Deborah Cox - Work Of Art - Era

[George]

A new song, The Girl from Ipanema has premiered:
soundcloud.com/djanapaula/deborah-cox-the-girl-from

[Deleted]

Only Deborah Cox would turn a jazz standard into a gay club anthem!!

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

May 29, 2012 16:19:00 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

Only Deborah Cox would turn a jazz standard into a gay club anthem!!

I think this is a one-off she did for a Brazilian event. DJ Ana Paula is really huge over there and Deborah has performed at a number of events there.

I love the cover Crystal Waters did in the 90s of that song.

[bat1990]

Where is that pic from? She looks FANTASTIC

[George]

May 30, 2012 18:17:16 GMT -5 bat1990 said:

Where is that pic from? She looks FANTASTIC

It's currently her Twitter avatar, but I believe it's from the promo shoot she did for her Josephine Broadway prep.

[bat1990]

When does Josephine open? I'd love to go see her.

[George]

A duet w/Jon Secada called Still I Rise:

[Luckie Starchild]

May 29, 2012 14:40:25 GMT -5 George said:

A new song, The Girl from Ipanema has premiered:
soundcloud.com/djanapaula/deborah-cox-the-girl-from

The girl can do no wrong!!! :o

[altonio]

I live "Still i rise". It's a great song

[George]

Constantine Maroulis gets 'sexy dangerous' in 'Jekyll & Hyde' -- EXCLUSIVE PHOTO
by Marc Snetiker

It’s been 10 years since Jekyll & Hyde has been seen on Broadway, but a new production of Frank Wildhorn’s rock opera — headlined by American Idol and Rock of Ages breakout Constantine Maroulis — promises to bring the thrills when it hits the Great White Way in 2013 after a national tour launching in San Diego this October.

Pulling double vocal duty as the genial Dr. Henry Jekyll and his murderous alter ego Edward Hyde, Maroulis will share the stage with R&B superstar Deborah Cox, who plays altruistic prostitute Lucy. ”It’s going to be sexy dangerous,” says director Jeff Calhoun (Newsies). “That’s what I’m going for.” EW is excited to bring you the first look at Maroulis as Hyde and Cox as Lucy in the new production:



“Jekyll & Hyde is an incredibly iconic brand, and we’re going to reinvent the whole thing,” Maroulis tells EW. “We’re excited to bring a real edgy, dark quality to it. Jeff Calhoun is going to bring his amazing aesthetic to the show. We’re psyched to reinvent it.”

Maroulis’ last Broadway gig was in the hit musical of Rock of Ages, in which he originated the lead role of aspiring rocker Drew. He has a cameo in the film adaptation that hits theaters today. (Drew is played by newcomer Diego Boneta.) “To see [the show] blow up now with Tom Cruise in a big movie? I did my job,” says Maroulis. “I pop up in the movie, too. Don’t blink—you might miss me. Look for the ponytail!”

[George]

New concert date announced!

[George]

Footage from her show at Eden San Diego during this past Pride weekend:

[George]

Available now!



1. Lost in the Darkness (feat. Constantine Maroulis)
2. I Need to Know (feat. Constantine Maroulis)
3. Take Me As I Am (feat. Constantine Maroulis & Teal Wicks)
4. No One Knows Who I Am (feat. Deborah Cox)
5. Bring On the Men (feat. Deborah Cox)
6. This Is the Moment (feat. Constantine Maroulis)
7. Alive (feat. Constantine Maroulis)
8. His Work and Nothing More (feat. Corey Brunish, Constantine Maroulis, Teal Wicks & Tom Hewitt)
9. Sympathy, Tenderness (feat. Deborah Cox)
10. Someone Like You (feat. Deborah Cox)
11. Once Upon a Dream (feat. Teal Wicks)
12. In His Eyes (feat. Teal Wicks & Deborah Cox)
13. Dangerous Game (feat. Deborah Cox & Constantine Maroulis)
14. Girls of the Night (feat. Shannon Magrane, Deborah Cox & Carly Robyn Green)
15. The Way Back (feat. Constantine Maroulis)
16. A New Life (feat. Deborah Cox)
17. Confrontation (feat. Constantine Maroulis)
18. Once Upon a Dream (Reprise) [feat. Constantine Maroulis]

Starts in San Diego, CA next Tuesday!

[George]

She has a new single on the way w/DJ Paige called Higher:

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

Another new one. It's a partial remake of Marlena Shaw's "Woman Of The Ghetto"
perezhilton.com/tv/Deborah_Cox_and_George_Vector_Remember_Me_From_The_Ghetto/?id=850c53ad2c289&autoplay=true

[Luckie Starchild]

^^ I love Marlena, I love Deborah and I love that!

[George]

Deborah Cox makes a sound decision to leave a lasting impression
By MICHAEL POSNER, The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Nov. 07 2012, 4:01 PM EST



With six top-20 Billboard R&B singles and 11 (count ’em) No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Play chart, Canada’s Deborah Cox has built a career in pop music with which most performers would be more than content. Actually, most performers would kill for it.

But not Cox – nor Lascelles Stephens, the high-school sweetheart who became her husband, songwriter, producer and now full-time manager. The couple have been mapping out a diversification strategy, one designed to give Cox what every artist seeks, but few find: professional longevity.

The first hint of this approach came in 2004, when Cox did a four-month stint on Broadway, playing the title role in the Elton John/Tim Rice musical Aida. To that was added some acting roles in a few independent films. Now, Cox is raising the ante – playing the prostitute Lucy in the Broadway-bound remount of Jekyll & Hyde, opposite former American Idol semi-finalist Constantine Maroulis.

Musical success – five albums, multiple Juno awards, a Grammy nomination, her own music label – is not the only aspect of Cox’s life that others might envy. At 38, she has managed to combine her thriving pop career with the pleasures and responsibilities of parenthood. Spend a few minutes in her company and it’s clear that, as driven as she is professionally, the soft-spoken Cox could happily and just as easily talk about her children all day.

During a promotional stop in Toronto last week, Cox said she started to wrestle with the quandary that many women face – the conflicting forces of career and family – about a decade ago. At the time, she was recording a duet with Whitney Houston – Same Script, Different Cast, on the album Whitney: The Greatest Hits.

“I was between albums, trying to figure out if I should start a family and when I should start a family, because they’re always telling you, especially in this business, you can’t take time off. And Whitney just said to me, ‘Don’t let the business dictate. Have your family.’ It was great, sisterly advice.”

When she was presented with the Jekyll & Hyde opportunity, she discussed the project at length with Stephens. “He saw that this was an amazing chance for me to make a mark in the musical-theatre world,” she says. “How often does a role like this come along – especially for a black woman? I don’t take that lightly.”

The 25-week road show, including a week at Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre, is due to arrive at New York’s Richard Rodgers Theatre next April. The reviews to date have been mixed, although Cox has drawn strong notice.

Home base for the past several years has been Boca Raton, Fla., but with the show taking her on the road for almost half a year, she and Stephens decided to home-school the two older children, Isaiah, 9, and Sumayah, 6 (they also have a three-year-old daughter, Kaila). “A tutor comes for six hours a day,” she explained, “but the schedule is flexible. So the kids can fly to where I am on a Sunday, and I can spend my day off, Monday, with them and most of Tuesday. … We’re still navigating our way through it. But I love being onstage at night and doing the creative thing and then being a mommy or working on recording during the day.

“Finding the balance hasn’t been easy,” she conceded. “I’ve only been able to do it because of the tremendous support I’ve had – from Lascelles particularly and our extended families. My mother, my mother-in-law, aunts, uncles, sisters, they’ll come down for a month at a time. Everyone chips in. It’s about staying connected, and we make sure that happens. I want my children to know who their relatives are.”

Of Afro-Guyanese descent, Cox has music in her bones – her mother sang and played guitar and piano and the family’s Scarborough home was filled, she says, with the sounds of blues, jazz and pop. She attended the Claude Watson School for the Arts and , by her early teens, was performing in local bands. Eventually, while singing back-up for Celine Dion, Cox landed a meeting with legendary producer Clive Davis.

“I met him at the Beverly Hills Hotel and played him my demo tape. And he loved it.”

The meeting led to her first, self-titled album, on Davis’s Arista Record, and her subsequent move to Los Angeles. They parted company a few years ago, when Cox and Stephens established Deco Recording – a move that facilitated more creative control.

When Jekyll & Hyde wraps, Cox is scheduled to star in Josephine, a new musical based on the life of singer, dancer and actress Josephine Baker. She is reported to have landed the part after a single audition.

But for the moment, she has no plans to abandon the recording stream. In fact, she has three new albums in development, one R&B, one dance and one dedicated to classic tunes from the American songbook. “Not every label understood that desire,” she says. “They’d ask why would I want to do that material? But I choose not be pigeonholed. I’m not a traditional artist. I want to do it all. That’s what the best performers did – Tina Turner, Whitney, Streisand, Aretha, Gladys Knight. It’s all about leaving a legacy.”

[syrus]

When it comes to disco dance icons, few can equal Deborah Cox. Since being discovered by Clive Davis nearly twenty years ago, the Canadian born singer has achieved 11 #1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Dance Play charts. "Nobody’s Suppose To Be Here," her double-platinum 1998 hit, had (up to that point) the unprecedented record of 14 weeks as #1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.

But did you know she is also an accomplished musical theater performer? In 2004 she took over the title role on Broadway of Aida in the Elton John/Tim Rice musical during its closing months. And currently she’s touring in the pre-Broadway tryout of the revival of Jekyll & Hyde, where she plays Lucy, the role made famous by Linda Eder during the show’s first Broadway run.

The show heads to Broadway in April; but Dallas audiences have their opportunity to see Cox and co-star Constantine Maroulis (from "American Idol" fame) in the musical that plays at the AT&T Performing Arts Center through December 16, 2012, prior to runs in Philadelphia, Providence, Denver, Los Angeles and Chicago. (To see if the show is coming to a theater near you, visit the show’s website.

Ms. Cox graciously talked with EDGE regarding her career, her music, "Jekyll & Hyde," and why she is such a strong advocate for the gay community


Her gay fan base

EDGE: What put Human Rights/Gay rights on the radar for you?

Deborah Cox: It’s close to my heart. I have a lot of very, very dear friends who have not only had to deal with being black or being gay so that whenever there is an opportunity to use my celebrity to bring some awareness to some of these causes I jump at the opportunity.

EDGE: How did you develop such a fervent gay fan base?

Deborah Cox: That happened over time and organically. I never would have thought that my career and music would have resonated with the audience. I just simply do music. I sing. And I make sure that it comes from the heart and soul. I just believe that everyone should be treated fairly and I believe in doing things out of love. That’s always been my perspective.

That’s how I grew up - in a very multi-cultural society in Toronto. Poor people were just poor, it didn’t matter if you were black, white, gay, straight, lesbian...you’re poor you’re poor. You’re rich, you’re rich. In Canada, it’s slightly different. The whole racial issue is not as overt there. I grew up very different in a very multicultural society having all kinds of different types of people in my own family.


Making it

EDGE: You arrive in Dallas on the heels of World AIDS Day 2012. Why do you think it is important to remember World AIDS Day?

Deborah Cox: Right now, when you talk about AIDS there is still a stigma attached to it that it is a gay disease and I know that it’s not. It affects a lot of women. It is the leading cause of death for African-American women in the US. The numbers are staggering. I have done some work just recently with a great organization called Positive Young People (PYP.) PYP is trying to bring attention to this. A lot of people think that with all the money that has been raised over the years that we are closer to a cure but we’re not. AIDS is still out there; it is still very prevalent in many communities.

EDGE: You’ve had great success in your career. Do you recall the moment that you knew you made it?

Deborah Cox: Wow. When I was singing with Whitney Houston.

When I first heard the song ’Saving All My Love For You,’ it was the first time that I had ever heard anybody doing anything close to what I dreamed of doing; having this jazzy soulful song with range and amazing melody. When I heard her sing that, it became the benchmark of what I wanted to do.

Fast forward to 2000-20001 and we’re recording and getting ready to do ’Same Script, Different Cast,’ I found myself in the studio with Whitney Houston, my mentor, my idol, sharing the microphone and singing eye to eye, toe-to-toe. And that will always be a highlight to me.


Playing Lucy

EDGE: Now you are playing the role of Lucy in the Broadway-bound revival of ’Jekyll & Hyde.’ Tell us about your approach to Lucy.

Deborah Cox: Its most important for me to bring my own personal experience to connect with the character and with Lucy, she’s a survivor and I’m a survivor as well in the sense that I didn’t grow up with a whole lot of money. I really had to work hard; I come from a really hard working family. And to want to do the arts at an early age, it was not as common as it is now. It made me jump into the business fearlessly. I was able to sing commercial jingles, sing background vocals and to do it all. In that sense being a survivor, Lucy and I completely relate.

When she deals with ’Jekyll & Hyde’ she has to deal with mental illness. She has to deal with the broken part of him. She finds hope in Jekyll so she can get out of her situation. Then there is this complex relationship she has with Hyde, which is also abusive. I’ve had to deal with mental illness as well...stepping on eggshells around family members who were ill. So it was me bringing that to the character that helped me develop Lucy. And I’m still discovering things about her while we are doing the show.

EDGE: Lucy is physically abused and meets a tragic end in ’Jekyll & Hyde.’ How do you prepare mentally and physically for these scenes?

Deborah Cox: It’s a challenge to play because I’m a spirited and strong person. It’s hard to be submissive. I’m not sure if Lucy is as strong as I am emotionally. There are a lot of things that Lucy does or puts up with that I certainly would not. So that is the struggle to play. I’m much more of a fighter. So there is a lot of restraint that I’m using when I am playing this character and that’s very different.


Reading reviews?

EDGE: We’ve been following your reviews since ’Jekyll & Hyde’ opened in September. Do you read your notices?

Deborah Cox: Oh, man. That’s a love/hate relationship with the reviews. Sometimes I’m drawn to reading them and other times I’ve wished I had never read them.

EDGE: You’ve been receiving glowing reviews for ’Jekyll & Hyde’ being called ’stirring,’ ’perfect,’ ’stunningly beautiful,’ ’a surprising range,’ and ’mesmerizing.’ How does it feel to have your work so positively praised?

Deborah Cox: It is humbling. It is. I’m using my own instincts and I’m just drawing from my heart and soul and for that to resonate feels like the job is well done. It feels like its leaving people with something and inspiring people and ultimately that’s what I want to do as a singer but as an actress that’s my goal - to leave people with something positive. So, that’s amazing.

Deborah Cox

EDGE: You’ve worked with a Who’s Who pedigreed list of performers. Tell us the first thing that comes to mind when we mention: Clive Davis

Deborah Cox: Clive Davis to me is mentor, icon and living legend. He really taught me a lot about the business and a lot about songwriting and artistry. We butted heads along the way, because like any artist I wanted to do certain songs, but he had a different vision.

EDGE: Celine Dion?

Deborah Cox: Extreme discipline. That woman does not speak before a show. Regimented.

EDGE: Andrea Bocelli?

Deborah Cox: What is the word - He is a vocal force. He just has this amazing gift from God. I literally got the call the night before to do the O2 in London and I flew in, my room wasn’t ready, I had to hang out in the gorgeous lobby of this London hotel and I just craved this long nap - and I never did get it -and four hours later I found myself in the dressing room of the O2 doing my vocal warm ups with Andrea and we just worked out the parts on the piano and he just stood there and blew out - filled up the whole room and we weren’t live or anything we were just running through the songs. His core is just amazing. An epic voice. It just touches the core of me. His instrument is very special.

EDGE: Whitney Houston?

Deborah Cox: She impacted me the same way that Bocelli did. When you can stand in front of a person that has this just amazing gift and you just know that it is a gift from God. It just touches you in a way that you can’t explain. All the hairs of your body stand up because it gives you shivers and chills. That’s how it was with Bocelli and that’s how it was with Whitney.


Most rewarding achievement

EDGE: What is your most personal rewarding career achievement so far?

Deborah Cox: To still be here in 2012. Standing in front of thousands every single night. I’ve always dreamed of longevity. I look to artists like Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand and Dorothy Dandridge. - All the iconic women who have come before me who left me an amazing legacy for me go follow and that’s what I inspire to be. And I’m still here. I feel very fortunate.

EDGE: What’s next?

Deborah Cox: Oh, more music. I’m excited about getting into the studios and finish what I’ve started because I’ve had 2 albums essentially in the works now. By the time we get to Broadway I’ll have time to actually finish them. The American Music Broadway Album that I’m working on with Frank Wildhorn (’Jekyll & Hyde’s’ music and lyrics) will be coming out in the summer of 2013. The R&B pop album will probably be done in the fall. There is a concept album of ’Jekyll & Hyde’ available at the theater and on Amazon and we’ll go into production of the cast album later on next year.

EDGE: Are you still having fun?

Deborah Cox: I am having more fun than ever. It’s a great show, a great cast. Director Jeff Calhoun. Constantine Maroulis is a powerhouse himself; an energetic passionate performer. It’s a great time to work with a great team and makes for a fun time every show.

Jekyll & Hyde continues at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas, TX through December 16, 2012. For more information about the show, visit the show’s website.

[George]

It's been a (mainly) dance-filled year for Deborah with all the recent songs she's recorded/released!



*Leave the World Behind (with Axwell, Ingrosso, Angello, Laidback Luke)
*If It Wasn't For Love (with Mixin Marc & Tony Svejda)
*Tenderness (with Tony Moran)
*No Labels Anthem (with Akon)
*The Girl from Ipanema (with DJ Ana Paula)
*Still I Rise (with Jon Secada)
*Higher (with DJ Paige)
*Remember Me (From the Ghetto) (with George Vector)

[George]

She's got the cover story in this month's issue of Zephra Magazine:



Also, Jekyll and Hyde is still showing at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, CA until March 3rd, 2013.

TV Spot:


Highlights:


Deborah really nails that big "A New Life" number!

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

Tony Moran announced a couple of days back that Deborah went into the studio to record a Dance version of "A New Life" just like they did with "Easy As Life" from Aida.

[bat1990]

I hope it's just as amazing as Easy As Life!

[George]

I'll be seeing her tomorrow at the Pantages!

[hiphopman24]

How old is Deborah? I don't even know. She's put out some good music recently.

[SHOOTER]

Mar 3, 2013 7:57:18 GMT -5 hiphopman24 said:

How old is Deborah? I don't even know. She's put out some good music recently.

38.

[George]

The show ended up being so-so to me, while the group I went with hated it (especially Constantine). However, it was agreed that Deborah Cox was just amazing, and if it weren't for her, we wouldn't have found anything to like about it (besides the different ways Constantine pronounced her character's name - Lucy). "A New Life" "Someone Like You" and "Sympathy, Tenderness" were really great to hear Deborah perform live.

She didn't sign autographs after the show, but the theater's store DID sell autographed copies of her "Destination Moon" album, which I picked up since I had yet to buy a copy for myself!

[George]

Deborah's the covergirl for the March/April 2013 issue of HIVPlus Magazine:

DIGITAL: issuu.com/heremedia/docs/hiv093_201304
ARTICLE:

Deborah Cox: Hear Her Roar
Between recording albums, performing in musicals, and raising three kids, singer and Broadway star Deborah Cox reminds women that HIV hasn’t gone away

BY Neal Broverman
March 05 2013 4:09 AM ET



Deborah Cox is in North Carolina. She’s been in Durham for a few days and just bounced from California to Texas to Florida to New York to Raleigh, N.C., to D.C., back to Texas, then to Philadelphia, Rhode Island, and now Durham. The Grammy-nominated singer and theater actress is on tour with Jekyll & Hyde, playing a lady of the night in the dark musical, which begins a Broadway run in April. Before getting to New York, Cox needs to finish the show’s tour, which means trekking through Oklahoma, California, Iowa, and finally West Palm Beach, Fla., not far from her home in Miami.

“Life on the road is drama,” Cox says. She’s tired but friendly and engaged. “The pace is really intense. We have to keep up an eight-show-a-week schedule, a Broadway schedule, while we’re traveling. There’s a day off, and the day off is a travel day and you try to get whatever you have to do outside of theater done. It’s very much a juggling act.”

The stress of the tour is made harder by the fact that Cox has to go weeks without seeing her three kids: Isaiah, age 9; Sumayah, 6; and Kaila, 4.

“Luckily, with technology I’m able to Skype and iChat and text and stay very present in their day-to-day,” she says. “I tend to worry a lot, but I have an amazing support system. My husband is amazing, my mother and mother-in-law help. We have a real family structure that helps tremendously.”

Even though the Canadian-born Cox starred as Aida on Broadway, is a multiplatinum-selling recording artist with 11 number 1 hits on Billboard’s dance charts (including “Beautiful U R”), has won a Soul Train Award and a Lady of Soul Award, and has been nominated for Billboard and American Music awards, it’s easy to see an everyday, 30-something working mom dimension to Cox. That relatability may be why she was asked to be part of the Break the Silence campaign, which works to bring HIV back into the national conversation.

“Did you know that a woman tests positive for HIV every 35 minutes in this country? It’s the leading cause of death for black women ages 25 to 34, and we make up for 66% of the new cases of HIV,” Cox says in the 2012 Break the Silence video. “I was shocked when I learned of this recently, because I thought for sure that with all the information that’s out there, for as long as we’ve been talking about this, that we would have been moving in a different direction. But instead women are at a greater risk. I’m Deborah Cox and I’m a mother and I was a friend to three beautiful souls who have passed away from HIV.”

Cox has chosen HIV awareness as her charitable mission, devoting her time to educating women about the disease. Aside from Break the Silence, Cox recently participated in public service announcements for Lifebeat, a music industry–affiliated nonprofit that educates people about HIV. “Get educated, get tested, and get involved,” Cox says in the promo.

For the message of testing, safe sex, and drug adherence to stick, people need to relate to the messenger, Cox says. Many black women still see HIV as a white gay man’s disease, she believes, and that will only change if a more diverse group of people continue to speak out.

“We have to get many, many types of women out there, so people can see a different range talking about AIDS,” Cox says. “Any time I have the opportunity to bring more awareness [to HIV] I’m there. I’ve been an advocate for a very long time for the fight. A lot of times I do things off the radar. It’s not important for me to get accolades.”

Her first experience with AIDS was when a friend of hers, alone and scared, succumbed to the disease—and that experience cemented her commitment to the cause. Cox’s friend was gay, and she saw his family and friends, many of whom were religious, turn from him in his final moments.

“A big part of it was that he was African-American and in the closet and had just come out, not only about being gay but also about being HIV-positive,” she remembers. “There’s still a huge stigma in the African-American community about being gay. There are still a lot of people living in shame because they lose their family, they lose everyone who once supported them.”

That loss causes physical as well as emotional damage, Cox says.

“When people find out they’re alone, that contributes to the illness too,” she says. “When you don’t have that emotional support it’s a downward spiral. That’s what happened to my friend. I never want to see that again.”

When asked whether churches should get involved in trying to change the conversation about both HIV and gay rights, Cox is not convinced that will be useful.

“I would consider myself—if you need to put a label on it—a very spiritual liberal Christian,” she says. “I find that a lot of faiths have way too much judgment and that stops people from coming out. It’s more hindering than supportive. For the churches to get involved—I really don’t think that’s the way to go.”

Cox enjoys talking about her faith and how her belief in a higher power sustains her.

“Honestly, if you don’t have anything higher than yourself in your life, it can be a very lonely place,” she says. “It’s very sad, and I don’t think that’s how God wants us to live. I’m just an advocate for love on every level.”

Messages of positivity are found in much of her music, maybe most notably in her up-tempo 2008 single “Beautiful U R.” A hit on the Canadian pop charts and in U.S. dance clubs, the song stresses courage, self-love, and perseverance. Cox, who heads back into the studio in the spring and hopes to release new music this year, says she’s constantly reminded how “Beautiful U R” has helped people face down their challenges.

“People post pictures on Instagram and talk about how they’re feeling today,” she says. “They listen to ‘Beautiful U R’ and it becomes their mantra. I really feel that this gift I have is to inspire and motivate people. I’m trying to do work that will change the world in some small way.”

[syrus]

"Higher" will be on itunes March 18th. Finally! Can't wait.

[George]

Her new dance single "Higher" w/DJ Paige is now available on digital outlets!

[KingB]

I wish she would do acoustic or candle light versions of these dance songs.