Union |
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Released: June 10, 1988 Peak: 63 US, 73 UK, 8 AU Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Genre: adult alternative rock |
Tracks:Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts.
Songs written by Toni Childs and David Ricketts unless noted otherwise. Total Running Time: 44:52 |
Rating: 4.201 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings)
Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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About Toni ChildsToni Childs was born in 1957 in Orange, California. She grew up in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nevada in a religious household where she wasn’t allowed to listen to pop music or go to the movies. Ate age 15, she saw Pink Floyd in concert and ran away from home to pursue a career as a singer/songwriter. W-CIn 1979, she subbed for Terri Nunn for a few of Berlin’s shows when she was unavailable. She formed the band Toni & the Movers, who toured for two years but didn’t release an album. In 1981, she signed a song publishing deal with Island Music and moved to London. She worked with a variety of musicians before moving to Los Angeles in 1985 and signing a deal with A&M Records. She provided backing vocals on David + David’s 1986 album Boomtown. W-C Solo Album SuccessChilds finally released her first solo album, Union, in 1988. It eventually achieved gold status in the United States and went to #1 in New Zealand. In Australia, four songs from the album charted – two reached the top 20. She received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.At the Forefront of the New Female Singer/Songwriter MovementThe album “announced a bold, incendiary new voice in the singer/songwriter sweepstakes in Toni Childs.” AM It arrived ate the beginning of a growing movement of female singer/songwriters who wrote raw, confessional songs that traversed the territory between alternative rock and folk rock that would be celebrated in the late ‘90s with the Lilith Fair festival.
About the AlbumChilds wrote or co-wrote all the songs, drawing on “the vast experiences of her life and delivers them with an urgency that is hypnotically compelling.” AM It “was an infusion of rock/pop and world music with…strong African percussion.” WKThe album was impacted by her relationship with songwriting collaborator David Ricketts, half of the David + David duo for whom she’d proved backing vocals. Time magazine “praised Childs’ originality and the craftsmanship of Union” WK and 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.” WK The album is also “aided by first-rate backing by… drummer Rick Marotta and guitarist David Rhodes.” AM “It’s all tied together by David Tickle’s production.” AM “Don’t Walk Away”The single Don’t Walk Away “kicks things off in high gear and Childs rarely looks back. Her take-no-prisoners vocal drives the funky, horn-driven track, which is backed by the gospel swell of the background vocalists.” AM The song garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
Other Songs“Although the rest of the album is a little more sedate, Childs never loses the urgent edge to her dusky voice. Stop Your Fussin’ is sung to a restless lover over a Caribbean rhythm and Hush has a playful bounce to it.” AM “Zimbabwae is a parable detailing African strife complete with chanting background vocals and Dreamer provides her with a bed of keyboards that shimmer like stars.” AM It “is riveting right through the moody poetry of the final track, Where’s the Ocean?” AM |
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First posted 1/17/2009; last updated 12/3/2024. |
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