Seasoned vocalist Deborah Cox gives exclusive insight into her unique role with Lifetime’s “I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story.”
The highly anticipated biopic film honoring one of the world’s most greatest singers, Whitney Houston, is set to air on the Lifetime network next year. Like most biopics, the process wasn’t necessarily peaches and cream. After hurdles of securing rights to Houston’s vocals, Cox was recruited by Angela Bassett, director of the biopic film, to recreate the singer’s most memorable tracks such as “Greatest Love Of All,” “I Will Always Love You,” “I’m Every Woman” and “I’m Your Baby Tonight.”
“I knew I had some big shoes to fill,” Cox told Billboard. “But I did the job that was supposed to be done.”
The 40-year-old revealed to Billboard that she got involved with the film by a simple request from Basset, who is her close friend. Cox also gave insight on what to expect from her vocals on the project and says that she took herself out of it and channeled her inner Whitney. Having recorded with Houston on the 2000 record “Same Script, Different Cast,” the Canadian singer had a slight advantage.
“The key was to sing in a tone as close to Whitney’s as possible, purely from the heart,” she revealed. “None of Deborah Cox seeped into the performances. I have a little more of a cry in my tone when I sing certain things; her tone is round and warm. It was about creating the essence of her.”
Not only has Cox been in the studio recording tracks for the Whitney Houston biopic, but the singer has also been working on a few tracks of her own. The songstress hopes to release a new single by the end of the year and a new album next year through Primary Wave/BMG. She says she is focusing on well-written songs that have great melodies and stories in sync with what she has going on in her life.
(Source: Billboard)
