I've been keeping an occasional eye on Toni Childs' website, http://www.tonichilds.com, for years in anticipation of a new album... and finally been rewarded with some good news.

I first discovered Toni Childs because, as longtime DB fans will know, she sang backup vocals on "Welcome to the Boomtown" and then made two albums, "Union" and "House of Hope," with David Ricketts as producer. (I *think* Childs and Ricketts were an item at some point.) And then, after her third album, "The Woman's Boat," things went very quiet for a long time. I gather that Toni battled a crippling disease and it's been a loss to the music world -- I've always thought that her voice and music were as expressive and adventurous as that of Kate Bush and Bjork. But she has since come out on the other side and has finally finished recording a new album titled "Keep the Faith" which was produced by David Ricketts and David Tickel. Soundclips of 4 new songs are available on the website. A year or two back she and Ricketts created a lovely song called "You're Beautiful" for a TV documentary (it's on iTunes) and I wonder whether that will be included on the record... I signed up to her newsletter and it says that she will be touring the world over the next two years. Great news! And it's nice to finally solve the mystery of what the reclusive David Ricketts has been up to of late...

Cheers,

Stephen H