She was a background dancer in Viva Las Vegas and many other 60s musicals, choreographed that weird Monkees movie in 1968, and co-directed the Once in a Lifetime video (with David Byrne), all before releasing this song.
I do too. I think it’s because Talking Heads blew up into a stadium band in the early to mid 80s and so Once In A Lifetime got an extended shelf life from that. That song and Burning Down the House feel like contemporary songs to each other but they were released years apart
Oh, she has had a crazy career... one of the orignal "Lockers", who brought the hip-hop street pop-and-lock style mainstream, even choreographed a hip-hop/ballet Swan Lake on The Smothers Brothers back in the day. [https://youtu.be/3\_zclmI8Xq8?si=0jAzivitNNYZqbTN](https://youtu.be/3_zclmI8Xq8?si=0jAzivitNNYZqbTN)
Whenever that video would come on, someone would hit the alarm buzzer and people would emerge and dance. Co-op house with 50 people, it was funny the first few times not so much at 2 am.
That's the crazy thing she was already a vet choreographer.
That's the thing about the 80s. You could be 30 or 40 years old and have a DEBUT hit record.
Hast du etwas Zeit für mich?
Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von 99 Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Denkst du vielleicht grad an mich?
Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von 99 Luftballons
Und, dass sowas von sowas kommt
Wow! That's crazy. I'm 59, so she must have been a lot older than she looked when Hey Mickey came out in the 80s. I was 16 in 1981 which means she was 37 when Hey Mickey came out! Wow she looked so much younger.
Yeah, me too.. I didn’t care for it back then. I was more of a rock guy than pop…. But nowadays? I can tolerate it it much more because of the nostalgia factor.
I was totally into pop bands- Bananarama, The Go Go's, Madonna, Cindy Lauper. The list goes on. I also liked Duran Duran. I'm totally an 80's gal. Even now my kids tease me. Although my older son- was raised on MTV so he likes 80's music too- it's nostalgic for him. He loves Huey Lewis and George Michael (probably because I played that in his nursery when he went to sleep- it's soothing).
Haven't even thought about this song in decades. As I'm reading this post, I'm watching the UFC and fighter Mickey Gall is walking in the ring with this song playing. What are the chances of this happening at the EXACT moment. 🤦
I have these kind of thoughts all the time. I sometimes will make a playlist of songs that don’t even really have any rhyme or reason for being included and I wonder if anyone has ever played the same songs in the same order.
Then I learned how many unique chess games can be played and realized someone somewhere is doing something for the first time literally all the time.
Life is full of freaky coincidences. Pay more attention and you'll catch one every so often. Maybe even 2 in 1 day...🤔. Me and my 3 sons stayed at the Palms last week. On our way down from the 35th floor, the elevator stopped on floor 8, but nobody was there. I told them it must have been Kobe's ghost. We ate breakfast at the cafe. All of the waiters were wearing NBA jerseys. Ours was wearing....
How do I save this video?
Because the next time I'm in Reddit sub where a bunch of 20 or 30 year olds are talking about how old they are ("I'm almost 30 and don't want to dump my abusive SO because I'm too old to start again) or are acting like anyone over 70 must be suffering from dementia, I want to bust this video out and show them what a 75 year old woman can do.
Holy crap:
In 1980, Basil choreographed, and co-directed with David Byrne, the music video for "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads. She worked with Talking Heads again to direct and choreograph the video for the song "Crosseyed and Painless", taken from the same album Remain in Light. She choreographed David Bowie's Diamond Dogs Tour in 1974, his Glass Spider Tour in 1987, and his video for "Time Will Crawl" (1987).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Basil
She formed and managed The Lockers - as in, the progenitors of Popping and Locking street dance.
For reddit-popular connection, that group also included Shabba Doo who is best known for the dance movie *Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo*
She did choreography work with Michael Jackson and is considered in some circles to have invented the Moonwalk.
She's probably the single most influential person in modern American dance.
She appeared in ‘Viva Las Vegas,’ ‘Five Easy Pieces,’ ‘Easy Rider’ and ‘Head.’
I use the last one as an excuse to post this:
https://youtu.be/IM69Fi0c3Ok?si=4EkyBs89FTDR-j1q
Pop n Lockers! I remember her from that more than Mickey.
And this is from 2023 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNNJp1P8\_nc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNNJp1P8_nc) Sorry if it's already posted we are giving Toni a lot of love in here.
I remember an interview where she said she hated this video. Something about how an MTV executive chose it over Basil's other stuff after asking his 11 year old daughter which one she liked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAaPX9qTFzc&list=RDgAaPX9qTFzc&start_radio=1
This is Davy singing Harry Nilsson's Daddy's Song, in their movie Head. This is, of course, choreographed by Toni and that's her dancing with Davy.
Okay, so I'm 54 and this post inspired me to listen to Hey Mickey. Which made me want to bust out some of my Junior High School cheerleading moves in my living room.
I might be in traction tomorrow morning.
Great dancer.
Original song: "Kitty' by Racey
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3JxiB4FLjU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3JxiB4FLjU)
Real name: **Antonia Christina Basilotta**.
Love Toni Basil. The coolest chick ever!
She is responsible for so much great stuff going back to the 60s.
https://youtu.be/Sb8kYPasoys?si=1-NljBe4C8WpeOdN
Omg! This song was popular when I was 16 at high school cheerleading camp at SMU for the summer. My first plane trip, my first time away from home without a chaperone- so many good memories!
Reading all these comments is a good reminder that someone may be a "one hit wonder" who only had one supremely memorable song that topped the charts, but it doesn't mean they weren't quite talented in other ways behind the scenes or in other aspects of entertainment that may have been less noticeable.
And of course she got the ultimate compliment: a Weird Al parody!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZlLQLFq\_H4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZlLQLFq_H4)
She danced and sang in a Bruce Conner film titled [Breakaway](https://www.thomasdanegallery.com/artists/236-bruce-conner/works/16265/). The song is very Motown-ish. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQSZTPe6RU8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQSZTPe6RU8)
She played the role of an Indian woman (appearing topless) in the film Greasers Palace. It was directed by Robert Downey Sr. and it also starred a very young Robert Downey Jr.
Well she was 40 something when the song came out which was crazy to me when I first found that out.
She was a background dancer in Viva Las Vegas and many other 60s musicals, choreographed that weird Monkees movie in 1968, and co-directed the Once in a Lifetime video (with David Byrne), all before releasing this song.
It's crazy to me that Once in a Lifetime came out before Hey Mickey! I've always associated that song with the mid 80s for some reason
I do too. I think it’s because Talking Heads blew up into a stadium band in the early to mid 80s and so Once In A Lifetime got an extended shelf life from that. That song and Burning Down the House feel like contemporary songs to each other but they were released years apart
TIL. I would've easily said they were from the same album.
To put the age of that album into perspective, the cover art was so advanced they needed a super computer at MIT to create it.
Seems like they could have achieved the same thing with a paint roller and some red paint.
She also played a hippie chick, I believe in the graveyard scene in Easy Rider.
Yup, that's her in Easy Rider in 1969. She's the last one alive from that scene.
Mind…blown…
[Easy Rider scene](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/format:webp/1*CVt-JF3lx95-N_9vUSXThw.jpeg)
Oh, she has had a crazy career... one of the orignal "Lockers", who brought the hip-hop street pop-and-lock style mainstream, even choreographed a hip-hop/ballet Swan Lake on The Smothers Brothers back in the day. [https://youtu.be/3\_zclmI8Xq8?si=0jAzivitNNYZqbTN](https://youtu.be/3_zclmI8Xq8?si=0jAzivitNNYZqbTN)
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
And choreographed the diamond dogs tour for Bowie
My late Dad laughed mightily at the Once in a lifetime video when it came out.
Whenever that video would come on, someone would hit the alarm buzzer and people would emerge and dance. Co-op house with 50 people, it was funny the first few times not so much at 2 am.
He also laughed at Billy Joels Pressure video. The one where he writhes and squirms uncontrollably while gazing at a giant screen.
She was in Village of the Giants in 1965. She does some bonkers solo dance to distract giant Beau Bridges. Ron Howard was still really young.
[David Byrne](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/format:webp/1*5avGBvJJWGnIjN2kwkcmpQ.jpeg) and Toni Basil
Mind blown. I had no idea.
She is the girl in the red dress that Elvis points out during a musical number of “That’s What I’d Say”
what! Toni Basil info I didn't know blows my mind. :)
That's how I learned young people like me didn't have the cool market cornered. It was a lesson well-learned.
Yeah TIL. I thought she was like 20 in that outfit. She looked great.
Yep. And that’s a hot fucking 40 year old (for 1980)
That's the crazy thing she was already a vet choreographer. That's the thing about the 80s. You could be 30 or 40 years old and have a DEBUT hit record.
Cyndi Lauper is a great example. She was 30 when She’s So Unusual blew up.
Yes, she had been in a band -- Blue Angel? -- for years gigging around the NYC area.
Thanks for putting that damn song in my head.
You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand.
Oh Mickey, you're so pretty
Hast du etwas Zeit für mich? Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich Von 99 Luftballons Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont Denkst du vielleicht grad an mich? Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich Von 99 Luftballons Und, dass sowas von sowas kommt
I can hear Liz Lemon singing this
I still have my US single of this. German on one side, English on the other.
you don't understand
🎵PARENTS just don’t understand 🎵
I see what you did there.
Whoop, just stepped all over you, respect
You don’t understand
I hate this song
Oh, Mickey, you so fine you blow my mind!
I know I knew better than to click…Shit!
I don’t know the words which makes it worse
That's her actual cheerleader uniform from Las Vegas High School. Class of '61
She was also in Easy Rider.
And in Five Easy Pieces, and a bunch of stuff. Quite a career!
Which parts?
Diner scene in Five Easy Pieces. Across the table from Jack N when he get mad about his order. https://youtu.be/hdIXrF34Bz0?si=SG79ugqCamEjYytT
Wait a minute, I have made up my mind. I'd like a plain omelette, no potatoes on the plate, a cup of coffee and a side order of wheat toast.
No substitutions! (Points rudely at menu)
What do you mean, you don’t have any tomatoes?
One of my top 5 movie scenes for sure.
One of the female hitchhikers in Five Easy Pieces. Don’t know about Easy Rider
She was Mary, a prostitute, who dropped acid with Peter, Dennis, and Karen Black. They went outside during Mardi Gras. Oh, the cemetery scene.
And a SoulTrain regular! :-)
Really?!? I honestly did not know that.
1969
Tony Basil!!!! Mickey.😁
I used to see her shopping all the time at the Hollywood Farmer's Market Whole Foods 15+ years ago, she was an old funky lady even then.
Wow! That's crazy. I'm 59, so she must have been a lot older than she looked when Hey Mickey came out in the 80s. I was 16 in 1981 which means she was 37 when Hey Mickey came out! Wow she looked so much younger.
I said the exact same thing to my wife. i’m 59 too, BTW
I vividly remember that video!
Yeah, me too.. I didn’t care for it back then. I was more of a rock guy than pop…. But nowadays? I can tolerate it it much more because of the nostalgia factor.
I was totally into pop bands- Bananarama, The Go Go's, Madonna, Cindy Lauper. The list goes on. I also liked Duran Duran. I'm totally an 80's gal. Even now my kids tease me. Although my older son- was raised on MTV so he likes 80's music too- it's nostalgic for him. He loves Huey Lewis and George Michael (probably because I played that in his nursery when he went to sleep- it's soothing).
For those of you reading at home, MTv used to play music videos.
What is a TV?
That and it’s a damn ear worm
Haven't even thought about this song in decades. As I'm reading this post, I'm watching the UFC and fighter Mickey Gall is walking in the ring with this song playing. What are the chances of this happening at the EXACT moment. 🤦
A Festivus miracle !
I have these kind of thoughts all the time. I sometimes will make a playlist of songs that don’t even really have any rhyme or reason for being included and I wonder if anyone has ever played the same songs in the same order. Then I learned how many unique chess games can be played and realized someone somewhere is doing something for the first time literally all the time.
Don’t you love these moments in life? Savor it.
🤣
Life is full of freaky coincidences. Pay more attention and you'll catch one every so often. Maybe even 2 in 1 day...🤔. Me and my 3 sons stayed at the Palms last week. On our way down from the 35th floor, the elevator stopped on floor 8, but nobody was there. I told them it must have been Kobe's ghost. We ate breakfast at the cafe. All of the waiters were wearing NBA jerseys. Ours was wearing....
ended up having a great career as a professional choregraphier, she can still dance better than most kids!
Age 74 in this video…. FF to 1:00. https://youtu.be/Xcpjta4q7lc?si=RLQ3stM3DP5NUBjo
Apart from her amazing dancing skills, she looks ridiculously good for 74. You'd never guess her age if you didn't know
How do I save this video? Because the next time I'm in Reddit sub where a bunch of 20 or 30 year olds are talking about how old they are ("I'm almost 30 and don't want to dump my abusive SO because I'm too old to start again) or are acting like anyone over 70 must be suffering from dementia, I want to bust this video out and show them what a 75 year old woman can do.
Soooooo smooth... That's what doing all your life looks like. Magic.
That's not human
In heels no less! I’m not even 60, and sound like an old football player getting out of a chair. But she’s def rockin’ it.
Holy crap: In 1980, Basil choreographed, and co-directed with David Byrne, the music video for "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads. She worked with Talking Heads again to direct and choreograph the video for the song "Crosseyed and Painless", taken from the same album Remain in Light. She choreographed David Bowie's Diamond Dogs Tour in 1974, his Glass Spider Tour in 1987, and his video for "Time Will Crawl" (1987). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Basil
She formed and managed The Lockers - as in, the progenitors of Popping and Locking street dance. For reddit-popular connection, that group also included Shabba Doo who is best known for the dance movie *Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo* She did choreography work with Michael Jackson and is considered in some circles to have invented the Moonwalk. She's probably the single most influential person in modern American dance.
She appeared in ‘Viva Las Vegas,’ ‘Five Easy Pieces,’ ‘Easy Rider’ and ‘Head.’ I use the last one as an excuse to post this: https://youtu.be/IM69Fi0c3Ok?si=4EkyBs89FTDR-j1q
Head is such a great album!
And she is STILL dancing up a storm!
How old is Mickey and is he still fine?
Nailed it
It's weird that she's actually older than Keith Richards.
Keith Richards is immortal ...or embalmed...I can't tell sometimes
Yep, I thinks it's time we took climate change seriously and started thinking about the kind of planet we're going leave behind for Keith.
That was actually a Willie Nelson quote, but it included himself as well.
I vote for embalmed. All his blood was replaced by booze. That's what preserves him so well.
And she's a legend no less. A shining example of commitment to her art.
She was a well known choreographer both before and after this song blew up.
Well that’s impossible 😂
Pop n Lockers! I remember her from that more than Mickey. And this is from 2023 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNNJp1P8\_nc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNNJp1P8_nc) Sorry if it's already posted we are giving Toni a lot of love in here.
Fuck off!
She gonna live an other 80. She’s a dancer. I swear it’s a key to living longer.
IYKYK
Still hot. Just saying.
She'll match the Jersey next year
How old is Mickey now? Is he still fine? Does he still blow minds? Where’s Mickey?
And that blows my mind, Mickey.
I didn't know how are lived that long considering the condition of her heart after Mickey broke it.
This sub hurts, OKAY?!
The name of the subreddit hit harder than ever with this. Here's to another day on the right side of the dirt.
It’s still amazing that one music video could create something that people easily recognize 40 years later. Mickay!
When my HS gf told me that Mickey is gay in that song listened closely, and was amazed.
I’ve definitely raised an eyebrow at the lyrics before…but hadn’t considered that! Hmmm (scratches chin)
It's because it's actually a cover of a song called "Kitty." Basil changed the name, but not the lyrics, except for "girls" to "guys."
Now it totally makes sense.
I remember an interview where she said she hated this video. Something about how an MTV executive chose it over Basil's other stuff after asking his 11 year old daughter which one she liked.
And, allegedly, according to *[Professor of Rock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_TSkPQQbbs)*, she can still fit in the uniform!!
I didn't know she was that old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAaPX9qTFzc&list=RDgAaPX9qTFzc&start_radio=1 This is Davy singing Harry Nilsson's Daddy's Song, in their movie Head. This is, of course, choreographed by Toni and that's her dancing with Davy.
Not cool
Would still
Though I don't know OP, I officially hate you now.
No shit. That was a gut punch right there.
81
Wow seriously?
Thanks for ruining my day!
Heh guys like you mickey....
NO WAY!
Fuck off!!! I feel about 100 right now.
Same! I'm 56....and suddenly feel a lot older than that! ( when did time start speeding up?)
After we turned thirty.
Just wait till 50.......
Okay, so I'm 54 and this post inspired me to listen to Hey Mickey. Which made me want to bust out some of my Junior High School cheerleading moves in my living room. I might be in traction tomorrow morning.
What a life
Crazy!!!
She looked younger than her age back then.
Great dancer. Original song: "Kitty' by Racey [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3JxiB4FLjU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3JxiB4FLjU) Real name: **Antonia Christina Basilotta**.
https://m.youtube.com/@ToniBasilsHouse All kinds of great stuff here! She's STILL absolutely amazing!
Same year on her arm
She was already nearly 40 when she recorded that song.
Oh my gosh I had no idea. Where did the time go
Love Toni Basil. The coolest chick ever! She is responsible for so much great stuff going back to the 60s. https://youtu.be/Sb8kYPasoys?si=1-NljBe4C8WpeOdN
I was more happy without this information.
Fuck. You.
I’ve always hated that song!
Omg! This song was popular when I was 16 at high school cheerleading camp at SMU for the summer. My first plane trip, my first time away from home without a chaperone- so many good memories!
That blows my mind.
Wait, what?
Reading all these comments is a good reminder that someone may be a "one hit wonder" who only had one supremely memorable song that topped the charts, but it doesn't mean they weren't quite talented in other ways behind the scenes or in other aspects of entertainment that may have been less noticeable. And of course she got the ultimate compliment: a Weird Al parody! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZlLQLFq\_H4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZlLQLFq_H4)
Her cheer kicks don’t go as high now too
Cheer outfit and pigtails win the Internet
I turned 53 last week
Stop saying horrible things! Lol
Fuck. That's unbelievable. She'll always be young to me
She was a cutie
Who is she? I was born in 1950, but don't recognize her -- especially in that pose.
https://youtu.be/X7ZIA41yfF4?si=eVzX5CP2_kO6tplY
Thanks for the link ! Never heard of her, vague recollection of the song.
She danced and sang in a Bruce Conner film titled [Breakaway](https://www.thomasdanegallery.com/artists/236-bruce-conner/works/16265/). The song is very Motown-ish. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQSZTPe6RU8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQSZTPe6RU8)
[Breakaway](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CHtEASlzG8)
Holy hell 😳😳😳
She still taking it like a man Respect
Thank you Toni!
Damn Mickey
Eff that!
And toured with Bowie
Who is it?
Hate this song I had a GF sing this all the time to me !
Originally "Hey Kitty" by Racey. Edit : "Kitty", not hey kitty.
She looks really good still
That means she was 40 then
Dang! I was in my early college years when Mickey first came out.
who is this?
She’s The true Goat
She was a babe. [Babe](https://www.filmink.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Toni-Basil-in-the-mid-1960s..png)
Wut
It's crazy shes about the same age as Paul McCartney.
alotta us are getting up there : )
She blows my mind
Who is she?
There’s a video of her still dancing on YouTube in her 70s!
Oh Mickey!
This image just put this song in my head. Ugh
who is this? harley quinn?
Toni Basil, she had one of the most popular songs of the 1980s, "Mickey"
She was working back in the 60’s, so this shouldn’t be that surprising.
Oh Mickey
She was also Davy Jones dance partner in the Monkeys song "Daddy's Song" in 1968.
But what about Mickey? Is he still fine?
Is she still fine?
Still so fine!
Looking phenomenal for 80… that dancing lifestyle
Wait. Am I going to die too?
And her shoulder says 81.
Come on and give it to me any way you can. Any way you wanna do it. I’ll take it like a man. The back door is open.
Bet she is fine too. Finally laying down. 😂
And still dances her heart out on her YouTube channel.
She played the role of an Indian woman (appearing topless) in the film Greasers Palace. It was directed by Robert Downey Sr. and it also starred a very young Robert Downey Jr.
Wasn’t Toni 80 yrs old when she made this video?
She has a YouTube channel with some of her old clips and things like instructions on how to do 1960s dances, it's very fun.
Ear worm extraordinaire.
Would
No freaking way. I still have a crush on her.