Toni Cornell, daughter of late grunge legend Chris, has announced her debut single ‘Sunset Of Your Love’ – pre-save it here.
The 20-year-old shared on Instagram that the track will be released next Thursday (November 21) and revealed that it was written by MoZella, who co-wrote Miley Cyrus’ 2013 hit ‘Wrecking Ball’, and produced by Dave Hamelin, who worked on Beyoncé’s Grammy-nominated single ‘16 Carriages’.
In her post, she gave fans a preview, showcasing lyrics including, “All I know is I’m not ready/ ‘Til you find me/ I’ll be waiting in the sunset of your love.”
While she describes it as her “first song”, she did release a track, ‘Far Away Places’, back in 2019. She recorded the song in 2017, three months before her father died that May at the age of 52, and it features production from the Soundgarden and Audioslave icon too.
Over the years, Toni has performed a range of covers, too, including Temple Of The Dog’s ‘Hunger Strike’, Pearl Jam’s ‘Black’, Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’, and Prince’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, which was her dad’s favourite song to cover.
In 2018, she released a duet of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, which she performed alongside her father, and donated the proceeds to the International Rescue Committee (IRC). The previous year, she began working with the humanitarian organisation alongside the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation, set up by her parents in 2012, while in 2021 she was named the youngest ambassador to be appointed by the IRC.
She marked Father’s Day by sharing the recording of her and her father covering the track, writing: “Daddy, I love you and miss you so much,” she wrote at the time. “You were the best father anyone could ask for. Our relationship was so special, and you were always there for me.”
Toni and her father in 2016. CREDIT: Steve Granitz/WireImage via Getty Images
On Father’s Day in 2020, she said in a Billboard Instagram takeover: “I’m so grateful that I was lucky enough to have a dad who was also my best friend,” she said. Music was our life, so it really created a special bond between the two of us, even when we weren’t on the road. Here in this studio, he taught me how to play the guitar, how to record songs.”
Back in 2022, she paid tribute to her father on what would have been his 58th birthday by sharing an intimate home video of father and daughter covering Eminem and Rihanna’s ‘Love The Way You Lie’.
More recently, Toni hit out at the coverage of Liam Payne’s death after the former One Direction star died in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last month.
On her Instagram Stories, she criticised TMZ for its decision to publish photos of Payne’s hotel room and body, writing: “In the wake of Liam Payne’s tragic passing, I feel compelled to speak out about the disgusting, distressing photos released by TMZ including graphic images of his hotel room and body.
“Having seen those photos, I can’t help but reflect on my own experience when graphic images of my father’s death were also published by TMZ.
“As a 12-year-old, I stumbled upon those pictures while scrolling through my iPad, and it was indescribably traumatising, and something I still carry with me to this day. TMZ still has not chosen to have the decency, seven years later, to remove those photos from the internet, and it is something I believe should be done.
“While the images of Liam have since been taken down, it means nothing. They should never have been put up in the first place, and it breaks my heart to think that his 7-year-old son, Bear, might one day come across them and suffer exactly as I did.”
English (US) · 