It may have been 30 years since Deborah Cox’s R&B bop “Who Do U Love” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but the vocal powerhouse is showing no signs of slowing down.
During a weekend off from belting out Céline Dion classics in the Broadway smash hit musical comedy, “Titaníque,” the legendary pop diva’s most famous former backup singer served as a headliner at Beatstock 26 – an annual throwback music festival known as the “Greatest Dance Concert Ever.” Singing her own charttoppers, notably the 1999 record-breaking anthem “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here,” Cox played to sold out audiences on stages in New York and New Jersey alongside 1990s hitmakers including CeCe Peniston, Robin S, Naughty By Nature’s Treach and Freedom Williams of C+C Music Factory.
“It’s that nostalgia of the moment that reminds you of that time back in the day of being on the stage and hearing the sound system, and then seeing people really get into it, and they’re resonating and they’re dancing to it. There’s no feeling like it,” Cox told URL Media back in her dressing room at New York City’s St. James Theatre last week. “I still love to do the dance sets, whether it’s ‘Beatstock’ or ‘Pride’ events.”
She continued: “A lot of the time, it’s fun to be able to put on something different, and bring something different to how I perform. Like a lot of people don’t have the, let’s say, option to just do the dance remixes or just do the R&B set, you know what I mean? Like I have a really eclectic catalog, so it keeps it fun for me.”
Since late March, the 52-year-old Toronto native is having a different kind of fun on The Great White Way with her latest role as Unsinkable Molly Brown in “Titaníque,” the Tony Award-nominated, Olivier Award–winning show, which hilariously parodies the historic narrative of the Titanic through the music (and comical lens) of Céline Dion.
A counterintuitive casting
In the Tye Blue-helmed production, Cox takes on the larger-than-life role of the real-life subject Academy Award winner Kathy Bates portrayed in the blockbuster 1997 film about the doomed British luxury cruise ship that sank in the Atlantic Ocean in 1912.
“I take it in gratitude because roles like this don’t come along often, you know what I mean?,” she said, noting her non-traditional casting as the wealthy socialite and philanthropist. “Molly is not a Black woman, but I feel like she has all the attributes of someone who is a soul searcher. She’s someone who is empathetic. She’s someone that is very passionate and compassionate to the people that don’t necessarily have the courage to stand up to that male authority.”
“You know she survived two shipwrecks,” Cox furthered. “A lot of people don’t know the history about her … It’s really interesting that she made such an impact when you think about the story of Titanic, and to be able to play this role really allowed me to explore my comedic side, and then also really challenge myself in the pacing of this show.”
For her latest foray on Broadway, the budding entrepreneur not only stars but is a producer of the production which also boasts “Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons, Melissa Barrera, Frankie Grande, John Riddle and Olivier Award winners Layton Williams, Constantine Rousouli and Marla Mindelle among its cast.
“I came into this show not knowing what I was getting into, so I think in many ways just the mystery of it all was more intriguing,” Cox explained. “But when I came into the rehearsal room and I just saw the work and what people were doing, I had huge interest in helping [because] a lot of shows don’t often get the push that you want them to. And I figured if I can come in on a producer’s level and help any way that I can,that would be amazing. And the opportunity presented itself, which was great.”
The Celine Dion connection
How does the “We Can’t Be Friends” singer think her former boss Céline Dion would react to the musical comedy romp, which got its start in a basement of a condemned supermarket in New York City?
“She has a sense of humor, so she would be totally into it,” Cox revealed. “She’s a very, very funny woman, and when I was with her in the early ’90s, right around the “Beauty and the Beast” and “If You Asked Me To” era, I remember during soundcheck she was really silly and just like a sister, just crazy. She loves all types of music.”
“I mean, she just does not take herself too seriously, but she takes her craft very seriously,” she added. “She’s very disciplined. So she can have fun, but she’s not going to fuck around when it comes to her voice.”
The Canadian Music Hall of Famer, who previously revived the legacies of other trailblazing icons Josephine Baker and Whitney Houston through theatrical productions, said she’s not ruling out doing a tribute project to celebrate Dion’s musical legacy and have even been talking to her castmates about immortalizing the work being done on stage with a possible recording. There’s also a multi-city “Titaníque” tour that has been announced to start in 2027 she’s open to be a part of.
What’s next
But she has other irons in the fire after “Titaníque” ends its extended Broadway run on Sept. 20.
Cox is excited to headline the annual New York Pops Underground fundraiser at 54 Below on Oct. 5. She described it as “a night for music lovers” where she will get to perform songs never recorded before in an intimate venue that is “safe space with your friends” with “a real opportunity for people to just hear the purity of my voice, and to hear like songs that I really truly love and connect with.”
And then there’s her own organic wine line called KAZAISU (pronounced kah-zy-sue and named after her three children: Kaila, Isaiah, and Sumayah) co-founded with her husband, Lascelles Stephens.
“I’ve always been a lover of wine, and the crazy part is, when I was touring with Céline, I was touring in the region of Provence, France, where wine is produced, rosé is produced,” the Grammy Award nominee shared. “In my early years, I developed all this love for these vineyards and stuff. So, fast forward to 2020 when I pivoted a little bit: I wanted to really explore the art of winemaking, and again, it was just really intriguing to me the idea of having something that just ages. And as it ages, it’s something of greater quality, and I and I wanted to explore and create you know this legacy brand.”
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