IT'S her fans' favourite record – but it's taken 30 years for Toyah Wilcox to face up to playing The Changeling album again.

The popular singer, actress and TV personality released the album in 1982, and it captured a dark, stressful time in her life.

It's only now that she feels she can perform it.

"The important thing about The Changeling and now is that I feel I can face it again," she says ahead of her show at Classic Grand in Glasgow on Friday.

"It was a pretty intense time making it, and being extremely famous is not a comfortable place to be, especially when you're trying to write an album.

"I found the pressures of that one difficult, especially with the demands on time and the technology was very new as it was being made on digital.

"It brought back difficult memories revisiting it, as it was so intense at the time and I was just trying to remain true to myself.

"Being the most commercial female pop star at the time and wanting to write really dark material doesn't go hand in hand."

The 54-year-old's varied career has included acting roles, appearances in musicals, TV presenting and a lengthy pop career that saw her have chart hits with the likes of Thunder In The Mountains and I Want To Be Free.

That success also saw her enjoy fame at a young age, meaning she sympathises with modern stars such as Rihanna.

"When I had that level of success the paparazzi were only just starting, so I wasn't being followed 24 hours a day, which I think must ensure severe mental issues for people who undergo that," she says.

"Fame today is a frightening thing. I've had some incredible friendship and generosity as a result of it but today it's so aggressive and young people have a really tough time."

She did have challenges to face, though. The fact she was an actress as well as a musician led to her being sneered at by certain sections of the music press, even though she was always adamant that she loved singing as much as acting.

And Toyah believes that simply being imaginative is what keeps her happy.

"I think being creative is incredibly important to me," she explains.

"At the stage I am in my life I want to be creative rather than feeling I'm just a puppet, so with my other band, the Humans, that's purely experimental and very satisfying, more satisfying than anything else. But I love acting, and I always will."

The Humans are Toyah's other current project, and have already released two albums of experimental rock music.

She believes their third record will be more commercial, while they took advantage of some help from a couple of rock heavyweights recently.

"We got back from Seattle two weeks ago, and the new stuff will be out by the spring," she says.

"It's going to surprise everyone because it's commercial, it's like X-Ray Spex meets the Mamas and the Papas.

"Seattle was fabulous as Pearl Jam let us use their studio, and we used the equipment of Death Cab For Cutie to record with, as we wanted a certain sound."

She's used to surprising people, of course, and points back to The Changeling as an example of that. However, she admits it was an album that she wasn't aware was so popular until after the fact.

"This album was cited as being at the beginning of the Gothic movement and it's only now that I've had a taste of how popular it was, because as soon as you made an album you were off on tour and then promoting new singles," she says.

AND she went on: "Going out on tour has been fantastic as I'm getting to love it in a new light."

And after all the stress and hassle, it seems she's finally found herself being content with life.

"I manage myself, which makes life a lot easier," she adds. "I'm not very good at someone telling me what to do every day, so it took a long time to realise that.

"I work for myself and that means an awful lot to me, so I do enjoy things much more now, although one day off work and I'm crawling up the walls with boredom!"

l Toyah, Classic Grand, Friday October 12, £19:50, 7pm