Austin, Texas-based singer Toni Price has left the stage, cleared the dance floor and made her final toast. She passed away peacefully on Nov. 22, 2024 following complications from a brain aneurysm. The Austin Music Hall of Famer and quintessential Pisces carved her own path, completely unencumbered by and uninterested in the "music industry," and the legacy she leaves behind is likewise her very own.

 Toni had an extraordinary gift for finding songs that spoke to her, then inhabiting them as if they were her very own, which was a compliment to every songwriter whose work she ever interpreted. With her warm, emotive alto, she presided over her Tuesday night "Hippie Hour" shows at the Continental Club for 22 years and surrounded herself with the finest Texas musicians and pickers, which over the years included her beloved friend, the late Champ Hood, Scrappy Jud Newcomb, Rich Brotherton, Casper Rawls, Derek O'Brien, Denny Freeman, Steve Doerr, David Grissom, Willie Pipkin, Warren Hood, Marshall Hood, Matt Giles, the late Mambo John Treanor and more. Toni's historic run at the Continental has been called "the most successful residency in Austin music history." For those lucky enough to have experienced the shows and the between-the-set breaks, may the memories remain precious.

The Tuesday night gatherings were often as fervent as a revival meeting with Toni as the hypnotizing muse seated among her musicians and her hippie disciples spread out across the dance floor swaying and singing to every song. She once told writer Michael Corcoran before a set, "I don't like religion because it comes with rules. But I'm a spiritual person and I definitely feel the spirit on Tuesdays. We're all trying to get healed, all trying to feel the spirit of community."

Born in 1961 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Toni's adoptive parents named her Luiese Esther Price after her grandmothers. The family later moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where 10-year-year-old Luiese, already drawn to music, entered a talent contest, singing an a capella version of "One Tin Soldier" and informing the organizers her name was "Toni Price." Her love of music—classic country, rock 'n' roll and blues—was fierce and the more she discovered the singers that inspired and moved her—Patsy Cline, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Victoria Spivey and Sippie Wallace—the more she began to shape what her own sound and vibe would eventually be.

In the mid-80s, Toni recorded two country singles that charted while paying the bills singing in a cover band called Mel and the Party Hats. However, it was meeting local songwriter and guitarist Gwil Owen in 1986 that proved a huge step forward in her music-making. She told the Houston Press in 2001 that it was a "lightning bolt connection" and she began singing many of Owen's songs. Three years later, Toni's manager, Cameron Randall, secured a spot for her on a showcase bill at Antone's. Performing at the blues club provided the next defining moment in her life and career. In Austin and in the Antone's musical community, Toni had found her people and her home. She was signed to the venerable label, and eight of the 15 songs on her debut, Swim Away, were written by Owen. Throughout her next eight albums and two EPs, Toni always carefully curated her song selections from writers who in addition to Owen also included David Olney, Herb McCullough, Blaze Foley, J.J. Cale, Shelley King and more. For a long time, Toni's first three albums, Swim Away, Hey and Sol Power, were listed on Waterloo Records' 100 best sellers of all time.

 In all of her years of making music, Toni never once "toured." She would often say, "Let them come to me." Come they did, and listen they did. Toni had fans all over the world, but Austin gave her so much joy. She garnered 12 Austin Music Awards from 1993 to 2004 including "Best Female Vocals," "Album of the Year," "Song of the Year" and "Best Blues," and in 2017, she was named to its Hall of Fame. In 2018, the Austin Chronicle's Kevin Curtin described her as "one of the finest song charmers this city has ever called resident."

Toni is survived by her two daughters, Amber and Della Price, two grandchildren, Conway and WillieMae, and dear friends Lisa Carson and Lisa Love. Her family wishes to acknowledge and thank everyone who loved Toni and supported her over the years including the late Teddy Wilburn, the late Clifford Antone, the late Renee Grant Williams, Steve Wertheimer, Derek O'Brien, Cindy White, Robyn and John Ludwick, and all of the caring staff at Christopher House.

The family requests that any memorial donations be made in Toni's memory to Hospice Austin's Christopher House. A tribute show will be announced soon.