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.
September
Deborah Cox Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It seems like yesterday in September
We started off as the best of friends
No intention of falling in love again
He held me there in my time of need
My heart was set free
What a sweet memory
[Chorus:]
The day I fell in love
It was so beautiful
His hands, his tender touch
I remember the day in September
When we fell in love
It was an unexpected night
The sun was somewhere, but out of sight
So familiar, yet unexplored and new
We surrendered to our love in bloom
[Chorus]
I couldn't believe it was love
The passion we felt between us
The warmth of your touch
'Twas a night to remember
On the day we fell in love in September
[Chorus]
I couldn't believe it was love
The passion we felt between us
The warmth of your touch
'Twas a night to remember
On the day we fell in love in September
[Chorus]
The lyrics to Deborah Cox's song September talk about falling in love unexpectedly with someone who started off as a friend. The first verse talks about how it seems like just yesterday in September when the two of them became friends, and now a year has passed. They did not intend to fall in love, but as the person held the singer in her time of need, her heart was set free. The chorus talks about the day they fell in love and how beautiful it was with the person's hands and tender touch.
In the second verse, the night they fell in love is described as unexpected. The sun was somewhere, but out of sight, and the experience was both familiar and unexplored. The two of them surrendered to their love in bloom. The final verse repeats the sentiments of the chorus and how the singer couldn't believe that it was love. The passion they felt between them and the warmth of their touch made it a night to remember.
Line by Line Meaning
I can't believe that a year has passed
I'm surprised that a whole year has gone by since we fell in love.
It seems like yesterday in September
Even though it's been a year, the memory of when we fell in love is still fresh in my mind.
We started off as the best of friends
We began our relationship as close friends.
No intention of falling in love again
Neither of us were looking for love at the time.
He held me there in my time of need
He was there for me during a difficult time in my life.
My heart was set free
He helped me feel free and unburdened from my troubles.
What a sweet memory
That moment and the beginning of our love story was a precious moment to me.
The day I fell in love
The moment when I realized that I had fallen in love with him.
It was so beautiful
The experience of falling in love with him was amazing.
His hands, his tender touch
Being touched by him and held by him was incredibly tender and loving.
I remember the day in September
I have a vivid memory of when we first fell in love.
When we fell in love
The moment when we both realized that we had fallen in love with each other.
It was an unexpected night
We didn't plan for that night to be the beginning of our love story.
The sun was somewhere, but out of sight
The setting of the sun added to the mysteriousness and beauty of that night.
So familiar, yet unexplored and new
Even though we were friends, the romantic aspect of our relationship was uncharted territory for us.
We surrendered to our love in bloom
We gave in to the feelings of love and affection that were growing between us.
I couldn't believe it was love
It was hard for me to believe that I had fallen in love with him.
The passion we felt between us
There was a strong physical and emotional connection between us.
The warmth of your touch
The feeling of his touch was comforting, reassuring and filled me with love.
'Twas a night to remember
That night will always be one of the most memorable moments of our love story.
On the day we fell in love in September
The moment we fell in love happened in September.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GORDON CHAMBERS, DEBORAH COX, STEVEN A JORDAN, WILLIAM T. TURPIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind