Toni Basil
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| Toni Basil | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Antonia Christina Basilotta |
| Born | September 22, 1943 |
| Origin | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Genre(s) | Pop, Dance, New Wave |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Dancer, Choreographer, Actor |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Associated acts | Paula Abdul |
| Website | Toni Basil's Site |
Toni Basil (born Antonia Christina Basilotta; September 22, 1943) is an American musician, video artist, actress and choreographer.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Basil was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother was a vaudevillian and her father was an orchestra leader.[1]
[edit] Dance
Basil is a prolific choreographer who began as assistant choreographer on Shindig! an American music variety show which was broadcast on the ABC network from September 16, 1964, to January 8, 1966. She appeared in the 1964 concert film The T.A.M.I. Show and was quite prominent as one of the go-go dancers, along with fellow dancer and friend Teri Garr. In addition, she is frequently credited with bringing street dance to prominence with The Urban Campbellocking group, The Lockers. She choreographed David Byrne's memorable, marionette-style dance from the music video for the Talking Heads song "Once in a Lifetime." She worked with Talking Heads again to direct and choreograph the music video for the song "Crosseyed and Painless." She also choreographed David Bowie's Diamond Dogs Tour in 1974 and Glass Spider Tour in 1987, and has worked with Bette Midler for many years, most recently on her 2008 Las Vegas show The Showgirl Must Go On.[2] She is currently serving as the associate director and choreographer of the Tina Turner Live in Concert Tour. Her expertise as a choreographer led her to be invited to sit as a judge in season four of Fox Television's So You Think You Can Dance. She was a guest judge on June 24th, 2009.
Her film choreography work includes Pajama Party (1964), George Lucas's American Graffiti (1973) and The Monkees' 1968 film, Head, in which she makes an appearance as a dancer during "Daddy's Song" with Davy Jones. Other notable choreography work credited to Basil can be found in the films Delirious (2006), That Thing You Do (1996), and My Best Friend's Wedding (1997).
[edit] Music career
Basil's recording career began in 1966 with a single for A&M Records, the title song from the film Breakaway (an early form of a music video in black and white of this song with Antonia Christina Basilotta aka "Toni Basil" undressing and dancing was made by artist Bruce Conner), backed with "I'm 28" (an obscure Graham Gouldman song). Although she appeared as musical guest during the first season of Saturday Night Live in 1975–76 (she was actually scheduled for three appearances, but due to a technical strike she only performed on one episode), it was not until 1982 that she released a follow-up, the international smash "Mickey." This song is a cover of "Kitty," a 1979 release by UK band Racey, written by British hitmakers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. (The original is sung by a man to a girl named Kitty, while Basil sings about a man named Mickey.) "Mickey" was actually recorded in 1980 by the LA session band Zoo Drive(John Goodsall [guitar], Paul Delph [Farfisa Organ], Doug Lunn [Bass Guitar] and Ric Parnell [Drums]) and when her record label wanted to release the song in 1982, Basil was reluctant, believing the song already sounded "dated," but the label persevered, and pop-music history was made.
The music video for "Mickey" was one of the most popular early MTV videos. In the video, Basil wore her head cheerleader uniform from Las Vegas High School, from which she graduated (the year on the uniform, 81, was two decades after her actual graduation). She has a special fondness for the song today and its enduring popularity. Basil has said on more than one occasion that she would gladly put on the cheerleader uniform she wore in the video again if she was asked to. During an interview in VH-1's 100 Greatest Songs of The 80's, Basil revealed that she still owns the same cheerleader sweater she wore in the video. In 2003, VH1 ranked "Mickey" Number 5 on its list of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders.[3]
Basil's 1980s recording career consisted of only two albums. Her first album, 1982's Word of Mouth included a second Hot 100 single "Shoppin' from A to Z," as well as three songs by Devo, with the group providing the backing track. The songs, "You Gotta Problem," (originally titled "Pity You" on Devo's New Traditionalists album) "Be Stiff," and "Space Girls" feature Devo themselves performing the instrumental tracks. "Space Girls" was a re-recording of a 1974 demo titled "Space Girl Blues" that would later be released on Devo's Hardcore Devo: Volume One. Devo member Gerald V. Casale and Toni were in a relationship at the time, and Basil had been an early supporter of the group.
Toni's second album, Toni Basil (1983) yielded Basil's third and final Hot 100 chart single, "Over My Head." Later in the 1980s, "Girls Night Out" made an appearance on the soundtrack to the 1986 film Modern Girls. To date, there have been no fewer than five Toni Basil best-of collections released on CD. In 1999, DJ and producer Jason Nevins' dance remix of "Mickey" was a big night club hit in Europe and Australia.
Another Basil song, "Street Beat," was a smash hit in the Philippines in the mid-1980s. Basil also contributed vocals for a Devo song "The Only One" in 1987, which was unreleased until 2000, on the demo compilation Recombo DNA.
[edit] Acting career
Basil appeared in a dance number with Davy Jones in The Monkees' 1968 film Head, co-written by Jack Nicholson, and the next year appeared as the brunette prostitute, Mary, in Easy Rider. She had small roles in 1970's Five Easy Pieces and 1976's Mother, Jugs & Speed, as a drug user; on television (including episodes of Laverne & Shirley and Baywatch), and has worked as a choreographer for movies such as American Graffiti, The Rose, Legally Blonde, the Beach Party series produced by AIP, as well as the The Monkees' cult film Head (in which she appeared as the (unbilled) dancer in the "Daddy's Song" sequence). In addition to her appearance in Head, she appeared in Village of the Giants, the cult film Rockula with Thomas Dolby and the 1987 B-Movie Slaughterhouse Rock. She also appeared in an episode of Baywatch Nights as a fortune teller. An appearance in cult director Robert Downey's Greaser's Palace (1972) as a Native American maiden was limited to an extended topless horse ride across the desert plains.
[edit] Filmography
- Pajama Party (1964)
- Village of the Giants (1965)
- Breakaway (1966)
- Head (1968)
- Sweet Charity (1969)
- Easy Rider (1969)
- Five Easy Pieces (1970)
- The Last Movie (1971)
- Greaser's Palace (1972)
- Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
- Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976)
- Angel III: The Final Chapter (1988)
- Slaughterhouse Rock (1988)
- Rockula (1990)
- Pacific Palisades (1990)
- Catchfire (1990)
- Eating (1990)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album | U.S. Pop | RIAA Certification |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Word of Mouth | 2 | Gold |
| 1983 | Toni Basil | — | — |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Single | Album | U.S. | US Dance | UK Singles Chart[4] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | "Breakaway" | — | — | — | |
| 1982 | "Mickey" | Word of Mouth | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 1982 | "Nobody" | Word of Mouth | — | — | 52 |
| 1983 | "Shoppin' From A to Z" | Word of Mouth | 77 | 4 | — |
| 1983 | "Over My Head" | Toni Basil | 81 | 4 | — |
| 1984 | "Street Beat" | Toni Basil | — | 4 | — |
| 1984 | "Suspense" | Toni Basil | — | 8 | — |
[edit] References
- ^ Toni Basil - The Authorized Site: Biography
- ^ Divine Miss Midler becomes sassy Vegas 'Showgirl' - USATODAY.com
- ^ http://www.vh1.com/shows/series/the_greatest/one_hit_wonders/list_20-1.jhtml
- ^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Cite_errors" class="external text" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Cite_errors" rel="nofollow">Cite error</a>: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named British_Hit_Singles_.26_Albums.
