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nyno May 15, 2009

This LP was a 1980 Billboard Magazine Top Album Pick. The band was led by bassist/songwriter Jon Maye who had been a top FM radio DJ (John "The Midnight Mayor") at the groundbreaking AOR station WCMF-FM in Rochester NY. He left to form TOYS and snagged drummer Debbie Beonkey from The Debs (A+M); vocalist Diana Deluxe from Lady (Polydor, Canada); Dick Grammatico ex-Black Sheep (Capitol); and Nick Lohri, a childhood friend and NYC session player. Maye had formerly worked with electric violinist William Nowik and drummer Mark Miller (Talas w/Billy Sheehan.) Guitarist Dick Grammatico was the brother of Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm and the two recorded together in Black Sheep, as well as on Lou Gramm's solo LPs. An interesting footnote is that, just prior to joining TOYS, Nick Lohri was slated to replace the late Pete Hamm in the first Badfinger reunion but the project was postponed when a member of Badfinger's mother passed away.
The Dashboard Music LP was supposed to simulate the various music of 1980 that flowed through the radio in your car's dashboard. You can hear a variety of pop but the band's underlying sound gravitates toward early Heart, Pretenders and Fleetwood Mac on the tracks sung by vocalist Diana Deluxe who easily holds her own in the company of the aforementioned. The band did appear on a number of later releases, mostly compilations and is one of the overlooked gems of the 80s. Later members included guitarist Al Pitrelli (Alice Cooper, Megadeath, Trans Siberian Orchestra); keyboardist/vox Carroll Sue Hill (bkg vox Tom Petty, John Cougar); rhythm guitarist Kim Henry (The Churchills); keyboardist Linda Marso (Larry Mitchell, Life On Mars); drummer Joe Saulter (Billy Joel, Weather Report); and female guitar virtuoso Ronni Crooks. Toys would play on in various incarnations until the late 1990s. The last single being "Killed By You" that appeared on several compilations, including an interactive four-song EP that had Tom Petty, Hootie & the Blowfish and Collective Soul as the other three artists. The music video for the song won the band an award from SONY & The American Film Institute and was aired on MuchMusic TV (FUSE.) TOYS' last concert appearance was at the 1996 Frankfurt Music Fair series of concerts in Germany, alongside Bif Naked, Steve Vai, Peter Green, Andy Summers, Right Said Fred, Paul Rodgers and others.