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.
[3] In 1979, Childs performed several live shows with the band Berlin whilst their singer, Terri Nunn, was unavailable.
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.
While in London, Childs played with various musicians in various band configurations: David Rhodes (who had worked with Peter Gabriel), Mike Cotzi (Shriekback), Martin Swaine (The Waterboys, World Party), Steve Creese (World Party), and Duncan Kilburn (The Psychedelic Furs).
Recorded in London, Paris and Swaziland, the album was an infusion of rock/pop and world music with its strong African percussion.
In 1989, Childs recorded a cover version of Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" as part of the soundtrack for the film Lost Angels.
[6] The title track was featured on the "Thelma & Louise" soundtrack, and instrumental excerpts from "Heaven's Gate" have been used in American television shows.
[citation needed] 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.
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).
Although she was nominated for another Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Performance, the album sold poorly because Gary Gersh her original A&R man left Geffen to become head of Capitol Records and hire her then manager Perry Watts-Russell to head Capitol's A&R, and Childs was again left without a record label.
In 1996, The Very Best of Toni Childs was released, becoming the fifth-biggest-selling album of 1996 in Australia[10] on the back of the re-release of her cover of Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross", which she recorded in 1989.
Childs resided in Hawaii where she made a recovery from Graves' disease and slowly re-entered into performing live and recording.
At a surprise appearance in October 2006, Childs took the stage at Darcy's Pub in Victoria, British Columbia, at an "open mic" night.
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".
In 2013, she contributed a foreword to 101 Vagina, a crowd-funded book published in Melbourne and designed to break down taboos surrounding the female body.