Strictly fans discover star’s husband is 70s legend and ‘living god’

Strictly Come Dancing fans have been left shocked to discover Toyah Willcox is married to a bonafide music legend.

The singer, actress and presenter Toyah is of course an icon herself with a string of hit singles and movies under her belt, perhaps most notably playing Monkey in The Who film Quadrophenia.

Now she’s adding Strictly Come Dancing contestant to her CV and subsequently fans of the show have just found out she’s married to Robert Fripp – one of the most prolific guitarists and musicians ever.

A user on Reddit called thehuxtonator brought Robert’s career to Strictly fans’ attention, revealing he’s worked with the likes of David Bowie, Blondie, Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel.

He’s perhaps best known though as guitarist and founder of prog-rock band King Crimson, who had eight top 10 albums in the UK.

He was named in Rolling Stones’ 100 best guitarists of all time and perhaps the best fact about Fripp revealed by the Reddit user is: ‘If you’ve ever owned a computer with Windows Vista installed – he had a part in making the start up sound you heard every time you fired it up.’

‘Anyone else really happy to see a living guitar god in the audience and looking forward to more fleeting glimpses of his sartorial elegance?’

The short answer is: yes.

‘Thanks for the info. I had no idea who he was, but he definitely impressed me as someone with “star quality”,’ responded Reddit user Petunia103.

Wonderer-76 agreed: ‘Thank you, I love snippets of trivia like this. It adds to the fun of the show.’

Toyah and Robert have been married since 1986 and now tour together after fans loved videos of them performing covers, performing at festivals such as Isle of Wight and Glastonbury last summer.  

‘We complement each other well, I have a wonderful time being out working with my wife, may I say, even having greater fun than when we were at home together,’ Fripp previously told The Mirror.

Toyah is partnered with Neil Jones on Strictly Come Dancing and the pair will perform their first dance of the series tomorrow night.

Responding to the recent controversy surrounding Strictly Come Dancing after Graziano Di Prima was sacked for his alleged treatment to Zara McDermott and the investigation into Giovanni Pernice’s training techniques, Toyah recently told Metro the incidents made her carefully consider signing up.

‘It made me take what’s coming very seriously,’ she said.

‘What’s happened in the last year is because this show is 100% committed to dance, and you’ve got to go beyond your own personal comfort zone. That’s always been very, very obvious.

‘I know, for me, with what’s been going on this year, I’ve been thinking, Well, can I push myself beyond my own limitations? And for me, it’s now or never. That made me commit to the show.’