Toni Basil

Dance career

Also in 1964, she assisted choreographer Winters for Steve Binder's concert film T.A.M.I. Show.^[9][10] T.A.M.I. Show would go on to be deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in 2006 in the National Film Registry.^[11]

In 1968, Princess Grace of Monaco's television special Monte Carlo: C'est La Rose premiered.^[12] In it, Basil accompanies lead dancer and choreographer Winters; he explained that he brought her and fellow dancer Anita Mann because they were his best students.^[13]

In addition, Basil is credited with bringing street dance to prominence, as a founding member and manager of The Lockers.^[14] A 2012 Dance Magazine article cited Basil as the pioneer in merging ballet with street dance for a piece she choreographed for Saturday Night Live, "Swan Lake" in 1978.^[15]

Basil choreographed the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the age of 75, and appeared in an uncredited cameo, wearing her trademark fedora and dancing with Margot Robbie on the Pan Am flight. Basil was surprised by Tarantino's detailed knowledge of both 1960s dances and her previous work, and said she personally knew two of the real-life people who are portrayed in the film: Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring, who were both killed in the Tate-LaBianca murders.^[16]

Music career

Basil's recording career began in 1966 with a single for A&M Records, which was the title song of the short film Breakaway by artist Bruce Conner. The B-side was "I'm 28"^[17] written by Graham Gouldman, who later co-founded 10cc. Basil sang, solo, the swinging jazz number "Wham Rebop Boom Bam" in the first season of Saturday Night Live for the January 17, 1976, show with Buck Henry as host. Basil sold out solo shows at The Roxy in Los Angeles in June 1976, and sang the song on The Merv Griffin Show. She and The Lockers appeared on Saturday Night Live during the first season and also in later seasons of the show, as a singer and filmmaker, to perform in her urban style Swan Lake. She was signed to Warner Bros. Records at some point in 1976, but never released any material for the label.^[18]

In 1982, her single "Mickey" achieved international success. The song is a cover of "Kitty", a 1979 release by the UK band Racey, written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and produced by the latter. The original song did not include the "Oh Mickey, you're so fine" chant, which Basil added. The video was conceived, directed, and choreographed by Basil for the UK-based label Radialchoice, before the inception of MTV in July 1981.^[19] Issued on Chrysalis Records in September 1982 in the US, the song knocked Lionel Richie's "Truly" from No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December. It topped the chart in Canada where it was issued by Virgin Records. The 45 was quickly certified Gold and in early 1983 reached Platinum status for sales of over 2 million copies in the United States alone. 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.^[19]

During an interview on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of The 80's", Basil said that she still owns the same cheerleader sweater she wore in the video. In 2009, VH1 ranked "Mickey" Number 6 on its list of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the '80s.^[20] In 2017, she launched an unsuccessful lawsuit against the makers of South Park over their use of the song in parodying Barack Obama's 2008 election win.^[21][22]

For television, Basil has appeared as an actress and featured singer/dancer in many television shows and specials. She co-directed and choreographed two BBC specials with Alan Walsh and Ken Stephenson called "Toni Basil Tape 1" and "Toni Basil Tape 2".^[23]

Filmmaking and music videos

Basil's Word of Mouth video album was nominated for both a Grammy Award and an MTV Video Music Award. Her late 1960s 8 mm and 16 mm films toured the U.S. with the show "Semina Culture: Wallace Berman and His Circle" in 2007.^[24]

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles