-By Kim Parnell-
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Toni Childs is as creatively energised today as she was when she first burst onto the international music scene.
Currently touring and preparing the release of three new songs, the artist is also, as she puts it, ” working out a strategy and timing to basically pollinate 17 countries.” It is a fittingly ambitious undertaking for an artist whose distinctive voice and emotionally rich songwriting continue to resonate with audiences around the world.
The excitement of creating music remains as powerful as ever.
Toni has spent decades connecting with audiences around the world through songs that explore love, resilience, healing and self-discovery.
Toni’s breakthrough album Union introduced her music to a global audience and produced enduring hits including Don’t Walk Away and Stop Your Fussin’. Looking back, she still vividly remembers the moment she learned the album would be supported by her record label.
“I was working in a toy store, and I knew that the A&M Records executives were listening to my album Union,” she recalled.
“I got a call from the head of A&M and he said, ‘You made an incredible album.’ I burst into tears. Then he said, ‘We’re going to put our full weight behind what you’ve made.’
“I was just gobsmacked really.
“I felt like I really made a good record, but you don’t know what other people are going to think of it. My dream as a little peanut was that I wanted it to go global, and it was coming true.”
More than three decades later, the songs continue to resonate.
“You hope your music will stand the test of time,” she said. “I feel like that’s happened across the board and I’m so humbly grateful.
“What’s incredible is that we lived it during these times. These are intimate stories about my life and how I’m making sense of things that are sometimes hard to make sense of — the pain, the joy, the beauty and the wish.
“At the time, it made me feel like I’m not alone in my feelings.”
While some artists spend their careers revisiting past successes, Toni sees herself entering a new creative chapter.
“I think I was born for this time right now because the new stuff is, oh my God, it’s like a positivity heart reset against the trials and tribulations of life,” she said.
“I’m hitting all those notes now, but with love with swagger. It’s got swagger.
“I can say now as an artist, I’m a master songwriter. I’ve earned those stripes and I’m really grateful.”
That willingness to keep evolving has taken Toni in unexpected directions. During her years living in Hawaii, she became involved in environmental projects, artistic installations and even created an underwater concert experience inspired by a vivid dream she had at 21.
“In my dream, I met myself 1,000 years in the future and she stayed with me my whole life,” Toni said.
“It took me a year to learn how to sing what came out of me. I felt like that future self was singing through me, and actually singing to my husband Mik and I.”
Through every chapter, music has remained both her creative outlet and her way of making sense of life.
“Music has been my healing from the start,” she said.
“Before I sang, I wrote. Pen to paper. I would craft stories.
“It was always related to trying to make sense of what I was actually experiencing in my little life.”
That search for meaning became even more significant when health challenges forced her to step away from the industry. Toni was diagnosed with Graves’ disease and later discovered she was suffering from mercury poisoning; this led to her move to the Hawaiian island of Kauai to focus on healing.
“I felt like a failure that I couldn’t continue in my career,” Toni said.
Then an unexpected encounter changed everything.
Women’s rights activist Eve Ensler encouraged her to write an anthem that would inspire people to end violence against women and girls.
The result was Because You’re Beautiful, a song that became a catalyst for Toni’s return to performing.
She soon discovered the song was having a profound impact on audiences.
“I would look at the women in the audience, and it felt like many had left themselves on the side of the road and forgotten to go back and get themselves, it was heartbreaking” she said.
“I’d invite them onto the stage and sing to them. Every theatre, every town, the reaction was the same.”
Those intimate moments reinforced Toni’s belief in the power of connection through music.
“My shows give us a chance to come together and really feel that,” she said.
“By the time you leave the show, we’re carrying a different kind of frequency. We’re connected in a different way.”
It’s that same connection she hopes to bring to audiences when she performs at the Sounds of Rock Festival in Hervey Bay on September 19.
For Toni, festivals offer the chance to reach people who may be experiencing her music live for the first time.
“I like it because it gives me a chance to pollinate a lot of people that may not have been in my vibe in a live way,” she said.
“We get to connect on another level.
After decades of touring, creating and reinventing herself, Toni Childs remains driven by the same thing that inspired her from the beginning — authentic connection.
Her songs may have started as personal reflections, but they have become shared experiences for audiences across generations.
The festival lineup also includes:
Pete Murray
The Screaming Jets
Diesel
The Black Sorrows
Pseudo Echo
Richard Clapton
1927
Get your tickets now: www.soundsofrockfestival.com.au.
(Cover image: Toni Childs -Retrospective, Toowoomba – Photo Rae Mitchell)
