Canadian singer Deborah Cox will be honoured next spring in Toronto by the University of the West Indies (UWI).
The R&B star, who was born and raised in Toronto, will receive the Luminary Award at the 10th annual UWI Toronto Benefit Gala on April 6 at the Ritz-Carlton.
The award is given to people of Caribbean heritage who have made outstanding achievements on an international scale.
Cox is the fifth music artist to receive the award – she follows Shaggy, Jimmy Cliff, Harry Belafonte and Tessanne Chin.
After performing as a backing vocalist for Céline Dion, Cox scored a massive hit with “Nobody’s Supposed to be Here” in 1998. “I never, never, never get tired of it,” she told Billboard in June. “The song will always be alive to me.”
In 2008, the multiple Junos winner had a Top 10 hit in Canada with "Beautiful U R."
Cox, who lives in Miami with her husband and their three children, has also starred in stage musicals like Aida, The Bodyguard, and Jekyll and Hyde.