"Stop Your Fussin" is a song by American-Australian singer-songwriter

Toni Childs Toni Childs (born October 29, 1957) is an American-born, Australian singer-songwriter. Early life Childs was born in Orange, California, and lived in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Nevada during her childhood. Raised in a household dominated b ...

from her first studio album, '' Union'' (1988). Childs wrote the song with David Ricketts, and they both co-produced the track with

David Tickle David Tickle (born 6 September 1959) is a British record producer and engineer. As a producer, he is noted for his work with Split Enz, and in Canada, for his mid-1980s work with Red Rider, Platinum Blonde and Gowan. He later produced Joe Cock ...

. The song was first released in Japan in July 1988 as Child's debut single and was issued in Australia, Europe, and the United States later that year; in the latter country, it served as Childs' second single, after "Don't Walk Away". "Stop Your Fussin" became a top-five hit in New Zealand and South Africa while reaching the top 20 in Australia and Germany. The song's music video, directed by Michael Patterson and Candace Reckinger, shows Childs singing the song on a tropical beach.

Background

After

' former band, Toni & the Movers, split up in 1981, she moved to England, then returned to the United States five years later, meeting

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

David Ricketts in Los Angeles and helping him compose the soundtrack to the 1986

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film ''

Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake, Los Angeles, Silver Lake to the west and Chinato ...

''. Once Childs signed with

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

, she and Ricketts asked

to help produce Childs' first solo studio album, '' Union''. Childs recorded several tracks in Los Angeles, traveled to London and Paris to record

overdubs Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...

, then went to

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

to finish the album, on which "Stop Your Fussin" appears as the third track. "Stop Your Fussin" was written by Childs and Rickett, who both produced it alongside Tickle. The track is a

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

-flavored song with

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

influences. Its lyrics are sung from the perspective of a woman who is lecturing her agitated partner. The album version of the track is four minutes and 38 seconds long.

Release and reception

"Stop Your Fussin" was first released in Japan on July 21, 1988, as a mini-CD single. The same month, the song made its first chart appearance in the Netherlands, peaking at number 31 on the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...

and number 45 on the

Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Du ...

. In early September, the song debuted within the top 50 of Australia's

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

, eventually climbing to a peak of number 17, where it spent five nonconsecutive weeks in October, November, and December; it remained in the top 50 for 19 weeks. On South Africa's

Springbok Radio Springbok Radio (spelled ''Springbokradio'' in Afrikaans, ) was a South African nationwide radio station that operated from 1950 to 1985. History SABC's decision in December 1945 to develop a commercial service was constrained by post-war financia ...

chart, the single debuted in early October 1988 and peaked at number four, spending 19 weeks in the top 20. In West Germany, the song reached number 17 in November and spent 17 weeks inside the top 100, while in Austria, it charted for two weeks, peaking at number 31. During this period, it reached its peak on number 64 on the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

. "Stop Your Fussin" also charted in New Zealand, where it peaked at number five on 6 November 1988 and logged 11 nonconsecutive weeks on the

RIANZ Singles Chart Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...

. In the United States, the single was released on October 12, 1988, but did not appear on any ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' charts. On May 8, 1989, the single was released in the United Kingdom. Two weeks later, on May 21, it debuted at number 95 on the UK Singles Chart, dropping out of the top 100 the following week, making it Childs' lowest-charting UK single. In Australia, "Stop Your Fussin", along with Childs' other songs "Don't Walk Away" and "

I've Got to Go Now "I've Got to Go Now" is a song written by David Ricketts and Toni Childs and released as the first single from Childs' second album, '' House of Hope'' (1991). The lyrics tell a tale of a woman leaving an abusive relationship. In a review of ''Ho ...

", served as anthems for

female empowerment Women's empowerment (or female empowerment) may be defined in several method, including accepting women's viewpoints, making an effort to seek them and raising the status of women through education, awareness, literacy, equal status in society, ...

Music video

Michael Patterson and Candace Reckinger directed the music video for "Stop Your Fussin", which was produced by

Sharon Oreck Sharon Oreck is an American film, music video and commercial producer. She has Oscar and Grammy nominations in addition to other awards. She is credited with coining the term ''populence''. Oreck has been married to cinematographer Bill Pope sin ...

. It was filmed in Los Angeles and features Childs singing the song on a tropical beach. The video began receiving airplay on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

and

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

in June 1988, several months before it was released as a single in the US. In late October, following the single's official release, the video was re-added to MTV.

Track listings

Non-UK 7-inch, US cassette, and Japanese mini-CD single # "Stop Your Fussin" (edit) – 4:05 # "Where's the Ocean" – 4:41 German 12-inch and maxi-CD single # "Stop Your Fussin" (edit) – 4:05 # "Where's the Ocean" – 4:41 # "Walk and Talk Like Angels" – 5:46 European mini maxi-CD single and UK 12-inch single # "Stop Your Fussin" – 4:05 # "Dreamer" – 5:01 # "Tin Drum" – 5:40 UK 7-inch single :A. "Stop Your Fussin" :B. "Dreamer"

Charts

Release history

References

{{Reflist 1988 debut singles 1988 songs A&M Records singles Songs with feminist themes Songs written by David Ricketts