Antoinette "Toni" Halliday (born 5 July 1964) is an English musician best known as the lead vocalist, lyricist, and occasional guitarist of the alternative rock band Curve, along with Dean Garcia.
Halliday was born on 5 July 1964 in Parsons Green, London, and brought up in various locations across Europe, before eventually settling in Washington New Town, Tyne and Wear.
From 1978 to 1980, Halliday was the lead vocalist in a punk rock band named Photofitz (initially called The Incest), after which she left to start a solo career.
In 1980 a sixteen year old Halliday recorded a collection of songs with Steve Thompson that weren't released until 2021. Seven of these new wave songs were finally released as a part of the Iron Man Of Norton Box Set on all digital platforms in August 2021.
The first commercially released recording to feature Halliday was the single "The Smile and the Kiss" (1983) by the new wave band Bonk, on which she performed uncredited backing vocals. The following year, Halliday's new band The Uncles released the single "What's the Use of Pretending", whereupon the singer returned to performing backing vocals for other artists, including the Robert Plant albums Shaken 'n' Stirred (1985), and Now and Zen (1988).
In 1985, Halliday and multi-instrumentalist Dean Garcia formed the band State of Play together with Garcia's wife Julie Fletcher and Eurythmics drummer Olle Romö. The following year, State of Play released an LP on Virgin Records titled Balancing the Scales, a non-hit album that spawned two singles: "Natural Colour" and "Rock-a-bye Baby".
After the subsequent demise of State of Play, Halliday made another attempt at a solo career. Her album Hearts and Handshakes (produced by Halliday with Alan Moulder) was released in 1989, a year after it was finished, and four singles were taken from it: "Weekday", "Love Attraction", "Time Turns Around", and "Woman in Mind".
In 1995, a year after the first, temporary dissolution of Curve, Halliday formed the band Scylla with Ricky Barber, Lindy Pocock, Fiona Lynsky and Julian Bown. The group toured small clubs in the summer of 1995. Scylla's only recording to have been officially released is the song "Helen's Face", which can be found on the Showgirls soundtrack of the Paul Verhoeven film of the same name. Another Scylla song, "Get a Helmet", can be heard in the Gregg Araki film Nowhere. Scylla recorded a 12-track demo with both Alan Moulder and Flood producing, but no album was released. A bootleg of these demo tracks can be found on the internet.[3]
Other work
Following the emergence of Curve in 1991, Halliday co-wrote and performed vocals on two songs ("Edge to Life" and "Bloodline") for the Recoil album Bloodline (1992). She collaborated with The Future Sound of London for the song "Cerebral" from Lifeforms (1994), with Freaky Chakra for the song "Budded on Earth to Bloom in Heaven" from Lowdown Motivator (1994), and with Leftfield for their No. 18 UK hit "Original" from Leftism (1995). She was also featured on "Original"'s music video. Halliday also contributed additional vocals to Nine Inch Nails 1999 album The Fragile.
In 2002 Halliday recorded a number of songs with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra with plans to release an EP. By the end of the sessions there were enough songs recorded for an album with a working title of For Tomorrows Sorrows. For unknown reasons the album remains unreleased with the exception of the title track which was unofficially uploaded onto the internet. One other song titled "All Flesh Is Grass" was made available on a very rare CDR by the label.
In April 2013 Halliday contributed vocals to a new track, "Lost In The Noise", a collaboration with Huw Williams. The track can be found on the compilation Ethereal Electro Pop on Altitude Music. Another Halliday track for 2013 (co-produced by Louise Dowd) called "Down In A Dark Place" can be heard in a trailer for the television series The Vampire Diaries. Along with "Down In A Dark Place" two other new songs "Nowhere To Hide" and "Now the Time Is Here" appeared.[4] "Nowhere To Hide" was officially used in Sochi Winter Olympics 2014 promotion and advertising.[5]
Halliday released a new song "Suffragette" in November 2016 on the compilation album The Song Method 2.[6]
Halliday released four new songs in December 2017. "Deep State" and "Crashing Cars" can be found on the compilation album The Song Method 3, "Rebel Tattoo" is on the compilation album Psychedelic Indie and "Feel The Light" featuring Karen O on backing vocals can be found on the Swagger And Attitude 2 compilation.
In 2017 Garcia and Halliday contemplated a Curve reunion but ultimately Halliday decided to decline touring for the moment.
A new song "Voice of a Girl" was released in May 2019 on the compilation Female Songwriter for television and film through Universal Music. Halliday co-wrote the song and sang backing vocals with Dowd singing the lead vocal.
In January 2021 Halliday released the song "Black Crow" on the compilation The Song System. "Black Crow" was co-written by Dowd. In March 2021 Halliday released a 6-track solo EP called Roll The Dice. She continued to write and record with Dowd.
In August 2021 Steve Thompson released Iron Man Of Norton and Iron Man Of Norton: Second Shipment, two compilation albums of early songs and demos from 1980. Featured on these are seven songs by a sixteen year old Halliday, now her earliest recordings released.
Chatelaine
In February 2008, Halliday introduced a new solo project on MySpace called Chatelaine.[7] Chatelaine's debut album Take a Line For a Walk was released in June 2010. It featured nine new tracks: "Broken Bones", "Oh Daddy", "Life Remains", "Stripped Out", "Shifting Sands", "Killing Feeling", "Take a Line For a Walk", "Head To Head" and "Seen and Lost". Halliday continues to work on the next Chatelaine album and other forthcoming collaborations.[citation needed]
Personal life
Toni Halliday is married to the British record producer Alan Moulder.[8]
Discography
State of Play
Balancing the Scales (1986)
Solo
Studio albums
Hearts and Handshakes (1989)
For Tomorrow's Sorrows (recorded 2002 with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, unreleased)
Steve Thompson - Looking For Love In A Stranger, I Love Every Moment, Nothing Like The Way We Planned It, Bad News Boy, Paris By Air, Don't Do The Dirty, These Crazy Things
Retro Active is a compilation album by the English rock band Def Leppard, released in 1993. The album features touched-up versions of B-sides and previously unreleased recordings from the band's recording sessions from 1984 to 1993. The album charted at number 9 on the Billboard 200 and No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart.
Curve were an English alternative rock and electronic music duo from London, formed in 1990 and dissolved in 2005. The band consisted of Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia. Halliday wrote the lyrics of their songs and they both contributed to songwriting. Producer Alan Moulder was a prominent collaborator who helped shape their blend of heavy beats and densely–layered guitar tracks set against Halliday's vocals.
"Original" is a song by English electronic duo Leftfield, released on 12" and CD on 13 March 1995 by Hard Hands/PolyGram as the third single from their debut album, Leftism (1995). It features singer Toni Halliday on vocals and gave the group their first appearance on Top of the Pops, reaching number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. Halliday wrote the lyrics with Neil Barnes and Paul Daley. The beginning of the song is used often on the UK version of Big Brother.
"A Great Big Sled" is a song by Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers. It was recorded in mid-November 2006 with record producer Alan Moulder as a one-off track and the band's Christmas 2006 single. Moulder's wife Toni Halliday, the former lead vocalist of Curve, features on backing vocals.
Doppelgänger is the debut studio album by English alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 9 March 1992 in the United Kingdom by Anxious Records, and on the following day in the United States by Anxious and Charisma Records.
Dean Garcia is an English multi-instrumentalist musician, best known as a member of the alternative rock duo Curve from 1990 to 2005. He also released solo work and collaborated with many other artists.
Cuckoo is the second studio album to be released by the British alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 13 September 1993 and was issued by Anxious Records and Charisma Records. It was less commercially successful than the band's previous releases.
Pubic Fruit is a compilation album by English alternative rock band Curve. It was released exclusively in the United States on 17 November 1992 by Anxious Records and Charisma Records. The album compiles the band's first three EPs, as well as the extended version of their song "Faît Accompli".
"Chinese Burn" is a 1997 song by the alternative rock band Curve. It was the first single from their third studio album Come Clean, and was released on 18 November 1997 in the US and on 1 December 1997 in the UK.
David L. Reece is an American singer who has been active in the heavy metal rock scene professionally since the late 1980s, recording with several bands in diverse genres including Bonfire from January 2015 to July 2016. He is best known for his time with the band Accept, appearing on their 1989 album Eat the Heat.
"Horror Head" is the second single from the debut studio album Doppelgänger by alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 6 July 1992 it reached #31 in the UK singles chart. It is one of their most popular songs.
"Pink Girl With the Blues" is a single by alternative rock band Curve released on 2 September 1996. It was the first release after few years of hiatus and it reached #97 on UK singles chart. The second track, "Recovery", will be later included on their third studio album, Come Clean. All songs were mixed by Alan Moulder.
Rare and Unreleased is a compilation album by Curve, self-released only on their Bandcamp page, as digital download.
"Blindfold" is the debut EP by English duo Curve. It was released on 4 March 1991 and it reached #68 in the UK singles chart. All four songs from the EP were included in the compilation Pubic Fruit, issued in 1992.
"Cherry" is Curve's third single/EP. It was released on 28 October 1991 and it reached #36 in the UK singles chart. All four songs from the EP were included in the compilation Pubic Fruit, issued in 1992.
"Faît Accompli" is the first single from the album Doppelgänger by alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 24 February 1992; it reached #22 in the UK singles chart, becoming their highest-charting single in the UK. It was one of the first singles in the UK to reach the Top 40 without a release on 7" vinyl. "Faît Accompli" was also included in the compilation Pubic Fruit, issued in November 1992 in the US only.
"Superblaster" is the second single from the album Cuckoo by alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 8 November 1993. It's considered by fans as the rarest Curve release.
"Coming Up Roses" is the second single from the third studio album Come Clean by alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 4 May 1998 and it reached #51 in the UK singles chart.
"Want More Need Less" is the second single from the fourth studio album Gift by alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 3 February 2003 only on CD format and only in Australia.
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