Strictly’s Toyah Willcox: Everything you need to know about the punk-rock singer

‘I Want to Be Free’ singer will be putting her experience from years of touring and West End performing to the test

Every year, Strictly Come Dancing welcomes 15 excited celebrities to its coveted dancefloor for a chance to battle it out and take home the glitterball trophy.

While the list of starry names often includes a mixture of reality TV stars and presenters, the show rarely secures a punk-rock legend such as Toyah Willcox.

The 66-year-old, best known for hit singles like “It’s A Mystery”, “I Want to Be Free” and “Brave New World”, has a career spanning more than 40 years. In that time, she has had eight top 40 singles, recorded twenty five albums and written two books.

The singer rose to fame in the late Seventies when she fronted the band Toyah, before pursuing a solo career in the mid-Eighties.

Aside from her decorated musical career, Willcox has acted, sung and danced in more than 40 stage shows and acted in more than 20 feature films, including the 1979 Queen Elizabeth I film Jubilee, and the hit 1979 Mod film Quadrophenia alongside Sting, Ray Winstone, Phil Daniels and Leslie Ash.

Her most recent acting work includes the short film Ahhh!, a British horror comedy directed by Steve Oram and co-starring Julian Rhind-Tutt, Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt.

Willcox has also appeared on dozens of reality shows, including the Christmas special of The Great British Sewing Bee, which she won in 2023.

Toyah Willcox on ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’ Chistmas special (The Great British Sewing Bee, BBC)

In 2018, Paul McCartney awarded Willcox a Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts Companionship for Outstanding Achievement in music, drama, performance and media.

Speaking about her entrance into the Strictly ballroom, Willcox says: “Wow Strictly Come Dancing, can you believe it! This is going to be a wild and wonderful ride, and I’m here for every sparkly second.”

“I’m used to performing for big crowds but this is completely fresh for me, how I will do, it’s a mystery… I just want to get cracking and learn some dance routines now!”

Willcox said she was inspired by her friend, the broadcaster Angela Rippon, to take part in this year’s show.

Willcox said she was inspired by her friend Angela Rippon (Getty Images)

“Well, I’d have to do it sooner rather than later, because I’m not going to be able to move like that in two years’ time,” she told The Mirror in April, before the announcement of her Strictly casting.

“I do understand how hard they work. I’m friends with Angela Rippon and she was extraordinary.”

She added: “But they’re rehearsing 10 hours a day every day. And then on Saturday, they do two shows.

Willcox pictured in 1979 (Getty Images)

“As I went there, they invited me to watch them do the live show. Then at nine o’clock, they film the Sunday show, and I’m thinking, ‘Could I do this?’

“But, you know, the whole world wants to do Strictly, I wouldn’t say no.”

Willcox will be joining 14 other celebrities about to Rumba, Cha Cha and Waltz into this year’s 20th anniversary series of Strictly, with names including EastEnders star Jamie Borthwick, Olympian Tom Dean, Miranda actor Sarah Hadland and JLS singer JB Gill. Find the full lineup of contestants here.

Willcox performing in the Eighties (Getty Images)

This year’s edition will be especially different as the show marks 20 years since its first ever episode.

Strictly will also be entering a new era as this year’s contestants experience a new set of welfare measures, brought in following a wave of allegations, which have rocked the show in recent months.

Two professional dancers, Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima, have now left the show following allegations made about their conduct during training. Pernice has denied allegations of “threatening and abusive behaviour” made by Sherlock star Amanda Abbington, while Di Prima said in a statement he “deeply regrets” events that took place with his celebrity partner Zara McDermott during a rehearsal.

In light of these events, the BBC has introduced the use of personal chaperones, which will be assigned to each celebrity contestant for the duration of the show.