Toni Basil, real name Antonia Basilotta, is an American singer born to an acrobatic dancer mother and a conductor father, just that.
She kicked off her artistic career while still in high school by becoming one of the Pom-Poms at the high school in Las Vegas where she studied. We are then at the very beginning of the 1960s.
It was from the mid-60s that she really began her professional career when she was found in 1964 as a dancer in the television show Shindig! on the ABC channel. We will find her in several film choreographies in the years that will follow such as 'Village of the Giants' in 1965, 'The Cool Ones' in 1967 and 'Head' in 1968.
At the same time, she recorded her first title "Breakaway" in 1966 with the A&M Records label, a title which unfortunately went somewhat unnoticed.
From the 1970s onwards she devoted herself mainly to cinema where she played small roles in secondary films. She also plays choreographers on several films including 'American Graffiti' in 1973 and 'The Rose' in 1979 in particular.
But it was during the 1980s that she really exploded, starting with her remarkable role as a choreographer in 1980 on the video for the title "Once in a lifetime" by the Talking Heads.
Side song, she puts the cover in 1982 with the title "Mickey", a title which this time will not go unnoticed. The title is a global hit and literally explodes the level of international notoriety of the artist. Single from her first album "Word of mouth" which was released the same year and which was also going to be popular with the public.
Unfortunately, the sequel will be more complicated to manage than expected with the relative failure of her second album, an eponymous album which will be released a year later in 1983 and which will not really meet the same level of success as its predecessor. Only the Single "Over my head" which will be extracted from it will manage to save the furniture.
A relative failure which will almost definitively put an end to her singing career and which will force her to go back to dance and cinema in the years that will follow ...
To discover or rediscover...
Discography (among others ...) :
60s Decade :
Breakaway 1966
80s Decade :
Space girls 1980
Mickey 1982
Nobody 1982
Little red book 1982
Be stiff 1982
Time after time 1982
Shoppin’ from A to Z 1983
Street beat 1983
Over my head 1983
I don't hear you 1983
Suspense 1984
Do you wanna dance 1984
Tracks :
1966 ... the very beginnings. The very young singer gives us here a title which is not devoid of interest far from it but which will go somewhat unnoticed ...
1980 ... she will have to wait 14 years to retry the adventure on the song side. With the key a return by the small door, to say the least ...
1982 ... then THIS title comes ! The metamorphosis is total, both style and sound side. Race results : direct global mega hit. MAS-TER-FUL !
1982 ... unfortunately, the euphoria will quickly fall back on the same level as the vertiginous fall in the Charts. Who could have imagined such a turnaround ...
1982 ... which does not prevent her from continuing the adventure as if nothing had happened. A perseverance that we can only salute when we see the scale of the plunge ...
1982 ... and always this crazy fashion which will forever remain her trademark. A delirious mode which will have been as much its strength as its weakness ...
1982 ... she may well put the best will, nothing helps in this second part of the year 1982. No thinning in the Charts on the horizon unfortunately ...
1983 ... she will have to wait for the change of year to finally see the lines move. She finds with this title the path of Charts at least in the USA. It is always that !
1983 ... still so boosted, still so speed. We will not remake her again as they say. An almost unique model of its kind ...
1983 ... as soon as she decides to get back on track and stick to the standards of the moment, it inevitably pays off. The proof with this title which sees her come back in the race in an unexpected way ...
1983 ... a slowdown in tempo that only lasted the time of a title. And as soon as it accelerates again, unfortunately, the level of success drops ...
1984 ... this in no way affects her desire to move forward at all costs. A hardship that will pay off on this title. But it will be the last time ...
1984 ... an adventure which comes to an end in terms of songs. But given her multiple talents, this is not the end of the adventure for her, far from it ...
Wiki :
Official Website :
Greatest Hits :
Discography :