Deborah Cox Biography
13 July 1974, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. R&B singer Cox was signed by Arista Records' famed president Clive Davis, previously responsible for discovering names such as Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin and TLC. Davis' reputation in the industry meant that he was able to unite Cox with some of American R&B's finest producers. Her debut album was recorded with the aid of Keith Thomas, Keith Crouch, Darryl Simmons and Dallas Austin.
Cox had begun singing in her childhood and turned professional at the age of 12, playing small Toronto clubs before attending a performing arts school. She first met her songwriting partner Lascelles Stephens when she was 18, forging a productive creative relationship. A demo recorded together served to alert Davis to Cox's presence, and within months she had moved to Los Angeles and signed with Arista. Before the recording of her debut album was complete she had toured Canada with Celine Dion and performed at showcases in Europe and Asia. Her first single, "Sentimental", was released in October 1995. The second single, "Who Do U Love?", sold over half a million copies. As a self-proclaimed R&B diva, her material fell equally between up-tempo/swingbeat numbers and slickly produced ballads. Unfortunately, while Cox was clearly a more able vocalist than many of her peers, sometimes that attribute was lost in her conservative choice of material. Cox's eagerly anticipated second set, One Wish, helped to establish the singer as a recording star. Justifying the praise heaped on the album, the old school ballad "Nobody's Supposed To Be Here" topped the R&B charts for a record-breaking 14 weeks at the end of 1998, and climbed to number 2 on the Hot 100 in January 1999. She enjoyed another US Top 10 hit in October with "We Can't Be Friends". Cox's sales profile slumped alarmingly with her third album, The Morning After (2002), although she did enjoy some crossover success with the club hits "Mr. Lonely" and "Play Your Part". The singer spent the next two years raising her first child and when she returned to music it was as a stage star, appearing on Broadway in the Elton John musical Aida. Her next recording was a marked departure from her earlier albums. Recorded with a 40-piece orchestra, Destination Moon was a classy tribute to legendary singer Dinah Washington.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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