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

Toni Childs Toni Childs (born October 29, 1957) is an American-Australian singer-songwriter. She is best known for her songs "Don't Walk Away" (a Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hit in the United States in 1988), "I've Got to Go Now", a Top 5 hit ...

from her first studio album, ''

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

'' (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 Cocke ...

. 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 is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

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 genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film ''

Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known fo ...

''. Once Childs signed with

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

, she and Ricketts asked

to help produce Childs' first solo studio album, ''

''. 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 av ...

, then went to

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

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 (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

-flavored song with

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

and pop 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 ( nl, Nederlandse 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 station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica ...

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 1986. 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 ...

. "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 advertise ...

'' 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 The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, 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 ways, including accepting women's viewpoints, making an effort to seek them and raising the status of women through education, awareness, literacy, and training.Kabeer, Naila ...

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 (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

and

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

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