Speaker 1: My next guest is an amazing individual. She's a Grammy
Speaker 1: nominator recording artists who not only scaled the R and
Speaker 1: B and pop charts with six top twenty Billboard Magazine
Speaker 1: R and B singles and an impressive thirteen number one
Speaker 1: hits on Billboards Hot Dance Club Play Chart, but it's
Speaker 1: also carved out her place within the world Broadway tell
Speaker 1: of Broadway television, film, and fashion. Broadway shows like Bodyguard,
Speaker 1: the musical, Steve Coodon's Broadway musical Jakline Hyde, and I
Speaker 1: saw her in her Broadway debate debut UH in the
Speaker 1: lead role of Elton John and Tim Rice's Broadway musical Aida.
Speaker 1: She's on the show the Day to talk about UH
Speaker 1: other television projects that she's involved with, concerts she's given
Speaker 1: in community events and formal observations of World AIDS Today,
Speaker 1: World Age Day which is December one, and many of
Speaker 1: the four three countries around the world that they serve.
Speaker 1: Please welcome to money Making Conversation for the very first time,
Speaker 1: and I'm happy to have it on the show. Miss
Speaker 1: Deborah Cox. Hey, Hello, after I was I needed some applause,
Speaker 1: de you know, just you know, it's just a lot
Speaker 1: going on with your life, your career, and you look fantastic.
Speaker 1: By the way. Thank you so much, Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: You've got all that information. That's a lot of information
Speaker 1: you dropped in. Well, you know, first of all, you know,
Speaker 1: you know off air, I was telling you that one
Speaker 1: of the first time we met when I was when
Speaker 1: I was one of the producer's own sister sister, and
Speaker 1: I was one of the early early years. You was
Speaker 1: very successful singer, and you were at that turn you
Speaker 1: was making that turn to consider acting as a as
Speaker 1: a as what was this a love for acting or
Speaker 1: you just felt like that was a craft you wanted
Speaker 1: to build on when you was auditioned for sitcoms like
Speaker 1: Sister Sister, Well, it was it was during my early years.
Speaker 1: I learned very very early on that you have to
Speaker 1: try and crack at everything right, and so acting with
Speaker 1: something that was always in my blood. I had done
Speaker 1: musicals before, but when I went to l A, you know,
Speaker 1: doing studios, actions and working on the album wasn't enough
Speaker 1: I wanted to do. I wanted to do more, and
Speaker 1: so that was um. You know, I had had an
Speaker 1: agent that would just send me on all these different auditions.
Speaker 1: You know for different types of roles. Well, the thing
Speaker 1: that all came across to me in the in the audition,
Speaker 1: which that you was just a natural um. You know
Speaker 1: you were not uh, the moment wasn't too big for you.
Speaker 1: Because the reason I say that because you know a
Speaker 1: lot of actors, a lot of singers came through common
Speaker 1: came through a lot of individuals who and I see
Speaker 1: that what they're doing now, and I see what you're
Speaker 1: doing now, and then to see the early stages of
Speaker 1: learning and trying to get a sense of who you are,
Speaker 1: what you say, what you do because you come in there,
Speaker 1: I guess uh, in some ways because of the fact
Speaker 1: that you are a successful singer versus a person who
Speaker 1: may be an unknown actress, it almost is almost a
Speaker 1: disadvantage sometimes to you are are maybe uh the fact
Speaker 1: that you know you're coming in and you're making a
Speaker 1: transition and you give him credit for the gifts that
Speaker 1: you have as an actor. I think, well, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of the times the right project has to
Speaker 1: find you. And in order for you to find you,
Speaker 1: you have to continue to go out and be fearless
Speaker 1: and put yourself in front of people that are going
Speaker 1: to see that gift. You know, I did my first
Speaker 1: independent um. I did a film with Lorenz Tate, you know,
Speaker 1: a movie called Love Come Down in two thousand, which
Speaker 1: was I think probably um again, it was something that
Speaker 1: that came to me and I think really suited who
Speaker 1: I was, right, right, right right, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You know, when you come in for these auditions for
Speaker 1: these sitcoms or these dramas, you know, you're trying to
Speaker 1: be something that sometimes we've already you know, you're you're
Speaker 1: you know, you're you are still are a very popular singer. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's go and get that straight. So when you at
Speaker 1: the time, you even more are prominent, you singing, walk
Speaker 1: and even go okay, just jepra okay, wow, okay, and
Speaker 1: so you can you so you you're you're somewhat um
Speaker 1: um and all of the fact that you're in a
Speaker 1: room and you're trying to audition for a funny role.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, You're trying to be a
Speaker 1: friend of a family member or a friend of the
Speaker 1: twins at the time, because that's what Sister Sister was about.
Speaker 1: And so so it means that you but like you said,
Speaker 1: when you're the role you had with Lawrence Tate. They
Speaker 1: brought that to you, so they had a sense of
Speaker 1: this is who I want to play this role. This
Speaker 1: is the person he is, the value already, the natural
Speaker 1: skills I want to look, I want the tone, I
Speaker 1: want all those things that are those values. And so
Speaker 1: so then that carries you over into Broadway, which is
Speaker 1: even more wow. You know. Yea happens, big, big, big
Speaker 1: shoes to fail when it comes to, you know, taking
Speaker 1: on a role that's already been established. Um. But you
Speaker 1: know again, I think it's it's really about how fearless
Speaker 1: can you be, you know, and in shedding the persona
Speaker 1: that people see and that people have gotten used to
Speaker 1: and stepping into something completely different. I had gotten to
Speaker 1: the point where I was very bored with a lot
Speaker 1: of the things that were happening, and Broadway seemed to
Speaker 1: have a lot more compelling storylines and more compelling, um
Speaker 1: you know, just a way of telling the story. I
Speaker 1: was able to sing and act and dance and live
Speaker 1: and be live and live as well. And I think
Speaker 1: that that's what I took away when I was watching you,
Speaker 1: was like, you're in your moment, you know, because you know,
Speaker 1: it's a you know, there's a former stand up comic,
Speaker 1: I know, going in front of a live audience. You know,
Speaker 1: you it's there's a high level of you know, you
Speaker 1: can't plan it. There's a lot of you can't nothing. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're like, it's like you're walking that type what's going
Speaker 1: to happen? Right, and and and every audience and every
Speaker 1: show people right might laugh at something that that the
Speaker 1: previous audience didn't find a humor or, and then they
Speaker 1: might they might cry, or they might get your standard ovation,
Speaker 1: or they might applaud. It's something to react to it.
Speaker 1: And that's that that that's that's what you got out
Speaker 1: of the whole live world, that whole Broadway world. Correct.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, there was no no chance to retake anything.
Speaker 1: We do anything when you're live. As soon as you
Speaker 1: know that downbeat happens, you're pretty much off and running.
Speaker 1: And you gotta you know, know all your lines, know
Speaker 1: your marks, you know, and and be in it and
Speaker 1: and be able to deliver in front of the audience
Speaker 1: that's paid, you know, over a hundred dollars for a seat,
Speaker 1: and you've got to make sure that you deliver. You know,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. Now you have a you have a movie
Speaker 1: project coming up on bt TY called Influence. It starts
Speaker 1: one of my good Anthony Hamilton's and Kim tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about that. Uh, and I know we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna talk about the Age Healthcare Foundation all that,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to just talk about your brain is
Speaker 1: amazing and the fact that I got you on my show.
Speaker 1: I always like to talk about the evolution of a
Speaker 1: journey when you're talking about people with careers. Your careers
Speaker 1: are amazingly long and it's not going anywhere. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about the upcoming movie on b T. Well, this
Speaker 1: movie is called Influence, and it's about a family of
Speaker 1: lawyers who take on this case of superstar celebrity who's
Speaker 1: accused of murder. And I play Savannah who's accused of
Speaker 1: murdering her husband, um and so different. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: really a suspense thriller. And that was the reason why
Speaker 1: I signed on to do it was because I had
Speaker 1: never done anything like that before. I always loved that
Speaker 1: feels like that it's there sultry in there too. You know,
Speaker 1: you're you're you look good. Yeah, yeah, I think that
Speaker 1: this role Will Will Will explore a very different side
Speaker 1: of me, a side that I've never had to even
Speaker 1: exploit doing music. You know a lot of the times,
Speaker 1: you know, women have to you know, be sort of
Speaker 1: you know, scantily clad. And I've I've always been able
Speaker 1: to you know, be measured by the by the weight
Speaker 1: of of my talent, right and my voice. Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: um yeah, I I really pride myself in that because
Speaker 1: I think the standards are you know, the standards have
Speaker 1: been lowered, you know, over the years. Um and when
Speaker 1: you think about these triple threats like the Diane Carrols,
Speaker 1: the Dorothy Dandrids, Lena Horne, all these great incredible classy women,
Speaker 1: you know, they never had to do that. They had
Speaker 1: all they needed was there, you know, their talent, you know.
Speaker 1: So um so back to influence, it's it's it's something
Speaker 1: that I've never done before. And it was really um
Speaker 1: fun to explore a different side, uh of acting, which
Speaker 1: is really dramatic and doing a lot of suspense and
Speaker 1: thriller type stuff. Well, I like the word thriller tied
Speaker 1: to your name. You know, that suspense, that drama because
Speaker 1: you know the reason I say that, because you know,
Speaker 1: you have the different shows and they're like, you know,
Speaker 1: like their dramas and that's their their sitcoms and things
Speaker 1: like that, and they tend to be over the top
Speaker 1: and so so here and you and this this role,
Speaker 1: these roles, and I have to say they're usually white actors,
Speaker 1: and actors usually get these type of roles. In those
Speaker 1: particular roles where they allowed the character to play out
Speaker 1: be played the sinister role that you know, look, the
Speaker 1: evil but good looking, uh, the pause and ivy type
Speaker 1: characters that had to be a lot of fun. That
Speaker 1: really when they when the when the opportunity that came
Speaker 1: to you, you had to jump forward, right Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I mean it was they had um, they
Speaker 1: had really um you know, they were really buying someone
Speaker 1: to do it. And I read the script and I
Speaker 1: and I thought it was just something very different. You know.
Speaker 1: I had just finished coming off of The Bodyguard Musical
Speaker 1: and I had spent eighteen months doing that show across
Speaker 1: the country, which was great, exhilarating, and it was a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of great music in the show,
Speaker 1: you know, Whitney Houston's music, I mean, which is really
Speaker 1: a big task. So it was nice to kind of
Speaker 1: just settle back and sink into something very very different
Speaker 1: from that awesome, awesome. I'm on the phone this Deborah Cox.
Speaker 1: She's talking about the movie She's gonna be a staring
Speaker 1: in with my good friend Anthony Hamilton R and B
Speaker 1: Cronal uh called Influence to be on b T when
Speaker 1: we come back and gonna talk about I Believe the
Speaker 1: new single that's called an Easy Way. Also, we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about the World Age Day that she's involved
Speaker 1: in December one, be back with more. Deborah Cox, the
Speaker 1: amazing Deborah Cox, happy to have on money making conversations. Hi,
Speaker 1: This ra Sean McDonald and you're listening to money making
Speaker 1: conversation on the phone. Is a very talented person that
Speaker 1: I've been many many years ago when I was casting
Speaker 1: the sitcom's sister sister. Uh. Incredible actress, an incredible singer. Um.
Speaker 1: Deborah Cox. Debora, welcome back to the show. Yeah, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: let's talk about this whole a World Age Day. How
Speaker 1: did you get involved in that? Is it a personal
Speaker 1: reason why you getting involved and who approached you? Well,
Speaker 1: I've been involved with with World Age Day and a
Speaker 1: lot of Pride events for a very long time. I've been, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of in the trenches. And when the
Speaker 1: American uh, I'll sorry, When the AIDS Healthcare Foundation approached
Speaker 1: me about doing this show in UM in Atlanta on
Speaker 1: December five, I really wanted to be a part of
Speaker 1: it because I think it's important that our community, the
Speaker 1: black community, understands that it's still a crisis, you know,
Speaker 1: especially for black women. UM, it's not really talked about.
Speaker 1: There's still a real stigma and and and shame UM
Speaker 1: that's associated with What do you think that involved? I
Speaker 1: think it's the unknown. I think it's just you know,
Speaker 1: just really ignorance and unknown. And I think people were
Speaker 1: to understand that there are organizations like the AIDS Healthcare
Speaker 1: of that give out free testing, give out free condoms
Speaker 1: that you know, that helps to inform our audience. UM,
Speaker 1: they'll see that they can you know, there's preventative ways
Speaker 1: UM to not be infected. And I think it's just
Speaker 1: a conversation that has been UM kind of overlooked because
Speaker 1: there's so many other things that people are talking about nowadays.
Speaker 1: It's really amazing because you know, being a African American
Speaker 1: male and I understand that you within the you know,
Speaker 1: the the gay community is shunned within the African American community. Uh.
Speaker 1: Talking about therapy is shunned within the African American community.
Speaker 1: And then I also, you know the whole thing with
Speaker 1: aids uh, and that the in the in the opportunity
Speaker 1: to find some type of cure or some type of
Speaker 1: programs that allow you to have a safe relationship in
Speaker 1: that world is shunned and so and it all goes
Speaker 1: back to education and so. And to ask you, and
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to say that you can answer the
Speaker 1: question because you have been involved. I'm pretty sure that
Speaker 1: the topics that I've just discussed really frustrates you as
Speaker 1: much as it frustrates me. Correct, absolutely, am. And I
Speaker 1: have I have of all different types of you know, orientations.
Speaker 1: I have you know, gay friends, lesbian friends, you know
Speaker 1: a lot of trance people, you know. So I think
Speaker 1: it's important that we we have we have to have
Speaker 1: an open mind about a lot of things. We can't
Speaker 1: be so judgmental, you know, we can't be so um,
Speaker 1: you know, rigid and and think that our way is
Speaker 1: the only way and it's the right way. Um. And
Speaker 1: And on top of that, I think it's important that
Speaker 1: people understand that, you know, AIG is not just being
Speaker 1: uh age is not an effect in just the gay community,
Speaker 1: you know, it's there's a lot of heterosexuals that are
Speaker 1: contacting you know, the disease. So I um, you know.
Speaker 1: So part of this show on December five, which is
Speaker 1: also free, it's at the Center Staging Theater in Atlanta. UM,
Speaker 1: it's a free show, myself, Raheim, Divan and another artist
Speaker 1: named k Camp Oh sorry, we'll be performing and UM
Speaker 1: there will be tons of information you know about UM
Speaker 1: the virus and about how you can get tested, and
Speaker 1: a lot of free resources that I think people really
Speaker 1: need to take advantage of. How does want to get nan?
Speaker 1: How do want to get tickets for this? Because you
Speaker 1: say it's free, you know, um, yeah it's um. You
Speaker 1: can go to um uh anfo dot com at w
Speaker 1: WF a f h dot org for slash w a
Speaker 1: d okay, it's a go to www dot a h
Speaker 1: f dot org forward slash w a D forward slash
Speaker 1: for the free tickets. In fact, this is one of
Speaker 1: four concerts that are free concerts and the United US.
Speaker 1: The first one is November twenty nine, the second concert
Speaker 1: is December one, and then The third concert is December five,
Speaker 1: and one you'll be involved with with Rahome Devon Camp.
Speaker 1: I'm tell you first of all, I know what you
Speaker 1: can do, okay, And if anybody has not seen Raheim
Speaker 1: Devon and his band, this is him live is outstanding.
Speaker 1: Its outstanding. I've been knowing him many many years and
Speaker 1: he's one of my favorite live audience to watch perform
Speaker 1: and it's incredible. And then the final will be in
Speaker 1: Miami December seven, And I just wanted to say this
Speaker 1: statement before were moving forward that you've always had a
Speaker 1: long standing commitment to various social issues in the l
Speaker 1: g b t Q community and has been the receipient
Speaker 1: of numerous awards. The reason I want to bring that
Speaker 1: up there is that you know a lot of people
Speaker 1: think people just dive in or they last minute to
Speaker 1: the band wagon. You've been out to the forefront of
Speaker 1: a long time and you've been honored including out Music
Speaker 1: Pillow Award and the Harvey Milk Foundation recognized you at
Speaker 1: your Diversity Honors ceremony for your efforts and the fight
Speaker 1: against HIV AIDS in the LGBTQ community. So this is
Speaker 1: something I want to just let people know that this
Speaker 1: is not something that you thought of last week, started
Speaker 1: last year. It's a commitment from you full time. Correct. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's been a commitment. And I think that's part of
Speaker 1: the reason why, you know, the organizations like a hf
Speaker 1: UM you know, why they want me to be involved
Speaker 1: because it's it's a constant fight, it's a constant um
Speaker 1: you know, it's constant work, you know, because every year
Speaker 1: something is different. There's new studies that come out about
Speaker 1: HIV and aide. There are new organizations that they're also
Speaker 1: getting involved with that can help people that are you know,
Speaker 1: are that fall on hard times as a result of
Speaker 1: being infected. Like there's a lot of homelessness. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of things that happen as a result of of
Speaker 1: you know these um uh the results being infected. So
Speaker 1: you know, they have a lot of different organizations that
Speaker 1: they partner with that can help that, right, right, with
Speaker 1: with housing, with funding that kind of thing, right, I know.
Speaker 1: I'm just let you know I've be in New York
Speaker 1: on the fourth. Um. I live in Atlanta, so I
Speaker 1: don't be surprised if you see my mug December five,
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, I haven't seen Rahim in
Speaker 1: a long time and I've loved it. Meet you, uh
Speaker 1: and and support you. And when I say the word support,
Speaker 1: you have a new single out and you have also
Speaker 1: have an album from your seven albums coming out in
Speaker 1: I'll be remiss if we don't talk about your great music.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about that right now. Thank you. Yes, I'm
Speaker 1: really excited about this new single. It's called easy Way.
Speaker 1: It was written and produced by Rico Love. Big shoutout
Speaker 1: to Rico and big shout out to Detown and Rico
Speaker 1: who who produced it. Together. We're here in Miami and
Speaker 1: we we get together and we we five and and they,
Speaker 1: you know, come up with this incredible music and this
Speaker 1: song song I feel like, I think really um describes
Speaker 1: and exemplifies what a lot of people are going through
Speaker 1: in their love life. Now. You know, I've been married
Speaker 1: for twenty one years and it hasn't been easy. It
Speaker 1: hasn't been um uh. It's been a real commitment. You know,
Speaker 1: my husband and I really um put our time in.
Speaker 1: We're we're really committed and you know, doing what's right
Speaker 1: for each other and our family. And I think this
Speaker 1: song talked about a lot of a lot of the
Speaker 1: issues that people go through when they're in a place
Speaker 1: that they're they're kind of stuff and stagnant because you all,
Speaker 1: you know, the romance does fade after a while and
Speaker 1: you have to try to find ways new ways to
Speaker 1: keep that sparked going. And so the song easy Way
Speaker 1: really talks about, um, this woman who is doesn't know
Speaker 1: she should say it, doesn't know she should go, who
Speaker 1: have been want to figure it out, they don't know
Speaker 1: how to figure it out. So the song is really
Speaker 1: talking about that um back and forth struggle and then
Speaker 1: you know it, really that's a very relatable because, as
Speaker 1: you know, any long term relationship, you know, the the
Speaker 1: wondering eye, you know, um do I do? You know
Speaker 1: looking at your mate? Of course your mate don't look
Speaker 1: like the person who was fifteen years ago? Okay, right,
Speaker 1: and so but you put that standard on your mate
Speaker 1: like that, you know, and then you start forgetting how
Speaker 1: you look. You know, do you forget that you put
Speaker 1: you don't put the standards on yourself, Deborah, Hey, you
Speaker 1: used to be fine. Hey if you look at the
Speaker 1: mirrorland lately. And so when you when you put a
Speaker 1: single out there, it really carries a lot of baggage
Speaker 1: of honesty. And I'm excited about you. You're talking about
Speaker 1: that because you you you personalized it, and you talked
Speaker 1: about your relationship and the difficulties. You know, I've been
Speaker 1: married with almost thirty years, so I know the journey,
Speaker 1: the journey, and talked to a lot of people who
Speaker 1: are who have been in long rel relationships and and you.
Speaker 1: I found that if you, if you stop going in
Speaker 1: with such huge expectations of this thing called love, you
Speaker 1: you'll you'll you'll have a better approach, um, you know,
Speaker 1: to the just the everyday sort of mundane things, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, you will have such glossy eyes
Speaker 1: about um, you know, about being in a relationship. You
Speaker 1: think that's part of the problem is, you know, we
Speaker 1: sometimes expect love to be you know, spark flying all
Speaker 1: the time. Or do you have a single this tied
Speaker 1: a video tied to this single yet. Yeah, we're going
Speaker 1: to release that in as well, because right now, I
Speaker 1: know we're coming to time, I mean coming into the
Speaker 1: Christmas season. I had the Christmas single that will be
Speaker 1: out in a about a week and um, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we've got we've we're definitely you know coming with all
Speaker 1: the the visuals and stuff. This is a com beauty
Speaker 1: of it. Please keep me on your agenda. Are definitely
Speaker 1: gonna make a tremendous effort to see you December five,
Speaker 1: because what I try to do with Money Making Conversations
Speaker 1: to create a relationship to let people know that I
Speaker 1: have a lot of media contacts and my and then
Speaker 1: I developed this show so people can use it as
Speaker 1: an extension to be able the market that their their products,
Speaker 1: their talents, and your talent is most multi dimensional. And
Speaker 1: so December five is an event that you're doing for
Speaker 1: free that's gonna help out people within our community when
Speaker 1: it comes down. I want to promote the influence the
Speaker 1: movie on BT with my man Anthony Hamilton's the new
Speaker 1: single that you have called easy Way in the video
Speaker 1: when it comes out in as well as the album
Speaker 1: your seventh album A seventh is a very lucky So
Speaker 1: I wish you luck and uh so that the Money
Speaker 1: Making Conversation with Sean McDonald's a fan, longtime fan. I'm
Speaker 1: just so happy I finally got to talk to you
Speaker 1: and let you know that you have a relationship out
Speaker 1: here that's willing to promote and extend your brand. Okay,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Thank you, I appreciate you. In good
Speaker 1: luck with your career,