Thank God It's Toby Highlights

George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam AKA Boy Meets Girl have given 'How WIll I Know' a bubbly new twist in celebration of Whitney Houston's incredible career - a story that is being told in the forthcoming biopic 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' - released globally in cinemas on 21 December. 

This brand new mix will be available as one of the bonus tracks on the vinyl release of the 2021 EP 'Five' released under their famous moniker Boy Meets Girl. The EP is unmistakably THEM, and on the B side, it includes instrumental and alternate mixes of the tracks.  Their prolific style produced some of the biggest global hits ever, including Boy Meets Girl's #1 song 'Waiting For A Star To Fall' and of course Whitney's #1 hits  'How Will I Know' and 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)'.  Chiming throughout, it's this sound that made them one of the most sought after songwriting duos of the 80s and 90s.

George and Shannon's influence on Whitney's career cannot be understated. Her 1995 release 'How Will I Know' written by the duo, was the song that sent Whitney Houston's career stratospheric and helped make her the global superstar that we know and love today. Then in 1997, when her star could not rise any higher, or so it was thought, a second song written by George and Shannon was released - 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)' - hitting the top of the charts all over the world, it ripped up dance floors, sent kitchen discos into overdrive and this song, alongside 'How Will I Know' and Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' - unquestionably became tracks that are synonymous with Whitney's career and her incredible voice.

In their own words, George and Shannon share the incredible lives of these tracks and how they felt when they first saw the Whitney biopic...

"'How Will I Know' was written in our funky little Venice, California garage, roughly 1984. Written for Janet Jackson (she passed on it as she was about to release her groundbreaking Control album), Brenda Andrews at Irving Music played the demo for A&R icon Gerry Griffith who was songhunting for a "new young singer". Gerry convinced Clive Davis, and Clive chose the song as one of the featured tracks for Whitney's first album; he chose as producer Narada Michael Walden. Narada made significant musical additions to the song and took it to new heights with his punchy bright production. Soon after, a phone call came from friends Alan and Preston Glass, in the studio with Narada after Whitney's vocal session. "You gotta hear this!", and they held the phone up to the speakers and blasted the opening bars of 'How Will I Know'... I think we about fell on the floor! The track and Whitney's voice were SO powerful. It was one of the great moments, and still is a thrill to hear our song over the sound system in a grocery store or being sung by generations of contestants on American Idol or The Voice, and we are forever grateful to Fate for aligning so perfectly!

"As a follow up, Clive requested that we write another song for Whitney's second album. 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)' was the song that emerged. By that time, of course we understood the soulful and joyous impact of Whitney's voice and were better able to tailor something for her. Clive liked the demo straight off, and again Narada was the producer. And Whitney the unmatchable singer, so we knew everything was in the best hands. It's hard to explain the feeling of having written such time-tested hits, because once a song leaves the studio and goes out into the world, it belongs to the performer and the listeners and fans; and you as songwriter have to let go. If you're lucky, and we were, it has a life and momentum all its own as it rolls through the world becoming more"

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Neil Stevenson's book 'The Email From God' was inspired by a growing passion and concern throughout his life about how unsustainable humans are, and how much damage we are doing to the natural world. Many non-fiction books have been written on the subject, but never a novel that comprehensively addresses all of the issues. Neil became particularly concerned, that even with climate conferences and global targets, humans are still not acting quickly enough. It seems that nothing can force us to do what is so desperately needed. He hatched the idea of a god forcing us to do what is needed, and a terrible headache for those who resist. He also wanted to make the book appear as if it has been compiled by people living in our future, so that they could compare their much better, more sustainable world, with our many present-day global problems. This led to Neil developing the idea of a credible time machine, capable of sending a tiny silicon chip back in time. This required researching what is currently known about the possibility of time travel.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Born in Omaha, Paul Stephenson spent his youth growing up in Wyoming, his adolescence in the Colorado Rockies and his young adulthood pursuing his Bachelor’s Degree at Luther College. He started his professional life as a paralegal which lead him into government work where he ran the nationally recognized Colorado judicial collection investigator program. He has also been recognized as a certified trainer through Mountain States Employers Council. When he’s not gathering all the good sense he can find from the ‘salt of the earth', he spends his time as a corporate trainer.

The Tenth: 7 Steps to Taking Back Control of Your Money and Being a Faithful Steward looks at what stewardship means to us. Is it filling out a pledge card each Fall? Or writing a check each week? Or returning to God a portion of what He has first given to us? Or, does stewardship challenges us to assume the posture of one who serves? The Tenth helps to answer these questions. It also gives helpful tips on taking back control of your money, financial attitude and how it’s okay to be wealthy.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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You’ve heard of teabags, T-shirts and T-rex….but have you heard of T Levels?

The first T Levels were launched in 2020 - they are two-year courses taken after GCSEs, which combine classroom learning with an industry placement and broadly equate to three A Levels.

T Levels provide an important route into engineering and tech careers. They offer young people an introduction to the sector they’re interested in working in and help them contextualise their classroom learning as well as provide a route into employment, higher-level apprenticeships or higher education.

However, awareness of T Levels among young people, their parents and teachers remain low according to a report from EngineeringUK.

The report found that 63% of young people don’t know what they are.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Steve Hewlett is a ventriloquist from Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. He was a finalist on the seventh series of Britain's Got Talent. Hewlett has previously headlined Cromer Pier.

He auditioned with a puppet called 'Arthur Lager', depicted as an old man with grey hair. Hewlett's audition was aired in a montage on 18 May 2013. He made it through, and subsequently through to the semi-finals. He appeared again in the semi-final on 1 June with Arthur Lager, and a puppet designed to resemble Simon Cowell, one of the judges. The routine involved Arthur flirting with Amanda Holden. He finished in the top three, and with eventual winners Attraction already through to the final, it was down to the judges to choose the second place in the final between Hewlett and Jordan O'Keefe. It was a split decision, so it was referred back to the public vote, revealing that with 15.1% of the vote, O'Keefe was through to the final, compared to Hewlett's 12%. This left six singing acts in the final, which generated complaints; Holden defended this, and the number of singers on the show, saying "We left it to the public, they wanted Jordan so that was the right decision. You can't argue with the public's decision."

However, earlier in the week, it was revealed that the judges would choose a wildcard act out of the third-placed finishers to compete in the final. Hewlett was seen as the popular choice. It was revealed on the night that Hewlett was indeed the wildcard. He performed again in the final with Arthur Lager (now wearing a Onesie) and the puppet of Simon Cowell (wearing a swimsuit and life jacket), as well as a puppet of Sinitta, along with a musical number in the shape of "We Go Together" from Grease at the end, involving the Simon and Sinitta puppets. Despite rave reviews from the judges, Hewlett finished fourth, just narrowly missing out on the top three with 14.7% of the vote, compared to Richard & Adam's 15.4%.

It was revealed the day after the final that Hewlett had been signed to the entertainment agency ROAR Global. In 2014, Hewlett led a team of challengers on the TV quiz show Eggheads. He took the puppet Arthur Lager with him. Going Solo In 2016 Steve appeared as a guest on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing reading Terms & Conditions with his new sidekick Rod Vegas.

Also in 2016, Hewlett supported Kenny G on his UK tour in Manchester, Birmingham ending at London’s Royal Albert Hall which was followed by touring America & England in the Andy Williams Christmas Extravaganza with The Osmonds.

He also supported Jimmy Osmond on his Moon River & Me Tour in a week's residence at Falls Casino, Niagara Falls, Canada in 2017.

His first UK Tour ‘Thinking Inside The Box’ was filmed in The Haymarket Basingstoke and 2nd ‘30 Years of talking To Myself‘ was filmed at Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach in 2018.

From November 5th to December 23rd 2019 Steve proudly returned & hosted The Thursford Spectacular in Norfolk for the 4th time. His characters included Arthur Lager, Vinnie the Vulture & a member of the audience twice a day for 7 weeks.

In July 2020 Steve started a new Podcast project ‘Eyes & Teeth’ where Steve talks to his favourite Comedy Icons. Out September...

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Stephen S. Edwards is an Arab-American who had lived his whole life in America, knowing the extent to which Americans are blinded by their own astounding belief in America is the greatest country in the world, despite statistics and experiences proving the contrary. This book doesn’t shy away from proving that America is not at the standing it believes itself to be so in every aspect there is to show.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Tom Martin's autobiography communicates to us the power of the human spirit as he continued to paint and live his life with great humour after being stricken

with chronic progressive multiple sclerosis. The powerful and whimsical paintings that enrich his autobiography often slash through the arrogance and

self-importance of his subjects to communicate their content with power and colour. That Tom ever painted at all and that he continued to paint after being stricken with a debilitating neurological disease were a struggle against odds that should have discouraged the strongest of us. In the face of great adversity, the comic spirit of his art communicated through the vibrating colours and the intense but simple themes cut to the core of the human psyche.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Pennsylvania-based musician and songwriter Daniel Alexander Batista (known professionally as Flizzz) is certainly on the come-up. The young up-and-coming artist delivers an upbeat persona packed with clever wordplay. It’s the kind of bold musical statement that cuts across artificial boundaries — in this case, between underground rap and the experimental netherworld — arriving at something both ethereal and corporeal, grim yet lively. His music is frighteningly innovative and aggressively challenging. Flizzz released his debut album just this year titled ‘Reality, Trippin’. The album dives into the technicality and permission of a talented emcee packed with a melodic punch all around. His latest single ‘The Relapse’ is a standout record with not only a message but executed with strong emotion. It is clear that Flizzz has the ambition and looks to succeed and exceed expectations. His last few singles have been as consistent as his overall drive – an ambitious and committed artist indeed. We look forward to whatever and whenever his next release may be and what he plans to do next!

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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Allan Trautman is an actor and puppeteer, best known for his work with The Jim Henson Company.

Allan began his performing career as an actor, noted for his portrayal of Tarman in the cult classics Return of the Living Dead: Parts One and Two. He went on to puppeteer in such features as Muppets from Space, Cats & Dogs, Babe and Dr. Dolittle (for which he was also performance coordinator). His television puppeteering credits include The Letter People, Greg the Bunny, Unhappily Ever After, Kid-a-Littles, Crank Yankers, Muppets Tonight and Dinosaurs.

In addition to his Muppet credits, Trautman has performed in several Henson Alternative projects, including The Happytime Murders.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

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The author of the book “Marriage Principles” was born on June 18, 1982, in Ogbakiri, Rivers State, Nigeria to a Christian family. He is a committed Christian and currently works in the oil industry as Drilling Services Technical Support Specialist. He is a Bachelor’s degree holder in Computer Engineering and a Diploma holder in Electrical/Electronics Engineering. He has been married to Nita Chinwedu Justice for 8 years and has four adorable children (Wisdom, Faithful, Praise, and Joshua - three boys and a girl) with whom he enjoys sharing life. His late father Sunday Stephen Okwu died in 2009 in Nigeria but his mother Helen Okwu and seven siblings lived in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.