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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Queen Cox

Chris Azzopardi

Deborah Cox's first go at jazz doesn't fall into the fated karaoke-sounding rut. And with a voice as smooth as a twink and as elastic as a rubberband, the R'n'B crooner couldn't possibly have had any run-ins with reinventing the Queen of Blues Dinah Washington's style, right? Wrong.
"I didn't want to emulate it. I didn't want to copy it. I just wanted her influence to be in my subconscious," Cox says from her home in Florida, "so when I performed it, it would just come out naturally. So I think that was the hardest part – not copying."
On "Destination Moon," out June 19, Cox dives off the dance diva cruise ship and hops onto the jazz yacht, dipping her vocal chops into the big-band style she grew up on. The powerfully piped songstress, then about 8 years old, shimmied to her mother's Washington 45s in their two-bedroom Toronto apartment. The song: "Baby, You've Got What It Takes," a musical mating between Washington and soul singer Brook Benton.
"When that duet used to come on, it would just put her (Cox's mother) in this really happy mood," Cox, 32, recalls. "She'd sort of be skipping and singing around the house to this song and so it brings back those kind of fond memories of just this real simple life."

The answer to the ubiquitous question surrounding the release of Cox's cover album – Will there be any club mixes? – won't likely tickle the diva's gaggle of gay fans. It's a big, fat no. For now.
"I just want this music to at least have a chance to shine before … we put another spin on it," she spills. "The dance mixes have a life of their own; they have been in the spotlight the past few years so I kind of want the jazz to have its time now. I'll probably take a rest from the remixes just for a little bit."
Phew! Remixes of "Absolutely Not," a bold kiss off where Cox proclaims she won't live in a man's shadow, became a club knockout for hand-flinging gay guys and sassy drag queens. "It's a song that's about standing up for what you believe in," she says. "And I think when you're gay there are all these things you have to deal with, so it's kind of like an outcry. It's become like the anthem to the theme of what a lot of gay people are going through."
Outside of gay guys' worship for voluminous-voiced divas, Cox can't nail specific reasons for her queer clique. Perhaps, she thinks, it would be easier if she was on the outside looking in, but, for now, she'll take the word of fans who've proclaimed: "It's the voice! It's the voice!"
And what a voice it is. Cox's rapturous set of walloping chops has put the smackdown on percolating dance beats, slow burners and blues and earned her a lengthy stay on the top of the R'n'B charts with "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here." "The songs are very relatable," Cox notes, "and a lot of people can see themselves, or I think I've sung a lot of their stories."
Certainly, there's a link between gay guys and Cox. Though it mystifies the crooner, she won't challenge it – she'll just bask in it. As a 20-something, Cox would frequent Twilight Club. She recalls it being a gay joint, but then quickly backpedals: "It wasn't a gay club… . But they played a lot of dance music – not dance; we called it house – a lot of house music. I used to get my groove on with (Raze's) 'Break 4 Love.'"
Still, Cox, who didn't consider herself gay bait as a teen, rallied a few queer friends that confided in her when they skipped out of the closet. "They kind of told me on the DL what their sexual orientation was. I think that was my first sort of experience with the gay lifestyle, or being close to it, or seeing it first hand."

A humble halo crowns Cox's head. It's one that doesn't typically adorn a demanding diva – Give me more loot! Give me a red carpet! Give me crack! – but this 'tude-less belter has been known to remain as righteous as her Toronto roots. "I've always been a very practical person. So, I'm not an unreasonable person; that's just who I am. I don't know any other way to be. And then I think my children keep me very grounded and focused, and they remind me so much of being in the moment."
When Cox is unwinding around the house there are several sounds playing interchangably: her jazz album, her oldest child's own melodies or "Barney" jingles. Isaiah, 4, is catching on that mom, who often leaves home for shows in costume, is a walloping warbler but Sumayah, nearly 1, still needs a little more time. Should either of Cox's children drop the gay bomb in 15 years, she'll be standing by with open arms, making sure they're aware of the road ahead. Cox would tell them: "It comes with a lot of struggle. Not only is it tough being a black person, but being gay and black, you're really – you're really in for a fight."

Deborah Cox
'Destination Moon'
Available June 19

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