Tones And I to tour

By KYE ANSON

Home grown Aussie artist, Tones And I aka, Toni Watson, will grace the stages of Australia and New Zealand later this year. 

Tones And I started her professional music career by slogging it out and busking on the streets of Melbourne while balancing a part-time retail job. After being made redundant, she travelled up and down the east coast, eventually finding her sweet spot in Byron Bay. 

In 2017 Tones was picked up by Jackson Walkden-Brown, who became her manager and lent her his home on the Gold Coast. Between there and Byron Bay, she spent her time busking and attracting a rather loyal fan-base which only continued to grow. She entered and won Battle of the Buskers and spent the following two years performing in pubs and bars, all while writing songs.  

She then danced and sang her way to the top with her singles ‘Johnny Run away’, which was actually filmed in Byron, and the incredibly memorable ‘Dance Monkey’. 

The inspiration for ‘Dance Monkey’ came from a night where she was busking. She was harassed by an unruly passer-by, who had criticised her for her unique vocal style, and stolen some of her hard-earned cash. Well that certainly paid off in the long run because in a matter of months, Tones And I flew away to secure the top spot in the ARIA Singles Chart, breaking triple platinum by mid 2021. 

She sat comfortably at number one in January 2020 for 24 weeks surpassing the legendary Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’ for the most amount of weeks at number one. Just a month later ‘Dance Monkey’ resurfaced and gained even more popularity by equalling Post Malone’s ‘Rockstar’ on Spotify. 

As for her live performances, she now holds the title for the biggest crowd for an opening set at Splendour in the Grass (2019) and has gone on to perform at many other festivals including Laneway and Let Go. 

Since then she has become one of the most streamed female artists on Spotify and other streaming platforms, amassing a total of just over 3 billion streams for her album, Welcome to the Madhouse and her EP, The Kids are Coming. She has worked and performed with the likes of Natalie Imbruglia, Peking Duk, Pink (with whom she is currently touring), and her personal favourite, Macklemore, just to name a few. 

Tones And I will tour Australia and New Zealand in August and September this year. 

For complete tour and ticket information, visit: livenation.com.au