The King and I (1956 film) O'Hara, who had a pleasant soprano voice, was originally cast, but Richard Rodgers did not agree to the casting. It was Yul Brynner who pressed for Deborah Kerr to play the role. Marni Nixon provided Kerr's singing for the film. Nixon and Kerr worked side-by-side in the recording studio for songs which combined speaking and singing. Nixon would also dub Kerr's singing the following year, for the film "An Affair to Remember". Donald Bogle's biography of Dorothy Dandridge claims that Dandridge was offered the role of Tuptim in partial fulfillment of her three-picture contract with 20th Century-Fox, but that Dandridge
Deborah Cooper Deborah Cooper Deborah Cooper is an American professional dance, music, singer, award-winning composer and entertainer, with several number one and top charting dance music and house music hits. Cooper started as female vocalist for the Fatback Band, then as lead female vocalist and member of disco/R&B band Change (1981–1985) where she made several hits. In 1991 she featured as guest vocalist on Clivillés and Cole's hit single A Deeper Love. Subsequently, in the 1990s, she was part of the C+C Music Factory as both a lead and back up vocalist resulting with several # 1 hits including "Deeper Love", "Pride"