Deborah Cox (born July 13, 1974 in Toronto) is a Canadian singer-songwriter… Read Full Bio ↴Deborah Cox (born July 13, 1974 in Toronto) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress. Her 1998 song "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here" held the record for longest-running number one single on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart (14 weeks) for nearly eight years. She has achieved 12 number-one hits on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart. Deborah Cox is often cited as Canada's top R&B artist.

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.

Misery
Deborah Cox Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Mainly you have fire on my mind
More than you ought to be
Mainly I find, you're on my mind
More than you ought to be

Thoughts of you should bring me joy
But then you only bring misery

Well, well, I tried to act gay seemed to have fun
But I'm finding a bottle that can't be one
'Cause you're on my mind more than you ought to be

Thoughts of you should bring me joy
But then you only bring misery

Now beyond happiness you bring, really isn't fair
But I payin' a heaven, heaven above
someday you'll have to care
And keep me on your mind more than I ought to be

But I hope my thoughts bring you joy

And not a whole lot of misery, oh
Not a whole lot of misery, oh

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Deborah Cox’s song “Misery” reveal the intense emotional turmoil experienced by the singer due to her obsessive thoughts about a certain individual. The opening lines demonstrate how the person is constantly dominating her thoughts, as she states that “Mainly you have fire on my mind, more than you ought to be”. Her fixation on this person becomes a source of misery for her as she cannot seem to shake their presence from her mind. This sentiment is reiterated in the later verses, where the singer laments how the individual should bring her joy but instead brings her only misery.

The lyrics also reveal the futility of the singer’s efforts to move on from this person. She states that she has tried to act happy and have fun, but even then, she can't help but think about them. This highlights how much the person has affected her life and how much power they hold over her. The lyrics depict the singer as someone who is yearning to be on this person’s mind as much as they are on hers, as she hopes her thoughts of them will bring them joy and not the misery that she experiences. Overall, the lyrics of “Misery” convey the heartache and frustration of unrequited love, as well as the desperation to be close to someone that is constantly out of reach.

Line by Line Meaning

Mainly you have fire on my mind
I can't stop thinking about you

More than you ought to be
It's not healthy for me to think about you this much

Mainly I find, you're on my mind
You constantly occupy my thoughts

Thoughts of you should bring me joy
I should be happy when I think about you

But then you only bring misery
But your thoughts only bring me pain

Well, well, I tried to act gay seemed to have fun
I try to act happy and move on

But I'm finding a bottle that can't be one
But alcohol can't help me forget you

'Cause you're on my mind more than you ought to be
Because you still occupy my thoughts even when I try to move on

Now beyond happiness you bring, really isn't fair
You have the power to affect my emotions greatly and it's not fair

But I payin' a heaven, heaven above someday you'll have to care
But I'm hoping that eventually, you'll care about me as I care about you

And keep me on your mind more than I ought to be
And hopefully, you'll start to think of me as much as I think of you