Hello there,
I hope you’re ready for the heat because the temperatures about to soar again!
We still have more announcements to come. I’m so happy about what we’ve already announced. Chameleon is just incredible.
I’ve been going through my original vinyl collection this week because my personal manager very kindly gave me a vinyl turntable and the memories of my teenage loves have come rocking back.
Rediscovering my collection of Tyrannosaurus Rex. Bolan being my first passion.
Early Bowie, early Rolling Stones, so many Lou Reed albums and Patti Smith.
To take them out of storage and be able to play them is exciting.
I’m always surprised how I arrive late to some trends, many people might think why didn’t I just buy a record player but life is so busy, I travel a lot and if I’m not working on stage I’m usually working on stories, on a film or on TV. There is no leisure time at all. There is always something to do!
When I lived at my warehouse Mayhem my collection was there and it was played by all the guests from Iggy Pop to John Cale to Spandau Ballet to Steve Strange. It’s funny to come across record covers that have no vinyl in because the vinyl got taken but I have all the early Alice Cooper alongside Marc Bolan and they are intact. Alice Cooper‘s first albums were hugely influential to me, these are all intact and all in their original form.
I cannot wait to be listening and going back to those precious memories when I lived in Birmingham and was discovering rock music, seeing bands like Black Sabbath when I was 12. Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Hawkwind were amazing experiences that still resonate today and they have informed my creativity today.
It was in these moments I had a glimpse of life without being controlled and pigeon holed into being “a lady” by education and family norms.
Currently I’m familiarising myself for the movie I start around February called Black Sea.
I think it’ll be a two month shoot and it’s going to be challenging. The shoot is on a boat in the North Sea. Everyone in the film industry says do not work on boats! It’s unpredictable in the North sea.
I’m hoping that the internal sequences, there’s a lot, will be with the boat in harbour on calm water because I’m not sure I’m really good with motion sickness.
The script has been with me for a year and now I’m finding out who the cast is I can see the story in a completely different light, seeing its depth, I can now see where I can take my character. This is one of my favourite moments within acting, the development of a character, how I want my character to emotionally respond to extreme situations. It’s a fantastic place to be as an actress and I’m so excited.
The bunny rabbits had their very first carrots a week ago, I had grown them from seed.
It was beautiful to see them experience a new food. They really like them but I’m not going to give them carrots daily, once a week is enough because I don’t want them to develop a sweet tooth, once a rabbit is hooked on sugary things or sweet things you cant get them to eat the healthy stuff like hay and pellets.
I’m really looking forward to playing Shrewsbury, Brighton On The Beach and Dundee Slessor Gardens. The summer gigs are on the GIGS PAGE here on the site.
- Shrewsbury has a huge line up: TONY HADLEY, MATT GOSS, HOLLY JOHNSON, TERESA BAZAR, THE REAL THING….and more!
- Brighton is going to be a beautiful event with MARC ALMOND and THE HUMAN LEAGUE headlining.
- Dundee again has a brilliant line-up T’PAU, ALTERED IMAGES, CHRISTIANS, BIG COUNTRY and HUMAN LEAGUE headlining.
I’m on the campaign trail for CHAMELEON for the next two months. There’s exciting radio and press coming up and TV too. My dream is to bring this incredible colourful, insightful collection to dedicated fans, but also to a new audience as well. It’s lively, it’s fun And it rocks out.
I love how life throws complete surprises at you.
ROBERT and I had an invite to the opening of a café / tea room in Bibury called ELEVEN, in the Cotswolds, from Sir and Lady Evans who own and run the establishment….which is gorgeous… We innocently went along thinking we’d say hello and congratulate them on the opening, instead we found ourselves in a remarkable group of people, Sir and Lady are astonishing and leaders in fighting cancer, also there were Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Ella Henderson, Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen who I adore and his fantastic wife Jackie and his family who have all helped create this gem of a meeting place.
And also present were an impressive team of record producers who have invited us to take part on Sir Chris’s album for THE CANCER AWARENESS TRUST at Abbey Road Studios with Nile Rogers. Robert and I never guessed that turning up for tea would turn into something huge.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the past month going through my archives which has allowed me not only to sort them a bit more but also be reminded of how creative I was from the age of 11 and 12 right through to starting drama school at 17.
All those school years right up to leaving were wasted because I didn’t fit the standard system as a dyslexic……but by God I was super creative in response. I spent most of the time writing poetry, some of you may know that most of that poetry ended up on the album Anthem.
Going through the original handwritten books from these days , with the colourful graffiti and poetry is astonishing. It’s so revealing that what I thought were wasted years were probably the beginning of my creativity. I am grateful for that.
I’ve even found a play I wrote! I didn’t know I had written these things, to go through them, to see them, to reconnect with that child and to know that child is still in me has been really life affirming.
HAVE A WONDERFUL JULY!
THERE ARE MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS TO COME!
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD!
LOVE TOYAH
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