She began singing for TV commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows with the help of her mother. She performed in nightclubs, and began to write music around the same time. Cox entered the music industry in the early 1990s, performing as a backup vocalist for Celine Dion for six months.
In 1995, label executive Clive Davis signed Cox to Arista Records, and she released her self-titled debut album the same year.
After middling success, Cox released a non-album single for the soundtrack to the 1997 movie "Money Talks", titled "Things Just Ain't The Same". A dance mix of that song topped the U.S. dance charts and was included on her second album, "One Wish" in 1998. The first single from that album, "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here", spent 14 weeks at #1 on the Hot R&B charts in the USA, as well as eight consecutive weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album went platinum, becoming Cox's biggest-selling album to date. Cox then recorded a new song, "Absolutely Not", for the soundtrack to Dr. Dolittle 2. Remixes of the song repeated the success of One Wish's singles on the dance charts, and the Chanel mix of "Absolutely Not" was included on her third album.
Cox's third album "The Morning After" was released in November 2002 on J Records.
On February 17, 2004, she made her Broadway debut in the Elton John-Tim Rice musical Aida, returning to recording only to release a dance remix of "Easy As Life" as a single.
Cox also has been involved in a number of movies and soundtracks. In 2000, she played Niko Rosen in Love Come Down. In 2001, her hit song "Absolutely Not" was featured in Dr. Dolittle 2. In 2005, in the movie Blood of a Champion she played the role of Sharon, and again in 2005, her voice was featured in the movie Hotel Rwanda in the song "Nobody Cares".
She released a dance single titled "House Is Not a Home" on Nervous Records in January 2006. Later in the year, the song "Definition of Love" was used in the movie Akeelah and the Bee, but was not released as a single.
Between 2005 and 2006 Deborah recorded her fourth album, called "Destination Moon". It is a tribute to jazz singer Dinah Washington and was released on June 19, 2007.
Cox contributed the song "This Gift" to the soundtrack of the 2008 movie "Meet the Browns" and was part of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour 2008.
She has also starred in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" along side Golden Brooks and Darius McCrary.
In early 2008, Cox and Stephens created the Deco Recording Group, her very own independent label, which is distributed through Image Entertainment.
Her fifth R&B studio album, "The Promise", was released on November 11, 2008. The first single "Did You Ever Love Me" was released to radio on August 26, 2008 and peaked at #69 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart. The song "Beautiful U R" has been released digitally to iTunes and Amazon.com on September 16, 2008. It has recently reached #3 on the Canadian Radio Chart becoming her most successful single in nearly ten years. It also peaked at #3 on the Canadian Hot AC Chart (January, 2009 Chart) and hit #1 on the US Dance chart becoming her tenth song to do it.
The song was certified gold for digital downloads in January, 2009. "Saying Goodbye" was sent to Urban/AC radios in February, while "The Promise" is scheduled to be released as a single in July. Cox joined forces with Kenny Lattimore for the "Timeless Promise Tour" in July 2009.
In April 2009, she was featured on the single "Leave The World Behind". The house track was produced by four DJs — Axwell, Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso and Laidback Luke. It peaked at #40 on the US Dance chart.
In September 2009 it was announced she would be joining Kelly Price and Tamia to form the super group The Queen Project. In a February 2012 interview with Seattle Gay News, Cox confirmed that those plans were on hold, due to scheduling issues. "Each of us has moved on and we are all doing our own projects now." She also noted that she is currently working on a dance album. "My fans have been hounding me about another 'remixed' album."
In December 2011 Deborah achieved her 11th number 1 with "If It Wasn't For Love".
On September 7, 2012 Cox gave her inaugural performance as Lucy the female lead in a revival of the musical Jekyll & Hyde starring Constantine Maroulis: after premiering in La Mirada CA this production toured North American for twenty-five weeks playing at twenty locales, then began previews for its Broadway run April 5, 2013 officially opening its planned limited engagement Broadway run of thirteen weeks on April 18, 2013. Despite Cox herself receiving good reviews, the production did not enjoy strong Broadway box-office and subsequent to its non-showing in the 2013 Tony Awards list of nominees announced April 30, 2013 Jekyll & Hyde was announced to be playing its final show May 12, 2013. Cox had a new track "Higher" issued in the autumn of 2012, and in May 2013 stated she was planning to record a dance version of the Jekyll & Hyde number "Someone Like You". Also, in April 2013 Cox stated that a projected Broadway musical in which she'd play Josephine Baker, which had been workshopped in 2011, was still planned, the production being dependent on an available venue.
In 2014, she was one of the performers at the opening ceremonies of WorldPride in Toronto, alongside Melissa Etheridge, Tom Robinson and Steve Grand.
Cox provided vocals for the 2015 Whitney Houston biopic, Whitney, directed by Angela Basset. The same year, she released the deep house-influenced "Kinda Miss You", as well as the ballad "More Than I Knew" as singles. In 2016, Cox played the lead role of Josephine Baker in the Broadway-bound musical Josephine, which chronicled the singer's life between the years of 1939 and 1945, and starred as Rachel Marron in the North American Tour of the musical The Bodyguard based on the 1992 film of the same name. In support of the musical, Cox released the EP I Will Always Love You on Deco and Broadway Records, containing cover versions of seven Whitney Houston originals as well as Houston's cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You."[31] In June 2017, she released an uptempo dance single "Let the World Be Ours Tonight" during LGBTQ pride season on Radikal Records and Galactic Media. It marked her 13th single to top Billboard's Dance Club Songs.
In June 2019, she performed at Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019. In November 2019, Cox released the Rico Love-produced single "Easy Way" through Deco Entertainment. The song is expected to lead her seventh studio album, which is expected to be released in late 2020. In February 2020, Cox starred opposite Roger Guenveur Smith in the BET+ television thriller Influence, an adaption of Carl Weber's same-tited 2018 novel, portraying a big-name celebrity singer accused of killing her husband. Also in 2020, she appeared as a guest host in an episode of Canada's Drag Race and started webseries titled COXtales with Deborah Cox during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Deborah Cox was added to the BET series First Wives club during Season 2, playing the musician "Regina". In addition, she stars in a minor role as Wendy on the limited HBO TV series, Station 11.
Couldn't We
Deborah Cox Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Words that hurt inside
Still that's just no reason
To say the words goodbye
We can't let go of something beautiful
We can't just let it die
Can't you and I just
To just give us one more try
Couldn't love heal the pain
Couldn't time take the tears away
Couldn't you, you and me
Try again
Couldn't we
Couldn't you, couldn't me, couldn't we
Couldn't we
Start this story over
Turn the page tonight
Nothin' wrong between us
That love could not make right
Can't we forgive and let our hearts forget
Let the love back inside
Can't you and I just
Get back to those feelings
And feel them just one more time
Couldn't love heal the pain
Couldn't time take the tears away
Couldn't you, you and me
Try again
Couldn' you, couldn't me, couldn't we
Couldn't we
Turn back the hands of time
To a time when our love was alright
To those nights when the touch was sweet
Can we find our way back
Before we lose everything
Couldn't love heal the pain
Couldn't time take the tears away
Couldn't you, you an me try again, again
Couldn't we stay together
Couldn't we make it better
Couldn't we turn the page
And start the story over
Couldn't we bring the love back
Couldn't we take one more chance
Couldn't we hold each other
Just a little closer
Try again
Couldn't we X 2
In "Couldn't We" by Deborah Cox, the singer is expressing her longing to rekindle a broken relationship. She acknowledges the hurt that was caused by the words between them, but believes that love could heal that pain and that time could take away the tears. She asks the question "Couldn't we?" multiple times, hoping that the answer will be yes and that they can try again. She wants to turn the page on their past, forgive and forget, and go back to the way things were when their love was sweet and their touch was gentle.
Line by Line Meaning
There were words between us
We had disagreements and misunderstandings
Words that hurt inside
The words were painful and emotional
Still that's just no reason
However, that is not a good enough reason
To say the words goodbye
To end the relationship completely
We can't let go of something beautiful
We cannot give up on a wonderful relationship
We can't just let it die
We cannot let the love between us fade away
Can't you and I just
Can we not simply
Try to find one reason
Make an effort to find one good reason
To just give us one more try
To give our love one more chance
Couldn't love heal the pain
Would not love be able to heal our emotional pain
Couldn't time take the tears away
Surely time could eventually heal our sadness
Couldn't you, you and me
Could not you and I
Try again
Attempt to repair our relationship
Couldn't we
Could not we both do that
Start this story over
Start our relationship again from the beginning
Turn the page tonight
Begin our new relationship tonight
Nothin' wrong between us
There is no actual problem or wrongdoing between us
That love could not make right
Love would not be able to fix
Can't we forgive and let our hearts forget
Could we not forgive each other and move forward with our love
Let the love back inside
Allow the love to return to our hearts
Get back to those feelings
Reclaim the emotions
And feel them just one more time
Experience the emotions again
Turn back the hands of time
Go back to a previous time period
To a time when our love was alright
To a period when our relationship was good and healthy
To those nights when the touch was sweet
To the moments when we were affectionate and loving
Can we find our way back
Is it not possible for us to return to that place
Before we lose everything
Before we lose our relationship and love for each other
Couldn't we stay together
Could we not remain together
Couldn't we make it better
Could we not improve our relationship
Couldn't we turn the page
Could we not start anew
And start the story over
Begin our relationship from the beginning again
Couldn't we bring the love back
Could not we revive our love
Couldn't we take one more chance
Could we not give our love one more opportunity
Couldn't we hold each other
Could we not embrace each other
Just a little closer
Be a bit more affectionate with each other
Try again
Attempt to fix our relationship
Couldn't we X 2
Could not we do this
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Realsongs
Written by: DIANE EVE WARREN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind