Toyah Willcox

Her mother Barbara Joy, née Rollinson, was a professional dancer, with whom he had FalleN in love after seeing her on stage in Weston-super-Mare with singing and comedy double act Flanagan and Allen, and married in 1949.

Barbara gave up her career after giving birth to Nicola (born 1950) and Kim (born 1953), Willcox's elder sister and brother, respectively.

Willcox has suggested her first name could be in reference to Toyah, Texas or to a Native American word "toyah" meaning "water," although she notes her parents deny both origins.

Willcox enjoyed a financially comfortable childhood, attending a private girls' school, but was bullied.

Requiring physiotherapy for a spinal condition, she behaved violently towards her mother, to whom she was close.

An absentee pupil and frequently rebellious, she sat O-levels a year late, owing to corrective surgery on her feet.

She achieved one O-level pass, in music.

Alienated by her background and surroundings, her rebellious behaviour led to her shunning male company and adopting an aggressive and flamboyant identity.

Her early interest in music, dance and acting, combined with her alienation, and her uncertainty regarding her sexuality, led Willcox to seek an outlet, initially in acting and then in music.

She attended the Old Rep Drama School in Birmingham, paying privately because she was denied a grant, the assessor noting: "She has a lisp and isn't attractive."

She began working as a dresser in local theatres, including The Alexandra, Birmingham, and the Birmingham Hippodrome.

Because of her distinctive appearance and gaudily dyed hair, repertory actors referred to her as "The Bird of Paradise."

A friend's suggestion that she should see the Sex Pistols led to her being attracted to the punk movement, but she resolved to do better, travelling to London to take up a career in acting and music.

Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English singer, actress, and TV presenter.

In a career spanning more than 40 years, she has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 stage plays and 10 feature films, and voiced and presented numerous television shows.

Willcox was born on 18 May 1958 in Kings Heath, Birmingham.

Her father Beric Willcox ran a successful joinery business and owned three factories.

After appearing as an extra in a drama being made at the BBC Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, an opening came to take a role in Glitter (1976), a play in the BBC Second City Firsts series, alongside Noel Edmonds and Phil Daniels.

Recommended to the play's director by a member of the wardrobe department because of her distinctive appearance and oddball character, Willcox was given the role of Sue, a girl who sang with the band Bilbo and who dreamed of appearing on Top of the Pops.

In the course of the 30-minute play, Willcox performed two songs she had co-written: "Floating Free" (an acoustic ballad, with Phil Daniels accompanying her on guitar) and "Dream Maker".

The play was seen by Kate Nelligan and Maximilian Schell, who offered her work with the National Theatre in London, where she got the part of Emma in Tales from the Vienna Woods, directed by Schell.

The opening led to her relocating to London.

Between 1977 and 1983, Willcox fronted the eponymous band Toyah, before embarking on a solo career in the mid-1980s.

In 1977, while playing Emma in Tales from the Vienna Woods at the National Theatre, Willcox, inspired by her role as a musician in Glitter, fronted a band called Toyah which featured Joel Bogen on guitar, Mark Henry on bass, Steve Bray on drums, Peter Bush on keyboards, and herself on vocals.

Having never considered herself a musician, she found herself fronting a successful band, although still uncertain about her own sexuality and repelled by her bandmates' antics with groupies.

Introduced by actor Ian Charleson to director Derek Jarman, Willcox was offered 'any part you want' in Jubilee (called Down with the Queen at the time).

Plagued by budgetary issues, the film featured Willcox as the murderous 'Mad', as well as a number of other prominent figures from the punk scene, including Siouxsie Sioux, Adam Ant and Richard O’Brien.

She went on to play 'Monkey' in the 1979 film of The Who's Quadrophenia, having been introduced to director Franc Roddam through an association with John Lydon.

Willcox demanded the part of Monkey from Roddam.

She completed filming despite requiring medical attention for pneumonia.

Continuing a stage career alongside film work, in 1979, on London's Royal Court Theatre stage, Willcox played Sharon in Nigel Williams' Sugar and Spice, Tallulah in Stephen Poliakoff's American Days at the ICA, playing alongside Mel Smith, Antony Sher and Phil Daniels and taking a film role opposite Katharine Hepburn in the made-for-television film The Corn Is Green, directed by George Cukor.

Willcox found her dual careers as a musician and actress frequently in conflict, leading to confusion as to which role constituted a 'compartment' to put her into.

Feeling her musical career was not taken as seriously as her acting, she nevertheless viewed her acting role as 'highbrow' and her musical career as 'lowbrow'.

Willcox played Calamity Jane at the Shaftesbury Theatre and was a guest vocalist in the anniversary concert of The Rocky Horror Show at the Royal Court Theatre.

She had many television roles, including series such as Quatermass, Minder, and the movie Quadrophenia.

The possibility of a role in the Sex Pistols' film, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle under director Russ Meyer having FalleN through, Willcox went on to play Miranda in Jarman's film The Tempest which won her a nomination as Best Newcomer at the 1980 Evening Standard Awards.

At the 1982 Brit Awards, Willcox was nominated for British Breakthrough Act, and Best Female Solo Artist.

She was nominated a further two times in this category in 1983, and in 1984.

Her hit singles include "It's a Mystery", "Thunder in the Mountains" and "I Want to Be Free".

She starred opposite Laurence Olivier in The Ebony Tower (1984) and opposite the Who's Roger Daltrey in Murder: Ultimate Grounds for Divorce (1984).