Toni Childs “Don’t Walk Away” charted

Don’t Walk Away Toni Childs

Writer(s): Toni Childs, Phil Ramacon (see lyrics here) First Charted: August 6, 1988 Peak: 72 BB, 80 CB, 10 CO, 17 MR, 53 UK, 17 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.3 video, 2.26 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Toni Childs was born in California in 1957. She grew up in a home where they weren’t allowed to go to the movies or listen to pop and rock music. She ran away from home at age 15 to pursue a music career. She had a few gigs subbing for Terri Nunn in some Berlin shows in 1979 and then toured with her band Tori & the Movers for a couple of years. She moved to London in 1981 after signing a publishing deal with Island Music. In 1985, she moved to Los Angeles and signed a deal with A&M Records. She also provided backing vocals on David + David’s 1986 album Boomtown. Both Davids – Baerwald and Ricketts – contributed to writing and production on Childs’ debut album, Union. She moved in with Ricketts the same day she signed to A&M. JC They split by the time she was recording her album, but she said, “I think of this as a David + Toni record.” JC Early entrants into the Lilith Fair genre like Suzanne Vega and Tracy Chapman were strongly rooted in folk-rock. However, debut albums in the summer of 1988 from Toni Childs and Melissa Etheridge served as welcome reminders that full-on rock was not an all-boys club. Never was that more apparent than on “Don’t Walk Away,” the lead track and second single from Union. AllMusic.com’s Tom Demalon says it “kicks things off in high gear” AM while Coffee-for-two.com’s Dan Seeger’s raves about how it puts “the powerhouse vocals of Childs on display.” DS Seeger adds that she is “no dainty singer-songwriter ingenue, but a true belter.” DS Demalon also praises her singing and its impact on the song, saying, “Her take-no-prisoners vocal drives the funky, horn-driven track, which is backed by the gospel swell of the background vocalists.” AM Childs co-wrote the song with Phil Ramacon, who has also collaborated with Jimmy Cliff, Neneh Cherry, and Keb’ Mo.’ The song garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Resources: AM AllMusic.com album review by Tom Demalon JC Jay Cocks (6/8/1988). Time magazine. “Music: Catching the Sweet, Scary Feelings” DS Dan Seeger (7/13/2018). Coffee-for-two.com “One for Friday – Toni Childs, ‘Don’t Walk Away’” Related Links: First posted 1/12/2025.

Toni Childs Union released

Union Toni Childs

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. Don’t Walk Away (Childs, Phil Ramacon) [4:00] (8/6/88, 72 BB, 80 CB, 17 MR, 53 UK, 17 AU, 2 DF) Walk and Talk Like Angels [5:48] (11/88, 70 AU, 14 DF) Stop Your Fussin’ [4:40] (10/88, 21 CO, 95 UK, 17 AU, 11 DF) Dreamer [5:01] (12 DF) Let the Rain Come Down (Childs, Ricketts, David Batteau) [4:51] (13 DF) Zimbabwae [6:18] (2/89, 74 AU, 22 DF) Hush (Childs) [4:04] (16 DF) Tin Drum [5:41] (35 DF) Where’s the Ocean? (Childs) [4:42] (11 DF) 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).

About Toni Childs Toni 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-C In 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 Success Childs 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 Movement The 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 Album Childs 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.” WK The 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

Resources: AM AllMusic.com review by Tom Demalon WK Wikipedia page on Union W-C Wikipedia page on Toni Childs Related DMDB Links: First posted 1/17/2009; last updated 12/3/2024.

Xanadu soundtrack released

Xanadu Olivia Newton-John/ Electric Light Orchestra

Released: June 27, 1980 Peak: 4 US, 2 UK, 4 CN, 16 AU Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, -- UK, 3.07 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop

Tracks: Song Title (Performer) (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Magic (Olivia Newton-John) (5/23/80, 1 US, 1 AC, 32 UK, 1 CN, 4 AU, gold single) Suddenly (Olivia Newton-John with Cliff Richard) (10/24/80, 20 US, 4 AC, 15 UK, 6 CN, 37 AU) Dancin’ (Olivia Newton-John with the Tubes) Suspended in Time (Olivia Newton-John) Whenever You’re Away from Me(Olivia Newton-John with Gene Kelly) I’m Alive (Electric Light Orchestra) (5/24/80, 16 US, 20 UK, 10 CN, 27 AU, gold single) The Fall (Electric Light Orchestra) Don’t Walk Away (Electric Light Orchestra) (11/22/80, 21 UK) All Over the World (Electric Light Orchestra) (8/2/80, 13 US, 11 UK, 16 CN, 78 AU) Xanadu (Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra) (6/6/80, 8 US, 2 AC, 1 UK, 6 CN, 2 AU) Total Running Time: 41:34

Rating: 3.529 out of 5.00 (average of 10 ratings) Quotable: -- Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: I turned 13 in 1980. That meant, among other things, that my musical tastes were just beginning to form and that my hormones were just beginning to stir. Even in my early adolescence, I was able to see that a roller-skating fantasy movie starring Olivia Newton-John was a laughable idea. After the monstrous success of Grease, it was a no-brainer to put ONJ in another music-fuelled movie, but this was not the right choice. Regardless of how bad the movie was, I was head-over-heels infatuated with ONJ. I also was just becoming enamored with pop radio and becoming one of the record-buying public. As a child of the ‘80s, I started out with eight-tracks before moving to cassettes and eventually CDs, but the soundtrack to Xanadu held a special place in my personal music history as my first cassette purchase. Musically, the soundtrack sounded like an idea as bad as the movie. Half were songs by Olivia Newton-John and half by Electric Light Orchestra. What act of lunacy drove anyone to think it was a good idea to pair an Australian country-turned-pop singer with a prog-rock-oriented British rock band? Critical reviews aside, the record-buying public anointed the project with its approval. Five singles from the album reached the top 20 in the U.S., including the #1 song Magic. Six songs hit the top 40 in the UK, including the #1 title song, which paired ONJ and ELO. In addition to that collaboration, Olivia duets with “British luminary Cliff Richard” AMG on Suddenly, a song which “seems better than most love themes.” AMG Whenever You’re Away from Me puts her together with Gene Kelly, who gave his final film performance in this movie, capping an outstanding career with a career lowlight. The oddest mix, however, is “the doomed swing/rock hybrid Dancin’,” AMG which the “appearance of the Tubes almost saves…but the two styles should never meet.” AMG In addition to the title cut, ELO served up three more charting singles with I’m Alive, All Over the World, and Don’t Walk Away. The latter song and “The Fall stand as two of Jeff Lynne’s finest.” AMG This was definitely a work tied to a specific era and it doesn’t hold any long-term value beyond nostalgia. However, if you were 13-years-old and in love with pop radio and Olivia Newton-John, this is a work which, however laughable, will always hold a special place.

Resources and Related Links: Olivia Newton-John’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry Electric Light Orchestra’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry AMG All Music Guide review by Doug Stone WK Wikipedia First posted 10/14/2020; last updated 6/7/2021.