Toni Childs

Toni Childs association with A&M Records began in 1986 when she met David Ricketts (of David + David) and they collaborated on the Echo Park soundtrack. She also established a management team to support her and created her demo. Her manager sent it to A&M. Childs told Billboard, "A&M called us right away, we had a meeting, ad they said, "You want to use our studio to do more demos?'" After signing, she received approval from A&M to record in Africa and to do overdubs in London and Paris.  

Toni Childs' debut album Union did not receive the kind of press attention she hoped for. A number of women artists released albums around the same time. The media response was to report about them together rather than treating each album and artist as an individual.

Three years later Childs released House Of Hope. She co-produced the album as well as the video for "I've Got to Go Now." She also developed the concept for the video. A&M Records' approach to marketing the album had moved away from radio and toward retail and media. Retail was expanded from music sellers to include boutiques and clothing stores where A&M offered free cassette samplers. The press campaign was directed to style-trend magazines and the sampler was offered in advertisements.