Toyah Willcox biography
Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958, Kings Heath, Birmingham) is an English actress and singer. In a career spanning more than thirty years, Toyah has had 13 Top 40 singles, released 22 studio albums, written two books, appeared in over forty stage plays and ten feature films, and voiced and presented numerous television shows, including Brum, Watchdog and Songs of Praise.
Biography
Toyah Willcox was born in Kings Heath, Birmingham. Her father Beric Willcox ran a successful joinery business and owned three factories. Her mother Barbara Joy (née Rollinson) was a professional dancer whom he fell in love with after seeing her on stage in Weston-super-Mare, with Flanagan and Allen and married in 1949. Barbara Willcox had to give up her career after giving birth to Nicola (b. 1950) and Kim (b. 1953), Toyah's older sister and brother, respectively. Asked why her parents might have called her so, Toyah said in a 1981 interview: "I don't know, they won't tell me, but its definitely my birth name. There is a town in Texas, called Toyah, and Toyah in Red Indian means 'water'. My parents deny that's where they got it from".
Toyah was born with a twisted spine, clawed feet, a clubbed right foot, one leg two inches shorter than the other and no hip sockets. Because of this she endured years of painful operations and physiotherapy. Her physical condition was a cause of difficult times at school. "When I was bullied at school, it was coz of my character. I was a weak child, I was incredibly small. I had a speech impediment, I was the perfect bait for bullying. My dad took me out the back and taught how to punch the hell out of someone and from then on I was never bullied again", Toyah recalled.
Years later she described her relationship with her mother as complicated, saying she "hasn't hugged her mother since she was 12 and can't see it ever happening". In fact, until the age of seven Toyah remembered having been very close to her mother, if only for the reason of being very ill and having to be taught how to walk and talk. Then Barbara had another child, a daughter called Fleur, who died. "When she came home from hospital there was a bit of a distance between us. It was never talked about again," Toyah remembered. In another interview of the time, Toyah said: "My mother ... taught me how to walk, she was one that was trained to give me the physiotherapy to straighten my own spine so twice a day we would go through this routine. So she was disciplinarian in my life from a very - well right from when I can remember. So it was natural she was the first person I should rebel against. And I regret that our relationship was very often violent. ... And now I feel very strongly towards my mum that she sacrificed everything to give me the freedom I have today".
Years of alienation and rebellion
Toyah attended a private girls' school where she was noted for absence from the class room and setting off alarm clocks during a speech by a visiting MP, one Margaret Thatcher.
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