Toni Watson, known professionally as Tones and I, is an Australian singer and songwriter. Her breakout single, “Dance Monkey”, was released in May 2019 and reached number one in over 30 countries.
She grew up in Mount Martha on the Mornington Peninsula to the south of Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria. Conflicting reports state she was born either in 1993 or in 2000. The artist prefers not to disclose her birth details, “I never denied my age. I never lied about it. I just don’t say anything now… Everything is wrong online.” The singer-songwriter had learned to play keyboards and drum pads while at secondary school. She started busking in Melbourne, while working in fashion retail at the Universal Store. In February 2019, she got signed to Bad Batch Records/Sony Music Australia and in that same month she released her debut single “johnny Run away”
No. 4. Johnny Run Away: Released on 1 March 2019 as the lead single from Tones and I’s debut EP The Kids Are Coming. The song was recorded with Konstantin Kersting and peaked at number 12 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
In May 2019, Tones performed at the Big Pineapple Music Festival, as well as opening Splendour in the Grass 2019 as the Triple J Unearthed Splendour in the Grass competition winner, where she broke the record for the biggest crowd of an opening set.
No. 3. Never Seen the Rain: released in Australia on 16 July 2019 as the third single (second in the US) from Tones and I’s debut EP The Kids Are Coming. At the end of August 2020 it was certified 5× platinum by ARIA for shipment of 350,000 copies.
No. 2. Wont Sleep: Released on the 14th of May, 2021. The song is off her forthcoming album “welcome to the mad house” set to be released this year.
No. 1. Dance Monkey: In 2019, she broke the Australian record for the most weeks at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart by any artist with 16 weeks. By mid-January 2020, “Dance Monkey” had spent its 24th and final week at number one, beating Bing Crosby’s all-time Australian record for his version of “White Christmas”, which spent 22 weeks (five months, namely June to October) at the top spot in 1943.
“Dance Monkey” was accredited 14× platinum by ARIA for shipments of over 980,000 units, by early 2021. Tones was the most awarded artist at the ARIA Music Awards of 2019, winning four from eight nominations. It was released on the 10th of May, 2019 as the second single off her EP “The Kids arr coming”
