Toni Childs is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-songwriterSinger-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
from
Orange, CaliforniaSouthern California is well-known for year-round pleasant weather: - On average, the warmest month is August. - The highest recorded temperature was in 1985. - On average, the coolest month is December. - The lowest recorded temperature was in 1950...
. She has released four studio albums and is best known for her songs "Don't Walk Away" (a
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
hit in the United States in 1988), "I've Got To Go Now", a Top 5 hit in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1991, and the Emmy-winning "Because You're Beautiful" (released as a single in 2004, and featured on her 2008 album
Keep The Faith). In
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
she has achieved six Top 40 hit singles and three platinum albums.
Early life
Childs was born in
Orange, CaliforniaSouthern California is well-known for year-round pleasant weather: - On average, the warmest month is August. - The highest recorded temperature was in 1985. - On average, the coolest month is December. - The lowest recorded temperature was in 1950...
, but lived in
ArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
,
KansasKansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
,
OklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
and
NevadaNevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
during her childhood. Raised in a household dominated by her parents' religious values, Childs stated in a 1988 article for
Time magazine that she and her three brothers "were not allowed to listen to pop music or rock or even go to the movies. There was a lot I missed out on." At the age of 15, Childs ran away from home and became a
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
musician. In 1972, she saw
Pink FloydPink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
in concert and decided to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter.
Career
In 1979, Childs performed several live shows with the band
BerlinBerlin is an American New Wave/Synthpop band. The group was formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by John Crawford . The band contained Crawford, Terri Nunn , David Diamond , Ric Olsen , Matt Reid and Rod Learned . Learned left during the first EU tour and was replaced by Rob Brill...
whilst their singer, Teri Nunn, was unavailable. Her first band of note,
Toni and the Movers, included Jack Sherman (later to become a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Micki Steele (later a member of the Bangles). The Los Angeles-based band performed and toured for two years but did not release an album. In the summer of 1981, after The Movers had disbanded, Childs performed various improvised sets of music at Madame Wong's West and the Madam Wong's clubs in Los Angeles under the name
Nadia Kapiche with musicians including Steve Schiff (guitar), Micki Steele (bass), Mark Buchholtz (keyboards/sax), Richard Larsen (keyboards/sax), and drummer Stan Getts. Demo (recording) sessions were also done in Hollywood with most of this band, with Ed Warnecke on drums. Childs was still searching for her niche. She has said, "I didn't know who I was, and I realized I was trying to grab the brass ring like everybody else. I wanted to become a better songwriter and I knew I just didn't know enough to be signed. That's when I went to Island Music publishing, and asked them to sign me and send me to England."
In 1981, she signed a song publishing deal with Island Music which financed her move to London. There she lived in an empty office of a local recording studio, sweeping floors and dusting consoles in exchange for rent and recording experience. While in London, Childs played with various musicians in various band configurations: David Rhodes (who has works with Peter Gabriel), Mike Cotzi (Shreikback), Martin Swaine (The Waterboys, World Party), Steve Creese (World Party) and Duncan Kilburn (The Psychedelic Furs). During her stay in the vitally global music scene of early-80s London, the seeds of
world musicWorld music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
were planted, later to be heard on Child's first album. In 1983, Childs provided backing vocals on Scottish band
The EuropeansThe Europeans were a British group formed in 1981. They released three albums, none of which achieved much in terms of chart position. The band are perhaps best known for their lead vocalist and keyboard player, Steve Hogarth, who went on to greater things as vocalist with Marillion...
' track "A.E.I.O.U". Band member
Steve HogarthSteve Hogarth also known as "h", is the lead vocalist and occasional keyboardist/guitarist with the British rock band Marillion. Hogarth was formerly a keyboard player and co-lead vocalist with The Europeans and vocalist with How We Live...
later returned the favour by doing the same on Childs' debut album
Union.
In 1985, after returning to Los Angeles, Childs was signed to
A&M RecordsA&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
and soon began to work with songwriter/producer/musician
David RickettsDavid Ricketts is an American musician and record producer.Ricketts scored hits in the mid 1980s with David Baerwald in their group David & David, notably the track "Welcome to the Boomtown" from their only album Boomtown.His failed relationship with singer Toni Childs formed the basis for her...
(of
David & DavidDavid & David was an American rock duo composed of Los Angeles-based studio musicians David Baerwald and David Ricketts. They were best known for their debut single "Welcome to the Boomtown" from the album Boomtown. The single reached #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986 and #8 on the Billboard Top...
) on the soundtrack for the film
Echo Park, and provided backing vocals for David & David's album
Boomtown, on a track titled "Ain't So Easy".
Union
In 1988, Childs' debut album
Union was released. Recorded in London, Paris and Swaziland, the album was an infusion of rock/pop and world music with its strong African percussion. The album garnered considerable critical acclaim, and though it peaked at #63 in the US, it was certified gold in 1995 by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) for having shipped 500,000 units (with 180,000 of these recorded since Soundscan began tracking sales in 1991). It also enjoyed two weeks at #1 in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and was certified 5x platinum there (75,000 copies). Later that year, Childs was nominated for two Grammy Awards — Best New Artist and Best Rock Vocal Performance (female). Her first national tour was opening for
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. The single "Stop Your Fussing" was a major single hit in various countries including South Africa where it was named the 7th biggest selling single of 1989.
As with all of her albums, Childs wrote or co-wrote all the tracks for
Union. She embarked on a relationship with her
Union collaborator David Ricketts, living and working together, and the songs on
Union have much to do with their relationship. In a 1988 article that praised Childs' originality and the craftsmanship of
Union,
Time magazine said, "if she can get an album like Union from a single relationship, the music she makes from the rest of her life should really be extraordinary".
In 1989, Childs recorded a cover version of
Jimmy CliffJimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...
s' "
Many Rivers to Cross- Song information :This is one of the few Cliff tracks to use an organ, which helps to supplement the gospel feel provided by the backing vocalists. Cliff released the song, with production work by Leslie Kong, on his 1969 album, Jimmy Cliff. It was also released on the 1972 soundtrack album for...
" as part of the soundtrack for the film
Lost AngelsLost Angels is a movie starring Donald Sutherland and Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys. It was released in 1989 and is an independent film. The movie was directed by Hugh Hudson and written by Michael Weller. It was filmed in and around San Antonio, Texas, that city "standing in" for Los Angeles...
.
House of Hope
Her follow-up album
House of Hope yielded a large hit in Australia with "I've Got To Go Now", but it did not sell well in the US and she was dropped from the A&M label. According to Soundscan,
House of Hope has sold 203,000 units in the US since its release in 1991. The title track was featured on the
Thelma and LouiseThelma & Louise is a 1991 film co-produced and directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri, the film's plot revolves around Thelma and Louise's escape from their troubled and caged lives. It stars Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise, and co-stars Harvey Keitel as a...
soundtrack, and instrumental excerpts from "Heaven's Gate" have been used in American television shows. The album covered some rather dark ground — such as domestic abuse in "I've Got To Go Now", world troubles in "House of Hope", incest and sexual abuse in the harrowing "Daddy's Song", addiction in "Where's The Light" and "Put This Fire Out", and death in "Heaven's Gate", "Dead Are Dancing", and "Three Days". Of the album, Childs stated she believed that "when we have the courage to share our darkest parts and our purest nature with each other we are evolution in action. We are creating our own 'House of Hope'". Like its predecessor, it achieved platinum status in New Zealand.
The Woman's Boat
Following her departure from
A&MA&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, Childs was signed by
DGC RecordsDGC Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and currently operates as an auxiliary label of Interscope Records.-Company history:...
, a subsidiary of
Geffen RecordsGeffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
. She then released her third album,
The Woman's Boat, in 1994. The album's emphasis on femininity and womanhood was framed by the opening track "Womb" and the closing track "Death". Cameos on the album from
Peter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
,
Robert FrippRobert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
, and
Zap MamaZap Mama is a Belgian musical group founded and led by Marie Daulne. Daulne says her mission is to be a bridge between the European and the African and bring the two cultures together with her music...
echoed the world beat of her earlier albums.
The Woman's Boat featured more programming and computer-based textures than the previous two albums, notably "Welcome To The World" and the single "Lay Down Your Pain", and it contains some darker tracks such as "Predator" and "I Just Want Affection", mixed with mellow highlights "Long Time Coming" and "I Met A Man" (featuring Peter Gabriel). While the album did not elicit a lot of reviewer response,
QQ is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine described it as "epic" in its scope. Although she was nominated for another Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Performance, the album sold poorly, and Childs was again left without a recording label. Accordingly to Soundscan,
The Woman's Boat has sold 66,000 units in the US since its release in 1994.
In 1995, Childs was featured on the soundtrack to the film
Boys On The Side Boys on the Side is a 1995 comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross . It stars Whoopi Goldberg, Drew Barrymore and Mary-Louise Parker as three friends on a cross-country road trip...
singing a cover of Al Green's "
Take Me To The River"Take Me to the River" is a 1974 song written by singer Al Green and guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges. Hit versions were recorded by both Syl Johnson and Talking Heads...
", although the song was not included on the soundtrack album and has never been commercially released.
In 1996,
The Very Best Of Toni Childs was released, becoming the fifth biggest-selling album of 1996 in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on the back of the re-release of her cover of Jimmy Cliff's "
Many Rivers to Cross- Song information :This is one of the few Cliff tracks to use an organ, which helps to supplement the gospel feel provided by the backing vocalists. Cliff released the song, with production work by Leslie Kong, on his 1969 album, Jimmy Cliff. It was also released on the 1972 soundtrack album for...
", which she recorded in 1989. The "Best of" collection also became her third platinum-selling top-10 album in New Zealand. She retired from touring in 1997 after developing
Graves' diseaseGraves' disease is an autoimmune disease where the thyroid is overactive, producing an excessive amount of thyroid hormones...
and starting the "Dream a Dolphin" charity.
"Because You're Beautiful" and Keep The Faith
Eve EnslerEve Ensler is an American playwright, performer, feminist and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues.- Personal life :...
, the founder of
V-DayV-Day, February 14th, is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls inspired by Eve Ensler's play, The Vagina Monologues. The movement was started in 1998 by author, playwright and activist Eve Ensler. Ensler has been quoted as saying that it was women's reactions to the...
, met Childs in early 2003 when Childs was performing in a production of Ensler's
The Vagina MonologuesThe Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at AFRICA in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production which was produced by David Stone, Nina Essman, Dan Markley, The Araca Group, Willa Shalit, Mike Skipper...
in Kauai, Hawaii. Ensler was already a fan of Childs' music, which she claims had a profound impact on her and had been a lifeline. Ensler asked Childs to write an anthem for her documentary
Until The Violence Stops. Childs wrote and released a song entitled "Because You're Beautiful", which was awarded the 2004
Emmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Music & Lyrics.
Childs now resides in
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
where she has made a recovery from Graves' disease and has slowly re-entered into performing live and recording. In a surprise appearance, in October 2006, Childs took the stage at Darcy's Pub in
Victoria, British ColumbiaVictoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
at an "open mic" night.
She has recorded an album entitled
Keep the Faith, which has seen her once again team up with David Ricketts who collaborated with her on her critically acclaimed debut album twenty years earlier. The album drew heavily from material Childs wrote in the mid 1990s and she has stated that
Keep The Faith is "an apt title given personal and world events". It consisted of eleven new songs and the track "Because You're Beautiful". Originally available direct from the artist,
Keep The Faith is distributed on general release in the United States by 429 Records (part of the Savoy group of record companies) as of January 2009. It is also available in New Zealand, distributed by MGM Distribution Pty Ltd. The album was released in Australia in August 2008, featuring first single "One Life". Childs performed a concert tour of the country in September 2008, and again there (with
Jackson BrowneJackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
) in February/March 2009.
Albums
- Union
Union is the debut album of the American singer/songwriter Toni Childs. Released in 1988, the album peaked at #63 in the US . It also peaked at #1 in New Zealand where it was certified 5x Platinum .The album was recorded in London, Paris, and Swaziland...
(1988)(A&M Records)
- House of Hope
House of Hope is the second album by the American singer/songwriter Toni Childs, released in June 1991. It was Childs' second and final album for the A&M label....
(1991)(A&M Records)
- The Woman's Boat
The Woman's Boat is the third album by the American singer/songwriter Toni Childs. Released in 1994, it was Childs' first and only album for the Geffen Records label and would be her last studio album for fourteen years....
(1994)(DGC Records)
- Keep the Faith (2008-9)(429 Records/SLG/Cooking Vinyl)
Compilation albums
- Lay Down Your Pain CD Maxi-Single (1994)(Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
)
- The Very Best of Toni Childs (1996)(Polydor/A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
)
- Toni Childs: Ultimate Collection (2000) - (Hip-O Records).
Singles
| Year |
Title |
Chart positions |
Album |
| AUS The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
|
AUT |
GER The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...
|
NLD |
NZ |
UK The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
|
US The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
|
US Mod Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
|
US D/CP |
| 1988 |
"Stop Your Fussin’" |
17 |
30 |
17 |
45 |
5 |
95 |
— |
— |
— |
Union |
| "Don’t Walk Away" |
17 |
— |
40 |
55 |
12 |
53 |
72 |
17 |
— |
| 1989 |
"Zimbabwae" |
— |
7 |
— |
— |
31 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "Many Rivers to Cross - Song information :This is one of the few Cliff tracks to use an organ, which helps to supplement the gospel feel provided by the backing vocalists. Cliff released the song, with production work by Leslie Kong, on his 1969 album, Jimmy Cliff. It was also released on the 1972 soundtrack album for...
" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
29 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Lost Angels Lost Angels is a movie starring Donald Sutherland and Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys. It was released in 1989 and is an independent film. The movie was directed by Hugh Hudson and written by Michael Weller. It was filmed in and around San Antonio, Texas, that city "standing in" for Los Angeles...
soundtrack |
| 1991 |
"I’ve Got to Go Now" |
5 |
— |
78 |
— |
19 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
House of Hope |
| "House of Hope" |
39 |
— |
— |
— |
27 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| 1992 |
"Heaven’s Gate" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| 1994 |
"Lay Down Your Pain" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
13 |
The Woman's Boat |
| 1995 |
"Fell from a Great Height" (Stephen Cummings Stephen Donald Cummings is an Australian rock singer-songwriter and writer. He was lead singer of Melbourne-based rock band, The Sports, during 1976–1981, followed by a solo career which has met with critical acclaim but has had limited commercial success...
+ Toni Childs) |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Falling Swinger (Stephen Cummings album) |
| 1996 |
"Many Rivers to Cross" (reissue) |
12 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
The Very Best of Toni Childs |
| 2004 |
"Because You’re Beautiful" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
non-album release |
| 2008 |
"One Life" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Keep the Faith |
| 2009 |
"Because You’re Beautiful" (reissue) |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
External links