Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here – Deborah Cox | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#2 for 8 weeks) & R&B (#1 for 14 weeks); 1998

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

Peak #1 R&B for 14 weeks & #2 Pop for 8 weeks; 1998 Five years after Celine Dion first hit the U.S. record chart, fellow Canadian Deborah Cox followed suit. Whereas, Celine’s first single peaked at #4, Deborah’s stalled at #27, hinting at the long months ahead.

Deborah certainly demonstrated a gift for music early on, winning a local television talent showcase, and singing jingles for commercials. From there she moved on to fronting bands while specializing in classical music and jazz at the Claude Watson School for the Performing Arts.

At last Deborah found herself performing on stage in front of sellout audiences…singing backup for Celine Dion. One thing led to another and by 1995 Deborah’s first album hit the stores.

Although Sentimental found favor with R&B fans, nothing really caught fire. Her second disc followed in ’98 and included Nobody’s Supposed To be Here. Her label serviced radio and clubs with two different versions to maximize play, resulting in a 33 week R&B chart run; the longest of the rock era.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

• Anthony “Shep” Crawford

Lyrics Written by:

• Montell Jordan
• Anthony “Shep” Crawford

Awards:

• The song won the Billboard Music Award Top 100 Score Best Song in 1998