Toni Basil’s 1982 hit “Mickey” remains a staple of 80s pop culture, but the song represents only a single chapter in a remarkably diverse and decades-spanning career. From early roles dancing alongside Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas and appearing in films like Easy Rider,to pioneering choreography for artists including David Bowie and Tina Turner,Basil’s influence extends far beyond the realm of one-hit wonders. Now 82, Basil reflects on a life immersed in entertainment, revealing a history of collaboration, innovation, and a unique outlook on the evolution of music and dance.
Forty-three years ago this week, Toni Basil’s infectious cheerleader-chant, “Mickey,” topped the US charts, but that hit song represents just a fraction of her remarkable, decades-long career in entertainment. Long before she became a one-hit wonder, Basil was a ubiquitous presence in Hollywood, working alongside some of the biggest names in music and film. From dancing with Elvis Presley to appearing in counterculture classics, her story is a fascinating journey through pop culture history.
When Elvis Presley pointed to the gyrating dancer in the red dress during his 1964 film, *Viva Las Vegas*, that was Basil. She also appeared in Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda’s groundbreaking film *Easy Rider*, and even danced alongside the legendary troupe The Lockers on *Soul Train* in 1976. By the time “Mickey” exploded onto the scene, she had already collaborated with artists like David Bowie, Tina Turner, and Talking Heads – and that was just the beginning.
In a recent two-hour conversation, the 82-year-old Basil casually recounted encounters with icons like Iggy Pop and Dean Stockwell, and dinners with David Bowie, Bob Geldof, Paula Yates, and Freddie Mercury. She recently attended Bette Midler’s 80th birthday party, calling it “a bash!” Appearing via Zoom from her Los Angeles dance studio, Basil doesn’t appear much older than she did in the “Mickey” video – despite being 38 at the time. Her memory is sharp, and her energy remains remarkably high as she shares her life story. “Dance is my drug of choice. You get high from it, and it gives you community,” she explained.
Basil’s brief foray into pop stardom, she revealed, was thanks to Manchester and the BBC. She signed with a British record label in 1979 to record her album *Word of Mouth*, which included a reimagining of “Kitty” by the relatively unknown British band Racey. Basil gave the song a gender-switch and a new wave synth makeover, adding the unforgettable cheerleader chant. “I had to beg my record company to let me record it,” she remembers. “They thought it was a terrible idea; they didn’t know what cheerleaders were.” She created short films for several songs, singing and dancing. “This was a year before MTV,” she noted. A chance viewing by BBC producers Ken Stevenson and Alan Walsh, who spotted her choreography and direction in a Manchester record shop, changed everything.
The BBC commissioned a two-part special featuring Basil’s song-and-dance numbers and comedic skits. The show, a vibrant and quirky time capsule of 80s kitsch, blended punk, new wave, and hip-hop influences. It was this special that launched “Mickey” as a hit single – first in the UK (in March), then in Australia (reaching No. 1 in July), and finally, after a new American recording contract and video (where she wore her original high school cheerleader outfit), topping the US charts that December. “It took Britain, land of Boy George and the Beatles, to go, ‘Look at this. Let’s put this on television,’” she said. “In the US, they were like: ‘What is she thinking?’” The success of “Mickey” demonstrated the power of British television to launch American artists, a trend that would continue in the early days of MTV.
Basil’s showbiz roots ran deep. “It never occurred to me that I would do anything else,” she said. Her mother’s side of the family were vaudevillian stars, and her father was an orchestra leader, first in Chicago, then at the Sahara hotel in Las Vegas. “I stood on the side of the stage from 1947 to 1957 seeing a show every weekend; everybody from Josephine Baker to Nat King Cole to Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland.”
She was an only child. “They thought I was the centre of the earth. I was extremely spoilt. And I was really a good dancer. They saw what I had going, and they really pushed it.” Her teenage years were filled with ballet classes, acting lessons, and nightly gigs dancing at go-go clubs. “I was dancing the pony, the mashed potato, all of that.” As youth culture shifted in the early 1960s, Basil quickly adapted, finding work as a dancer and choreographer. “I think it’s always a great time to be young!” she replied when asked about the era.
That’s why, at just 20 years old, she wasn’t particularly fazed to find herself standing in for Ann-Margret and teaching dance steps to Elvis Presley. “Being nervous around Elvis? He was part of the show-business family. I mean, I appreciated it was Elvis Presley, but not in that crazy fan way.” She also choreographed the 1964 concert film *T.A.M.I. Show*, recalling a memorable moment backstage. “We were in the green room with the Rolling Stones and Smokey Robinson watching James Brown, and the Stones realized, ‘Oh shit, we gotta follow him?’” She also appeared as a chorus girl in the Rat Pack film *Robin and the Seven Hoods*, quickly rising through the ranks. “I started out in the back line, and the next day I was in the centre line. By the third day, I was front and centre.” Basil even features in a promotional featurette for the movie, chatting on set with Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the gang, who she described as “mostly gentlemen.”
By the late 60s, Basil embraced the counterculture, finding herself immersed in a world of artists and actors like Dean Stockwell, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Wallace Berman, and Bruce Conner. Conner’s 1966 art film Breakaway features Basil dancing and singing the title song, which later became a sought-after northern soul track – a sign that “Mickey” wasn’t her first musical success.
This led to roles in films like *Easy Rider*, *The Monkees’ Head*, *Five Easy Pieces*, and Hopper’s notoriously chaotic *The Last Movie*. Hopper, she said, was an intense presence. “He either hated something or loved it, there was no in between, which was quite entertaining, but he could be mad as a hatter.”
Regarding the drug use associated with that scene, Basil admitted she never fully embraced it. “Pot made me paranoid, to the point of passing [the joint] around and really not taking a toke out of it,” she said. “And at one point I was able to get some cocaine, which was pretty fabulous. I made a film in a week on cocaine! But it broke my skin out. So me with my vanity? Oh no!”
As the 70s dawned, Basil continued to evolve, seeking out the latest dance trends. She asked a friend to connect her with the best dancer, leading her to Lamont Peterson and Don “Campbellock” Campbell, the creator of “locking.” “It was the most spectacular dancing I had seen since James Brown,” she said. She described the style: “wrist-roll, point, five, slap. There was something of communication; the dancer could have a conversation with the audience.” Drawing on her vaudevillian instincts, Basil formed a stage troupe with Campbell and four other dancers called The Lockers. This was pre-hip-hop, in the mid-70s, but it foreshadowed later street dance styles like body popping and breakdancing. The Lockers toured with artists ranging from Sinatra to Funkadelic. “We changed the face of dance,” she said. “We showed audiences that street dance was an art form.”
Basil also built a career as a choreographer, receiving an invitation from David Bowie in 1973 to choreograph his upcoming *Diamond Dogs* tour. His vision was ambitious, incorporating complex sets, costume changes, and theatrical lighting. It was intense, with 13-hour rehearsals. “There was a lot of homework with Bowie.” She admired his stamina. “David could do anything; as an actor, as a mover, he wasn’t a normal dancer – I mean, the guy didn’t even look normal, he just looked like this strange alien god. I always thought he should have been James Bond.”
What connects all the impressive people she’s worked with, Basil said, is “Their work ethic is just obsessive: pre-production, planning, rehearsals.” Tina Turner approached Basil in the late 70s, seeking a more elegant style after her high-energy performances with the Ikettes. But Turner certainly knew her stuff. During their first run-through, Basil prepared to take notes. “I watched the whole thing, and I realized I’d never put the pencil to the paper. It was just shocking to be in the same room with her, singing and dancing with the band. It was startling. And she does it all in high heels, and then, as soon as it’s over, she can hardly walk in the heels. But you’d never know it.” Basil worked with Turner until her final 50th anniversary tour in 2009. “She was an elegant queen, and yet she’s up in the girls’ dressing room, working on their weaves, fixing their hair.”
Basil’s pre-MTV videos also caught the attention of David Byrne of Talking Heads, who asked her to direct a promo for their song Crosseyed and Painless – featuring her street dancer friends and none of the band – and then, a year later, their classic Once in a Lifetime, for which she and Byrne researched films of people in trances and religious ecstasy to develop his jerky, idiosyncratic dance style. “As a matter of fact, he was very hesitant about that,” she recalls. Before that, “I don’t think he really danced at all.”
Basil continued to choreograph for other acts, especially Bette Midler, and for films and TV shows, from *American Graffiti* to *Sesame Street* to *Legally Blonde*, culminating in Quentin Tarantino’s *Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood*, where she taught Margot Robbie and Leonardo DiCaprio their 60s moves. “She was the goddess of go-go,” Tarantino said of Basil, “She knows the era perfectly.” Her work on the film highlighted the importance of authentic choreography in recreating historical periods.
Basil also recalled knowing Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, and dating Tate’s friend and ex-partner, Jay Sebring, years before their tragic deaths in 1969. “He and Gene Shacove were the two straight hairdressers in Hollywood. Straight hairdressers get laid as much as straight male dancers.” She also navigated the often-precarious power dynamics of the industry. “I had directors making a pass at me, but it was never a pass that, if I was not reciprocal, I didn’t get the job.”
Basil’s career continued to evolve in the 70s, as she embraced the emerging street dance scene. She sought guidance from a friend, leading her to Lamont Peterson and Don “Campbellock” Campbell, who was developing “locking.” “It was the most spectacular dancing I had seen since James Brown,” she said. She described the style, demonstrating the moves: “wrist-roll, point, five, slap. There was something of communication; the dancer could have a conversation with the audience.” She formed The Lockers, a stage troupe that helped bring street dance to a wider audience. The Lockers toured with artists like Sinatra and Funkadelic. “We changed the face of dance,” she said. “We showed audiences that street dance was an art form.”
