Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inbox We have more newsletters Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inbox We have more newsletters Toyah Willcox has been confirmed as the fourth celebrity to join the Strictly Come Dancing line up this year. Comedian Chris McCausland was the first name to be revealed on Monday 5 August, followed by former X Factor star JB Gill and opera singer Wyn Evans. Now Vernon Kay has announced that eighties star Toyah will be the fourth celebrity to compete for the famous glitterball trophy.
Toyah, 66, is famous for her brightly coloured punkish hair in the 1980s and hit songs including It's A Mystery, Thunder in the Moutains and I Want To Be Free. An actress as well as a singer, she is married to Robert Fripp, founder and guitarist of the prog rock band King Crimson. Speaking on Vernon Kay's BBC Radio 2 show on Tuesday 6 August, Toyah said it was her dream come true to appear on Strictly.
"I played Glastonbury this year, I became a pensioner, and now I will be getting a regular spray tan," she said. She admitted that it has been hard keeping the secret, especially when she has been on tour. "I lied to Carol Decker [of T'Pau fam], I lied to Paul Young, I didn't tell anyone I was doing Strictly," she said.
While she doesn't know which professional dancer she will be partnered with yet, Toyah has already thought about which dances she will be good at. "I'm a girl from Birmingham and everyone can do the jive in Birmingham. I think I am an excellent student, but I do admit that I am an uncontrolled freeform dancer," she said, referring to the eccentric dance moves that she was known for in her videos.
There is also a special reason Toyah chose to do the show - to honour her mother, Barbara Joy, who was a professional dancer. "I want to get to Blackpool [on Strictly] because my mother danced there in 1948 when she was 18," she told Vernon. Fans who are hoping Vernon himself may join the line up will be disappointed, however.
While the radio star, who is married to Strictly host Tess Daly, told Zoe Ball on the radio on Tuesday that "I'd like to give it a go," he said it is unlikely he would ever slip on his dancing shoes and dance his favourite dance, the Cha-cha. "I think it would give my Achilles heel and damaged knees a run for their money," he laughed as he explained that, being so tall, he would "look like a puppet" if he ever took to the dance floor. Please check back regularly for the latest on this developing story as it is updated in real time here .
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