Deborah Cox
Deborah Cox
Deborah Cox was born in Canada to Guyanese parents with strong musical roots. She was extremely shy as a young girl and she credits mother with her musical awakening.
"I was six or seven when I heard Gladys Knight's ‘Help Me Make It Through the Night.' My mother used to play that record all the time. Lou Rawls, Joe Tex, Al Green, those were the records my mom used to play. Also Bob Marley and Billie Holiday - but when I heard Gladys, that's what sparked interest for me."
She studied in a conservative Catholic school atmosphere, and although she was interested in track and field, journalism and writing poetry, music was her passion.
After winning a local tv talent show at 11, she began singing commercial jingles. By age 15, she had begun to work with local bands she often found herself playing at gigs until 1:00 a.m. She was learning first-hand about management, promotion and the music business in general. During the day at Claude Watson School for the Performing Arts, she was studying classical music and broadening her knowledge of jazz, moving from Billie Holiday to Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Brook Benton and others.
In 1989, Deborah hooked up with her high school friend, bassist and songwriter Lascelles Stephens. They produced a 4-song demo that he began pitching to record labels. Deborah was hired to sing backup with Celine Dion, but once Clive Davis and Arista came into view, Deborah left the tour to focus on her album. By the summer of '95, sessions were completed in Los Angeles, Nashville, New York and Atlanta.
The last three years of Deborah’s whirlwind career, have taken her throughout North America, playing venues such as the Fox Theatre in Detroit, the Apollo in Harlem and the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angles.
She was nominated for Best New R&B Vocalist at the American Music Awards in 1997, and won back-to-back JUNO awards in Canada as Best R&B Female Artist for her self-titled debut album (in '96) and for "Things Just Ain't The Same" (in '97). There have been multiple promotion trips to Australia (where "Who Do U Love" is a Platinum seller) and Japan; as well as repeated trips to England, Germany and Holland.
"I couldn't ask for anything more," Deborah sums up. "It's been nothing but great blessings. My latest album is a tremendous growth from the first one, I feel a lot more comfortable in my skin. People see that I have my own voice, my own opinion, my own likes. The album really reflects that."
For her efforts, Deborah was rewarded with a string of R&B-pop crossovers - "Sentimental," "Who Do U Love," "Where Do We Go From Here" and "The Sound Of My Tears" - that kept her on the charts (and on the road, doing concerts with the likes of Keith Sweat) from late-Summer '95 until early '97. Her album was certified gold by the RIAA. Deborah's hit chart run extended even further when Arista issued her single of "Things Just Ain't The Same" (produced by Atlanta's Mass Avenue team), from the RIAA gold “Money Talks” movie soundtrack.
The first track to be recorded for "One Wish" last year was "One Day You Will," written by Diane Warren and produced by David Foster. Then there's "Nobody's Supposed To Be Here," a song co-written by Montell Jordan and his musical director Shep Crawford. Its gospel flavor and Crawford's "straight outta church piano" gave it a live feel, "like it was recorded in concert," Deborah says. "Nobody's Supposed To Be Here" was the perfect fit
Deborah’s cd dabs a little into the hip hop sound with "September," a song she wrote with New York producer Stevie J (of Bad Boy) and Gordon Chambers. Similarly, "It's Over Now" was written and produced by Kay-Gee of Naughty By Nature, his first production outside of Next.
The title track of the album, "One Wish," was produced by DJ Quik and Deborah describes the track as a "party joint." Quik also raps on the track." Rodney Jerkins wrote and produced two tracks in Los Angeles, "I Never Knew" and "Just When I Think I'm Over You," which Deborah calls "a great uptempo record."
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