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.
Up and Down
Deborah Cox Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
double r uh uh uh
beat block yeah
deborah cox
yo
come on ma
you know i play hard ball
and them parkay floors
i just wann lay u down
the way u look
the way you smell
the way you sound
and they way you be puttin it on it
the nights alright
but nuthin can compare to the mornin
cus that's where the love is real at
up and down in and out tell me if u feel that
oooh...
baby I didn't come here to fight
why you wanna mess with me
oooh...
I'm always willin' to compromise
but you ain't controllin' me, no
cause I
came here to make love not war with you babe
so I try
to find some ways to make me feel good
up and down, in and out
that's what love is all about
always leaves both of us
feelin' good, I'm so helpless
up and down, in and out
love keeps movin' us around
to the beat, like a drum
I don't know if I can catch the rhythm
oooh...
you know me better than I know myself
so why are you keep teasin' me
mmmh...
I can't see me bein' with nobody else
cause you love me so crazy, yeah
cause I
came here to make love not war with you, babe
so I try
to find some ways to make me feel good
up and down. in and out
that's what love is all about
always leaves both of us
feelin' good, I'm so helpless
up and down, in and out
love keeps movin' us around
to the beat, like a drum
I don't know if I can catch the rhythm
up and down. in and out
that's what love is all about
always leaves both of us
feelin' good, I'm so helpless
up and down, in and out
love keeps movin' us around
to the beat, like a drum
I don't know if I can catch the rhythm
yo you actin real lady like
and i'm real hood
but at the end of the night we both feel good
and i don't wanna conrtol you
i just wanna hold u
and i know i flip sometime
but i'm suppose to
and i don't mean to come off rude and all that
cus i know u in your sexy mood and all that
nobody get wettier that you do
believe me girl i know you better than u do
believe me it's always in the back of your head
how we go from the jucuzzi to the bacolny
back to your bed
so perhaps we dicuss it a little
can't change my attitude thou baby
just adjust it a little
and i'ma keep heat thug
only time i disarm myself ma
is when we make sweet love
ha i'ma protect homebase
can't catch the rhythem
we gunna go out of homebase
you know I'm in a sexy mood
so why you gotta act a fool tonight
you need to change your attitude
cause I ain't arguin' with you
you know I'm in a sexy mood
so why you gotta act a fool tonight
you need to change your attitude
cause I ain't arguin' with you
up and down. in and out
that's what love is all about
always leaves both of us
feelin' good, I'm so helpless
up and down, in and out
love keeps movin' us around
to the beat, like a drum
I don't know if I can catch the rhythm
up and down. in and out
that's what love is all about
always leaves both of us
feelin' good, I'm so helpless
up and down, in and out
love keeps movin' us around
to the beat, like a drum
I don't know if I can catch the rhythm
are you feelin' me
are you feelin' me, baby
oooh...
I'm in the mood to make sweet love, yeah
you know I'm in a sexy mood
so why you gotta act a fool tonight
up and down, in and out
up and down, in and out
that what love is all about
The song "Up & Down" by Deborah Cox features lyrics that describe the ups and downs of love and relationships. The opening verse talks about the rapper's desire to lay the woman down and highlights how much he's attracted to her. The chorus sees Cox singing about the different aspects of love and how it makes people feel. She emphasizes that love is about both partners feeling good, and she uses the metaphor of a drum beat to describe the rhythms of love. The rap verse that follows sees the rapper and Cox expressing their feelings for each other despite their differences. The song's lyrics conclude with the singers wanting to make love instead of fighting.
The song's sarcastic tone and blunt language make it seem ironic. The rapper's confident speech contrasts with Cox's softer and more uncertain tone, highlighting the differences in the perspectives of the singers. This difference in tone and lyrics gives the song its unique sound and message. Overall, "Up & Down" is a powerful take on the duality and emotional highs and lows of love and relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
come on ma
Let's get it started
you know i play hard ball
I'm not here to argue
the triplex with them spinal steps
I've got a fancy house
and them parkay floors
Even my floors are fancy
i just wann lay u down
I just want to be intimate with you
the way u look
I'm attracted to your physical appearance
the way you smell
Your scent is pleasing to me
the way you sound
Your voice is music to my ears
and they way you be puttin it on it
I'm impressed with your skills in the bedroom
the nights alright
Our time together is fun
but nuthin can compare to the mornin
Morning is when our love is at its realest
cus that's where the love is real at
Morning is when our love is at its realest
up and down in and out tell me if u feel that
Our love-making is exhilarating
I didn't come here to fight
I came here for love, not arguments
why you wanna mess with me
Why do you want to start a fight?
I'm always willin' to compromise
I'm willing to work things out
but you ain't controllin' me, no
I won't let you control me
up and down. in and out
Our love-making is multi-dimensional
that's what love is all about
This is what love is supposed to be like
always leaves both of us feelin' good
Our love-making is fulfilling for both of us
I'm so helpless
I'm so overcome by passion
you know me better than I know myself
You understand me deeply
so why are you keep teasin' me
Why are you playing games with me?
I can't see me bein' with nobody else
I can only see myself with you
cause you love me so crazy, yeah
Your love for me is intense
that's what love is all about
This is what love is supposed to be like
you need to change your attitude
You need to stop arguing with me
cause I ain't arguin' with you
I won't argue with you
are you feelin' me
Do you understand where I'm coming from?
oooh... I'm in the mood to make sweet love
I'm feeling passionate right now
that's what love is all about
This is what love is supposed to be like
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Taylor Downing
This song was so underrated....I loved it
Prophets Of Rock TV
Very underrated but she’s getting not only that r&b bag but theatre, prime example to grow past ignorance. Such a queen
Otho Nash Jr
Two of the MOST UNDERRATED Artists on the same track!! Can't beat this...
Jessica Williams
I love this song, her voice is so amazing❤🔥🔥. Happy 49th Birthday to this beautiful and talented singer, and to one of my favorite voices, Deborah Cox! ❤🥳🎉🎊7/13/2023
ESELINAPK
I was a teen when this beautiful hit came out. Mid 30s and I still jam this! Volumn up always 💯
mooky
I love this song and video!!!!!!!! We need music like this!!
Nadine
back when we had real music...i love this song!!!
AishaL Mayo
luv her
CANTSTOPHEFLOW706
I forgot all about this song until I put in a mixtape I made from the early 2000's and this was on it!!!!! I LOVED this era of R&B music!!!!
Leon Watson
You damn right lol 💯