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En Vogue is an all-female new jack R&B, club/dance, and urban soul vocal quartet assembled by the hit music producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy (formerly of the disco group Club Nouveau).

Members of En Vogue:

The original members were former Miss Black California Cindy Herron (b. September 26, 1965, California, United States), Maxine Jones (b. January 16, 1966, New Jersey), Dawn Robinson (b. November 28, 1968, Connecticut), and Terry Ellis (b. September 5, 1966, Texas). The group was formed in Herron's home state, California, in 1988. Their story began when the production duo brainstormed on the concept of putting together a modern-day, original R&B girl group for the 1990s. After Foster and McElroy studied various girl groups, they chose to experiment with welding the female R&B/soul group heritage with hip-hop/new jack swing rhythms. They were looking for singers who could display lasciviousness and intelligence, as well as vocal anabasis. The two held auditions and resolved on the official membership of Herron, Jones, Robinson, and Ellis. Prior to the group's official name, they were primarily called For You. They shifted to Vogue and ultimately En Vogue after learning of another group having a very similar name.

After they found their women, the new group performed a song or two on Foster and McElroy's FM2 album. The group lived together for a while. Robinson suggested that they enter singing contests to remain active. Before the work and recording of their debut album began, one day, they had a singing session. They were in Foster's car, getting warmed up as they prepared to sing "Who's Lovin' You?" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. Suddenly, Foster turned on the drum machine accidentally. The girls liked the catchy,funky beats that it made and thought it would be a great idea to sing the lyrics over them. But Foster had a better idea,to write and produce an original, answer song called "Hold On". That first single became a crossover, pop smash hit, reaching #2 on the pop charts and making #1 on the R&B charts. The single aided the debut album "Born To Sing", released in 1990, in going platinumPlatinum is also a certification by the RIAA and other world recording industries, see: RIAA certification Platinum is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. A heavy, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white. A remix album, "Remix To Sing" followed later within the next year.

Some have compared En Vogue to The SupremesFlorence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross The Supremes were a wildly successful Motown all girl singing group that was active from 1959 until 1977. Originally known as The Primettes from 1959 to 1961, and later, from 1967 to 1970, known as Diana Ross &. A notable feature of the group is that they all shared in singing lead, purposely designating no particular singer as the "star." Herron appeared in the film Juice (1992) between albums. The 1992 sophomore attempt "Funky Divas" was more successful than the first, going multi-platinum and garnering positive reviews. Though the group is influenced mainly by the genre R&B, other influences include pop, rap, reggaeReggae is an African Caribbean style of music developed on the island of Jamaica and is closely linked to the religion Rastafarianism, though not universally popular among its members. The origins of reggae can be found in traditional African Caribbean mu, and rock. The first three singles, "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)", "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" (a remake of one of Aretha FranklinAretha Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is a gospel, soul and R&B singer born in Memphis, Tennessee. On January 3, 1987 she became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As a child, Franklin and her sisters, Carolyn and Erma, sa's songs and borrowed from Curtis MayfieldCurtis Mayfield ( June 3, 1942 December 26, 1999) was an African American soul, funk and R&B singer, songwriter and noted guitarist best known for his soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Superfly. Mayfield came to prominence as lead singer/songwriter fo), and "Free Your Mind" (using George ClintonThis article is about the American musician. For other persons of that name see George Clinton. George Clinton (born July 22, 1940) is an American musician, considered one of the fathers of funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadeli's chorus line with permission), all reached the top ten. They returned to the top ten again in 1993, backing the female pop-rap trio Salt-N-PepaSalt-N-Pepa is an American R&B and hip hop group, consisting of Cheryl James and Sandy Denton ("Salt" and "Pepa", respectively), and Deidre "Dee Dee" Roper ( DJ Spinderella). They debuted with "The Show Stopper", a response record to Doug E. Fresh & Slick on their hit "Whatta Man". Another LP, Runaway Love, came out that year.

En Vogue opened doors for future girl groups as the first black female New Jack R&B group to appear on the front cover of Vogue magazine. They struck an endorsement deal to be in a Sprite commercial, won awards at the Soul Train and Lady of Soul Awards shows. The group made a television guest appearance on an episode of the series "A Different World" and played hookers in the 1995 film Batman Forever. The group took a three-year recess from recording as a group before their next LP would come out. Ellis made her solo debut with the release of "Southern Gal" in 1995. Dissatisfied with the treatment of the group's props and royalties, Robinson left the group for a solo career in 1996, but she joined Tony! Toni! Toné!'s Raphael Saadiq and A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shaheed Muhammad to form the group Lucy Pearl before that. The rest over En Vogue went on to record EV3 . Before it was issued in 1997, they contributed one of the CD's tracks "Don't Let Love(GO)" to the "Set It Off" soundtrack, which became a #2 single. The group's first compilation, The Best Of En Vogue , came to be in the summer of 1999. The next year, "Masterpiece Theater" came out. Meanwhile, Robinson's first solo CD Dawn was released in early 2002. At the end of the year, En Vogue's holiday album The Gift Of Christmas appeared.

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