Episode 72 and Wendi and Dfernando's guest interview is legendary multi-award winning singer, dancer, actress, choreographer, and film director Toni Basil.

Toni Basil is a multiple Emmy Award winner and Grammy Award nominee and has choreography and directorial credits on over 50 videos and has choreographed and co-directed concerts for Tina Turner, David Bowie, Bette Midler, David Lee Roth, Mick Jagger as well as many others.  She has also collaborated with Elvis Presley, Talking Heads, to The Muppets. 

In 2008 Toni received Hip Hop International's highest award "Living Legend of Hip Hop." Former recipients include Don “Campbellock” Campbell, Boogaloo Sam, MC Hammer, DJ Kool Herc, and Grandmaster Caz.

Toni is co-founder and one of the 7 original members of the 1970s legendary The Lockers, which now is considered "the group that changed the face of dance." She is recognized as a seminal influence in bringing street dance to the attention of the American public. She is currently writing a book on the history of American Street Dance.

Toni was presented with an Emmy Award for a commercial featuring MC Hammer. She has worked on an incredible range of television programming, from TV Land’s SALUTE TO SOUL TRAIN, NAACP IMAGE AWARDS, NBC TV’s SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, SESAME STREET, and countless music awards shows.

Toni's most notable feature film credits include choreography for such classics as George Lucas’ AMERICAN GRAFFITI, PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED, MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING, to LEGALLY BLONDE. Her subtle choreographic hand was visible throughout Tom Hanks’ directorial debut THAT THING YOU DO!, and more recently in Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film, ONCE UPON TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margo Robbie.

Toni received a double platinum record for her multi-million-selling global smash hit single “Mickey” and a Gold Album for 1981's WORD OF MOUTH album, which also led to Gold Albums in the UK, Canada and Australia. She received a Grammy Award nomination for her WORD OF MOUTH long-form video album, which she conceptualized, produced, choreographed, and directed.

Billboard Magazine's #1 Song for the Month of December 1982, “Mickey” was installed in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as one of the ground-breaking singles of the 1980s. The “Mickey” music video was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in 1992, which earned Toni a place as an American Video Artist in the coveted Museum of Modern Art's calendar.

She starred, co-directed, and choreographed two self-titled BBC-television specials, which were re-aired in record time due to unprecedented audience response, and are credited as launching “Mickey” as a hit single in the U.K. charts and, ultimately, worldwide after appearing in a wide variety of television shows.

Toni has acted in numerous legendary films including EASY RIDER and FIVE EASY PIECES, and has appeared as a dancer in countless films in the 1960s from PAJAMA PARTY to Bob Fosse’s SWEET CHARITY. 

Toni has also directed short art films: GAME OF THE WEEK, A DANCE FILM, OUR TRIP, and THE PING PONG MATCH. Pre-dating music videos, these avant-garde pieces found a new audience and were exhibited at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and New York's Grey Art Gallery.  The L.A. Times noted that filmmaker Toni Basil's deft editing transformed an ordinary ping pong match between Gray and Stockwell (both noted American actors) into an energetic dance routine.

As a classically trained dancer, Toni continues to dance and attend Locking, Hip Hop, and African dance classes by day, and underground dance clubs at night. She has immersed herself in the Latin music and dance scene, and has guest performed singin