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 Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line (geometry), line, but that does not have to be Linearity, straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point (ge ...

, along with

Dean Garcia Dean Garcia (born 3 May 1958) 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. Biography Garcia was ...

. She was also a member of the bands Photofitz, The Uncles, State of Play and Scylla. Halliday released solo work as Toni Halliday and Chatelaine. She collaborated with artists like

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...

Recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force requ ...

The Future Sound of London The Future Sound of London (often abbreviated FSOL) is a British electronic music duo composed of Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans. They have been described as a "boundary-pushing" electronic act, covering techno, ambient, house music, trip ho ...

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Paul van Dyk Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...

, Freaky Chakra,

DJ? Acucrack DJ? Acucrack is an electronic music duo based in Chicago, Illinois. DJ? Acucrack was formed by Jason Novak and Jamie Duffy as an Acumen Nation drum n' bass side project. The duo initially created the side project to "kill time" between releases f ...

, Headcase,

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, and Orbital. Halliday has a

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

vocal range.

Early life and career

Halliday was born on 5 July 1964 in

Parsons Green Parsons Green is a mainly residential district in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The Green itself, which is roughly triangular, is bounded on two of its three sides by the New King's Road section of the King's Road, A308 road ...

, London, and brought up in various locations across Europe, before eventually settling in

Washington New Town Washington is a town in the City of Sunderland district of Tyne and Wear, England. Historically part of County Durham, it is the ancestral settlement of the Washington family, which George Washington descended from. It is located between Che ...

, 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. 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

albums ''

Shaken 'n' Stirred ''Shaken 'n' Stirred'' is the third solo studio album by English singer Robert Plant, released on 20 May 1985 by Es Paranza, his own label. Plant, Benji Le Fevre, and Tim Palmer produced the album. ''Shaken 'n' Stirred'' peaked at No. 19 on the U ...

'' (1985), and ''

Now and Zen ''Now and Zen'' is the fourth solo album by Robert Plant, released 29 February 1988 by Es Paranza Records, Plant's own label. The album made the top 10 in the US (No. 6) and UK (No. 10). It was certified triple platinum by the RIAA on 7 Septe ...

'' (1988). In 1985, Halliday and multi-instrumentalist

formed the band State of Play together with Garcia's wife Julie Fletcher and

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drummer

Olle Romö Olle Romö is a Swedish music producer, songwriter, and drummer. Romo rehearsed with Swedish progressive rock group Kaipa in early 1982, however he left the group after a few weeks to join Eurythmics, and he was a drummer for them from the mid-to ...

. 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 Alan Moulder (born 11 June 1959) is an English record producer, mixing engineer, and audio engineer. Early life Moulder was born on 11 June 1959 in Boston, Lincolnshire. He was educated at Boston Grammar School. He had an interest in music from ...

) 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".

Curve

Dean Garcia had played on ''Hearts and Handshakes'', and the pair now collaborated to form

, with Halliday serving as lead singer. Their partnership would last from 1990 to 2005. The group's main releases are the studio albums ''

Doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppelg ...

'' (1992), ''

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'' (1993), '' Come Clean'' (1998), ''

Gift A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation ...

'' (2001), '' The New Adventures of Curve'' (2002), and the compilations '' Radio Sessions'' (1993), ''

Open Day at the Hate Fest ''Open Day at the Hate Fest'' is an album-length, internet-released compilation of music recorded by Curve since their reformation in 1996. ''Open Day at the Hate Fest'' was produced during a time that saw Curve embroiled in legal battles with U ...

'' (2001), '' The Way of Curve'' (2004), '' Rare and Unreleased'' (2010).

Scylla

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

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film of the same name. Another Scylla song, "Get a Helmet", can be heard in the

Gregg Araki Gregg Araki (born December 17, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is noted for his heavy involvement with the New Queer Cinema movement. His film ''Kaboom (film), Kaboom'' (2010) was the first winner of the Cannes Film Festival Queer Palm. Ear ...

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.

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

album ''

Bloodline Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...

'' (1992). She collaborated with

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

for their No. 18 UK hit "

Original Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

" from ''

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'' (1995). She was also featured on "Original"'s music video. 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. Halliday also collaborated with Headcase, Bias,

and

. In 2006, she was featured on the first

Christmas track, " A Great Big Sled". She contributed vocals to Orbital's soundtrack for the 2012 re-make of the film '' Pusher''. 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 new Toni Halliday track for 2013 (co produced by Louise Dowd) called "Down In A Dark Place" can be heard in a trailer for the television programme The Vampire Dairies. Along with "Down In A Dark Place" two other new songs "Nowhere To Hide" and "Now The Time Is Here" appeared. Halliday's song Nowhere To Hide was officially used in Sochi Winter Olympics 2014 promotion and advertising. Halliday released a new song "Suffragette" in November 2016 on the compilation album The Song Method 2. It is available on I-Tunes. 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 Dean and Toni contemplated a Curve reunion but ultimately Toni decided to declined to tour 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 sings backing vocals on the track but Louise Dowd (Chatelaine collaborator) sings the lead vocal. In January 2021 Halliday released a new song Black Crow on the compilation The Song System. Black Crow is a co write as Antoinette Halliday with Louise Dowd. In March 2021 Halliday released a new 6 track solo EP called Roll The Dice. She continued to write and record with Louise 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 Toni Halliday, now her earliest recordings released.

Chatelaine

In February 2008, Toni introduced a new solo project on MySpace called Chatelaine. 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.

Personal life

Toni Halliday is married to the British record producer

Discography

State of Play

* ''Balancing the Scales'' (1986)

Toni Halliday

Studio albums

* ''Hearts and Handshakes'' (1989) * ''For Tomorrow's Sorrows'' (recorded 2002 with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, unreleased) * ''Roll The Dice'' (6 track EP, 2021)

Singles

*"Weekday" *"Love Attraction" *"Time Turns Around" *"Woman in Mind"

Curve

* '' Pubic Fruit'' (1992) * ''

'' (1992) * '' Radio Sessions'' (1993) * ''

'' (1994) * '' Come Clean'' (1998) * ''

'' (2001) * ''

'' (2001) * '' The New Adventures of Curve'' (2002) * '' The Way of Curve'' (2004) * '' Rare and Unreleased'' (2010)

Scylla

* ''Demos'' (recorded 1995, released 2008)

Chatelaine

* ''Take a Line for a Walk'' (2010)

Collaborations

Halliday provided vocals on the following songs: She also provided backing vocals on the following releases: *

– ''

'' (1985) * Robert Plant – ''

'' (1988)

References

External links

"Curve: Frequently Asked Questions #14" at curve-online.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halliday, Toni 1964 births Living people English women guitarists English guitarists English women singers Women rock singers Women new wave singers People from Parsons Green People from Fulham Singers from London 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers