JANUARY 2023
HELLO THERE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!
After a fantastic Christmas both Frippy and I are ready to launch into 2023 with a ton of energy and enthusiasm for live performance and love of rock music.
WE WANT TO ROCK OUT.
It has been ramped up in this house since Boxing Day. We even had an offer for one of the UK’s biggest music festivals on Christmas Day!
This morning Robert and I sat down and planned the next three years. It’s an exciting and invigorating plan which includes two totally new albums, which will turn Posh Pop into the first of a trilogy.
We have a New Zealand-based film crew following us from March onwards for 12 months for a full length documentary about the phenomena of Sunday Lunch and our relationship. They will be in our home and on the road with us. Surprisingly Robert is completely open to this.
And we are heading toward some TV ideas. Again surprisingly Robert is totally open to this.
2022 was stressful for almost everyone I know. A BLOODY BRILLIANT year but stressful all the same. My sister said it was one of the worst years of her working life, it is well known that everyone on the front line of the NHS have been pushed to their limits.
My brother found the year so stressful he had a stroke in September, he is now well on the way to recovery.
All three of us found one common cause of stress and that was absolutely nothing was correct, either on line, in e-mail or in any paper trail, meaning almost nothing could be finalised and be put to bed. We where addressing a constant stream of avoidable problems.
It seems miscommunication was the biggest cause of trouble.
Creating constant distraction having to dealing with a certain level of incompetence, everything from paperwork mistakes, to bank mistakes, to bad grammatical meaning in e-mail miss leading the truth of a situation. I am a firebrand when challenged and I stamp on problems before they can cause real chaos, but the chaos kept unfolding all year. I wonder how many artists in the world walk on stage to perform while trying to sort major avoidable F-Ups.
Optimistically I feel 2023 is going to be bloody amazing. The energy so far is completely different and uplifting. This New Years Eve we seemed to forget to make Resolutions. Instead we decided to put our needs first, that being time and space to think.
The immediate result was no e-mail and no phone from 5pm on a Friday until 10am on a Monday. This way we can both pick up our guitars and have creative thinking time. We both realise we are now in the new post covid world, life style and business are merging into a new hybrid, a 7 day week culture. We have both surrendered to it, embraced it even and it wont last forever, so we’re making the most of it.
In the last 3yrs we have changed beyond recognition, gone against everything we instinctively lean towards, an easy life and we now except we are working 7 days a week! Each day we are learning the new set for TOYAH AND ROBERT LIVE. Robert’s loving it, he has always loved other peoples rock music and learning it along side our own music is throwing new light on everything.
On Boxing Day I started to design the lighting for THE SUNDAY LUNCH TOUR in Oct. Fripp doesn’t like to be lit, in recent years I’ve managed to make him understand that the audience buy tickets to see him as well as hear him, so this year he is going to be seen. I like my lighting to have drama and back reference to styles and emotions of rock nostalgia.
For example I LOVED the lighting trends of 1979 and 1980, the dramatic floor lighting at our feet, up lighting our faces, making us look contorted. Then there were the lasers, rising up over the dry ice, these created pure drama.
On the Sunday Lunch Tour I am looking for this drama and expression. Side light, Up lights, down lights, white light, long shadows and reflectors . . . with a touch of Bowie at Earls Court in 1978. It’s been a surprising reminder, looking back to the first rock shows I ever attended as a teenager.
Marc Bolan at the Birmingham Odeon in 1972 used the most basic lighting, but he was so beautiful to look at, the 2000 girls in the audience just screamed over his every move, as long as we could see him, that’s all we noticed.
David Bowie at Coventry New Theatre in 1972 used light to dramatic effect, Bowie always standing in red light while The Spiders where in blues and greens.
Hawkwind at the Top Rank in 1973 worked almost in the dark apart from oil lamps, it was impossible to make out their faces as they where silhouetted by intense deep colour and contours, the lights strobing for two hours painting the back drop in acid trip psychedelia.
Black Sabbath, again in 1973 played almost in the dark, in what appeared only front floor lighting, Ozzy looking berserk and sinister. These where some of the most exciting shows I have ever seen.
This coming Oct we are looking at using projection, shadow and good clear white light to bring the audience into a space that they will remember as much visually as they will musically. The October tour is a fond overview of Sunday Lunch and it’s shaping up everyday into what I hope is a great musical party with a lot to laugh about.
I have learnt so much in the last 12 months. The biggest lesson being that every artist needs a rock solid team through thick and thin.
2023, I feel in my bones, is going to run a lot more smoothly!
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL, YOUR LOVED ONES, YOUR WORK MATES AND YOUR FRIENDS.
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXX
FEBRUARY 2023
HELLO THERE!
HAPPY FEBRUARY . . . SPRING IS COMING . . . YIPPEEEEEEEE!
Hopefully the extreme cold weather has ceased for the year, like so many I suffer the cold, can’t think, cant move, cant do anything!
A KISS FROM TOYAH has taken off spectacularly! I’ve got though three lipsticks and two pens this week and LOVED doing the really sweet messages ready for Valentines Day.
My dear sweet husband Robert is slotting into the TOYAH BAND within weeks and tomorrow I take him to Butlins Minehead, this is a venue that holds one of the coolest Alternative Festivals in the UK, Iggy Pop and I believe Alice Cooper have played there. This will be Roberts first time in a Butlins ever.
Very few venues in the UK are tricky to get into or move around in. Leeds Arena insisted on seeing my AAA pass every time I left my dressing room, even when I came off the stage after my show, which was surprising.
But Minehead wins the prize. I’ve played this venue every year, for well over 30yrs. I will be appearing there twice this year. My last concert in Minehead was in October 2022 and they wouldn’t let me in! I said to the boys on security “Hello I am TOYAH, I am playing Reds tonight“. To which I am told a member of my band has to come out of the venue and walk in front of my car until I park, then they must escort me into the venue. While being told this I watched three members of my band being waved on through security without being stopped or questioned.
Eventually one of them twigged that I am famous . . . most likely because of the hysteria going on around me.
That night the show rocked, it is a fantastic place to play live, the audience give so much energy back. As the show drew to a close, more security where called into the venue because there can be stage invasions.
So as I prepare to drive Fripp to Minehead, I have a feeling that if this is repeated there will be a different outcome . . . God help them. Fripp will insist I turn around and drive home. Harry Enfield set the bar for this. He once arrived at BBC Wood Lane to record his comedy show, the man at the gate didn’t know who he was and said he wasn’t on the list . . . so Harry drove home. The show wasn’t recorded. I‘ve fallen in love with London all over again in the last few weeks.
The city has changed, a friend of mine said the same, there is a new elegance to this amazing city. People are friendlier, the drivers are polite, there is a calm.
It’s taken me a long time to get back to normal since lockdown, I’ve been avoiding crowds and built up areas, but starting work in the city in the past weeks has really energised me. Having just had a Christmas where business e-mail arrived on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I was expecting Jan to quieten down because so much prep was carried out thru the Christmas week for 2023. Instead it has been a busy exhilarating month of setting up the next three years.
Mr. Fripp likes to know what is ahead of him . . . so a three-year plan has been set! With a documentary crew starting to follow us in a matter of months and the TOYAH AND ROBERT live rehearsals kicking in, the engines of 2023 are well and truly fired up and moving but so are the engines of 2024 and 2025.
If you are new to me and my past work you won’t know that when I was 17yrs old I used to “dress” the theatre stars that visited the theatres of Birmingham in the mid 70s.“Dress” meaning I worked backstage getting all the touring companies costumes ready and getting the artists stage ready, doing their quick changes and running to get them tea and sandwiches, picking up their dry cleaning and being a support in every area they needed whilst in I dressed Judy Geeson, Simon Williams, all of the Dad’s Army team, The Ballet The Ballet Rambert and also the late great Sylvia Syms.
Tears here shed on her passing this week. She taught me so much. One of my favourite black and white films is WOMAN IN A DRESSING GOWN. A three hander with Sylvia, Anthony Quayle and the astonishing Yvonne Mitchell, it is a master class in character development and a tour de force from Sylvia playing the sympathetic yet devastatingly beautiful mistress.
There is a powerful argument that in the world of acting women over the age of 30 are typecast as no longer useful/ desirable/ sane and one could argue this film is a prime example of this but the three actors handle the subject matter with mastery and when I was employed to dress Sylvia I was overwhelmed with pride. Sylvia had a quiet precision in everything she did. Never ever getting over excited, instead thoughtfully addressing each moment with the exact energy needed.
The show I was dressing her for required corsets to be tightened and crinolines to be worn in the cramped wings of the Alexandra Theatre, not once did Sylvia complain, instead she taught me, at every possible moment, about how to enter a stage, how to enter a scene, how to preserve energy and above all the power and effect of good posture. And like Judy Geeson, she was thrilled for me when I surprisingly ended up cast at the National Theatre when I was 18. I am grateful to have worked with these amazing actors whose work continues to inspire.
This month I have found time to pick up my guitar and play. It’s such a pleasure and ideas flood in.
To combat the long gaps without being able to play I now carry my guitar around the house, playing when I stop still for a moment or while watching the news on TV, even while reading E-mail . . . making it an extension of myself and my thoughts . . . ONE DAY I WILL WEAR IT ON STAGE!
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXX
MARCH 2023
HELLO THERE!
I am kind of glad that February is behind me.
There have been many great things this month, especially in the world of music.
One being Rihanna at the Super Bowl, which was sheer joy and spine tinglingly dangerous too! Fripp and I now refer to her performance as “the Rihanna effect”, an upbeat moment, the joy of her pregnancy alongside incredible imagery and songs like “Diamonds” finding new meaning as she was raised up to the sky will remain with us for a long, long time.
The return of the cold weather and the continuing dark nights creep right into my psyche. I can’t wait for the clocks to move forward at the end of March and the daylight to increase, I am far more productive in daylight.
During lockdown Robert and I would start our evenings with a Margarita cocktail, it dampened our fears and made the mandatory separation from the world more palatable, but this continued once lockdown was over so at the beginning of 2023 we decided this was something that had to stop.
Rather surprisingly we are now teetotal and half a stone lighter!
Fripp and I like to have an evening walk around our town and last week we were ambushed by the smell of Marijuana everywhere, a common occurrence in our quiet town. I need to add Fripp and I don’t partake . . . Fripp has never taken anything other than paracetamol, he was once spiked at a party and vowed never to experience that again. Me . . . I am a wuss, I just don’t trust myself to have any control, thus I try not to partake in anything, CBD OIL is as far as I go and that has been hugely beneficial to my sleep.
Our town has a large ageing population of which Fripp and I add to.Occasionally Marijuana farms are discovered in the attics of some of the quaint Georgian houses on the main street and we can watch the police ram raid particular addresses. It used to be a running joke that a trip to Tesco could result in you getting stoned by just breathing in. On this particular evening walk we both observed a cyclist coming towards us on the pavement with a joint in his mouth, without a care in the world.
I pride myself on being from the revolutionary Punk movement, where anything goes, but even Punks didn’t cycle down the street smoking a spliff in those days, you’d be arrested on the spot. I’ve worked in Seattle for many years and Marijuana is now legal there. You’re not supposed to puff away on the street but people do. There is no longer fear of recrimination.
As the world speeds ahead into the future leaving myself and hubby slightly further behind with each new day I wonder where all this will be in 50yrs time. It’s a dichotomy I think about often having seen the benefits to many but also the exploitation of the vulnerable in other cases.
My strongest feeling is children need to have a childhood where they form their thoughts/choices/decisions without pressure from areas that capitalise from them. Now, for the elderly I have a completely different attitude! I am a firm believer that after a certain age, when health declines and pain is inevitable there should be a supply of “happy pills” for everyone, medically induced joy available to those who choose. Whoever invents this will be super rich.
So much has happened in the past month that paves the way for the rest of the year. For me it’s been a month of writing Tour scripts for the TOYAH SHOWS/ TOYAH AND ROBERT SUMMER FESTIVALS and Octobers SUNDAY LUNCH TOUR. Fripp and I spend every morning on the top floor of our home, looking out over a Georgian square with a cup of tea in hand. We sort the world out and dream our future together.
This morning at 5.30am I woke with the complete vision of the Sunday Lunch Tour in my head, I could hardly write it down quickly enough. The show had already been fully conceived before Christmas, but I had one of those flashbulb moments that was so obviously right.
So, on the top floor of our home, 7am this Sunday morning I told Robert the new idea and it has given birth to the entire coordinated concept of all that goes with it. I’ve been in this business for 42 years and at the end of a creative process I always rely on one key ingredient when starting and finishing a new project… don’t over complicate, simplify.
And the SUNDAY LUNCH TOUR MARK 2 is perfect!
It is funny from the get-go; it is rocky from the get-go and the rollercoaster doesn’t stop. Robert has even agreed to the finale . . . which I believe will be the most enduring image of the tour. I am now re-working the December tour script . . . lighting/ props/ merch and it all gels perfectly.
Last year I discovered the band RAMMSTIEN for the very first time when we covered Keine/Lust for Sunday Lunch. Why do I discover great things so long after the event, Rammstien have been around since 1994!? They are the only German language rock band to sell out New York’s Madison Square Gardens. After seeing their documentary RAMMSTEIN IN AMERICA, I am totally in love with them. There are so many levels I identify with. The first is the language barrier, which made them feel isolated during their massive USA tours. For many years they didn’t speak English.
Quite often I struggle with language, it’s a common part of Dyslexia, when these frustrations arise the isolation if overwhelming and I often feel left out of things. Watching this long, brilliant film about their beginnings behind the Berlin Wall I felt self-recognition in their feelings of frustration and I like to think this feeling has led to who and what we are today. It’s been a driving force in my life to reach further, do better.
This band is “out there”, dangerous yet not threatening, controversial yet utterly lovable. Their visuals are the best I have ever seen AND I don’t find their sexual content offensive, because some how they are beautifully innocent, an open book, no shadows, no lies, no underbelly. Goodness I wish I discovered them in the 1990s, I think they would have had a truly radical effect on me creatively. I LOVE THEM.
We had a very weird “incident” at home this week. I was in our bedroom when I saw the sparrow hawk snatch our favourite pigeon out of the olive tree next to the bedroom window and drag it down behind one of our giant flowerpots at the back door. As I ran full speed down the stairs to save the pigeon, Robert was standing by the stairwell with no idea what was going on. He witnessed me shouting “that F—— Sparrow Hawk!” Opening the kitchen door I dived behind the flowerpot and scared the sparrow hawk away.
The sparrow hawk knows me well. In the summer I chased it the full length of our 500ft garden after it tried to take a Dove out of the nest. The hawk flying zig zag only feet away from my face, knowing full well why I was chasing it. I have even surprised it at 5am, its favourite time to take the birds, as I creep out of the house in the early summer light, and I startle it before it can kill anything.
So, this week, as I confronted it, it flew at my head and up to the roof. THEN, the pigeon flew over my head, over Robert’s head, as he stood confused in the door way and into the kitchen and all hell broke out. It landed bleeding very badly onto the frame of a very large P. J. Crook painting that was the cover artwork for one of Robert’s albums. The artwork rather ironically called THE RITES OF SPRING!
And I found myself trying to save not only the pigeon but the painting too. The pigeon stayed there in total shock, its blood all over the painting. At this point Robert was not at all happy. He’d stepped out from setting up his touring guitar rig with his guitar technician for a quick minute that now turned into an hour’s bird rescue. I was determined to get the pigeon out. If you have ever had a largish bird in your house you know the damage it can do. It’s like a flying brick.
So, we slowly and painstakingly got dark sheets and blacked out the two windows knowing the first thing this bird would do is fly into a window. Then I slowly, and I mean REALLY SLOWLY, got a step ladder and climbed to the top of the painting and got the bird.
Carrying it out, I placed it behind another pot to keep it hidden from the hawk, when the pigeon took off, flew over Robert’s head again, back into the kitchen and landed on an art nouveau vase.
By this time I looked like I was in a horror movie, blood all over my face. In fact, the entire kitchen looed like a scene from SAW. Blood everywhere. Again, I ascended the step ladder, carefully picked the pigeon out of the vase and as I left the kitchen, shouted back to Robert “close the door”.
Placing the pigeon outside it flew up to the roof. On coming back into the room I saw the true extent of this adventure. Blood splattered walls, blood splatter album artwork, blood filled mugs and my face, covered.
Our kitchen looked like a crime screen and the pigeon . . . he will survive, the hawk got his thigh not his neck. Sparrow hawks are nature’s killing machines, but ours is taking everything on a daily basis and I like the idea of our garden being a sanctuary for all.
This March is the start of something new and big in our lives, the band are excited, Robert is excited, I am excited . . . I love this time of year.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXX
APRIL 2023
HELLO THERE!
As I look out of my office window, the view of the beautiful square is filled with men in lycra gathering for their weekend cycling, there’s at least twenty today.
Quite frequently I am treated to the site of these post BMX-ers adjusting their wedding tackle within their elasticated boundaries and it always makes me chuckle as the average age is 60 . . . and you’re looking good boys!
This reminds me when I first met Robert he used to go all dewy eyed about “rock chicks in lycra”, which rattled me most times as my legs never amounted to much in lycra nor in denim, but now I have my own personal vision from my window, 20 sweaty men glistening in the sunshine in shiny lycra, they seem very exotic here in humble Bredonborough.
My husband has many disturbing recurring dreams about losing his luggage on tour or the audience leaving the venue while he is still playing or being stuck in airport lounges or running down never ending corridors that wind on like an unfathomable maze.
I have repeat dreams about fleeing Ridley Scott’s Alien. Especially having brought a brand new mattress, the brand advised by the Hope Hotel in Liverpool, where last year I had one of my best night’s sleep in ages, the new mattress is definitely helping me get some shut eye but it’s also keeping me in that REM state when the Alien can come and get me!
There lurking in the blackness of my sleeping subconscious is this damned spider like Alien waiting to chase me in the most mundane of situations. In department stores, bed sits, car parks, changing rooms and gardens while those around me casually relax and say “what’s the problem?”!
It’s very busy. Tons of TV happening as well as intense show rehearsals with Robert. We are getting to that place where familiarity of the music is setting in. It may sound surprising, but this takes time. I call it “putting it in the body”, where you are at a point that muscle memory kicks in, this is also the point where I know what movements, imagery and lights will work for sure, at this point I can think about practicalities.
It’s all very well wanting to enter a stage flying above the audience but venues have structural limitations to deal with…like no fly bars! And in the case of potential quick changes some venues have no wings. I am close to accepting for the October tour that I might simply change on stage!
We still have a lot of development time ahead of us but this week alone four more festivals have come in for this year . . . It’s very, very busy. The Isle of Wight Festival is confirmed too when we perform on the Sunday.
A lot of my friends have had a tough beginning to the year, me too when it comes to short wintery days with grey skies. I’ve been making semi threats about moving to Spain/ Morocco/ Cyprus anywhere where the sky is continually blue! This prolonged winter is zapping everyone’s energy. I definitely have SAD… Seasonal Affective Disorder.
How can grey skiess be tolerated. How can a positive projection be placed upon another grey day? We need the rain. We need protection from solar storms. We need to appreciate our freedom of choice therefore choose to ignore it, it’s not actually harming anyone, but easier said than done. I can tolerate a lot but the one thing that floors me is bad light.
Both Robert and I work a lot. Robert works far too much for someone who is three years off 80. We still have career drive and a necessity to work. Earning a living and keeping our sanity being the main reason and we actually need stress and pressure to motivate us, it suits our personalities. Having witnessed my father’s frustration at being “retired”, I fully wish to remain connected with the world but increasingly I tell Robert that he needs to make time for himself and his desires.
This morning he said there seems to be more bureaucracy than ever before, we spend crazy hours in our offices but I am not sure there is more today than forty years ago. We both spend far too much time doing admin, the reason is simple, the internet has got rid of all the middle processes, there’s just as much admin as ever there was, just less people in the chain who get it all done.
What are the chances of being stranded in Glasgow Airport and by chance meeting the new CEO of BAFTA! I was at the gate with the comedian Inel Thomlinson waiting for a plane to arrive when the new CEO came and introduced herself.
I have never told this story . . . The last time I’d had any communication with BAFTA was in 2006 when they denied me membership, saying they didn’t want “people like me as members.”
Maybe I was too punk, even alternative for them? My agent was baffled, me too, I am an award winning, often nominated actress with a deep love and knowledge of film. In the past three years I’ve had three best Acting nominations from three different festivals, helped produce a movie and currently helping shoot a movie. Both Inel and I were majorly impressed at her openness and total lack of self-importance and I think she will be fantastic for BAFTA.
We are a month away from the official shoot starting for the documentary LOVE. Already I am shooting test sequences for the producers, visual concepts and set-ups with Fripp which have been favourably received, the producers loving the visual beauty of the pictures but also the truth of who we are as subject matter, in our pyjamas, no filters, no censorship and not always glamorous.
This is the right time to do this shoot. Robert and I have over 100 years of experience behind us and we feel it’s a story many people around the world will identify with.
It’s an exciting time and hopefully after the shoot is complete, Robert can enjoy his precious time . . . with me . . . and we may get to see the world as tourists as well as performers.
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
MAY 2023
Hello There! I hope you are all OK
So many friends have come forward to express how hard April was, as if the air pressure was intense, holding us down under the grey sky, keeping a deep cold in our bones but we all seemed to have turned a corner, including me and emerged into a slightly hedonistic time. That was one long spring!
Deciding to transform from being a work obsessed hermit I throw some tea parties, there was kayaking, long walks and I set the gym up outside, this has resulted in some very precious friend time because last year my feet hardly touched the ground then suddenly 12 months had passed with no social interaction at all
Now this year is starting to feel as if it’s going to be a blast. Thanks to 6% of separation Duran Duran inadvertently helped me discover my new look for this years shows. We have a close friend from LA, who used to do King Crimsons sound, he now travels the mega shows for all the big bands Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Arcade Fire, this summer he is responsible for Duran Duran’s huge arena tour
DD’s tour started in Manchester and our friend wanted to see us in Bredonborough en route, so we arranged to pick him up from the station on Thursday, the day before the DD set up. Our friend is jet lagged and an e mail arrived saying “see you Weds at 11.30am). Well Wed is a full social media filming day for Frippy and I so we decided to get up a few hours earlier, complete our filming and collect friend from the station
With this I had to rush the concept, something I usually have a day to plan for when it comes to Sunday Lunch, no problem , I threw an outfit on, threw bronzer and white powder on both of us, slavered hair gel on both our heads, turned the camera on and WOW, I looked amazing . . . we both decided this is my look for the new shows, it’s a kind of old glam Hollywood meets bad secretary with chains
Filming done we rushed to the station in full make up, waited for our friend . . . the train arrived, no one got off. My immediate thought is “ is he OK” We waited, we phoned, we e mailed . . . our friend from LA had confused the days. Next day he stepped off the train and he presented us with a large box saying “this is a gift for you, lots of cheese.” It dawned on me the origin of these gorgeous untouched cheeses may have been from the DD rehearsal catering table. Which made them even more enjoyable. Thank you to our friend for inadvertently helping me find my 2023 look
Leigh Francis came back into my life thee weeks ago (Keith Lemon) we where partnered on a TV show I love . . . PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR. Laurence Llewelyn Bowen was with us too. He’s almost a neighbour living 16miles from our front door. With both Laurence and Leigh set loose on set it made for a fantastic day of wise cracking laughs. Both are accomplished and educated artists, my style is very organic, work at the speed of thought and use materials quickly to capture the moment and then tidy up and improve once the image has been committed to. A kind of dyslexic approach to life
I love art, I love to live with art in every room, seeing it as I wake, meditating on pieces as the day winds down . . . BUT creating it is another thing and doing it in public is like dreaming you are walking down the street naked and everyone is looking at you. My nerves increased through the weeks as the shoot day came closer, once on set my hands where shaking all day.
I always find creating something relies on my being “in the moment”, yes technique is absolute but if I have a brain fog that day nothing is going to look good. It’s so exposing on every level
About 90% of my close friends are renowned artists, incredibly good friends, helpful to the point of being educational, until you trespass into their territory. Artists really critique their own. It could have been my nerves or my feeling like an imposter but I certainly felt the hard bite on set of the art experts opinions when asked “why hold your pencil like that”, “why position the figure on the paper where you have” it was like doing my CSEs again with the wagging finger of authority in my face, not knowing if I had done good or done bad!
Afterwards we all stayed behind to toast Baroness Joan Bakewell’s 90th Birthday. She was fabulous. Joan looked amazing. She governed the room with grace, insight and focus. In fact she was deliciously observant about my work, with a knowledge about folk art, which is a huge influence on all my creativity
The following morning I had an interview at Virgin Radio for the Sunday Lunch Tour and in the reception was Donny Osmond, I don’t know Donny, I’ve worked with Jimmy who is a wonderful human being . . . I gladly tell you, all you Donny fans, Donny looked amazing! My knees did go weak. Yes I remember my pre-punk days, coming home from school and watching The Osmonds
Sitting in a cinema last week, watching my husband’s documentary KING CRIMSON AT 50, a woman in front of me turned around and said “I write for THE ARCHERS, I wrote your scenes, I am a near neighbour.” It’s a small world. My guess is none of us are ever more than a mile away from Ryan Renolds or Tom Cruise these days
It’s only days till we open TOYAH AND ROBERT THE ROCK PARTY LIVE. We cannot wait, the set list is written, the songs are rehearsed, all we need now IS YOU!
SEE YOU OUT THERE.
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD!
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
JUNE 2023
HELLO THERE!
May went too quickly! I love the long daylight hours, once April arrives my aim is to be awake through all the daylight available, then 21st June is the pinnacle of my year. To see the dawn arrive around 3.30am and the twilight fade around 11pm is magical. My aim is to sleep outside. So far, it’s still too cold!
Our birthdays where fantastic, especially Robert’s, he is 77! Bloody hell how did that happen? Robert loves opening presents. He will take FOREVER unwrapping the paper, peeling the cellotape, de-creasing the folds in the paper as he goes . . . so this year I kept the cellotape to a minimum and where possible put his gifts in gift bags
You may be thinking this is mean but spending an hour unwrapping a present when there’s about 30 more to go leads to looking at your watch and it should be a spontaneous day. After 37 years of marriage and 37 birthdays I’ve learned to get to the point reasonably quickly so the day can have more events included in it. His adorable face lit up as he opened his “Edwardian” style embroidered waist coats and his new “peaky blinder” hats. My husband is a Peacock! Even at his wonderful age he has huge pride in his appearance. Every year he gets more and more cute
Last month we had full production rehearsals for TOYAH AND ROBERT. Which means from now on all the shows we do are in fact TOYAH AND ROBERT SHOWS, even if they are advertised as TOYAH shows. In many ways this is our ‘set up’ year because next year we are intending to be full on touring in the UK and other parts of the world, plus making the documentary AND we are in talks for a TV series. We feel we need to keep ahead of all these events
One hugely successful thing happened last month in how we are perceived. I will not allow TOYAH AND ROBERT to be perceived or treated as a “novelty” act because of the quirky concept of our Sunday social media, so at the forefront of our concept is we will be seen as a stunning rock band
Only on the October tour will we visit the history of the imagery of Sunday Lunch and this is going to be done in such a way that we still remain Rock Performers. There is a very specific way we are setting this up, on stage we are “set up by our own crew”, who deliver the props and this puts us on the spot . . . so like Morecambe and Wise both Robert and I become the underdogs to our own jokes
We had a perfect acknowledgement of our rock credentials from the press at STONE VALLEY FESTIVAL SOUTH . . . quote: “I didn’t know what novelty act I was about to see. TOYAH drew a huge crowd at the unenviably early stage time. TOYAH provided moments of magic. Toyah was pure class.” This is the aim of TOYAH AND ROBERT, that we are taking classic rock songs, of which many of the original artists are our friends, have visited our home, or we have worked with, we see socially around the world and T&R celebrate both their music and our own classics along with the audience
We have now had the documentary crew with us through out rehearsals, on the road for three shows and two days at our home. I am so surprised at how hard it is trying to be your best ‘you’. Also adding a camera to your everyday life makes you question who you are and why you do certain things. It’s quite unnerving to realise how utterly boring your normal usual life can be when you know potentially the world will be invited to see you for time immemorial. The days at home where a revelation. Seeing the hours I put into running my companies, the bureaucracy, the e-mail, the filing . . . NONE OF IT IS INTERESTING OR HAS ANY ROCK GLAMOUR!
Talking of glamour, a few weeks ago I was setting up a shoot in our bathroom for Tik Tok. The idea being The Unicorns where going to take a bath. As usual I find the best camera angles, then set up the actual movements within the frame. On this occasion I must have hit “film” and unknowingly filmed myself setting up in just my underwear for 6 minutes
We then filmed the sequence, which by the way we couldn’t use because it just looked like two unicorns having sex in the bath and I sent what I thought was the actual footage off to our media team, wondering why it ran to six minutes
Then horror struck, I looked back at what I had actually sent to the entire media team and there I was wandering around in my underwear totally unaware, a bit like Julie Walters in Dinnerladies, moving things, I think I even went to the loo just off camera . . . and I sent this to the entire team! I begged the team to delete it and try and “unsee” what they had seen . . . not easy
***
It is always extremely sad when someone loved leaves this world and Tina Turner passing away was a hard one. For me she has been a role model of excellence and humanity since I was a child. TINA IN BARCELONA is one of the best female performances I have ever seen and inspires me every time I see it
Tina was about overcoming over whelming hardship. She escaped the industry’s preconceptions of her in the USA to go onto fill arenas and stadiums around the world thanks to the UK embracing her in the 1980s. Born with immense beauty and strength she conquered and won
I only met her on a few occasions in the 1980s when we shared dressing rooms at award events. Her kindness, generosity and awareness towards me in our shared space made me respect her even more. She will continue to inspire. Reminding me that being physically strong as a musician and performer isn’t something to be ashamed of as a woman
***
JUNE is a monumental month for me and for Robert. THE ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL and GLASTONBURY are the cherry on the cake of our careers and we are super excited. We hope you can get to see these shows and the many more to follow through out 2023
BE LOUD, BE HEARD, BE PROUD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
JULY 2023
HELLO THERE!
A rare and beautiful thing happened a couple of weeks ago, a romantic meal with the hubby.
We were in Media City Manchester the night before going on BBC BREAKFAST . . . and we had an evening off!
It was so lovely to be in that “evening” environment snuggling up, we never eat in the evenings as a rule, my every day eating pattern is 10/14, I only eat between 8am and 6pm, we just hit that 6pm mark! Then we walked by the Manchester Ship Canal . . . it was the first relaxing time we have had this year and it was rejuvenating.
I have to say I miss our Margarita. Neither of us have had a single sip of alcohol since January. It’s taken all these months to reach that point of absolute no return but at least we can remember the nights before! There is a replacement offender . . . we now eat cake virtually everyday!
The Changeling reissue looks incredible. A HUGE THANK YOU TO CRAIG ASTLEY, Joel Bogen, Alan Sawyers plus Danny Keene and the Cherry Red team for this epic revisit to this dark album from 1982. The story of “the making of” is all contained within and so much more.
The imagery is stunning and the re-discovered photos of the exploratory shots taken during the Brave New World sessions and the actual Changeling session are touching and revealing. It is an album that means so much to so many therefore I am thrilled it is getting all this wonderful attention.
CONGRATULATIONS to the team on the short film WEIGHTLESS . . . THREE AWARDS and the film now journeys to other festivals around the world.
It has been an amazing few weeks.
Glastonbury was all I dared wish for. It was a complex day, we had to move through so many security gates, but everyone was helpful and super friendly. It was an amazing maze of discovery, a Stonehenge made out of cars, rainbow tribes and I am sure I spotted a unicorn watching from the trees!
Since performing last month a huge weight has lifted from my shoulders, I never realised how much the day was concerning me, in fact it had been weighing on me all year, I am used to many types of venues but this was entering the World stage, all eyes on us. I think one of the biggest thrills for both Robert and myself was the picture that appeared in Rolling Stone! (at top of the page)
On the day Robert was super calm and laid back. He sat back stage practicing guitar for three hours. I didn’t leave the area, instead I found a private corner and ran lyrics in my head . . . not very rock n roll but it conserved my energy. On the only other occasion I’ve been to Glasto I became overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people and their personal power. I found my base chakra going into over load, like a rocket ship blasting off, the sheer intensity of all these people in a concentrated area, their power oscillating and spiralling in the vortex of the valley of Worthy Farm, it was almost too much for me.
The first time I was there, about 6 years ago, was to do a secret gig with Simon Darlow and as we where driven over the hill to the “PRS” TENT hundreds of thousands of people came into view, I was so awed I had to lie down for an hour and try and slow my heart rate . . . I was scared this would happen again this June, so I closed my eyes as we entered the site so as not to see so many people and you know what? I believe the security fence actually contained the energy, we where driving mainly on the outside of it, the people where within it . . . I didn’t go into overload!
The Acoustic tent is tucked away. We where informed it is a tent where no modern media was welcome ie: true to the roots of Glasto, everyone there, in the audience, were there not to be seen by cameras, it was to be music only which is why only phone footage has appeared. NME where the first to post phone footage and we where thrilled because we wanted the world to know we where there! AND WE DREW A BIG AUDIENCE!
It is thanks to the Isle Of Wight Festival and Glastonbury that both Robert and I feel we have been repositioned in the eyes of the music world, in a very positive way.
Yesterday I returned from Glasgow, having appeared on the Weakest Link for screening later in the year. It was eventful and terrifying. There where a LOT of technical issues holding us up, iPads not working, score screens faltering, it all added to the pressure and the nerves. We were all so scared we could hardly banter with Romesh Ranganathan who was superbly cool and critical.
Greg Wallace was in the dressing room area from an earlier record and he told me his main show is moving to Birmingham so we swapped numbers and I promised to show him around this amazing city he has very little experience of.
On my show was Adam Pearson, the actor, who I first discovered in the Scarlett Johansson film UNDER THE SKIN….my favourite book by Michel Faber and a very surreal film. It was great getting to know Adam in the little time we had together. Adam carries a mascot everywhere with him, sadly he wasn’t allowed to have it on his podium, a voice from high didn’t allow it, but the floor manager (who I worked with on BARMY AUNT BOOMERANG in the very same studio) said mascots have the same power wether near or far . . . which was lovely. And it stopped us all protesting.
Now I am off to London, press to do, meetings to have. All gearing up for this months shows then Cropredy Festival/ Wickham Festival and on to TOYAH AND ROBERTS ROCK PARTY TOUR in Sept and October.
Have a fabulous July and see you out there!
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
AUGUST 2023
HELLO THERE!
HAPPY AUGUST TO YOU ALL.
Last month we achieved 120 million visits to our socials! How amazing is that, we are awed and grateful. THANK YOU.
Being a touring musician who mainly works in the UK, touring is a fantastic way to experience the geography of this incredibly varied land and all the amazing people who live here. From a cave in the Peak District, where everyone arrived on foot, in waterproof clothes, to a Spiegeltent in modernist Milton Keynes and a playing field in far off Holt.
At Holt the dressing rooms were beautifully considered tents. Sofas, cutlery, soap, a fridge and carpets! Proud women running the back stage area made us super welcome, it was appreciated.
Our tent was next to the comedian Julian Clary. Julian was on stage before us. Julian, if you don’t know, is a comic, a storyteller, has a quick fire wit, also a person of great beauty. I’d say he is many peoples fantasy of the perfect partner.
I sat behind the stage for his talk with bated breath because this is the person who once said, in 1993 at a televised comedy awards, that he was late for the stage because he was “fisting Norman Lamont” our then chancellor of the exchequer, Julian was subsequently hounded by those of a puritanical nature and forced to disappear from TV for a long time, that was until those puritanical heavyweights started to head the main terrestrial stations and now we have Naked Attraction . . . I have loved Julian even more ever since.
Julian began his Q&A with polite, very considered answers, probably knowing that the PA in the open air would carry his voice into people’s homes but this didn’t last long. He was there to promote his new book The Lick Of Love about the dogs in his life and he used a brilliant stage device to separate himself from blame . . . he read extracts from his own book that allowed the audience into his brilliant mind and his outrageous take on life.
The story of his dog and Joan Collins coming to stay was like Noel Coward for the unshockable. The people of Holt where laughing their heads off, myself included.
This week we managed to catch up with two close friends who are neighbours, that we haven’t had time to see since the end of lockdown. Both are avid readers and the one is a successful author. We were talking about finding sacred creative space. I’ve been looking for an off grid bolt hole for a while which led the conversation onto the precious spaces we have successfully written in and how we all hold those spaces in high regard.
The one friend has just had a book release and she talked about the inevitability of others commenting on her work and she said something that really resonated with me: “Comparison is the killer of joy”. It appeared that as a fellow woman, even one as renowned as she is, we share the indignity of being compared to other women as if we should all be uniform.
It was uplifting to know she has had people come into her home and either completely ignore her or tell her she doesn’t look good enough . . . it must be a universal experience. I explained on those rare occasions in my home I lead the offender to the front door and say goodbye. She admired me greatly for that!
I watch the local news avidly wherever I go. It’s always honest. Robert and I live in a market town, a town I have known all my life, right on a High Street. I can remember when we moved here in 2001, on a Friday night when the pubs emptied. Those who had consumed a little too much could quite safely lie down in the middle of the road and stay there until they came round the following morning, without fear of being run over. Traffic was that rare and that slow.
Today the majority of traffic moves so fast that young drivers have face planted their cars through the front windows of houses, they have even gone over the barrier of the bridge and landed upside down in the river, the death rate of young who have hit trees entering the town is tragic, lorries have had to be forcibly stopped because the driver has been visibly drunk while speeding toward the High Street, tractors laden with produce come through the town as if they are on a duel carriageway.
Today, on our pedestrian crossing outside our home, more often than not you have to move quickly, sometimes cars just don’t stop, sometimes drivers are abusive, other times local drivers make a point of being ultra safe.
I mentioned this in an e-mail to a very famous comic who knows the area well, he is now based in a market town in Shropshire and the e-mail I had in return highlights a huge behavioural shift that is nationwide.
His e-mail reflected our experiences, so much so I shared it with my neighbours on the High Street here. Basically his sleepy, single lane town is now experiencing a similar trend . . . no one feels safe near a road.
In Holt we where playing a school games pitch and revving cars going around the perimeter of the field drowned out the PA, so much so that the comedian Julian Clary decided he had to acknowledge the domineering sounds.
In Birmingham over the past month there appears to have been a pedestrian fatality per day. So residents determined to take back control of their streets have started to block the roads in person . . . blocking access with placards to highlight the dangers they experience outside their own front doors.
Where we live, we have welcomed the growth, the buzz, the business that new homes and residents have brought to what has been a suffering economy, a High Street in decline . . . the problem we now face is a lack of road sense that is vital when you are in control of a huge chunk of metal travelling at forty miles an hour or more in a highly populated area, nominally 20 mph.
Our High Street is a living community. Children play here. A large amount of elderly live here. The High Street shops are doing really well. It’s on the up. Last month Robert, myself and a complete stranger crossed the road at a marked area in slow moving traffic and a female driver, in a mini – registration noted – sped up towards a traffic jam and threatened all three of us with such exaggeration we knew if she wasn’t in the car her “social filter” would have stopped her being a T—t. The woman crossing with us was visiting our town, she was shocked and upset at having her life verbally threatened . . . she was F—– outraged at the stupidity of the girl at the wheel.
There was such a lack of control that one day this driver will threaten the wrong person, kill a child or elderly person. Actions have consequences, negative actions have far worse consequences. The racers in Holt of all places, was a surprise.
Sadly, both Robert and I have started to talk about moving from a town that has always been paradise, a perfect home and a stunning community. We never thought we’d be looking through property listings for a new home elsewhere. We remind ourselves daily that life is good and problems are surmountable.
This month has some fantastic festivals coming up. Wickham, Cropready, Rewind North, Rewind South, Reepham, Torch Light, Let’s Rock Norwich, Newark Castle . . . come rain or shine its going to be great. Every now and then I have what I call my “pain in the Arse days”.
The washing/ the accounts/ the repairs etc etc. I try and do these things while learning a script or a song. The distraction often leads to laughable mistakes.
Last night while learning a script and music for a new radio series I record next week I thought I would dye my hair. Mixing the dye slapping it on while focusing on something completely different has resulted in my having bright orange hair this week!
See you out there, stay safe.
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SEPTEMBER 2023
HELLO THERE!
As the first week in September returns to summer, I am hugely grateful for the last three months.
Most of the festivals where rain-free but a few had deluges which quite frankly brought out the spirit of human resilience in everyone especially Reepham!
During our set in Reepham Fest, Norfolk the audience witnessed three weather seasons during our 90 minute set. We started with simple rain, moved to storm clouds and thunder and ended on brilliant sunshine and a clear blue sky. We performed to a dramatic opera of weather contradictions.
Playing Cropredy, Wickham, Glastonbury and Isle Of Wight this year has been as important to me as playing The Old Grey Whistle Test Christmas Special on Christmas Eve 1981, viewed live by 12 million people.
It has been a special year. Another highlight was Robert Plant coming to see us at Cropredy and phoning us the next day to give us a full positive critic of the show.
I am an artist who is visibly supported by my unique audience. You cannot guess how tangible your belief is. This year especially I’ve seen how hard life is generally for everyone and how music heals and I want you to know we are all in this together. Fripp and I are now planning 2024 and there are some wonderful surprises to be announced.
I have just spent the week filming in Leeds with a fantastic team of creative people. More on that soon!
As I write we have just played STORMIN THE CASTLE at Witton Castle . . . it was a rollercoaster experience. Our sound person came back stage after and said “I put my hand up, I accidentally swapped a cable and it caused a 3 second delay between front of house and the stage”….it was a nightmare but after three songs we all started to realise, we shut down the stage monitors and all followed the front PA. The show was a huge success, the tent was rammed and hopefully no-one noticed the band and myself having kittens.
My work always has haphazard journeys, but once I finished in Leeds, I went south to my home in the Midlands so I could unpack/repack, do the laundry, pick up hubby and drive back past Leeds and on to Witton Castle . . . all within a 12 hour window.
Leeds has changed since I was last here in 2016 appearing in the movie LIES WE TELL. It has become a buzzing media city.
When Channel 4 where asking cities to enter bids for it’s relocation out of London I was seriously behind Birmingham winning the bid, but Leeds won and I am happy for this city because it is now becoming a hub of media creative excellence, I have made three films in the past ten years based in this area and loved every moment.
After Witton Castle I am travelling to Cornwall to research waterfront homes. This is a new venture for both Robert and myself, we are prepping Fripp for when he is in his 80s and myself in my 70s, for when we both need to take life easy. As a child my family would spend 10 hours in the car every summer, travelling to Cornwall to visit aunts who ran B&B’s in Marazion, near Penzance. I remember the car sickness, even the humiliating pee breaks on the grass verges in full site of the traffic jams . . . I must have been about 3yrs old!
Part of our Honeymoon in 1986 was spent in Penzance at the Egyptian House. Frippy and I escaped to Penzance the day after our wedding to avoid the Paparazzi who where following us as newlyweds. It is a place that even today my brother, sister and myself meet up at as much as time allows.
I have always dreamed of taking up surfing . . . who knows, eventually in my 70s I might get around to actually doing it!
Two weeks ago I performed at Norwich Let’s Rock with Carol Decker and she told me about her pending surgery and the terror of waiting to find out if she has bowel cancer . . . THANKFULLY SHE HAS HAD THE ALL CLEAR NOW.
Carol is one hell of a trooper. When we work together we have the best “catch up’s”. I find myself grounded by her common sense and strength of self-identity. We both want to do the next ELECTRIC LADIES tour (perhaps in 2025) with Claire Grogan and we keep badgering everyone about it. It would be a RIOT. So far Claire says no . . . but Carol and I will keep badgering!
I contacted Carol today and she is recovering quickly and so happy the surgery is done and thanks the brilliant NHS staff who took great care of her.
In three weeks the 2023 remaster of THE CHANGELING album is finally out in its various editions on Cherry Red. I know how much many of you love this album. There are previews now on Spotify, iTunes and the other digital platforms.
So it’s coming very soon with tons of images you’ve not seen, bonus tracks of versions you’ve not heard, and the relevant B-SIDES. The reissue has just received 4 stars in Classic Pop mag.
We are ALSO just three weeks from the SUNDAY LUNCH ROCK PARTY starting!! It will ROCK. It will be FUN. It is a Rock show but high energy. The set list is stunning, the band are stunning and me . . . well let’s say there is going to be healthy amounts of TOYAH MADNESS.
WE SINCERELY HOPE YOU CAN COME!
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOTS OF LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXX
OCTOBER 2023
HELLO THERE!
The TOYAH & ROBERT ROCK PARTY TOUR has started and the show is gathering considerable momentum.
The reviews are coming in and have instinctively picked up on our intention with this show, which is hugely pleasing, this is something Robert and I agreed upon a year ago that has taken some considerable explaining to the venues who needed to let the potential audiences know what to expect and that is the music is and always will be sacrosanct. This is a serious music show . . . with inevitable eccentricity attached.
SUNDAY LUNCH pays homage to the artists who created fantastic earth shattering songs, if there’s any joke to be played like all good comedy the joke is on the antagonist: me and the protagonist: Fripp
There are some who would swap those nouns, that doesn’t matter, there are many who wouldn’t use those nouns at all, but that is subjective and may be better explained by the journey of the last 12months.
Exactly 12 months ago the tour was green lit. When we originally called the tour just TOYAH AND ROBERT’S SUNDAY LUNCH venues took it literally: they thought Robert and I would broadcast from the venue a live 90second Sunday Lunch performance and they still booked us as a live show thinking it would be 90 seconds long! Also, they thought we’d be performing at 12noon.
I am not mocking this. It was so literal an interpretation of our Sunday Lunch Social Media Broadcast that I had to do some serious explaining to the venues. Robert and I always knew this was a tour where we did what we do best and that is sing and play music at it’s best . . . whist still being US. Eventually, about 8 months later the venues and the press started to see our aim.
This is a fantastic rock show that celebrates incredible, influential bands that have become classic on a level with Motzart, Beethoven, Chopin . . . the classics of the future . . . then add to that two renowned musicians who have had phenomenal success in their own rights, who have been married for 37yrs, paying homage . . . and wham bam thank you mam, you have a unique show.
THEN the next layer is the unique history of The Fripps played out during the show, which adds the human touch and something the entire audience can relate to on an emotional level . . . the connection of relationships. AND THERE IS NO MUSIC WITHOUT AN AUDIENCE . . . The audience is key. These are subtle things to explain but a fantastic summer of festivals and social media did a lot of that explaining.
I have learned so much from this last 12 months. The biggest lesson is I am a fantastic business person and from now on no one will deflect from that . . . there have been challenging moments of epic proportions in recent months. I am still kicking that glass ceiling and probably always will.
THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO LOVES THE RE-MASTERED “THE CHANGELING”. The feedback has been greater than I remember on it’s original release, most likely because this album has gathered a larger audience as the years have rolled on.
In 1982, it was considered a very dark album, today I think it is more brooding, we have all had our dark night of the soul and surfaced with the energising power of anger, self commitment and self justice.
For me it is a part of my history slightly hidden by the mists of time, also a piece of work that has grown its own identity with it’s unique audience . . . in many ways this is a perfect journey for this album.
I am physically shrinking at a fast rate. My mother shrank six inches when she neared her 70s, I’ve already lost an inch and half. You know me, I will turn it into an opportunity, but it’s still really surprising and out of my control.
Having just watched my self on HOUSE OF GAMES, there is disbelief at what I see, I am surprised that I am a 65 year old, my feet hardly touch the ground when I sit in an armchair . . . this image doesn’t relate to who I am when I am on stage singing! Onstage I am a warrior.
There is an ambition on my bucket list. As an avid fan of horror, I can see I am becoming ideal casting for that strange old women in the deserted house on the hill . . . I would love a career in horror, it would be so satisfying.
WEIGHTLESS has gathered another award in it’s beautiful wake.
The New Renaissance Film Festival London “Best Female Lead Drama Short”. This success I believe means the film starts to travel the world for other festivals.
Even though this film was quick to shoot, two days, those two days where full on. ON the second day I ingested so much sea water I was being physically sick all the way to the ferry home . . . my poor driver had to stop twice! Sorry for that story but the things actors put themselves through . . . I still loved every minute.
I HOPE TO SEE YOU IN AN AUDIENCE THIS MONTH,
WE WILL BE CONTINUING THE SHOW IN 2024, COVERING TERRITORIES MISSED ON THIS TOUR.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
NOVEMBER 2023
HELLO THERE AND HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
Our Christmas lights are on, the tinsel is up and Father Christmas is already delivering Mr. Fripp seasonal surprises.
Any perfectly wonderful excuse to buy treats for Master Fripp and what better than Diwali last weekend. We LOVE the Festival Of Light and it’s generous message of giving a gift of love, so a box of creamy, sugary, spicy treats arrived to surprise him.
When I was a rebellious teenage I was taken in and mentored by a fabulous Hindu family and they taught me about this beautiful festival, the positivity AND the sweets! This was the first time I ever tasted a Mango and it blew my mind. These memories are so happy and I often re-visit them at Christmas time.
2024 is shaping up. There are some unexpected things happening. One particular tour in discussion may take ’til early 2025 to finalise as it involves about 20 people on stage. It will be part of TOYAH AND ROBERT and it will also be about our individual musical pasts.
The ball is very much in our court when it comes to the next two years. This is a very positive situation. There are no pressures to meet other people’s demands, we are highly independent as artists.
On the October tour our fab sound person Bill recorded every show on multi-track. The sound and the band are exceptional, it sounds like studio recordings, everyone is so tight and in the groove. It excites me to know all this material is available.
We now have 15 shows fully recorded. Robert is insistent that mixes are completely right and this means a lot of detail but we have this in the can . . . we now just need acceptable mixes for Robert.
The documentary crew are back with us soon and one of my targets is to get this film project closer to a release date. In the couple of weeks we have been home from touring we are both finding the confidence to venture out into crowded spaces again.
On tour we were pretty much isolated backstage every day. It could be having had Covid twice in the past years that we both fear getting it again, before covid we went out without fear, we did things on a regular basis and this week has felt that we can do that again.
We both had our latest vaccine a week ago, it knocked me for six, I was gaga for a week, but by Sunday we where excited to see Robert Plant and Saving Grace at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. I bumped into so many friends I hadn’t seen for four years. Nick Owen, Bev Bevin and many more, my heart was singing.
Mr. Fripp stayed in a facemask and at the end of this stunning show he said to me “let’s do this again”. This resulted in him coming back to Birmingham with me last Wednesday and joining me on stage to turn on the Christmas Lights at Millennium Point. IT WAS FANTASTIC!
We had a pre-covid day. Meal on New Street, Christmas shopping, enjoying being with bustling crowds and a beautiful event at Millennium Point. This day out was such a relief! You can only hide away for so long. It also lead to a conversation for WEIGHTLESS to potentially show this month at the B’ham Film Festival.
About a year and half ago Chris Wong and I were joining the P&O BRITANNIA in the Faro Islands to perform for a week as it returned to Southampton. Gareth Gates was on board too performing and we would meet up for lunch most days, he was training daily in the gym and looked amazing.
He confided in us that he was getting ready for Celebrity SAS and I saw this week that he WON! I am so happy for him. He is such a sweet person, it is amazing he toughed this horrendous experience out and made it to the end. CONGRATULATIONS GARETH!
It has been a year on the road and now I am trying to find my old routines again. In my head I have visualised myself practicing guitar whenever I could so as not to loose the language I have learnt over the past four years. It hasn’t been possible to carry a guitar and certainly no time at the venues to practice. I have missed it so much.
On tour Fripp and I travelled in one car. In the end I grew to dislike it, sitting on the back seat surrounded by luggag . . . it was like being a four year old again. This year has taught me so much about myself. I am wildly independent and I can only compromise so much . . . there’s a limit.
Next year I will drive myself if I can. Robert now has our personal manager Lee to drive him. We do have security issues on the road but that’s now a daily fact of life. Tour buses are not the solution for either of us. In the past I have tried the big sleeper buses . . . YIKES, HELL ON EARTH.
This year we drove to Glastonbury in a multi-seater van, somehow I feel “swallowed in a void” in these situations. Imagine if you have a cat or a dog that you put in a carrier to go to the vet and it freaks, well that’s me! I’d rather be on the roof rack! In bed at night I would rather be under the stars. I like and need my own space probably far too much.
We will keep you up to date on what’s coming in 2024 on my socials.
In the meantime I cannot wait for Christmas and catching up with friends we have not seen this year. It is my favourite time of year and I hope it is for you too.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOTS OF LOVE TOYAH XXXX
DECEMBER 2023
HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
I WISH YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES A FANTASTIC SEASON!
The Great British Sewing Bee: Celebrity Christmas Special has announced its broadcast date and I am super excited. I loved every nerve1-tingling minute! You will get to see it at 9pm on BBC One, THURSDAY 21 DECEMBER!
It was quite a wind up, the room was full of intense competition and a lot of laughter from Hammed Animashaun, Jessica Knappett and Kerry Godliman as they cracked jokes and revealed past sewing experiences.
The show brought back very precious memories for me. My mother taught me to sew as soon as I could thread a needle. I still have her Singer Sewing machine and I believe it was my paternal grandmothers before mum inherited it. I was lucky enough to have had sewing lessons in primary school too.
It was pretty serious stuff. We would darn our socks, sew buttons, make button holes, knit teddy bears and make patchwork cushions. I never realised how much I loved it and the how incredible the sense of achievement was when finishing a project until I finished my first item on Sewing Bee.
Everything came flooding back. All the knowledge my mother passed onto me was still there!
It’s a great show, there’s a lot of surprises and I am immensely proud of it.
HOMES UNDER THE HAMMER has also announced its broadcast date.BBC ONE, MONDAY 18 DECEMBER. It was a hot summers day when Dion Dublin and I investigated a house to renovate in Rubery, Birmingham.
Whenever we where outside Dion would bring the traffic to a stop as football fans would slam on the brakes to ask him about certain games and goals, people even stopped to ask him about his music . . . HE IS POPULAR! It was a very giggly day with a lot of healthy competition between us both.
There is one aim this Christmas in the FrippCox household and that it to create magic, happiness and awe. It’s been a long year, with many highs and an equal amount of stress. It is now time to experience innocent glittery fun!
Many new friends have been made in 2023 and we are enjoying catching up and making a fuss of lifelong friends too. AND I am enjoying convincing Frippy Father Christmas has added him to his “good” list.
Yesterday I took Hubby on a hot date to see THE NUTCRACKER at the B’ham Hippodrome. That sentence seems strangely odd coming from one half of Toyah And Roberts Sunday Lunch . . . but this was THE ballet. I’ve seen it at least five times over the decades and this 2023 version was easily tops!
As we sat watching this wonderful ballet, I could feel Robert being transported somewhere good, somewhere he has not been for a long time, into the magical story telling world of forests, acrobats, birds, magicians and RATS! Yes RATS! There are three robot rats and Fripp laughed out loud . . . he loved them! Both Fripp and I cried at the end.
I took my parents to see this ballet in 1994 at the Hippodrome and this week’s performance brought back those memories. As I sat in the circle, watching this fabulous production, remembering how Mum and Dad loved it and talked about it for ages after. That magical evening ended up with them getting lost outside the theatre in the crowds, they took a bus home while I searched Hurst Street madly trying to find them for an hour and a half!
Parents! They turned into our Children and my Husband is turning into my elderly parents as I kept a firm grip on him in the crowds as we left determined not to loose him!
The Artist director is one of my favourite dancer choreographers, Carlos Acosta, who I first heard of while watching an incredible documentary on the wild and fantastic life of dancer Sergei Polunin. If you have not come across Sergei take a look at the documentary DANCER.
The levels of emotional strength and pain are heart wrenching, Polunin’s parents forsaking their own needs for their sons talent to blossom and then Polunin the adult rebelling against the chains of a world who could not get enough of him.
I thank God there has been so many glorious rebels in my lifetime. I had only met Shane MacGowan once. It was about 1985 in Dublin at RTE STUDIOS. We shared a very small green room before being interviewed by Gay Byrne. Victoria Mary Clarke was with Shane, they’d only met two years prior but you could see they where so right for each other, she could only have been 18 at this time.
Shane was charming and clearly besotted with Victoria because he had that “shine” people have when they are in love. They both made a lasting impression on me, especially Victoria, who was inquisitive and confident, to me she was untouched by any teenage angst or self doubt, I think this is why I remember that short meeting so strongly, her beauty and sense of self was exceptional, yet at the same time she was there for Shane and Shane only. I wish Victoria my support in this sad time.
I mentioned last month that Robert and I have both psychologically found it hard to come out of lock down and trust that we wont be struck down with Covid in crowded spaces. We seem well and truly over this now. After the ballet I had no problem taking Robert into the Bull Ring and we sat people watching while drinking Macha Lattes. It was great to soak up all the energy of life around us. It felt like 2019.
I passionately feel as an entertainer that my role is to lift people because there is so much joy in performing. That said last month seemed to be challenging in many ways to so many and sometimes sharing experiences is more helpful.
Many friends have been having a testing time. I flag this up because we are about to enter Mercury in retrograde from the 13 December until the 1st January. This can shake things up even more. I am flagging this because it can be a positive, insightful life changing time, deeply connecting you to your self. Mercury going retrograde can cause frustration, cause technical problems and miscommunications.
BUT HANG IN THERE because it is also a time of self-discovery and love. There are good things in this cycle . . . FRIENDS, FAMILY, LOVED ONES are there for a reason. Surround yourself with friends knowing this is where the planets want you to be this month.
Also it’s a time to be with family. AND if some of you feel like you are entering the monster’s den when it comes to family, keep your friends close at hand for those conversations that clear your head. Next week my family get together for our annual weekend.
We are a family of opposites, my brother and sister work all hours like myself and we look up to the youngest, my nephew, to learn from his work/life balance. He seems to do this far better than us and he is 40yrs younger than us!
I am 65, my brother 70, my sister 73, her husband 80, Robert 77 and we all work full time . . . is that a little crazy?
We just don’t know how or when to stop. At some point we need to ask each other if it’s a form of distraction. Do we know how to relax? At all!
I will certainly take advantage of being with two generations this coming week to explore how to have a calm and stress free Christmas. So this Christmas I am very much Father Christmas to Mr. Fripp and cannot wait to see him open his presents, which are quite “out there” this year.
I WISH YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Look out for the TOYAH AT HOME CHRISTMAS SPECIAL on Saturday 9 December at 11am. THERE´S LOTS OF NEWS TO COME IN 2024.
THANK YOU TO MY TEAM AND I RAISE A GLASS TO LOVE, PEACE AND GOODWILL TO ALL.
BE LOUD! BE PROUD! BE HEARD!
TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
JANUARY 2024
HELLO AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!
I hope you are having a fantastic New Year so far!
On New Year’s Eve I was on stage at the Birmingham Symphony Hall with Gary Davies’ Sound Of The 80s roadshow. It was a perfect way to see in 2024 and I am excited to say I am joining the roadshow in York on 23 February and in Bristol on 1st March.
I first met Gary Davies around 1983 when I was starring in the musical TRAFFORD TANZI and my PR Judy Totton invited all of the Radio One DJs to see the show. Gary came with Peter Powell and Janice Long.
I remember it being a particularly riotous evening with the DJ’s letting off steam in the bar before doing their live shows the next day. At one point I was lifted up by all of them and held horizontally across their arms, for photos with the press. We stayed long into the night, eventually being chucked out by the theatre staff in the early hours.
Most NYE I am in bed by 10pm, this evening was very different, in the venue the audience where up on their feet all night, singing at the tops of their voices. At 12.30am it was impossible to drive down Broad Street, it was rammed with revellers. So I sat in my car for about 40mins just enjoying the energy of my home town as people passed by on foot, halting the trams, the buss’s and taxi’s, no one minded.
The security exit from the Symphony Hall faces where my fathers antique shop used to be. I had not made New Years Resolutions for this year but instead I made a wish going back in time . . . I just wished I had a vision of the future when I sat in Dad’s shop at the age of 13, that all would work out just fine. I would maybe have allowed my self to have enjoyed the past decades with a little more abandon, rather than studiously moving on to the next project without ever looking back.
I managed to totally surprise Robert on Christmas Day with a selection of Crystal Skulls and Sugar Skull shirts plus a lot of crystal Angels for the house. Robert has passions that run deep in him. This year it has been Angels and Skulls. Unicorns still feature strongly, I gave him about ten spectacle cases with Unicorns on, but the crystal Skulls have been the big theme this Christmas Day.
This may sound odd but I choose my Christmas presents from him to me, sending him e-mail’s around November “please get me this it’s in the SALES!”, it’s usually L K BENNETT dresses, I had six this year and they will be worn until they are threadbare. If I didn’t do this it could lead to a stocking full of 20 packs of cheese and onion crisps, all individually wrapped . . . yes this did happen….ONCE!
2024 is the first year since the Covid lock down that my diary isn’t filled with pre-Covid gigs.
Since 2021 virtually every show was pre-booked before the pandemic, being re-scheduled year after year. This means this year is going to be very different. It is going to be more in the moment for us. 2024 is part of the future rather than honouring the past.
Having seen many movies over the holidays, all of which we loved, from DUNE, BONES AND ALL to SALTBURN , the latter has left me encouraging Robert to dance naked around the house. Part of this encouragement is I just love to tease him and even though he knows I am creating mischief he some how relents and takes up the gauntlet. The dancing sans clothes is a direct reference to the final scene in this brilliant film.
Robert needs to release his inhibition and understand the spirit of “spur of the moment” improvisation in the privacy of our own home. This may be “too much information” about a rock god to many, but I am a firm believer that all people over the age of 60 should behave badly in the eyes of the younger generations, kind of geriatric punks with a devil may care attitude and we don’t dance enough anyway!
In the privacy of our home and in many hotel rooms this is something my husband has witnessed from myself so many times over the years. Luckily he never gets bored of it. There is nothing funnier than dancing out of context, in the aisles of a supermarket, in a cue, while balancing on top of a ladder but to do it naked on an unsuspecting husband is even funnier, especially if he is on the phone or on a Zoom meeting and you are hidden from view the other side of the camera.
That said I have paid the price for this. It’s led to some extremely embarrassing moments, especially when he has invited workmen into the house without warning me. I have had to hide in cupboards on a few occasions until the coast is clear.
Before Christmas I was doing a Saltburn in the kitchen when our hairdresser walked in. I screamed and ran up stairs in total disbelief that Robert could open the front door knowing I was sans garments! There’s two things going on here. We are both fully aware of the ageing process on our bodies. My bikini days are long gone and Robert is shy about his ageing process . . . HECK WHY SHOULD WE BE?
Self acceptance is liberating. Trusting the process of our bodies is liberating. Damn those attitudes that cause shame in this process. Doing a Saltburn makes us laugh, get up and get moving! If our hometown knew the goings on of this house!
Later this year we will be announcing the remastered reissues of WARRIOR ROCK and LOVE IS THE LAW. We know how popular both these albums are and I am excited they are having their deluxe editions coming in 2024. And we will be announcing quite a few festivals where I play solo. We are currently planning a short TOYAH tour for September/ October, after which we are planning TOYAH AND ROBERT’S CHRISTMAS ROCK PARTY. AND it is our intention to visit Scotland for these shows!
The year may be young but so much can happen in a matter of days. For example we have been surrounded by floodwater for a few days, it’s closed the street outside our house and people are walking into town to look at the flooded bridge. All is OK, our home is safe.
I am more positive about 2024 than any other year. There is a tangible creative energy in the air. On New Year’s Eve, resolutions never entered my mind. Having spent at least 60yrs promising to better myself, this year I just want peace of mind and some fun. I WISH THE SAME FOR YOU TOO.
We will keep you posted about new shows.
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND SEE YOU OUT THERE SOON.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
FEBRUARY 2024
HELLO THERE!
I hope you are all well and thriving
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY TO YOU ALL
Plans are still being made here in Fripp/Cox world, I am not quite sure how we are going to be celebrating. But a huge fuss will be made of Frippy.
I have been grappling with some odd feelings this past month and I can only put it down to my age and the fact that I am always quite polarised within myself. There are two conflicting people within me. The comfort seeking me and the explorer. I need stability, control and spontaneity. There’s a surge of rebellion building up internally and I suspect it’s because of the predictive assumptions heaped on my age group.
Last week a letter arrived from THE DEPARTMENT OF WORKS AND PENSIONS asking if I would like to take my state pension. The letter itself was received with gratitude, it is remarkable any country can afford to do this for it’s “older citizens”. This isn’t the source of my simmering rebellion, it’s more likely because I am part of a whole generation of Punk pioneers who are now receiving this letter and I am feeling a surge of resistance against time.
Add to this that my lovely, wonderful hubby is happily slipping into a more internal world ( and bloody hell he has worked hard to be where he comfortably is) I can feel my internal roar getting out of control.
This week I am a keynote speaker at an after dinner event which is taking place exactly where my “Walk Of Fame” star is, Five Ways Birmingham. The event also happens to be 200 yards from where I spent 14yrs at school and hind site is painfully highlighting all the opportunities I had in this city and rebelled against. Or put it another way, I was too damned lazy to learn.
Education is the greatest gift we can have . . . and I am going to tell everyone human being under the age of 5 to grasp at every opportunity it presents to them because the alternative is to listen to your own roar of frustration sixty one years later.
For two weeks I have been honing my speech, slightly terrified that I might be expected to be comic relief because I find telling jokes excruciatingly hard, so I have turned up the volume on how my mistakes with 1980’s fashion 44yrs ago turned into my successes. Two weeks into rehearsing this speech, feeling confident with it and happy with the origins of the story firmly belonging to me, I sat back and thought of googling some female comedians to see how “light of touch” their delivery is on stage.
Finding a brilliant “60 minutes with Dawn French”, recently made for Australian TV I started to watch . . . and literally she is talking about the exact experiences I have spent two weeks writing about.
THE GLORIOUS MISTAKES MADE IN MY WORKING LIFE and then . . . she tells the story of her letter arriving from The Dept Of Work and State Pensions.
Does age rob us of our unique experiences as we slide into a predictable category? To get away from this predictability I have been toying with the idea of starting a vineyard, a small holding, anything that connects me to Earth’s lifeforce and away from the regularity of meals and bedtime. Should I go to university? I am interested in being a Soul Midwife. I am also hugely in love with Colour Field art, sculpture and pottery.
My peers from the Valhalla of 70s rock seemed to use their time recreationally driving cars into swimming pools and sleeping through the days. My bank account is neither full enough for such economic waste and I am by nature in a permanent state of artistic frustration. Maybe the answer would be to go into a soap . . . where the constant ebb and flow of the story line keeps you on your toes.
For all my unsettled feelings there is no reasoning why they are there because this year is developing into a wonderful year, with some prestigious festivals and events to look forward to.
We have the venues booked for T&R’s CHRISTMAS PARTY TOUR, these will be announced this month and it will be a fantastic way to welcome Christmas and 2025 in. Last December I did a huge audition for a Global company which i should hear about this month. I’ve been offered an amazing role in an amazing film and it’s a big budget project shooting over the summer.
There is a lot going on and I am not ready to slow down but i seriously need to sort my life away from the camera out, it’s reverting to feeling like being back at school.
More often these days I can be heard exclaiming “can we be spontaneous? My mood is nothing new, it’s part of my physiology. In the late 80s I did a lot of theatre to escape the expected and above all escape myself.
Robert and I took a train this week. This is a rarity. The last train I took was the Eurostar in 2018 to play the W festival in Belgium. This week our train was actually running when an awful lot were not. We are trying to use the car less and trust the alternative forms of travel available to us. We loved it! Normally I drive Robert and this was bliss, I could work for the three hours we gained on the train.
Arriving in London Paddington we caught the Elizabeth Line and it was bloody fabulous. Space age. We were with Robert’s manager David, who was a little concerned about how we’d deal with me being recognised and a lot of heads did turn but everyone was cool and smiled at us both. We arrived at our friend Richard Hudson’s art exhibition in Claridge’s all energised and excited.
At the exhibition I filmed Fripp and Richard Hudson junior for our UpBeat Moments, being careful not to film Jeremy Clarkson or any other famous people there because it would just feel wrong and as I turned, panning the room with my phone, for an instance there is a gorgeous man, his face beaming in a smile and when i played the clip back to Richard he said “oh Tom Odell was behind you.”
It’s funny, not knowing Tom personally, I immediately noticed his inner light, in a split second of a turn. He glowed. And it’s that glow that reminds me why I do what I do. There is something about the flow of creativity that creates light. Perhaps my inner rebellion surfacing is because I need to be free of prediction. AND I need to like myself again.
Writing and creating is as much about healing as it is about bringing ideas into the world and it’s not that far off. Surely EVERYONE is experiencing bureaucratic drain. Robert’s management team are snowed under with it. In 2023 I was snowed under with it setting up T&R and it’s left a bit of dread in me. This year there will be less of it because we are now set up but I do think part of my present state is nostalgia for those heady days when spontaneity was available to all of us all of the time.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how 2024 pans out and what new developments appear from it.
Times are a changing.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
MARCH 2024
HELLO THERE!
I hope you are all well.
This new month I am feeling ready for the year ahead. Psychologically getting February over is a huge leap forward. Seasonal light, or lack of it affects me. I found myself resorting to carrying a high powered torch to give the illusion of sunlight and shadow in dark spaces!
It’s been an extraordinary few weeks.
My speech for the Digital future of the NHS was apparently the “best given in 20 years”. I have never been so nervous in my life. Possibly because as I mature I realise just talking about myself and my past isn’t enough, I need to be in the moment expressing shared experiences with all ages and that’s quite a challenge to hit but I focused on how important the human brain is in a universal context . . . meaning AI must never undermine the miracle of humanity.
The audience were incredible, all professors, a Dame, leaders in their medical fields . . . all musicians it appeared, they were HUGE fun and an inspiration to me.
RELAX is NO.1 in the Legacy Charts. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! TO ALL OF YOU WHO LOVE IT SO MUCH. And of course Thank you to Trevor Horn who is a genius.
Later this month, we’ll be unveiling the announcement for WARRIOR ROCK. And it’s a great package worth the wait! More on that soon . . .
Last night, and earlier in February I have been appearing with GARY DAVIES SOUNDS OF THE 80s SHOW in Bristol, and before that York. I love this show, it’s a non-stop party and the team create a wonderful atmosphere. The stage set is a radio studio. The crew, Andy and Graeme set it all up so effortlessly. I’ve been talking to them about adding production values to TOYAH & ROBERT’S CHRISTMAS PARTY this December.
We’ve just announced the CHRISTMAS PARTY TOUR this week, and I am already looking forward to it. We really want the venues to have a party atmosphere. Last year we tried to add visuals to the show, but a vital member of the team just kept shutting it all down. This won’t happen again because our 2024 team is totally in.
Last week we were in York, performing SOUND OF THE 80s and Graeme, who also helps run The Cheese And Grain, Frome and is involved with Glastonbury, said something that resonates strongly with me: “Don’t present the artist with problems, present them with solutions.”
That’s a motto for 2024!
This leads me on to something I’ve been meaning to write about for a long while but have needed to put into words wisely, not to sensationalise but to be factual. I am contacted a lot by people who are suffering bullying in the workplace, and I try to help with words of self-empowerment but it’s not a solution to their problems. It can be a problem shared because it’s there for all of us, for me it only happens sporadically but when it does it leaves a powerful residue.
When I was very young and moving out into the work place, leaving Birmingham for London I was brash, determined and had a saying “everyone has a unique quality to bring to the world.”
This saying came from necessity, having had a long history of opinion aimed at my body and possibly aimed at my dyslexic brain too. Boys teased, friends scoffed, basically I wasn’t in with the in crowd. It was sink or swim. I opted for swimming and turned my “oddness” into my industry.
I could say I have been on the receiving end of negativity all my life for my physical appearance, that’s the irony of show business, its a very physique oriented industry. My having short legs, stocky build, the lisp, the limp, not measuring up to the ideal of being attractive have not gone unnoticed when I wondered why I am not a Victoria’s Secret model. BUT i would make a great Richard the Third.
When I was young I didn’t give a toss. Why? Because . . . “Everyone has a unique quality to bring to the world.” AND this continues to be my mantra. I bulldozed my way through others’ opinions. If I couldn’t make the grade as a dancer in Cats or Chicago. There were a million other directions, solutions and paths.
BUT now I am older, especially since about November 1999 something changed. It’s only looking back I can now see where ageism has crept into my life. Experiences in my working life are divided by being 30 something, 40 something, 50 something and so on.
If you read Robert’s Facebook, he is very vocal about events in his life that seem to have scarred him indefinitely. No matter how much I persuade him not to air relationship breakdowns publicly he still puts it out there. He feels he needs to.
Historically I could write a book (and will write the book) about events in the past 24 years. For me the only reason to do so is so others see they are not alone. Some of these experiences, nestling in my memory banks, are the detritus of others’ actions and time is too short to dwell on them.
Negative experiences are rare but sadly they have a power to sustain their emotional effect in everyone’s lives. Personally, I don’t want to be defined by the crappy attitude of others. My silence is my aggression, why shine a light on a bad critic, instead render them invisible, most are cashing in by standing in the shadow of greater people. In my industry I can put some peoples’ mean behavior down to two things: cocaine use and alcohol.
When I look back on events where I have felt unjustifiably under attack I clearly see the attacker’s Ageism/ frustration/ feeling disempowered / self-hatred and drug use. I have been the canvas they paint their experiences on. No doubt I have met people who have been open books to me, and I have blurted my experience of events into their psyche.
My advice has always been, have nerves of steel, keep a poker face, try and see others behavior from their POV. Great people don’t hurt others. I remember one of the most traumatic experiences of my life while working on the Holiday TV programme.
It was the morning the death of Princess Diana was announced. The world was heartbroken and shocked, or so I believed. That day I was working with a guest director who was clearly anti-royal. I was deeply upset, having known Princess Diana and greatly respected her and how she had to deal with so much bullying from photographers.
We were filming on a glider airfield in Hereford and little was being done quickly because EVERYONE wanted to down tools, talk and respect the events of the past 12 hours and just grieve.
The director in frustration at everyone being so saddened EXPLODED, very publicly, standing on the glider landing strip screaming “Who gives a f—- about some woman being killed in a car crash and leaving two children behind, it happens every day!”
Up until this point, this director in the past 20 hours, had been a complete C—- to be with anyway, but at this point I wanted to kill her with my own hands.
In showbiz you can’t do that and everyone, absolutely EVERYONE around her, including me, pulled our socks up and worked incredibly hard, buried our grief for the day and got the filming done. I was so numb and traumatised at one point I turned and walked into the oncoming path of a speeding silent glider about to land, I almost got killed.
This story is one of many I could write a book about, all happening within the last 27 years. The list is endless, and even in the past few years has seen me dealing with cases of financial bullying, gaslighting, misogyny, public humiliation, physicality, aggression and verbal abuse. The astonishing fact is most of these people are old enough to know better.
The people who behave like this don’t get away with it for long. I make things work, I am successful, I bring in solutions, I win awards, so at some point you have to look at the abusers. It’s well documented “abusers blame their victims”.
What’s important to me is I want you to know you are not alone, really you are NOT ALONE. My next autobiography, which has 24 years of extra experiences to add since releasing LIVING OUT LOUD will possibly be the most shocking.
Can you imagine being ready to go onstage when the star/producer of a show is threatening to kill you in the wings, spitting on your costumes, threatening to slash your costumes with a knife, telling the rest of the cast not to speak to you. I have a whole file on this one stored with my lawyer, my media agent and with Robert.
Yes, I support all of you who are tolerating the intolerable in the work space and I stand by my motto:
“everyone has a unique quality to bring to the world.”
If anyone ever tells you otherwise remember “the abuser always blames their victims”.
BE STRONG, BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD.
I LOVE YOU
TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
APRIL 2024
HELLO THERE!
I HOPE YOU HAD A FANTASTIC EASTER HOLIDAY WEEKEND.
Here in Frippcox Land there has been an explosion of creativity, tidying, sorting, cleaning, repairing and FUN.
Easter seems to allow everyone to order their lives. There’s a new practice I have started each Easter, I create a themed artwork as a gift to my hubby.
We celebrate Easter, we celebrate Christmas too. The wonder of the cycle of life is never far from our thoughts and the power of birth, rebirth and resurrection is ever present in our lives, especially in the context of us being rock artists, this isn’t meant to sound flippant because it’s so true to us . . . we are in a sometimes frustrating and unfathomable business that relies on so much faith in everything and in every way possible.
Even though culturally we are C of E raised we both feel we are part of a greater Universe as well as Earth. We passionately believe all life is equal and Earth is to be protected. We also believe in non-terrestrial intelligence that is deeply connected to all of us, like one soul, one consciousness, meaning for us that the Universe has a broader conscious life and is multi-dimensional and all who live remain alive because this is the nature of time and memory. Our connections are eternal. So my artwork is dimensional. Last year I read an incredible quote that “black holes spill out new stars”. What a mind-blowing concept.
Throughout winter I’ve been working on a new technique for me, using layers of paint transferred from my body onto thick cartilage paper and then using manually blown air sprays to create “universal creation.” Added to that the symbol of the heart in the highest chakra colour and there you have an expression that hopefully is all inclusive of every thing in motion.
Fripp’s gift this Easter is THE BIRTH OF LOVE. When Bank Holidays come around I achieve a lot. The e-mails stop, the phone goes quiet . . . Well not this Easter it didn’t. Being a singer and musician a large part of the work is to drive our own Destiny/Career. We rely heavily on a brilliant audience, industry support and the team around us, but the artist is the nucleus.
With acting you wait, you cannot force anything. All you can do is be ready. In fact you constantly wait for the phone to ring, for DECADES! This side of a career is run exclusively by agents.
Last week, an hour before the office closed for Easter one of those calls came in.
I have never been so excited, fingers crossed.
A few weeks ago I took part in a Quiz Night with Carol Decker, Nick Heywood, Paul Young, Roachford, Martin Fry and the gorgeous Cerys Matthews. Duncan James was there too, I’d never met him before, even when we were both doing PROUD CABARET, so this was the first time Duncan and I could have a catch up. We were all team captains at The Ivy Club Quiz Night.
Cerys was lovely, brilliant and shiny, this was the first time we met and I love her company. Introducing me to her husband he said “ I am a huge Toyah Fan!” It was a thrill. I am a huge fan of Cerys and have followed her creative journeys with awe, from Wales to Nashville to Radio 2 and more. As friendly as it was, it was a really competitive nail-biting evening. I cannot understand why I become so competitive when challenged with questions, my adrenaline rushes and the monster is unleashed!
Sitting with my team I found myself next to the Producer/ songwriter Steve Booker, an incredible writer, his history is astounding. Duffy’s MERCY, Stevie Nicks, Adam Lambert . . . to name a few luminaries. Then I found out his path had crossed with the Fripp and some of Robert’s past band members. All the time I was shouting answers and commands at him, because I am uncontrollably bossy, I am ashamed to say. I couldn’t get over the sheer talent of the man.
Martin Fry won, I have my suspicions google was involved . . . Me A Bad Loser? Or, was it the conversation about how much time he and certain other brilliant 80s performers get to spend at their homes on Barbados. There were a few conversations throughout the evening that made my eyes water. So many of the creative people in the room only come to the UK to do their work then return to their homes in the Caribbean. I was so jealous! I don’t seem to be able to GET to the Caribbean yet alone live there part time.
For the past week I have been on steroids after a suspected sinus infection (most likely nothing but caution was taken by my doctor) and it has been rather invigorating! Googling this particular medicine one of the side effects is
HAPPINESS . . . I HAVE NOT FELT THIS HAPPY SINCE I WAS TWENTY! In fact I feel 20 again.
I am pretty energised without any extra help and the doctor warned me I would stop sleeping and as the course of medication built up I’d become ramped. It’s been fantastic. I’ve now had six wonderful days of clarity/ energy/ confidence/ sparklyness/ feeling invincible and I have done TONS of creative writing. Formulated two books, cleaned the house, cleaned the cupboards out, gardened, painted and all while feeling ECSTATICALLY HAPPY!
Simon Darlow and I are back in the studio this month to record a new single and I came up with an idea that has relevance to who/ what /where I am today. It’s brutally honest, passionate and it will be in the T&R set for the festivals.
Writing is as cruel as it is rewarding, it exposes more weakness than it does strengths. Learning more about myself through writing can be pretty hard. It’s so easy to know what you like or dislike but so much more demanding to create something you approve of. Criticism is easy.
Creating something you feel is unique to you means clearing away all the debris of past lives. I am loving having time to tune in and actually test myself creatively. It amazes me how quickly I decide if I like or dislike something, then there’s that mountain ahead of you where you are so aware of how much you need to match up to. Actually creating something that matches up to the standard of other peoples great work is so satisfying in the process because it’s like standing up to a rogue wave, you either take it or dive.
As a writer, some times I have to get on and write without feeling it’s the “right time”, this is simply because of others time frames while I am on another project, but fortunately there are times when you feel MORPHIC RESONANCE and it has always fascinated me. When Simon and I wrote OUR HEARTS STILL BEAT (ON THE OTHER SIDE), in August 2015, it was about six weeks before Adele landed HELLO. The shock when I heard the line “Hello from the other side”.
Similarly this week, Beyonce and Miley Cyrus have released the brilliant track II MOST WANTED. I LOVE IT, I LOVE ALL NEW TRACKS. This came a week after I sent Simon the first lyric and layout of our new single, and there where striking similarities in the subject and phrases used in both songs, not in the music itself but in the emotional content.
My theory with Morphic Resonance is this is an invisible but tangible energy where new ideas come to the human psyche to create culture. We all have access to these new ideas BUT those who have greater resources/ greater access/ above all superior technique and education get the to the ideas first and place them into human consciousness first.
It’s a disturbing thought but to a creative explorer it’s a side of the creative life I love, it’s like being in a race. It becomes obsessive, challenging and addictive to just come up with something you accept, THEN put this alongside today’s tech, where no one really knows how much AI is now used in the creative processes and what hybrid do you have?
Do you choose to go the “pure human route” or trust the idea of IA creating a better more focussed you? I know I have mentioned this in the past. But we all need to persuade those still at school that the greatest gift in life is education, structural thinking and knowing your pure originality. At school I loathed all the structures, forever saying I only rely on myself. As you get older technique becomes a greater foundation to get you through life.
As we enter April the T&R Band are now gearing up for the summer shows. We have all decided that more TOYAH songs are going in from POSH POP, which Robert played on originally. We are still keeping to Classic Rock and adding a breathtaking all-time classic to the set, it will put a smile on many faces. Plus adding the new single . . . WHICH ROCKS. Both Robert and I want our shows to be about energy, power and happiness. I cannot wait to be on stage again.
The past month has been good, the past week has been amazing. So far all our Plan As are falling into place and we have some lovely announcements coming up in April.
BIG LOVE
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
MAY 2024
HELLO THERE!
I hope all is good for you.
One of my funniest memories of him was in 1987, he was my stylist on the video shoot for ECHO BEACH. We had a problem with my boobs falling out of the jacket I was wearing, and Keith reached for the gaffer tape and taped ‘em up! We were crying with laughter and credit to Keith he never ever made me feel uncomfortable in any way. He is not only someone I will miss in my life forever but also the kind of friend I will miss forever. God those times were BRILLIANT.
It is only six weeks till the first TOYAH AND ROBERT show. I feel very lucky that this year I’ve already had four live TOYAH shows with the band where we could run most of the material, Frippy has yet to play but he is gearing up.
Both Robert and I still experience a level of “stage nerves” in everything we do. Mine manifest in the run up to shows, the anxiety of relying on cars and roads, the amount of time waiting to go on stage. The result is like a pressure cooker needing release. No matter what the performance is, whether singing, acting or keynote speaking the waiting is a major challenge of maintaining focus and holding energy.
The moment I walk on stage thankfully there is incredible clarity, the one thing I fear losing while waiting, it’s like a camera lens pulling focus and everything becomes brilliantly clear.
Dear Robert on the other hand is already having “touring nightmares”. Having been married to him for 38yrs I am very aware of his nightmares starting about 6 months before he is due to play. Last night he found himself, in his dream world, in rehearsals with Led Zeppelin, except none of the original members where in the band anymore and they walked off with his guitar, leaving him to make his own way to America and then once in America his van disappeared, and he was left on a road side . . . Yes Robert has freakish dreams about the one thing he is a genius at and that’s playing guitar.
But for me it doesn’t stop at stage nerves, I am eaten alive about small details. Little things silently freak me out. Like am I wearing the right tights, the right dress, is my eye make up too much, is the dress I am wearing showing my waist, is my hair in a symmetrical shape, do I look too short . . . EATEN ALIVE WITH CONCERN!
After the Vive Le Rock awards Craig Astley was interrogated by me over every photographic detail! Poor Man. No matter how much time and effort I put in . . . there is always doubts.
VIVE LE ROCK very kindly awarded me THE ICON AWARD last month. It was a stunning evening. A hugely important event in my life. To be recognised in the music industry by the industry is very special to me.
Saffron presented my award reminding me that years earlier I presented her with her Icon award. It was great to see her, she was on top form, looking stunning and very excited about her new single to be released soon.
When we are together a lot of our conversations are about how many women are on the bill at various festivals, something we keep an eye on, also the balance of visibility. With Saffron REPUBLICA are achieving a lot of Sync deals this year . . . this is placement of music in TV, Film and other areas of visibility (also one of my main focus points this year, because with the industry focussing on top tear artists playing stadiums and AI becoming prominent in the context of writing, sync deals are vital for artists to keep their music and originality in front of existing and potentially new audiences).
After talking to her I was hugely grateful I have the amount of festivals I have this year. It is a challenging year for everyone. People are stretched and yet music must be kept live and present on all levels, not just the very large venues.
It was rammed back stage at VLR, Sham 69’s tour manager very kindly offered me his hotel room to get changed in because the O2 Islington doesn’t have much back stage space but I thought I’d be fine hanging out in the stair well. Saffron and I did a lot of photo and promo for the event backstage. The brilliant Beki Bondage was with us too. I’ve had a chance to reconnect with her work recently and I bloody love what she does, her singing and guitar work are an inspiration.
Kirk Brandon was there too. Kirk used to hang out and rehearse at Mayhem, the warehouse I lived in. It was fantastic to see him, it has been decades since I last had a chance to talk to him, he hasn’t changed at all, still an incredibly sweet and sensitive human being. I love his work.
It quickly dawned on me I was the only person there dressed in high intensity colour . . . everyone was in black. It’s funny how small things trouble me. In the car I had all my stage costumes, it would have been better for me to have been in one of them. I love the dress I wore that night but maybe it was a little too “festival” for this event.
If I could have found a mirror and a space to put my thinks I’d have approached the evening differently. My hair, My image, My persona, My focus . . . this is why I need my pre-show head space, it’s all part of the preparation. No matter what, I am pretty adamant my focus is never diverted in the run up. Whether it’s a stage play, filming a movie, working with the band.
Walking on stage and just switching myself on has never been an option for me. I’ve seen people do this brilliantly, from Bowie to Lou Reed, Lenny Kravitz to Tool. Even Bonnie Langford . . . Bonnie is staggering on stage and seconds earlier she is having fun in the wings. Me . . . I have to focus with intensity from lunchtime onwards.
I have some great TOYAH shows over the summer and the set list is really exciting me. There’s going to be some Toyah Classics going in from Neon Womb to Race Thru Space. AND in the T&R shows too, more TOYAH songs are going in the set from POSH POP.
Simon Darlow and I have been in the studio writing and recording a new song for the summer. So far it’s wonderfully dark with a hooky chorus, I am loving the spine tingling quality, Robert is yet to play on it, but he will very soon and we can’t wait to hear what he will add.
The BBC has a new policy, I believe with the government and that is to reduce the amount of flights artists take. So last month I found myself journeying form Birmingham to Glasgow on the train. I have not been alone on a train since 1980. As soon as I walked into Birmingham New Street Station I was baffled. Trains don’t have numbers like flights . . . they just have lists and lists of destinations . . . and I am somewhat dyslexic. This results in my studying things for a LONG TIME. Thankfully many kind people came to my rescue.
My journey involved five tickets from the ticket machine . . . (thank you to all AVANTI WEST staff who helped me out) . . . so much for saving trees! I needed to change at Preston . . . luckily I was being recognised a lot and traded selfies for directions to necessary platforms . . . again THANK YOU TO ALL AVENTI WEST staff who helped me out!
In Glasgow I was with Kimberly Wyatt of the Pussy Cat Dolls, Richard Blackwood and DJ Jam. Luckily Richard was dressed head to toe in white and drawing a lot of attention to his magnificent frame and from that point on he became our leader. I can’t say what we were doing in Glasgow, but gratefully we caught the train back together . . . and the stories I was hearing! When did show biz become so cruel? All three of these people have been affected by some form of psychological abuse at the hands of some pretty eyewatering mega star names.
I found myself back at Birmingham New Street station last week. This time I was the Keynote Speaker for the Engineers and Maintenance team of UK Motorways. Having found the car park in this Si-Fi metropolis I then had to find my way out . . . really . . . for F ... sake. I’ve lived here on and off my entire life. Luckily two women recognised me so I took advantage and told them I was completely lost and where was New St . . . even they were confused by the layout.
Eventually I made it to the Burlington Hotel for soundcheck. Last Christmas I talked to a division of this company, and it was pretty lively, the average age is around 30, so I was fully prepped for this event. Stories of hold-ups while on tour, of singing to presidents in far off countries, KGB members coming to shows in Uxbridge and singing to the SAS in the rainforests of Belize.
It was a fantastic evening and for once I didn’t fret about what I was wearing . . . I got it completely right! AND I HAPPILY ADD . . . the balance between award winners was almost 50/50, so many women engineers were winning awards. It was thrilling.
My dear friend Keith Wainwright passed away last month. It has affected me a lot. Both Keith and Derek Jarman were huge in my life and it’s hard not to see this as a loss of a friend but also a loss of greater times. Keith has always been so kind to me. Never judged me, never mocked me, never gossiped behind my back. Never been indiscrete. In fact, all through the 80s and 90s he was in charge of Bowie’s hair, and he never once told me nor Robert. Keith was a good and great person.
I remember him shaving my head for the movie JUBILEE. I was terrified, it was so radical, yet he won my complete trust. One of my funniest memories of him was in 1987, he was my stylist on the video shoot for ECHO BEACH. We had a problem with my boobs falling out of the jacket I was wearing, and Keith reached for the gaffer tape and taped ‘em up!
We were crying with laughter and credit to Keith he never ever made me feel uncomfortable in any way. He is not only someone I will miss in my life forever but also the kind of friend I will miss forever. God those times were BRILLIANT.
RIGHT! I am off to rehearse songs for this year’s shows. Play guitar and write some new material . . .
This year I have time to write, all the setting up of T&R is done . . . I can be creative at source again.
YIPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEE. AND ITS OUR BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARY TOO. Have a fabulous May.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD.
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
JUNE 2024
HELLO THERE!
I hope you are well.
The month of MAY has been fantastic.
THANK YOU to Everyone for all your Birthday wishes and kindness. This year my Birthday felt like a Birthday and what I mean is it felt very special.
So many “things” have fallen into place in the last month. My new single ROSES IN CHAINS is fully finished and mastered. This started as an idea I recorded for Simon Darlow to take and arrange. We both took it further in the studio and Robert came in to add his guitar which is magical.
Everyone who has heard it says it’s fabulous, we are really happy with it. Cherry Red are releasing RIC digitally on 21st June to coincide with Isle Of Wight and Glastonbury. You can pre-save the song now at this link.
This week the rain stopped long enough for me to film an accompanying video in our garden, the black clouds were swirling but thankfully recent downpours, thunder, lightning and HAIL hadn’t destroyed the roses! You can see a glimpse of it in June’s TOYAH AT HOME. The full video/song premiere will be announced soon.
It’s been a proactive month. I had sync meetings with Cherry Red’s USA and UK teams. Sync teams put forward songs for placement in Film / TV / Video Games and adverts. Dan of the USA team absolutely loves GOOD MORNING UNIVERSE to the point he feels it’s going to one of those “Newly discovered” songs. He has a synch pending on a big budget Si-Fi drama series for next year . . . it will make my year if this happens.
I fell in love with GMU all over again 20yrs ago when I realised how fans loved it and were singing it back to me at shows. It is a song of joy and as our horizons broaden it makes sense to acknowledge the universe is our new frontier.
Two weeks ago, Robert Plant’s band members from AMAZING GRACE came to lunch and they brought with them Andrew Scheps . . . HOZIER, GREEN DAY, METALLICA, ADELE, BEYONCE, JOHNNY CASH and I believe Lady Gaga are a few of the people he has engineered or produced. At lunch Andrew said he was so nervous of meeting Robert he had to ask his wife how he should behave. This had us in fits . . . Andrew is about 6ft 5in and a gentle giant.
Last week I played the first outdoor show of the season, the audience were brilliant and of course it rained. But when I was onstage it was positively summer again, blue skies appeared. I think we saw four seasons in one hour! The show was in its third year “Party In The Park” Leyland and it looks like running for many more years. The stage team were from Let’s Rock and it ran beautifully.
Angie Brown’s dressing room was opposite mine and Angie looked radiant. Lockdown made it possible for her to meet her husband, I think they got chatting on the internet and now they are blissfully married and I am thrilled for her . . . she has always worked far too hard, she deserves some “Angie Time”.
After the prolonged winter I have been feeling physically below par, so for the last month I’ve started a pretty intense training programme, and I am fully back to my energetic self. It’s made me think age is just a number. Of course there is wear ’n tear, genetics and DNA to consider but I feel so much more myself if I move a lot. Robert is kind of the opposite; he is more himself if he can sit a lot.
Yesterday I over did my training. There is a word used a lot in our household DOMS. DELAYED ONSET MUSCLE SORENESS . . . (very different to DOM if you look it up). For years my trainers have been telling me to keep my GLUTS activated to protect my joints, the GLUTS (Gluteus Medius, hip abductor muscle) are your buttocks basically and today I have massive bum ache. But it works.
When I spent a year on Calamity Jane in 2002, even with hip joint erosion at the time, my joints were perfect for the whole year. Muscles really do carry the weight. Today most of my training is squats with resistance bands and I have moved up to industrial strength bands . . . OUCH!
Last month the Cannes Festival really kicked off, I remember following it to hear about movies but last month’s write-ups focussed on a troubling red carpet trend . . . women being pushed around.
Many conversations in the press have been about how women have been treated. Red Carpets can be brutal, EVERYONE needs visibility. It’s not just about the actual stars, it’s about the designers, the hair, the jewels, the make-up, the shoes, the nails, the skin.
If you miss your photo, or you accidentally don’t pose correctly, or you are pulling a face you are in BIG TROUBLE and add to that the photographers are under exactly the same pressure. They need to get their shot or their expenses aren’t covered. Photographers are literally only as good as their last picture, it’s a brutal industry.
I remember when Cannes was purely focussed on acting talent, the dresses came last but the symbiotic relationships between the industries of fashion, film, location, body shape etc is too irresistible to online culture now.
One of the most concerning things to see this year is women being “handled” or “pushed around”. Kelly Rowland standing up for herself when forcible pushed away from the red carpet went global, which allowed other similar incidents to surface.
I have huge respect for Kelly Rowland after briefly meeting her in 2007. I was on the panel of LOOSE WOMEN and the main guest this particular day was Kelly Rowland. Meeting and working with her has never left my mind. She was outstandingly polite and well prepped for the show. We interviewed her and she sang live.
Kelly memorised all our names, addressed us by our names each time we asked her a question and she knew each of our career accomplishments, this stuck with me. She would have been jet lagged and yet she was fantastic. So if she is seen sticking up for herself on the red carpet at Cannes there was definitely a reason and I respect her even more for it.
There are many, many women in this business who are absolutely wonderful, but wonderful doesn’t sell stories. Celine Dion is astounding on and off stage. I’ve seen her under pressure three times and her dignity and commitment to her work is awe-inspiring, I send her my love every day . . . from my heart . . . I don’t know her, I’ve just been lucky enough to be in the same room as her.
Saffron, from Republica and our best friend Gemma Numan show constant love and support not only towards me but to everyone around them. Nurturing qualities may not make headlines but they are there and they are tangible and I like to think these qualities help the film industry more than forceful removal of stars from their own environment.
Andy Doble’s wonderful father passed away in May and I send Andy and his family all my love. Whenever the Toyah Band played near Dover Andy’s parents would be there supporting us and dancing.
Big Love to you all. Have a wonderful June, I really hope you enjoy the new single and can come to the live shows.
LOTS OF LOVE
TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXX
JULY 2024
HELLO THERE!
I hope you are all well and thriving.
ROSES IN CHAINS was digitally released for the summer solstice and it’s looking like it will have a solid release too. We are in talks with Cherry Red who are very keen, so am I.
We have played it live at the Isle Of Wight and Glastonbury, the audience reaction has been brilliant each time, a genuine listening experience and then a sway of familiarity as they sing back a chorus they have only just heard, then the roar of approval. The song has struck a chord.
It was a joy to write and the video was a test of patience against the actions of leaves and rose petals. It was a windy day which blew my tech over constantly. If you watch the video, I am completely on my own . . . running sound, lights, camera, carrying equipment and then there’s the ELEMENTS!
On every take, and there were a lot, rose petals would blow in the wind, hit the screens and shut off the play back and camera. You can actually see it happen at 2.33 mins . . . a leaf hits the screen and I thought “Noooooooo you are not shutting down the camera again!” I got there in the end.
Barmy as it sounds, now the days are getting slightly shorter, I am pondering just when the Christmas Decorations can go up in FrippCox Land. It is never too early and I love Frippy having a magical experience every day of his precious life.
This Christmas will be very special for us because we will have just finished the TOYAH AND ROBERT CHRISTMAS PARTY. The calm of the festive season will be well earned and we are already planning to watch A QUIET PLACE DAY ONE and hopefully ALIEN: ROMULUS.
It’s going to be hard beating the pure joy of watching SALTBURN last Boxing Day but Fripp can always dance starkers around the house in a frenzy of nostalgia if our movie choices fail to thrill.
About two weeks ago the band were hit by BUGS! Mine and Manolo’s bug was bronchitis, this started when I was doing Lets Rock Leeds which was an exhilarating show with exceptional love coming back from the audience but I noticed I wasn’t comfortable on the high notes. It was scary because the next day I had Isle Of Wight…a hugely important festival to me . . . I got through both and on Sky Arts my voice sounds exceptionally tough with a rock rasp!
At the same time Norovirus hit another band member and they were too ill to do IOW.
BUT the shows went on and no one would have realised.
One of my biggest terrors is voice loss and cancelling, it is heartbreaking to make that decision. I now have a sense of pride for doing four of the most remarkable performances of my career last June. We had industry in at Glastonbury and there’s now talks of a live release of T&R at Glasto.
It has been a poignant time here in Bredonborough. When Robert and I moved here in 2001 we where easily the young ones in town and now as our town grows and new generations move in not only is our home a busy and bustling community . . . Robert and I are definitely the “oldies” on the street today.
In the past weeks, even with the joy of Isle Of Wight and Glastonbury, we have been dealing with news of friends passing. It’s been more Four Funerals And A Wedding. All long lives incredibly and inspiringly lived but a huge loss to the community they helped build our community.
This has led to a lot of reflection and planning of mine and Robert’s plans. One of the funerals of a close friend was held at a local crematorium. It was a beautifully planned event amid an industry that has become a fast paced conveyer belt experience. Within the hour we were allotted to honour our friend there was music, poetry, laughter, many many tears, with the crowing glory being the lead singer of Chumbawamba, Dunstan Bruce, performing Tubthumping with the whole congregation joining in at the top of their voices. After I was asked if I was singing . . . no, I was crying.
It was a beautiful service that asked us to remember we are the ones left behind and to live our lives to the full.
I have a problem with this concept.
On the day of this service, I believe around 11.30am our friend’s coffin was taken by boat to the nearest mooring to the crematorium. Because Robert rarely informs me of anything, I didn’t know this was taking place next to our Garden which is on the River Avon. BUT at this time I looked out the window because there was a sense of incredible peace . . . the same peace I experienced the day of my father’s funeral in August 2009.
Even the same peace as when little WillyFred the white rabbit passed away. I knew our friend was present . . . but how can you tell people that who believe they have been left behind? Our friend was present and present in full glory. We are never left behind.
The actor Donald Sunderland passed in June. I only knew Donald for a month or two and it was a rollercoaster of joy and anarchy. Donald was dating my landlady, strange to call a renowned actress a landlady, but this wonderful actress gave me shelter for six months while we were both appearing at the National Theatre. Donald was wonderfully grand in a mega-large Hollywood way. Kind, funny and adventurous.
He would collect me in is Silver Cloud Rolls Royce and we would drive around Stockwell to the thrill of all the shop keepers who’d come out to shake his hand as we stopped to by fruit and veg . . . You have to remember I was a full on punk rocker . . . I’d step out go his grand automobile in a pink clown suit, orange hair and safety pins everywhere. He loved it.
Our memories of who and what we love are tangible, powerful and connecting.
WE ARE NEVER “LEFT” BEHIND.
BIG LOVE TO YOU ALL
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD
TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXX
AUGUST 2024
HELLO THERE!
I am sitting in the splendour of GOODWOOD HOUSE. In about four hours’ time I play the REGENCY BALL, following in the footsteps of Debbie Harry and Sophie Ellis Bextor, who opened the ball in previous years.
As soon as we entered the drive the calm of the estate was palpable, having come from the relative chaos of the M27 and three days on the road travelling from Birmingham to Inverness to Ulverston to Chichester.
We have a beautiful meeting room as our dressing room, with a large circular table and it’s so quiet . . . THEN . . . the Carousel starts up outside our window and there’s now an “air” of a Stephen King novel, so Rock n’ Roll, so IT.
For the festival shows in the past month we have borrowed Sophie Ellis Bextor’s brilliant sound man John Brownsword, he has mixed T&R’s out-front sound with a seriously invigorating rock edge.
Belladrum was well worth the 11 hours in the car to be working with the best PA I have ever experienced. The audience were heavily in too and Inverness was breathtakingly beautiful.
Funnily enough it was at Belladrum that I felt out of place for the first time in my career. Both Robert and I are feeling our age this year, it’s a turning point, I experienced my first realisation that the world may be for the young. It’s something I have always resisted, the cliche of age being a challenge, but I am feeling it. I feel privileged in some odd way that I have made it to 66yrs without feeling a day over 25.
There are always solutions. Once my feet touch back down on the ground and I can get some thinking time I am going to study all the amazing women in history who turned the concept of age on its headma . . . maybe I just need a makeover, a new look, guidance on how to see myself anew . . . I get like this when I am craving to write. I also get like this when I am overwhelmed by an upcoming challenge.
A couple of weeks ago our friend Richard Hudson Jr (Richard shot my video for Slave To The Rhythm) invited us to his father’s Birthday party at Sudeley Castle. We felt honoured to be at a family event. Very soon we realised we were in the company of some mind-blowing people.
The ex-head of A&R at Universal joined me on the sofa, with a warm and welcoming smile and started to tell me about his life, talking about the young Adele, who he mentored. He talked about how he persuaded Cher to record BELIEVE, Cher being unconvinced until she heard the end result.
He then surprised me when he said to me . . . ”revert your name back to TOYAH, there is only one TOYAH and that is you”. I was blown away that he even knew who I was, he was so kind and supportive.
His wife Cherie was one of the dancers on Top Of The Pops….an icon of the show and I told her with pride that Dee Dee from Pan’s People gave me dancing lessons in 1981 just before the release of Thunder In The Mountains.
I SO WANTED TO TELL HER . . . I AM ON STRICTLY!
AND I AM TERRIFIED!
The thought of doing Strictly is so appealing, the reality is HARD, HARD WORK with young energetic competent dancers that I don’t want to let down. I am getting ready for the spray tan, the sparkles, THE MAKE-OVER I FEEL I SO BADLY NEED and for my life to ramp up.
Over the last two months I have lied to friends who have asked me if I am doing the show, and I feel so bad about that. My family didn’t even know . . . well they do now. I found out on my birthday . . . WHAT A FABULOUS BIRTHDAY THAT WAS!
As you can imagine, running the live shows and prepping has been full on, lots of fitness training. AND I think this is why my confidence is slightly wavering BUT I think back to when I was a child when dancing was so freeing and full of self-expression and that’s what I hope to bring to the show . . . the joy of dancing . . . whether good or bad.
In the meantime, there’s wonderful open air festivals to do:
LET’S ROCK SCOTLAND PARTY AT THE PALACE
DEVA FEST
BEAUTIFUL DAYS
TORCHLIGHT
WARRINGTON PARR HALL
Then let the Glitterball roll!
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD . . . AND LETS DANCE
LOTS OF LOVE
TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXX
PS Thank you for making ROSES IN CHAINS top of the charts on The Legacy Chart.
PPS We are announcing LOVE IS THE LAW remastered editions on Saturday 31 August on TOYAH AT HOME
SEPTEMBER 2024
HELLO,
I am now fully in the joyous world of STRICTLY!
It has been an extraordinary few weeks and I am fully in the embrace of the BBC’s biggest show.
The first broadcast is on Saturday 14th September but for the past six weeks I have been filming VTs, doing great press, lots of photo shoots, I’ve even had bra fittings and meeting my fellow celebs who are all fantastic AND I have danced with all of the pro dancers, they are all supportive and lovely.
I feel safe with this team. We have a psychologist with us all day, an amazing celeb producer, stunning press team . . . It’s a long time since I have felt this well looked after. What I mean by this is touring demands a level of complete independence, I do my own make up, carry my costumes etc, here in Strictly world they want us celebs to know they are here to support us 360 degrees.
It is wonderful seeing Veto, Gorka, Nikita and Neil constantly pranking each other. Their teasing is relentless and dear sweet Gorka takes it all in with a dignified smile . . . then shoots a quip back. Even when we are all in a group dancing you can hear them playfully teasing each other’s moves.
Chris McCausland is doing amazingly. There might be people who quite rightly say “why shouldn’t he do well” and I agree, but observing him amid the noise and chaos of 28 performers he stands holding his power and his confidence . . . I have so much respect for him.
Tasha too . . . Brilliant, yet she has to hear the music through a cacophony of exuberant whoops and shouts. The girls are fabulous. My soul sister is Jowita . . . tiny, effervescent and full of fire . . . she reminds me of a young me! We have been working together for almost a month now. All the pro dancers tell us to eat as much as we can. I can feel my weight going up, I don’t need a lot of food, my energy is in my genes.
When we get to rehearse with our individual partners from the 16th Sept we won’t have catering, this suits me . . . no temptation, I want to look fab in the amazing costumes through out the series.
For the past three months I have had to second guess how everything would be once in the run of the series . . . so far all my doubts have been quashed, this is one of the happiest experiences of my life and I LOVE DANCING. We have the most amazing people looking after us. Costumes/ hair/ make up/ talent support and psychologists who check in hourly.
We have been warned that press interest in us will be intense. So far I have had a bit of a giggle. One headline “ Toyah slept in a coffin and believes we are all made of star dust.” Yes I do, myself and a few hundred thousand scientists and astronomers would agree. We ARE all made of star dust. I love how this headline kinda shoots itself in the foot.
In my dreams I would like to make it to Halloween. In my wildest dreams I’d like to make it to Blackpool, but there’s some pretty serious competition . . . and most are three times younger than me. I am up against a lot of natural talent . . . let’s see what happens. A few days ago I woke up to a robin on my shoulder as I lay on my side in bed. My windows are wide open all year round.
This little fella was so light I didn’t feel his presence at all, but to open my eyes and see him there was delightful. This cheeky chap often comes into the kitchen to pick up crumbs under the table, sometimes he gets stuck in my music room, yet on this particular morning I felt he was just saying hello.
When Robert and I lived at Reddish House in Salisbury, our wonderful gardener Les, who regularly gave the impression he believed animals where only for shooting and eating, took huge pride in the fact when he fed our ducks a robin would sit on his hand or on the side of his feeding bowl as he held it.
We once caught Les, unawares, in full conversation with our white house rabbit in the garden, our bunny running around his feet . . . yes, Les secretly cared about animals. He was just a tough man on the surface. Birds, Animals are so sacred and extremely intelligent . . . and they are made of star dust too.
Rather surprisingly I have met a few people who don’t watch Strictly. Simon Darlow being one. It’s a huge relief that 10 million people do watch it.
May I tempt you to watch every Saturday night from the 14th September and enjoy the good hearted spirit of it all?
It’s the best way to get into autumn and Christmas!
SEE YOU OUT THERE.
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD.
BIG LOVE
TOYAH XXXXXXXX
OCTOBER 2024
HELLO THERE!
What a brilliant two months it has been. Without doubt one of the happiest times of my life. An immense growing experience.
I have loved every second of Strictly and even though I am now out of the show until the final in December the show has helped me set new standards in my life.
New fitness, new mind set, new life approach. It has been A MASSIVE healing experience. 2024 has been quite a tough year and the team at Strictly have helped me get back on track.
In April, after my dance audition I experienced sudden nerve damage in my lower legs, and no one could pin point the cause. My brain scans where clear. So most likely caused by lack of activity having spent hours and hours stuck at a desk over the past three years, running the band or just a simple injury, on the day of my audition no trains were running and I walked three miles to get to the audition . . . not ideal!
Thankfully over the last two months everything has returned to normal, and I AM HUGELY GRATEFUL. The training regime has healed me! It appears physical exertion, over seven hours a day, has restored me to full mobility and I intend to keep going with this because physical activity suits me big time.
IT’S TRUE WHAT THEY SAY…USE IT OR LOOSE IT.
I had two aims in Strictly, to do well and I believe I played my role respectfully, I went in with no prior training and developed on every show. The second aim was to give women of my age encouragement and visibility . . . when I came out I questioned whether I had achieved this YET after the elimination show my achievement started to make itself evident.
SAFFRON has asked me to collaborate with her.
GEMMA NUMAN has said it has inspired her.
LOIS NORMAN . . . WEIGHTLESS . . . thanked me for the positivity of my work.
LOUSIE MANAGHAN….WEIGHTLESS….again thanked me for the positivity of my role.PLUS, ALL THE WOMEN I HAVE WORKED WITH OVER THE DECADES HAVE MADE CONTACT AND SAID THANK YOU.
DAVID P CARROLL . . . POET sent a beautiful poem that certainly lifted my soul.
SARA AND GARY WILMOT . . . cheering for me from their living room.
MEMBERS OF STATUS QUO . . . congratulating me.
It has been a privilege and great opportunities have followed.
My most magical memories will be the bubble of the rehearsal room, away from the eyes of the world, super focused on learning and feeling myself develop strongly. I adored working with Neil. I adored his physical build and his age, again this says so much to men of all ages.
His love of his daughter and his wife to be filled the room and his creativity, intelligence and kindness has inspired me to be a better artist. Neil is exceptionally good with people. I am super guarded. He encouraged me to let that guard down and trust in people’s intentions.
As I mentioned the beginning of this year had its challenges, but 2023 was even more challenging, I will reserve this story for my next book but the psychological abuse heaped on me by just one person employed in our team made me even more determined to impress on women to be strong, fearless and shine a light of truth.
Lastly I want to say that ALL the pro dancers were an absolute dream to be with. The girls are all divine, kind and giving. The boys, again all of the above, are super aware of respect towards the celebs.
I adore Nancy, who when I was talking to Claudia after my Jive was holding her fingers in the “L” shape behind Claudia’s back and I couldn’t stop laughing because I thought she was calling me a looser . . . Nancy in fact, mixing up cultural meanings, was saying she loved me and the jive. She is such a gorgeous person as are all the team.
Tonight, I get home. I get to see my friends who I have not seen since mid-July.
I get to hold my husband who I have missed so much, he allowed me to immerse myself 100% into the demands of Strictly.
AND I get to be TOYAH again. AND I can start writing.
In July I bought an old water mill . . . So far I’ve only spent one night in it . . . this is my sacred creative space . . . and this is where I will be . . . alone with the King Fishers.
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT.
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD.
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
NOVEMBER 2024
HELLO THERE!
LOVE IS THE LAW remastered/expanded is out on FRIDAY 8 NOVEMBER!
I adore this album, I adored 1983. It was a magnificent year, performing in Trafford Tanzi, filming Ebony Tower and writing and recording this fantastic album. We recorded it at The Marquee Studios . . . where I recorded Victims Of The Riddle for Sheep Farming In Barnet and recorded Space Walking for Blue Meaning. The Marquee has always been a happy creative space for me and I return there at the end of this month to take part in a documentary celebrating its remarkable history.
Enjoy LOVE IS THE LAW . . . MARTIAN COWBOY/ I EXPLODE/ well all of its brilliant songs…it is a lovely complete listen . . . as albums were intended to be at that time. The writing process brought Simon Darlow back into my life and he has never left since!
News just in! I am appearing with the SAS BAND for a trio of concerts on the 4/5th Dec at The Brook in Southampton and on the 7th Dec at G-Live in Guildford. The 5th December date at The Brook and the 7th at G-Live are already sold out, but there are tickets still for the 4th. There will also be a livestream of the concert on the 7th Dec that you can register for at the SAS BAND website.
Last week Spike Edney text me asking me to call him, when he answered he told me about the desert sun in Palm Springs where he resides . . . I looked out at the darkening UK sky and felt envy! The SAS BAND is a wonderful collective of artists, as yet I am not sure of the full line up, it’s due to be revealed in the coming weeks. It’s always incredibly enjoyable and it will be a great way for me to warm up for the TOYAH AND ROBERT CHRISTMAS PARTY which starts one day after Strictly finishes, in Edinburgh . . . Monday 16th Dec.
Then on to 2025! I haven’t gone into a new year with such a fluctuating diary. For the last four years I have known the shape of each year well in advance. I know what I want to do in 2025 . . . new projects, new writing, new everything but very interesting and unusual offers keep arising!
It’s been such a thrill to reveal the Old Mill. I have kept it under wraps since May when my offer was accepted to buy it. How I came to buy it is a strange as owning it. A friend and neighbour who is a production designer for movies and works on and off at Pinewood Studios was looking for film locations and realised one location he found on RightMove matched a story I told him about my childhood where my parents and I would volunteer to man a lock on the River Avon once a month, this lock was next to a 100 foot weir . . . which I would walk along to reach an old mill and play in the mill streams.
He sent me a WhatsApp of this Mill saying “Isn’t this where you played as a child?” and the rest is now history . . . it WAS the Mill of my childhood. The next day I booked a viewing, which happened to be exactly one hour after discovering I had landed Strictly and within two hours…..I’d bought the Mill . . . give or take six weeks of my legal team working flat out but we did it.
From mid-May till the first week in October the pace of my life has been like no other year. Now I can be at the Old Mill where I can focus on creativity, writing/ painting/ devising new projects. If my parents were still here they would be thrilled, Every time we passed the Mill on our boat Mum would say how much she wished to live there.
My life is just about getting back to “normal” after leaving Strictly. I miss the team, the camaraderie, the pressure and the creatives all under one roof. AND I miss that feeling that hit my stomach at 5pm on a Saturday, realising that the show was in one hour and like it or not, ready or not . . . you had to dance! It was thrilling!
I return for the last show in December but I am not hanging about instead I am getting on with plans that were put on hold throughout this summer. The three book ideas are getting my full attention. I must say I don’t find books easy, holding an entire book in my head is overwhelming. It’s fabulous having time to focus on songwriting and developing future ideas for live shows.
In one sense Strictly has helped me get perspective on myself. With no children, nor grandchildren in my life, my age in my head and my self identity has kind of fixed at around my 30s, and once in the company of all the brilliant pro dancers on Strictly I soon realised I was to them . . . an old women! In a way I am now adapting myself to exactly that.
It’s freeing, no one expects anything of me and what I do deliver is a bonus and a surprise . . . the pressure is off from the outside world . . . I just have my own expectations to deal with.
I have just googled “FAMOUS OLD WOMEN” expecting a list of notorious trouble makers and these names came up ( I am truly shocked): DIANE KEATON, SOPHIA LOREN, HALLE BERRY, HELEN MIRREN, MERYL STREEP, SALMA HAYEK, VIOLA DAVIS and SANDRA BULLOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These women are all timeless goddesses! AND some of them are still in their 50s . . . which is young! This is a rather fabulous wake up call . . . I am now allowed to do “old people” things . . . like be eccentric and above all totally independent. It doesn’t take much to be notorious these days . . . I am making it an ambition for 2025. It’s a weird autonomy and I LIKE IT.
In 1988 I performed in a National Theatre production called THREE MEN ON A HORSE at The Vaudeville Theatre about a group of gamblers and a showgirl. I played the showgirl and lover to Ken Stott’s dandy. During the run I became very close to actor Des Barrett and have remained a life long friend with him, he went on to become a superstar of the RSC. Des was 80 two weeks ago and invited myself and Robert to Joe Allen’s for supper with all his friends . . . when I walked in I was blown away. Nicholas Hytner, Dawn French, Alison Steadman to name just a few . . . the room was full of the golden age of theatre.
Dawn came over and sat with us and reminisced with Robert about the French and Saunders episode where I was making a video and Dawn and Jennifer were on a large hamster wheel . . . I don’t think Robert has ever seen it even though we were married by the time I made that show.
I was quick to remind Dawn of the TV film THE TALE OF LITTLE PIG ROBINSON, where both Dawn and Jennifer played pigs alongside Timothy Spall and I playing the ship’s cats. I harbour the idea these will play on TV again, along with THE EBONY TOWER . . . FABULOUS!
So many of the actors came up to me and congratulated me on Strictly saying I was fabulous and danced brilliantly and they were rooting for me. They were all extremely kind and genuine, it meant A LOT to me. Hopefully in the not too distant future I will get perspective on what I actually did on the show. It still remains a complete blur other than the actual process of prepping the dances.
Robert and I are now prepping for the TOYAH AND ROBERT CHRISTMAS PARTY! Snowmen have been ordered, penguins by the dozen . . . all inflatable of course. It will be a fabulous end to 2024 for us. It was another great year playing stunning festivals. The events where outstanding, Beautiful Days effected both of us very positively, we were so impressed with the audience care, the venue was magical and the owners obviously invested everything back into the audience experience.
SEE YOU AT A VENUE NEAR YOU VERY SOON!
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD!
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SEE ALSO
The Toyah Blog Archive
