travel will inevitably test us.
But ZOOM will keep us together.
Many ideas are being discussed, for example when I am on a film shoot, I hope I will be able to broadcast a “film Diary”. When Robert is in a hotel for more than two nights we can film TOYAH AND ROBERT’S POSTCARD HOME . . . We are on it, we will make it happen but for now we will continue as normal until the new normal is possible. Also we are going to introduce a new concept, an added member of the team soon.
In 2021 Robert will only be away for 6 weeks, we can get around that easily.
In 2022 I have 4 tours planned. I’ve not done this amount of specific “themed” touring in decades. Robert will only have one major commitment in this year. My mind set is 100% committed to continuing everything we have built in lockdown, its all I have ever wanted and for the first time in 36 years I will have a team with me, my priority being creative content . . . gone are the days of sitting at my desk negotiating contract after contract before driving myself to a show . . . It’s crazy when I think back at the amount of office work I did before major shows!
One of the loveliest things about the new team is they are all within walking distance of our front door!
This week I shot the cover for POSH POP and the artwork is now being compiled. I also shot the first of what I intend to be a 10 video concept so PP will be a video album too. In the studio Simon and I are on our last song, it is all so close and we love the entire album it is both different and familiar for all the right reasons.
Robert and I watched FRAMING BRITNEY this week. Both Robert and I have experienced great things in the music business and gross dishonesty between management/ record labels and the artist over our collective 97 years working as artists, sadly it is all too common.
To see a beautiful, hard working, talented, young woman and mother be denied her independence and financial rights in the broad daylight of the modern world is heartbreaking and we wish Britney Spears everything she desires her life to be. She’s worked hard enough for it.
I WISH YOU ALL HEALTH, HAPPINESS, LOVE AND YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
APRIL 2021
HELLO THERE!
FREEDOM BECKONS! I CAN’T WAIT TO GET OUT AGAIN!
Just to sit in a coffee bar and be among people will feel like the best thing ever.
For 14 months I haven’t worn a watch, in fact they have all stopped due to my neglect and I’ve not written anything in my work diaries in ink, only using pencil, because life continues to change hourly.
All concerts from 2020 and 2021 will be honoured, but there is still weekly debate with venues as to when they feel they can open.
As I look outside my window I see many people confidently walking/ shopping/ cycling/ talking in groups . . . I need to build up to this, it’s definitely going to be quite a leap for me to go out again, but I need human interaction face to face now. If it wasn’t for the enforced confinement I don’t think I could have delivered the best pop album of my entire career POSH POP. PP celebrates humanity and the planet we call home.
The confinement allowed me to think, create, strategize . . . This has been a big lesson learnt about “mental space”.
I am extremely aware and grateful that the last 14 months have altered me, made me a better person. Also I have huge respect for everyone who has educated their children, worked, cooked, cleaned, nursed and kept the world running. Last night Frippy and I sat down for a “listening” party in front of our sound bar and we checked the running order for POSH POP for the first time and it was really, really, REALLY JOYOUS!
Fripp, not being a human being who spontaneously dances, if ever at all, witnessed me losing complete control as I danced my bed socks off shouting “OMG! THIS ALBUM WORKS AS AN ENTIRE LISTENING EXPERIENCE!”
It is certainly worthy of its title POSH POP, even though the word “posh” is totally tongue in cheek, it simply refers to the fact if you put Frippy on anything its perceived as better than anything else.
Life is now super busy, lots of planning is needed as SUNDAY LUNCH has gone global and there’s so many albums coming out.
THE BLUE MEANING on CHERRY RED is scheduled for Friday 28 May.
POSH POP on DEMON RECORDS starts its single/video releases as of Friday 25 June in the build up to the full release.
AND yesterday I found out SUNDAY ALL OVER THE WORLD is finally being re-mixed and re-mastered and we are aiming for 2 October as its release date . . . and I’ve not yet mentioned yet MESMERISED rarities & remixes collection 12” LP Vinyl ND mini EP FOUR FROM TOYAH 40TH ANNIVERSARY both for RECORD STORE DAY on Saturday 12 June…. YEAH!
In our home videos are still being shot. Last week I ran the entire width of our two gardens with a huge flag, playing a revolutionary and when we looked back at the footage there was a racing pigeon following the flag for the whole shot . . . talk about the wonder of nature.
The videos are intended to enhance the music. In the 1980s video’s very much dominated the song. My aim with POSH POP is that vids add another experience, we are framing very beautiful photographic shots, using the intense colour of the sky/ blossoms and rooms to hopefully lift the listener’s mood along with energetic pop songs.
This week we start the promo on the re-release of THE BLUE MEANING.
The intense imagery on The Blue Meaning was intentional. The second TOYAH album was proof that the first album Sheep Farming In Barnet had a serious following. For the writing and recording we all set up camp at PARK GATES STUDIOS in Battle near Hastings.
Our devoted fanbase meant that Safari Records trusted us to get on with it. It was as if we were suddenly adults. Steve James, our trusted and much loved producer, was in complete control and the band had the perfect line up with Bogen, Bush, Francis and Bray, the introduction of Francis and Bray was so perfect it made myself, Bogen and Bush feel complete.
Steve Bray had a manic side and Charlie Francis was a highly intelligent anarchist . . . without a shadow of a doubt, we original members, lost our middle class virginity to both.
We had toured non stop since Sheep Farming and felt we were hardened musicians. Yet for me the studio environment was still challenging, Steve James and myself would work late into the night on vocals. Joel was able to develop his style; Pete was able to developing his electronic ideas.
IEYA had already gained notoriety having been honed on stage in front of live audiences. We as a band had the glorious habit of shaping and arranging new songs in front of screaming fans during encores that sometimes lasted as long as the actual shows. The very first time we took IEYA from the rehearsal room and played it live I believe was in Bath, the audience were in such a frenzy that 25 mins later we were still trying out different arrangements and sequences, always returning to the crowd pleasing chorus.
The actual making of the album was intense. Expectation was weighing heavy on us all, being keen to avoid vanilla commercialism we headed to the dark side and created songs like SHE, MUMMIES and the astonishingly bleak BLUE MEANINGS.
We were not alone, Goth undertones where seeping into all culture, the movie ALIEN had usurped the happy ending of Star Wars and the designs of H.R. Giger were like a Pied Piper questioning Homosapien superiority. I always carried a book on William Blake in my briefcase. Marianne Faithfull’s groundbreaking album Broken English had been released and I had made Jarman’s THE TEMPEST with one of her most powerful collaborators playing my father, Heathcote Williams…an experience that was life changing.
I am often asked what was the inspiration behind all the anger and inversion on this album and I would have to say lyrically it was ME. I had not only been given a voice but I now had ears that listened with our devoted audience…. it was time for revenge on my past.
This time in my life was unexplainably magical, intense and rewarding.
I wish you all LOVE, HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE. This remains a remarkable time in history and I cannot wait to see you all out there . . . in the big wide world.
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXX
MAY 2021
HELLO THERE!
I hope all is good in your world and that everything is getting back to normal. I’ve loved being out and about, seeing friends and having a sense of movement again.
It’s still a little strange, but I am super grateful to be able to plan so many gigs for 2021!
IT’S GONE ABSOLUTELY CRAZY HERE!
Shows we thought couldn’t happen till 2022 are back on for 2021. Our first show being Isle Of Wight on the 29th May!
The launch shows for POSH POP start in September. I finishing shooting all ten videos yesterday, the mixes are delivered to DEMON MUSIC by 1 June and we are off!
I have never worked so hard nor been so proud. And a huge thank you to my creative team, who have worked equally hard.
My darling husband has a new haircut which on many would look menacing but his new Mohican makes him even more of a Teddy Bear in my eyes . . . he loves it. Sidney Jake shaved Fripp’s hair with myself filming the event. I genuinely thought Frippy would regret it but completely the opposite.
He is proudly walking around the town showing it off, no one has batted an eyelid but Robert has a new swagger.
Fripp has released his inner animal 8 days before he turns 75yrs old . . . that’s the way to behave, with a hint of cuteness, outrageousness and a lot of BOLLOCKS. The popularity of TOYAH AND ROBERT’S SUNDAY LUNCH continues to grow, as does AGONY AUNTS and TOYAH AT HOME.
We read one comment that thrilled us to bits from the USA “ I start my morning listening to David Lynch’s podcast then I move on to TOYAH AND ROBERTS AGONY AUNTS.”
We have learnt this week that 16.7 million people have visited TOYAH YOUTUBE in the last three months which is incredible, when you think all this started a year ago with a 30 second dance routine in the kitchen.
The past month has been a wonderful flurry of mixes arriving from Paul Stacey for POSH POP.
Paul has taken the songs to a place myself, Darlow and Fripp haven’t heard for a while . . . intense live stereo and wonderful vocal presence.
When a mix arrives Fripp and I sit and listen over and over again in our sound room, switching to large speakers, small speakers, computer speakers and even listening on the iPhone to make sure all the information translates across different hardware.
We are in awe at the detail Paul has found, enhancing Fripp flourishes and my vocals, we are so grateful he has been able to mix this album.
With the videos, as with the album, Lockdown has been a major influence. In the videos, all shot at our home, we have kept the TOYAH AND ROBERT familiarity yet taken it to greater extremes and depth. Encased within the beautifully crafted pop of the songs are powerful messages of the human condition. As I’ve said many, many times this wouldn’t have been possible without the history of the last 14 months.
LONG MAY OUR HEALTH AND FREEDOM REMAIN.
I’ve always thought I’d like to spend some time in Alaska or the Northern parts of Norway and Finland but after the last two months of below normal temperatures and the rain I know I am not cut out for weather extremes. So be it, I remain a blue sky-seeking girl.
As the summer tries to unfold in our garden we started to notice evidence of an otter.
What I didn’t fully realise is the otter is living on our land. Creating “otter paths” across the grass, leaving piles of fish scales on our mooring.
We also have a semi-blind pigeon who in the last two months has gained the confidence to fly. The times I have frozen by our bedroom window witnessing this pigeon ducking and diving towards the window sile, like a bomber pilot in WW2, I’ve actually “ducked” waiting for the impact against glass . . . so far the pigeon has remained intact, interestingly the sparrow hawk, who takes everything young and tasty has not gone near our poor sighted friend. I am so grateful . . . this pigeon is our new much loved pet.
THE BLUE MEANING is released on 28 May by Cherry Red it’s a beautiful package celebrating the beginnings of Goth, with dark imagery and strident sounds.
I CANNOT WAIT TO BE OUT THERE, ON STAGE AND CELEBRATING LIVE MUSIC WITH YOU ALL.
STAY SAFE & BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOTS OF LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXX
JUNE 2021
HELLO THERE!
I hope you are all well and safe.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR KIND BIRTHDAY MESSAGES AND FOR PUTTING BLUE MEANINGS INTO THE CHARTS.
Six nights ago my phone “pinged” at 9.30pm and I read “YOU ARE NUMBER ONE IN THE ROCK CHARTS!”
BLUE MEANING charted immediately and a big THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who made this a success.
It’s a beautiful package, putting it together with Craig Astley meant I had to revisit the entire history of this very special time, 1980, I have to say I was taken aback at how “on fire” I was in this year, an unstoppable force with so much determination . . . it’s another time and place now, in a good way, new planet, new technology, new attitudes. There’s more control for me as an artist today, less pressure and less manipulation from outside sources to fit an ideal, there’s acceptance and that’s truly great.
This weekend it is RECORD STORE DAY 2021. In your record shops will be FOUR FROM TOYAH, FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY in limited edition green vinyl, with 8 very special tracks (released on CHERRY RED) and MESMERISED, RARITIES AND REMIXES 85-94, printed on vanilla vinyl and released by DEMON RECORDS.
Here, DEMON RECORDS and my great team are gearing up for the late June launch of POSH POP and I couldn’t be more excited, the feedback has been tremendous so far and we have a great PR team behind the album. The first single LEVITATE arrives on 26th June . . . YIPEEEEEEEEEEE!
The past few days I have been doing nothing but signing photos, 2000 in all, even though I am sure there was an extra 1000 in the boxes that arrived, these are the signed photo inserts for the album and CD release. The artwork is stunning and was great fun to do, all shot in my little green screen studio here at TOYAH AND ROBERT headquarters ie: our home, during lock down.
I wanted to create the feel of 1973 (right down to the thin eyebrow line of the time), when the designer Halston influenced American Vogue and transformed women into power dressers, this was the summer of 1973 in New York, when music was utterly transforming, the rise of the decadent dance movement and also of street level punk/ new wave rock culture starting to congregate at CBGBs.
This has been a huge stylistic influence for this album visually and in its musical attitude, NOT imitation at all but a JUXTAPOSITION of what has happened in the last 16 months overlaid with another exceptional time in history. Have we evolved in the last 50 odd years?
The band and I are waiting with baited breath for announcements on the 14th June, which could affect our live work for the next few weeks, all we can do is pray. Two weekends ago we played the Isle Of Wight, it was our first show in 15 months and it felt very emotional.
Thinking it would be pressured, I was like a duck to water, loving every second, valuing the audience with immense gratitude and now wanting to be back full time singing live. This year has some fabulous shows lined up, mostly sold out and a new album’s worth of music to share with the audience.
I’ve started to dream I am eating meat! On waking I am in a state of confusion as to why my stomach is rumbling and I am thinking of spare ribs . . . I am vegetarian, could it be the Covid Vaccine? Tricking me into thinking I am a carnivore? Why can’t I dream of flying or standing on the top of telegraph poles like everyone else.
I promise not to eat meat just because of some strange neurological dance in my brain. It’s a small miracle that I have started to sleep in the last week.
Fripp, Sidney and I have put it down to how happy I am now I am playing guitar. That I have addressed a desire long held but never had the time to actually do . . . ironic . . . but Sidney is the only person who has broken through my dyspraxia.
Because POSH POP is now mixed and delivered to the label I am really hoping I can put some serious time back into my guitar playing. It’s been flat out for 5 months with writing/recording/ making the videos and now I want to get back to my guitar studies . . . I’ve got the bug!
Sidney Jake, my great guitar teacher is thrilled Blue Meaning is NO.1 in the Rock Charts. Sidney, Robert and I were all having lunch at the weekend and he asked me how does it feel? Sidney is experiencing success as a guitar player for the first time, he is very much an alpha male and succeeds at everything he puts his mind too but even he looked at the boxes of pictures waiting to be signed by me on the kitchen table and said that side of success wasn’t for him!
In answer to his question, it feels amazing to have the recognition that this album deserves. THE BLUE MEANING deserves its place in history and it has been held back as an asset in a record company (who no longer had any link to this genre of music) who knew in time it would sell its back catalogue, in the meantime making me a rarity. So this chart place proves to me what Iknew all along. This album has an audience who want it back in its place in history as much as I do.
I wrote to the founder of CHERRY RED today to thank him and the team for the respect and attention they have given my work and his reply was heart felt: “Your Safari catalogue is now really starting to come back to life which was always our intention. Lots more to do but we enjoy working on your songs. We can do even better with ‘Anthem.”
This good news came out of the blue after hearing earth shattering news that the director of the stage play JUBILEE took his life last week.
I am numb, sad, confused and adrift about how to feel. Chris Goode was very powerful, well educated and a brilliant Director. He was about to be charged by the police for something that was unforgivable. For this goliath to take his life rather than face his charges seems as if he wanted to destroy his very soul. This is deeply sad.
I am deeply sorry for those who suffered from Chris’s actions. when I heard about their experiences I was in shock. I had no idea.
JUBILEE was a stunning production and I was in awe of the performers forward thinking strengths. Now I need much more time to process this and learn from it.
Chris leaves behind his father . . . I can’t imagine his pain.
Yesterday on the street I bumped into a dear friend who lives within yards of our front door.
She is a massive Toyah fan from her childhood, also a wonderful energy healer. I told her I was No.1 in the Rock Charts and forty years ago there would be photo opportunities/press/ parties/TV, I mentioned it as part of a rapidly changing world and she e-mailed me this beautiful message later in the day:
“Just remember . . .
You are Number 1 because people think you are incredible. You are number 1 because people WANT to listen to YOU! All those people wanting to listen to you has made you Number 1 that’s what you should be celebrating.
You are amazing, you are incredible and you wouldn’t be number 1 if millions of people didn’t think so
FOCUS ON THAT!!!!”
After a hugely emotional week, I needed to hear this. AND AGAIN I SAY TO YOU ALL THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
My husband really got me this week, jumping up from behind me while I was filming TOYAH AT HOME. I jumped out of my skin. He said it makes up for all the times I’ve waited in the shower for him and made him jump out of his skin.
He is about to leave on tour in the USA for 10 weeks.
Sidney, myself and The Fripp have been filming three days a week to keep the flow of TOYAH AND ROBERT on YOUTUBE until he returns. There will be POSTCARDS HOME coming live from venues across the USA, also Sidney and I will hook up live to Fripp once a week, when he is on stage, after his soundcheck and all three of us will jam for BURNING GUITARS, which I am bloody excited about.
Robert caught me looking at him yesterday and he said “ You are looking at me like I am a 75yr old and need looking after” . . . I can’t argue with that. As exceptional as he is, I wish he could tour from the safety of our own home.
On the other hand our house will be MINE! ALL MINE! AND NO ONE ELSE’S FOR 10 WHOLE WEEKS AND I AM GOING TO PARTY LIKE IT’S 1999!
STAY SAFE, STAY STRONG . . .
I CAN’T WAIT TO BE SINGING LIVE TO YOU.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOTS OF LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXX
JULY 2021
HELLO THERE!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PRE-ORDERING POSH POP AND PLACING IT AT THE TOP OF THE PRE-ORDER CHARTS
The chart positions have been stunning. Three weeks ago POSH POP was NO.1. NO.2. and NO.3 in most of the charts, it was thrilling, THANK YOU
Promotional press has started and there’s going to be great coverage. The PR team are totally on it and so far the journalists I have talked to love the album, seeing it as we intended it to be, created in an exceptional time, a means of creative survival. This has inspired the albums catch phrase, with a few of the songs being about new generations moving into outer space “WE ARE NO LONGER A PLANET, WE ARE NOW A UNIVERSE.”
I can’t wait for you to hear the next single on the 16th July
Last Friday the TOYAH BAND played Eastbourne to a social distancing audience at the Congress Theatre. It was a joyous show and the audience had a great, rocking time. It felt very special to be able to do this, almost magical, the audience where loud, appreciative and there was a lot of laughter.
We played the new single LEVITATE live for the first time and it rocks, it’s so right in every way, dramatic, dynamic and heartfelt. I can’t wait to sing it live again.
If July 19th goes as predicted all the festivals are safe for this year, no more moving dates. It has felt like running up an elevator the wrong way at times, just unable to cover any ground, always being knocked back . . . this summer is going to be wild!
Cherry Red has been at the house filming for the re-release of ANTHEM in 2022. They were filming for the DVD.
For the three additional songs on the DVD we filmed I WANT TO BE FREE, IT’S A MYSTERY and WE ARE . . . with me on guitar! First time ever. Ellie Williams was on Keys and Sidney Jake on lead guitar. We looked so cool, like a great three-piece festival band. I was thrilled to pieces, loved every minute.
And I didn’t suffer nerves, the guitar became my safe space.
Currently I am learning to play guitar on all the TOYAH CLASSICS and POSH POP, I really hope by the autumn I have the guts to play on stage!
For the past few weeks Frippy has been trying to get to the USA for his tour. It’s been logistically confusing. No one quite knows what the process should be, there’s daily bulletins of constant changes, the main problem being how to get through immigration. It will take the whole of the UK King Crimson team about 4 to 5 hours to clear, with tons of paperwork. There must be other UK artists out there presently. KC will generate 20 million in income within the US, so there presence in the US is a good news story.
My hubby will be away for two months. This is the first time we have had apart in 17 months!
I will be worried sick about him, touring is exposing even when there isn’t a virus around. But even with the potential for missing him I am looking forward to the surge in creativity and action once I have my own space and time . . . there’s so many ideas I want to put on paper and I can only really do that if all the last years routine goes out of the window.
It looks like normality is returning in the UK, dare I say it, no facemasks, no social distancing from the 19th July . . . OMG bring it on.
That said I am choosing to still use my face mask and hand sanitizer till I feel completely safe and immune, neither Fripp nor myself have had a cold for over two years, which makes me think when and if we get one it will be a bruiser of an infection . . . so I am choosing to stay safe for the sake of the shows.
A dear friend visited me for lunch a few days ago and she has “long Covid”, nine months ago she was admitted into intensive care and told she was an hour and a half away from death and it has terrified her since. She is young, 43, now short of breath, low on physical and mental energy, has no sense of taste or feeling in her feet. This really brings it home, how destructive this virus is to the human body, no way am I taking risks, there are some successes when staying safe . . . Hand Sanitizer, distance and fresh air. My friend caught it visiting her parents, who both had the virus and no symptoms . . . how crazy is that!
Whilst we are on the subject….are any of you suffering “hot sweats”?!!!!!
All my female friends over 50, who’ve had both jabs seem to be in a second menopause . . . including me!
My poor toes are taking a beating. I am not sure how or why I am managing to mangle them so successfully. It’s as if my peripheral vision has been effected by something…. the vaccine maybe, but my toes have been black and blue for a few months from me catching them on chair legs, even a brick or a concrete step. I feel lucky not to have smashed my teeth, I’ve taken so may tumbles lately.
I’ve always been accident-prone but currently I am excelling my own personal record. Perhaps it’s time for an eye test, the thought of having my eyes lasered scares me senseless. Robert had it done about eight years ago, he was heroic, but now has incredible long sight, he can see about half a mile with binocular clarity, so I am avoiding having to make a decision about whether to be made long sighted or short sighted . . . neither appeal if it’s a “forever” decision.
Is anyone else being woken up at dawn with the noise of the birds?
The year’s first young have left the nest now and they are running amok getting to know the area, especially an olive tree outside my window, in which they all congregate and shout at each other at 5am, occasionally they come in through the bedroom window and flutter around the room.
Our Robin is so confident and delicate, he has a look around and leaves, the pigeons need to be caught in a butterfly net and ejected but the blue tits get very distressed, at which point I have to open all the windows wide and leave the room for them to find their way back to freedom.
Right off to film NEON WOMB with Sidney Jake, plus have a guitar lesson!
STAY SAFE EVERYONE!
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXX
AUGUST 2021
HELLO THERE!
I hope you are all able to enjoy this Summer Of Love.
The pride I feel for Tom Daley is huge. In 2013/2014 he trained me to high dive for ITV’s SPLASH.
One of my long term dreams was to dive from the 10 metre board, but once up that high I realised my fear was going to hold me back, (The 10 metre is so high my head would start spinning) but I did make the 5 metre board, doing a backwards dive for the show and ended up in the final part competing against Anna Williamson who was killing it on the 10 metre board, she was so sassy.
Tom at this time was 19 about to turn 20 and he dreamed of getting gold. I love that he NEVER gave up on his dream, never compromised his true self and now he has done it so beautifully.
We stood on the 10 metre board on the first day and I said “this is making me feel sick” and his reply . . . ”There are days I feel fear too.”
Nothing in life is so easy we glide effortlessly through it and not all things come to us immediately but they can eventually . . . WELL DONE TOM!
I cannot believe the euphoria I experienced standing in the wings at LET’S ROCK LIVERPOOL.
Usually I’m a coiled spring, slightly apprehensive, concerned about sound, the stage being flat, no ruff surfaces to trip on but last Saturday I walked straight on stage, in full view of everyone before being announced and could have wept with joy. I could have kissed the stage!
It was overwhelmingly special.
The stage manager usually comes to get the artist from their dressing room ten minutes before stage time, on this day John saw me on stage and said “I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
Last Thursday I played WICKHAM FESTIVAL with the SAS BAND, ANDREW ROACHFORD was guesting too (he was magnificent). Again the euphoria was overwhelming, not even having to swap stages because the site was a vast mud patch and the main stage had sunk into the sodden ground, could hinder our spirits.
The whole team at Wickham where heroic, a whole bevvy of gorgeous boys had to tractor my car off site, they achieved all this with grace and courtesy, which made me love the event even more.
A lighting man approached me to say thank you for the CELEBVM message Fripp and I sent him in lockdown, it helped him face a difficult spell of isolation and unemployment.
Very young people where reacting to seeing me in a surprising way, they were star struck. A stunning stage rigger, could only have been about 24, saw me and reacted very much how I reacted in 1972 seeing Bowie leave a theatre in Coventry. He was going “OMG! OMG! OMG! It’s YOU! Toyah and Robert!”
I gladly did a selfie with him. The stage builders had had an awful day fighting the elements.
This happened at Worthing two weeks ago as well, as if TOYAH YOUTUBE has a high percentage of young viewers.
This is my first month with Fripp away. It’s fine. I know he is being looked after with kid gloves, which he needs now. Do I miss him? Of course but he has been away most of our 35yrs of marriage, I have to cope, there’s no compromise there. But I will be glad when he is home, I love our new life, making YOUTUBE content together and dreaming up ideas that make us laugh.
I miss our conversations, of which there a lot. We can talk about anything and everything. His shows in the USA are a massive success and he is playing big arenas, but there are Covid fears. Every promoter is reporting across the board, that if 5000 tickets have sold only two thirds are turning up, people are still fearful. Fripp’s shows are a massive critical success and going by the numbers attending, a financial success too even with Covid worries.
While Fripp is away a close circle of friends check on me daily, which I find amusing, not sure what they expect to find, are they checking I haven’t jetted off to Barbados or something, or having overnight parties?
They usually find me either filming or on the river in my Kayak.
Work is pouring in, every day this year is booked for either a TV or a live show and of course POSH POP is weeks away from release and the press are responding positively. I am sooooo excited. SUMMER OF LOVE has just come out and the response is huge . . . AND the best tracks are yet to come, the real breathtakers.
Those first reactions to the album are patiently anticipated . . . the songs/ the sound/ the art work . . . a certain generation will see it immediately. I am excited.
I’ve had a few people contact me because they are cross Fripp earns more than me on CELEBVM and with the Lyric Art. It’s very kind and I appreciate the support. There are two levels of decision here, the first is ... YES, there is a level of “your female therefore you earn less” but I have always known what my fans can afford and I have no intention of pricing myself out of their lives.
Fripp sets his prices at what he feels his time is worth. I remember on the motivational speaking circuit, the presenter Anne Robinson set her fee for one hour at £100,000, she said that is what her time is worth to her, which I admire. For me, I get huge pleasure from sending the CELEBVM messages, they are a privilege, a window into peoples lives that I adore and have fun with.
With the lyric art, I love the element of surprise, in knowing the receiver is getting very close to me and I honour that, its very special.
If you are interested in music and the possibility of a career in music one film you must see is the documentary THE EULOGY: JEFFERY TOZER. When I was performing on the Britannia I had time on my hands to watch this extraordinary film about the genius of Jeffery Tozer and the controlling establishment of the classical world of music in Sydney Australia.
It made me think how many more Jeffery Tozers are out there? Not getting a chance in life.
RIGHT . . . I am off to POSH POP rehearsals. The new line up is going for a more exacting sound. In honour of the memory of Bill Rieflin we both wanted a vocal-oriented band and this is that band. Everyone on stage will be singing, it’s very exciting . . . YEAH!
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXX
SEPTEMBER 2021
HELLO THERE!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
POSH POP has officially entered the charts at No.22 in the official album charts and No.1 in the official Independent chart, and No.6. in the official sales chart!
OH! And No.1. in the Retro Artist charts.
All thanks to you!
These are my highest chart entries since The Changeling/Warrior Rock in 1982.
It’s a wonderful statement to the world about how “maturity” allows us to continue to develop and grow!
A HUGE THANK YOU TO THE TEAM, DEMON MUSIC, SCREAM PROMOTIONS AND THE TOYAH TEAM, SIMON DARLOW and Mr. FRIPP . . . YOU HAVE ALL WORKED WONDERS.
AND it’s not over, next year is taking on a different shape as festivals and offers start to come in. Very Exciting.
As you may expect this news has accelerated my life to warp speed and socially things have been surprising too.
My dear friend Chesney Hawkes pinged my phone a few days ago saying “Lawrie sends his love!” included was a picture of Chesney with Lawrie McNicol from the children’s series BARMY AUNT BOOMERANG . . . Chesney had flown from LA to Scotland to help move his daughter in to her University digs, where Lawrie now runs a bakery and is Chesney’s daughters employer . . . talk about 6 degrees of separation!
Another strange and wonderful experience was stepping out my front door and seeing The Rewind band walk into the restaurant next door to me . . . I thought “No!?! We are 130 miles from London, not possible.” Popping in to check, there was Tony Hadley and the whole gang having lunch before playing Upton-On-Seven.
I had a film crew in the house that week and Tony dropped in to look around . . . it was great saying to the crew “just showing Tony Hadley round.”
In the past month the new POSH POP BAND has been in rehearsals and we have done two warm up shows, which were FABULOUS.
I adore this line up and the new sound. Manolo on guitar is getting standing ovations for his sheer technical brilliance. Chloe on keys and vocals is perfect, grooving in the moment and Mike and the Wong are on top form.
This week we opened the POSH POP tour in Banbury Mill. Four days before the show one of the Posh Poppers discovered their child had Covid.
This caused the maddest conversation I have experienced in years. One suggestion was the band member would stay away from the rest of us in the venue!!!!!!!! Banbury Mill is smaller than my living room and on the night there where about 8 vulnerable people in wheelchairs literally on the stage, the venue was rammed to the rafters. How could we endanger them let alone ourselves before an entire tour had started,
This conversation went on and on . . . . reassurances that the musician wouldn’t be near us until I put my foot down and called in the Toyah Band in who really saved the show. We invited Simon Darlow to play and the night was fantastic, we loved it and the audience did too.
We all adore playing the Posh Pop songs, they are of “the now”, vibrant and resonating with all our “today” lives . . . so excited about the rest of the shows for the next 15 months . . . I cannot wait.
Today the sun is shining for the first time in weeks, so there is hope that the remaining LET’S ROCK shows will shower us in glorious rays.
In Sunderland we were playing to a sea of rain hats and umbrellas, bopping and bobbing away. I had some of the cast of GIVE THEM WINGS in the audience and I couldn’t see one face for the rain. It was still a rocking event.
I now have a driver for most shows, partly to be my security but also to protect my driving licence.
In the first week out of lockdown, driving near my home in Chiswick I got two restricted area fines and three points . . . my lawyer got nine points in one journey and this isn’t because we have forgotten how to drive . . . its because the road systems have changed and there are virtually no warning . . . so I now have a driver who is fabulous, sensitive, great knowledge of music and observant!
As we leave the LET’S ROCK sites the team shout after us “no Speeding now!”
Wong and I played MR. TEE IN THE PARK two weeks ago. It was a profoundly moving event. A free concert for the people of Kidderminster run by music lovers in memory of Francis Terry Thomas, Mr Tee ran a greatly loved rock shop and took care of his community.
The organiser, an incredible, inspiring women, Dawn told me on arrival that Robert Plant suggested me for the headline and was thinking of coming over to watch the show . . . My reply was “ Oh God I don’t think I could even walk on stage if Robert Plant was in the wings!”
I would have been terrified . . . this man is a Rock God of all Rock Gods! Luckily he didn’t come . . . seriously I am not sure how I would have coped!
This week I am on a ship called The PRINCESS . . . very apt.
Performing with Carol Decker, Claire Grogan and ABC.
It’s going to be a wild few days, these people know how to party!
Fripp is home in a week and I am so excited, it’s like Christmas, so much so I’ve promised him the Christmas decs go up on his arrival.
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR GIVING POSH POP SUCH A FANTASTIC START.
IT’S BEEN A GLORIOUS WEEK.
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD….
AND SEE YOU OUT THERE!
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXX
HELLO THERE!
I hope you are all well and safe.
Currently I am on the Britannia with Chris Wong, out in the Atlantic about to turn left to Gibraltar, then on to Alicante. We have seven shows on board and our old pal Gareth Gates is sharing the venue with us.
I was on this ship in July and both Wongy and I made a lot of friends who remained on board all this time, so it has been like a homecoming. This morning we are both going to a Ballroom Dancing lesson before I head off to study the comics, I need an element of comic timing for PROUD CABARET, which requires me to MC as well as sing.
Life is more manic as usual as I prep costumes and do press for PROUD CABARET ALL STARS and continue to promote POSH POP.
There has been a sense of control when it comes to the promotional journey on POSH POP. I wanted to hit only the press that would centre purely on my work and the creative process of the album.
I was keen to only talk to music journalists for the first three months, in the build up to the album release, which has worked beautifully. Now I am broadening out into the popular press for PROUD CABARET ALL STARS and the response has been great there too.
I have a full schedule of OK Mag, This Morning, RYLAN on BBC RADIO 2 and many, many more.
Perfect for the good natured, rebellious night out that PROUD CABARET promises to be.
What will I bring to the show? 42 years of Rock n Roll experience, Bravado AND a sense of the outrageous that to some extent I usually have to suppress that will now be UNLEASHED with abandon!
The team are adorable, from the hostesses who manage the tables right to the performers, who push the boundaries of the wonderful space and setting . . . My evenings are going to be Punk Noir!
The autumn is going to be a perfect blend of high glamour and beautiful POSH POP ROCK.
The POSH POP tour in Oct/November being the precursor to the Feb/March 2022 tour, is going to a journey to a musical destination I’ve been pushing towards for a while. Everyone on stage singing and playing.
At The Putney Half Moon, the incredible yet challenging intimacy of the space, alongside the experience of the fantastic band and intense pleasure coming back from the audience was exactly like the late 70’s when the whole room morphed into “the place to be”. A heightened intensity, electrically charged and encased.
The show was being filmed by Robert Cooper and his team. I found myself being split into two people. The singer “live” who let’s anything roll and the actress who keeps movement, cameras, lighting in check.
It’s an interesting juxtaposition and one that’s very hard to relinquish!
Having learned the hard way as an actress that only you as the performer have the responsibility of finding your mark and the lens.
Robert Cooper has been one of those incredible people who captures performances for many artists because he loves to do it and when we realised that the audience where going to be right up to the stage I knew that enthusiastic chatter was going to bleed into the vocal mics along with beer glasses clinking against the mic stands.
Chloe, our fab PP keyboard player walked on stage and exclaimed “OMG this is intimate!”, made me hoot with laughter . . . Knowing that my lead mic could suffer, I explained to Robert Cooper that he would have to sit with his camera directly in front of me and act as my security barrier too . . . this made the show UTTERLY FANTASTIC for me! As Robert was pressed against the stage by the audience, balancing on his seat holding his camera, I kept looking down at him and we were both laughing.
And ironically it has given us the most fantastic camera angle, the stage and the room plus myself look incredible, the perspective is great.
As I looked out over the audience I saw a hundred or so brand new IPhones . . . this was a week or so after their release and I commented on how could so many people afford them and a voice came back “up your prices!”.
This is a virtual conversation that started in lockdown, when fans complained I don’t charge enough. It’s a very “moving” discussion to be subject to. I don’t think I have ever heard any other artist being asked to charge more for what they do.
This subject was raised when fans asked why Robert charges twice as much as me…well three times more than me, for artwork and Video Messages. For me it’s about knowing your audience. In my experience fans have to save money to come to see me . . . if you HAVE to save money to come to see me I am already charging enough!
As much as I’d love to play Wembley, Red Rock or Pompeii, I am not sure I can handle the thought of someone not being able to afford to come in.
42 years ago Joel Bogen and I used to open all the exit doors at venues to let the audience in for free . . . there’s something about that act that never leaves you.
I often fantasise about putting on free shows but alas I have bills to pay too! My aim is for as many people to see me as possible and not for many to be left outside.
RIGHT! Off to my ballroom lesson with Wong!
I CAN’T WAIT FOR MORE POSH POP SHOWS AND PROUD CABARET, THIS AUTUMN IS GOING TO BE FUN!
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD!
LOTS OF LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXX
NOVEMBER 2021
HELLO THERE!
Last week I opened in PROUD CABARET at PROUD EMBANKMENT, a gorgeous venue just under Waterloo Bridge on the North side of the Thames.
The venue faces the National Theatre where my career started in Dec 1976, I was 18 years old!
It feels so appropriate. Almost full circle, at a time so many changes are happening in my and Robert’s lives.
Catch me in the show up until the 29 December, dates are on the GIGS page. It’s fantastically visual, funny and high energy, a perfect Christmas
evening out, where you are treated as superstars, have a three course meal and lots of entertainment.
I am profoundly moved by the artists, for I WANT TO BE FREE I am joined by KATRINA, who suspends over the stage in chains and defies gravity with her graceful moves, she defies the human body too, she seems to have no joints!
I look up at her as a I sing FREE, a song I contributed the lyric too, 40yrs ago, and I tear up every time seeing Kats freedom of expression.
The Proud Cabaret team are very much a family. For me it is gorgeous working with very young, extremely talented people. I suppose you could call this theatre company part of the “woke” generation, they certainly are part of the new world but I don’t feel outside or rooted in a past they have never known, we are very much an open book in that everything is shared and created as a team.
Some of the acts defy gravity. Most of the acts are dangerous. You’d think the routines would break the human body. A lot of the performers have trained with Cirque Du Soleil. They are thrilling/ funny/ thought provoking and super creative. Being so much older than the rest of the team I take my own responsibility for reading about “woke culture”.
In the past my work has championed individuality, the outsider and those who break convention. But old influences have hidden connections and I am keenly aware to repair or re-address anything written in ignorance.
At school, an eroding environment for me, one I couldn’t flourish in, I had no voice to ask for change, being the “odd one out”, I was powerless to make my life better/ happier and healthier until I walked through the school gates for the last time. I never want to witness anyone going through the same.
This generation are completely different to any other I have known, I can ask the them advice on how to address or phrase something I want to say in the show. It’s a growing experience.
The Proud Company are very cool indeed.
Last night we did our last of two shows at The Meeting Room in Halifax, yes it’s a very busy time, alternating Proud Cabaret with the Posh Pop Tour.
It was an explosively lively show, a lovely space so we all rocked out and pushed out a lot of energy.
On both nights when it came to the last song TAKE ME HOME, the audience spontaneously, with absolutely no hinting from me, all started to couple up and slow dance together.
I am sure they didn’t all know the song, but it completely possessed them, some were in tears, it was so amazing, the room completely changed . . . just stunning, a perfect end to a fun night.
Four days earlier I had my vaccine top up, this time Pfizer, and I have been a little confused since (at least I wasn’t confined to bed, like the days after my very first jab) but at the opening of PROUD CABARET I had a bad fall on stage and cut my calf surprisingly deeply, when I took my boot off at the end of the evening there was a lot of blood.
I fall all the time, partly my disability in my legs, so I thought nothing of it.
But just as I was going on stage in Halifax the next day I realised the bleeding hadn’t stemmed, my blood wasn’t clotting, which must have been the result of the PFIZER jab and the band wanted me to go to hospital.
It’s now a week after the fall and finally my body is kicking back . . . but be warned everyone this is a potential side effect, don’t go cutting yourself.
KNEELING AT THE SHRINE: SUNDAY ALL OVER THE WORLD is near completion with Paul Stacey doing the remixes and it’s stunning.
There is so much on this 1989 album that has influenced other artists after the release well into the 1990s. It’s great to put this album out there once again, because “influence” to me is on a par with success.
The track STORM ANGEL is magnificent! I was on board The Britannia P&O when Paul Stacey sent the mix over, it was a stormy day out on the Atlantic and the boat was moving side to side a lit. Gareth Gates was my neighbour and I could hear him writing a new song in his room.
I opened up the file on my computer and my world changed. The opening guitar goes straight in with full storm force and never lets up. Paul has mixed my vocals so beautifully, yet again I was in tears rediscovering this very excellent piece of work. I played over and over again until we reached Southampton.
Our shows on the Britannia are a BIG hit. On our first night many of the other artist on board came to see the show and they were blown away by the concept.
It is only myself and Wong on stage, but it’s a pacey show with a lot of nostalgic and historic stories, it works.
The Captain had to make an emergency announcement just before we walked on stage, a helicopter had to airlift a passenger off ( turned out to be indigestion and not a heart attack, thank goodness)
The Captain has overriding power of the whole ship and emergency announcements can circuit break computers, so when Wong went to start his tracks . . . NOTHING HAPPENED! Yikes , I managed to fill the reset time with an outrageous story of dressing room antics, much to the audiences pleasure.
When Wong and I first got on board, for what was our second trip this year, we were told we had 5 days off. We didn’t know what to do. I don’t think I’ve had 5 days off since 2018.
So we took up Ballroom Dancing, our tutors where Pamela Martin and her husband Peter, international dance instructors who took us under their wings and taught us the Waltz, Cha Cha Cha and the jive.
Chris Wong became a star pupil and a much sought after single man…he had a fantastic time.
We had a day in Gibraltar, a port I love. There seems to be a deep connection for me with this intense, tiny space. You turn full circle on the deck of the ship and see Gibraltar, Spain, Morocco and Portugal. The history is tangible.
One of my favourite books is The Alchemist, about a Shepherd boy and his life journey through all four countries. Gorgeous.
As I write my possessions are coming back from Menton, France. It became impossible to stay in my beloved second home thanks to Brexit and sadly some hostility in the area.
It is heartbreaking but I always love new chapters and who knows what Gibraltar may bring! I can always visit Menton on holiday. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world.
For the next six weeks its shows, shows, shows . . . I hope to see you at a POSH POP SHOW or PROUD CABARET very soon.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD!
BIG LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
DECEMBER 2021
HELLO THERE AND HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!
I am back at work and hugely grateful to be able to be working.
Thank you to everyone for all your support and get well wishes, I entered Quarantine alone, in a frightened and bewildered state and felt immense supported with all the messages from around the world.
Having spent ten days alone I salute all of you who had to spend a year alone in lockdown. I don’t want to sit in front of the TV again for quite a while.
Every cloud has a sliver lining, I am about to be in the same room with my family for the first time in exactly two years . . . if only we had known in Dec 2019! Please stay safe, contracting Covid seems too easy presently, it is so close to us all. In the last two weeks, about 50 people have made contact, who have had it in the past month, or have it presently. I have not been in physical contact with any of them.
I am still running through my brain trying to find the moment I would have let my guard down and I keep coming back to the fact I use the London Underground.
Since May I have done many concerts, in relatively confined spaces and not even caught a cold. It’s baffling me.
Just before I developed Covid the POSH POP BAND were on a roll and I was completely storming PROUD CABARET.
The POSH POP shows are fabulous, the energy of the band is super supportive to me as a front person and I feel like we are a great team, so right for the new album. I love that when I look over at Manolo on guitar, he is beaming back at me. When ever I look over at Chloe on Keys she is right there, smiling and in harmony.
And at PROUD EMBANKMENT, I love the acts, the performers are a new generation, they fascinate me as people and as artists. The venue absolutely rocks, the audience go crazy and I know it’s a night to remember.
It goes without saying I have missed this so much in the last two weeks but now I AM BACK!
Two weeks ago I developed Covid, the symptoms appearing during sound check at The Robin 2 in Wolverhampton leading to immediate isolation for ten days.
I am now through that, the only hangover from the virus is “Covid Brain”. A member of my band had Covid two months ago and talked about Covid Brain and I didn’t believe it at the time but now as I make small mistakes in my everyday life I am astonished how my brain has been re-programmed by what was a mild case of the virus.
Misspelling, mis-judging, slight mis-coordination, all subtle but definitely there.
My energy levels remain ramped, not a great thing while recuperating but the company accounts are complete, the PRS listings for 120 shows have been done (the most boring, labour intensive box ticking act a musician has to do, listing every song played live, who wrote it, who publishes each song, the duration of each song per performance, its archaic and filled 7 days of quarantine)
But now I am back, with the full realisation I am only really happy when I am on stage.
I am not one for complaining but November has been a month of external stress, so much so I feel it has contributed to me becoming ill. I’ve had two of large sums of money go missing from my company account during transactions in the actual bank.
I am currently funding a large project, the building of our offices and studio and to avoid fraud I do these large transactions in the actual bank with witnesses.
Both times the money disappeared into the ether.
I am not relaxed about huge organisations making mistakes, especially via the internet . Both times led to polite, incredibly firm phone calls between myself and two seemingly complacent call centres that lead to me being told:
“Oh the money will turn up in 90 days, if it doesn’t call the Citizens Advice Bureau.”
My response:
“The moment I put this phone down I will call the police and the fraud squad.”
The money reappeared three days later.
We need banks but they sit on our money earning interest and charging us fees.
I feel the stress of this lead to my body losing its natural defences, thus Covid took hold.
AND to add to all this the sale of my French home completed as I was experiencing the full effects of the virus, this is when my French speaking team discovered we couldn’t have access to my French bank account without a French telephone contact/number . . . I’ve been with this bank for 15yrs! My listed address is in the UK.
As soon as I mention I was unwell they made an exception and were very sensitive to my situation but it took a whole lot of stress to get there.
I am a firm believer that perseverance topples all stone walling!
In December I was supposed to be in Barbados performing four shows on the P&O Brittania but I cannot get insurance protection for anything related to Covid. There’s no repatriation insurance presently for Covid related incidence and I cannot risk myself nor my musicians not getting back, this might be over cautious but I’ve been through too much on my own lately.
P&O have been very understanding and we have re-scheduled for April.
Because of all of this it has become clear why so many bands have moved shows to 2022, it’s impossible to insure anything presently if Covid disrupts the event and I thank my band and my team for taking this into account.
King Crimson are risking bankruptcy if Covid effects their Japan tour, it’s a risk they have decided to take.
With the Toyah shows we are doing the same knowing we can re-schedule but never cancel.
My instinct is, pandemics take about three years to play out, we can get through this, we are two years through this, let’s keep the ball rolling.
There is huge positivity and great things happening.
I am in talks with a film company for SUNDAY LUNCH THE MOVIE . . . these things take time, a lot of development but the fact people are interested fires up a lust for life in challenging times.
PRS in Switzerland is using a photo of TOYAH AND ROBERT’S SING A LONG as their Christmas Card to all their members, which is delightful.
Every evening I FaceTime Fripp in Japan and I manage to catch him having his morning shower, they are 9 hours ahead of us, every time he goes running for a towel saying “don’t look at me, I am shy!” We have been married for 35yrs and he is still shy! He will be home on the 9th Dec, I cant wait, this time apart has been especially hard.
I believe we are all protected by a benign power and sometimes “coincidence” just isn’t that. In our TV room we keep all the family photos, wedding photos and photos of long gone friends.
I was putting tinsel around the photos ready for Fripp’s return home. On the TV was the Christmas feelgood film Jingle Bell Bride keeping me company. As I put tinsel around my mothers photo an actor said “and Barbara how do you feel about that”! That’s my mothers name and it made me smile.
I carried on putting tinsel around various photos and came to my actual wedding bouquet, yes I still have my 35yr old wedding bouquet, it’s very desiccated! As I wrapped tinsel around its stand the same actor on TV said “ and the bouquet, how would you like it?”
At this point I looked at the TV in amazement and burst into tears. I’ve always believed these moments are points of reassurance from the cosmos that you are on the right path.
Christmas is here and I wish you all a wonderful time.
2022 is going to be the year 2020 should have been, we will get back to normal soon, I am sure.
I hope you can see PROUD CABARET, I am there until the end of this month, it’s a fab show.
HAPPY CHIRSTMAS TO YOU ALL AND HERE’S TO 2022!
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOTS OF LOVE
TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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