Toni Basil

Antonia Christina Basilotta (born September 22 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) is an American musician, video artist, actress, and choreographer known by her professional name Toni Basil.

Biography

Early life

Basil was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother was a vaudevillian and her father was an orchestra leader.^[1]

Music career

Basil's recording career began in 1966 with a rare one-off single for A&M Records, the title song from the film Breakaway. Although she appeared three times as musical guest during the first season of Saturday Night Live in 1975–76, it wasn't until 1982 that she released a follow-up, the international smash "Mickey". This song is, in fact, a cover of "Kitty", a 1979 release by UK band Racey, written by British hitmakers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Furthermore, "Mickey" was actually recorded in 1979, 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 of the early MTV videos. In the video, Basil wore her head cheerleader uniform from Las Vegas High School, the school from which she graduated (though the year on the uniform(81) was not her grad year).^[2] 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. In 2003, VH1 ranked "Mickey" Number 5 on its list of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders. Basil's '80s recording career consisted of only two albums: 1982's Word of Mouth (which spawned a second Hot 100 single with "Shoppin' from A to Z") and 1983's Toni Basil (which yielded Basil's third and final Hot 100 chart single "Over My Head"). 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.

Choreographer

Basil is a prolific choreographer and 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 2005 Australian Kiss My Brass tour.

UK single artwork for Toni Basil's 1982 hit song "Mickey"

Acting career

Basil has appeared in the movies Easy Rider (as prostitute Mary, the brunette) and Five Easy Pieces, 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.

Discography

• Word of Mouth (1982) #22 US
• Toni Basil (1983)

Singles

References

External links

• Toni Basil at the Internet Movie Database
• Information page about Toni Basil at swinginchicks.com
• of Campbellocking and The Lockers
• Ear.FM entry on Toni Basil
• Toni Basil - The Authorized Site