ULTIMATE DEBORAH COX COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION OUT MAY 18 FROM BMG HERITAGE UNITES ALL OF THE MULTIFACETED DIVA'S R&B AND CLUB HITS ON A SINGLE DISC





Deborah Cox is that rare artist who's managed to avoid being pinned down to any style or even career: she's known equally as an R&B singer, a dance diva, a television actress (Nash Bridges, Soul Food) and, most recently, a Broadway star (she's currently playing the lead role in Disney's Aida). The timing is perfect for a retrospective CD of the Canadian singer's varied, decade-long career, and BMG Heritage is proud to release Ultimate Deborah Cox on May 18th. The collection features digitally remastered sound, new liner notes, and striking artwork‹but best of all, the disc features many hard-to-find remixes and edits, the result of an exhaustive search to compile the best versions of Cox's songs.

Cox was born in Toronto in 1974 and began singing when she was a child. She won a talent show at the age of 11, began singing jingles for television commercials the following year and performed in musicals during high school. She soon met her future husband, Lascelles Stephens, with whom she began writing and recording demos; she also sang backing vocals for fellow Canadian Celine Dion, with whom she performed at Bill Clinton's Inaugural Ball in 1992. Not long after, Cox moved to Los Angeles and was discovered by then-Arista Records president Clive Davis, who promptly signed her.

Deborah's eponymous debut album (featuring contributions from Dallas Austin, Keith Crouch, Daryl Simmons and Babyface) went gold and spawned several hits, including "Sentimental" and her first dance hit, "Who Do U Love." In a move that would set the tone for her varied career, Deborah's second album, 1998's platinum-selling One Wish, included two versions of her hit "Nobody's Supposed To Be Here" - an R&B version (which was a #2 Pop hit and topped the R&B charts for a record 14 weeks) and a Hex Hector remix, which topped the club charts. Other hits from the album include "We Can't Be Friends," a duet with R.L. from the group Next, and the dance hit "I Never Knew."

In 2000, Deborah challenged herself even further, performing on the Lilith Fair tour (with Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, and the Dixie Chicks), recording a duet with Whitney Houston, and making her film debut in Love Come Down. Deborah's third disc (and her first for J Records), 2002's The Morning After, found the artist developing into a more mature singer without losing touch with her R&B or dance audiences. The album spawned the hits "Up & Down (In & Out)" (which she cowrote with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis) and another dance chart-topper, "Mr. Lonely." In 2003, she released a remix album geared toward the dance market, titled‹naturally enough‹Remixed. At present Deborah Cox is taking another giant leap in her musical career staring in New York's hit Broadway musical Aida. As we look back at this multi-talented singer's career, the only thing that's more intriguing than the music on Ultimate Deborah Cox is what she might do next.

TRACKLISTING:

1. Sentimental
2. Who Do U Love
3. It Could've Been You (Mass Ave Hip Hop remix)
4. Where Do We Go From Here
5. Just Be Good To Me
6. Things Just Ain't The Same (Dance Mix)
7. September (Radio Edit)
8. We Can't Be Friends (Duet with R.L. from Next)
9. Nobody's Supposed To Be Here (Special-Slow To Fast-Version)
10. I Never Knew (Hani Remix)
11. Absolutely Not
12. Up & Down (In & Out) (Godson Remix)
13. The Morning After
14. Play Your Part (Leading Role Radio Mix)
15. Mr. Lonely (Hex/Mac Mix)
16. Something Happened On The Way To Heaven (Radio Edit)
17. Same Script, Different Cast Deborah Cox & Whitney Houston

It appears they've fucked up the disc by substituting a bunch of horrendous remixes and "special all-new...." versions for the original tracks and/or their radio mixes.

"Something Happened On The Way To Heaven (Valentin Mix)" is the shit-bomb-dookie.

Damn, already?

She didn't even complete a decade and she only has 4 albums, WTF?

A debra Cox "best of" is about as ridiculous as the "Avril Lavigne tribute album". It really exist. I couldnt bieve it. To quote Kudjo Goodie: "This shit has got to stop."

I wanted to get that. Does anyone know if it's on sale anywhere?

Harlepolis said:

She's not on a major label and unfornately this is BMG cashing on what few albums and singles she's released. Yeah, it's too song but those of us that don't have all her albums but really like her will find ourseleves buying it.

VinnyM27 said:

Since it's a new release, I'm sure several places will have it on sale. At least for the 1st week.

The mixes on this are not that drastic to where it takes away from the original. With the exception of a couple which were more successful as 'club hits'. Yeah...3 albums (4 if you include the remix album ), but it's a great collection none the less. And there have been many artists over the years with less than 5 albums whom have released a collection of hits. As Vinny said, a lot of record companies are releasing greatest hits packages early on in a career to cash in. Though Deborah has had some substantial chart success. She also had a record label change, which may have been the other reason. Either way...I love it.

Chico319 said:

You'd think so but know of the places have it their ads. This was a very big release week (at least for "older" pop/rock artists like Alanis, George, Lenny and even Morrissey) so it must have gotten overlooked in the shuffle.