Toussaint grew up in a shotgun house in the New Orleans neighborhood of Gert Town, where his mother welcomed and fed all manner of musicians as they practiced and recorded with Allen. His friends often performed at a night club called "The Dew Drop", located on LaSalle street Uptown. This group of local musicians were known as the "Dew Drop Set".
In his early years Toussaint worked mainly for Joe Banashak's "Minit" label, but after that label was sold to its distributor, he teamed up with Marshall Sehorn, starting their own record label variously known as Tou-Sea, Sansu, Deesu or Kansu. In 1973 Toussaint and Sehorn created the Sea-Saint recording studio in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans.
In the early 1960s he wrote and produced a string of hits for New Orleans R&B artists such as Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas, Art and Aaron Neville, The Showmen, and Lee Dorsey. Some of his songs from this period were published under the pseudonym Naomi Neville. "Ruler of My Heart", recorded by Irma Thomas, is one example; the song would go on to be recorded by Otis Redding under the title "Pain in My Heart". "A Certain Girl" was on the first single release in 1964 by The Yardbirds featuring Eric Clapton. The two sided 1962 hit by Benny Spellman, including Lipstick Traces, later covered by The O'Jays also had the simple but effective Fortune Teller, covered by many 1960s rock groups including The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Hollies, ex- Searchers founder member Tony Jackson and recently (2007) by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on Raising Sand.
Starting in the 1970s he switched gears to a funkier sound, writing and producing for The Meters, Dr John, and the Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians tribe. He also began to work with non-New Orleans artists such as Robert Palmer, Willy DeVille, Elkie Brooks, Solomon Burke, Scottish Soul singer Frankie Miller and southern rocker Mylon LeFevre. He arranged horn music for The Band's 1971 album Cahoots, and arranged horn parts for their concert repertoire. Boz Scaggs recorded a Toussaint masterpiece "What Do You Want the Girl to Do?" on his 1976 album Silk Degrees" which reached #2 on the U.S. pop albums chart.
Toussaint also launched his own solo career, which peaked in the '70s with the albums From a Whisper to a Scream and Southern Nights. It was during this time that he teamed with Labelle, and produced their highly acclaimed Nightbirds album from 1975, that spawned the Number One Hit, "Lady Marmalade". The same year, Toussaint collaborated with Paul McCartney and Wings for their hit album Venus and Mars. Two years later, Glen Campbell covered Toussaint's "Southern Nights" and carried the song to Number One on the Pop, Country and Adult-Contemporary Charts. Along with many of his contemporaries, Toussaint found that interest in his compositions was rekindled when his work began to be sampled by hip hop artists in the 1980s and 1990s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
Despite rumours at the time, Toussaint did not take refuge at the Louisiana Superdome in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Instead, Toussaint weathered out the storm in the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel. After the hurricane Toussaint left New Orleans for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and eventually settled in New York City, where he is currently living while his house is rebuilt. His first television appearance after the hurricane was on the September 7, 2005 episode of The Late Show with David Letterman, sitting in with Paul Shaffer and his CBS Orchestra. Toussaint now performs each month at Joe's Pub in New York City.
The River in Reverse, Toussaint's collaborative album with Elvis Costello, was released on 29 May 2006 in the UK on the Verve label, by Universal Classics and Jazz UCJ. It was recorded in Hollywood and, notably, in Toussaint's native New Orleans as the first major studio session to take place after Hurricane Katrina.
In 2008 Toussaints' song "Sweet touch of love" was used in a deodorant commercial for the Axe (Lynx) brand.
During February 2008, Mr. Toussaint appeared on "Le Show", the Harry Shearer show broadcast on NPR via KCRW.
