En Vogue
Assembled in Oakland, California in July 1989, En Vogue launched with original members Cindy Herron, Maxine Jones, Dawn Robinson and Terry Ellis. The inspiration for the group came when production duo of Foster and Mc Elroy envisioned a modern-day girl group in the tradition of the 1950s/1960s female trios. The blueprint was based on the plan of recruiting singers who possessed strong voices, noticeably good looks, and intelligence. Auditions were held in 1988, with Herron, Jones and Robinson making the final cut. Like previous girl groups, En Vogue was originally conceived as a trio, but after hearing Ellis audition, Foster and McElroy decided to create a quartet. At first, they selected the name "For You." They shifted to "Vogue", but ultimately settled on En Vogue, upon learning that another group had already claimed the Vogue moniker.
After forming, the group began working with their producers on their debut album. Recording began in August 1989 and wrapped up in December of the same year. “Born to Sing” was released on April 3, 1990. The album charted at number twenty-one on the Billboard 200 and number three on Billboard's R&B Albums Chart. The first single, "Hold On," was released to radio in late February 1990 and became a crossover pop hit, reaching number two on Billboard's Hot 100 singles charts, and number one on both the R&B singles and Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts. It later went to #5 in the UK, and became a hit in Europe. The next two singles, "Lies" and "You Don't Have to Worry," each went to number one on the Billboard R&B charts, while the fourth and final single, "Don't Go," charted at number three on the Billboard R&B. The album was later certified platinum by the RIAA.
En Vogue's second album, Funky Divas, was released in the spring of 1992. The album debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Billboard R&B and ultimately doubled the take of its predecessor, going multi-platinum. The albums first two singles: "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" and "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" both went top ten pop, and peaked at number one on the R&B charts. The next single, "Free Your Mind" also went top ten. The final two singles "Give It Up Turn It Loose" and "Love Don't Love You" both were top forty hits. The album went on to sell more than three million copies, won an American Music Award for "Favorite Soul/R&B Album," and was nominated for five Grammy Awards. The music video for "Free Your Mind" earned the group three MTV Video Music Awards for "Best Choreography," "Best Dance Video," and "Best R&B Video." They were also honored with Soul Train's prestigious "Entertainer of the Year Award." In addition to this, the group were featured in Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Essence among other major publications. Riding high on the success of Funky Divas, a six-song EP entitled Runaway Love was released in the fall of 1993, spawning the hit "Runaway Love."
The group was featured as an opening act on Luther Vandross' 1993 tour. However, according to an article in Vibe magazine, Vandross (by his own admission in interviews) and his entourage clashed with the members of En Vogue during the tour and he vowed never to work with them again afterwards. Officially, the reason the funky En Vogue divas will no longer be the opening act for Luther Vandross' tour is that the quartet's Cindy Herron is pregnant. But that's not all, according to Herron. She says: "We've had a lot of problems with Luther . . . (our) nickname for him is Lucifer." Herron traces the rift with Vandross to their request to move his band offstage during En Vogue's set because it blocked the stage and they were unable to utilize for their performance. 
En Vogue also made numerous television appearances on such series as In Living Color, A Different World, Roc and Hangin' With Mr. Cooper (the latter two of which they also sang the show's theme songs.) In 1993, En Vogue were featured vocalists on Salt-N-Pepa's top ten hit "Whatta Man", from Salt-N-Pepa's Very Necessary album. The track also appeared (slightly edited) on En Vogue's Runaway Love EP.
While En Vogue was on hiatus group member Terry Ellis recorded a solo album entitled Southern Gal, which spun off the top ten R&B single "Where Ever You Are."
En Vogue reunited in 1996 to record "Don't Let Go (Love)" for the soundtrack to the motion picture Set It Off. Released in the autumn, it became the group's biggest hit to date; the single peaked at number two on the Hot 100, number one on the R&B singles chart, and was certified platinum by the RIAA. It, inadvertently, would also be the final En Vogue single to feature group member Dawn Robinson. One of Robinson's final performances with her band mates came in October of that year, when the group sang the final National Anthem rendition in the history of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, which came in game five of the 1996 World Series. In response to the large commercial success of "Don't Let Go (Love)", the group steadfastly went to work on its third album. As the album was nearing completion, Robinson chose to leave the group in April 1997 after difficult contractual negotiations reached a stalemate.
Following her departure from En Vogue in 1997, Robinson joined Lucy Pearl to record the only Lucy Pearl album released to date. After touring with Lucy Pearl, Dawn claimed the management team didn’t have the business side together and she ended up losing her home. Dawn was upset seeing the groups final video with new member Joi lip syncing her part. Despite Robinson's abrupt departure, En Vogue resolved to continue on as a trio (forcing the group to re-record some of the tracks on their forthcoming album that had originally featured her on lead vocals).
EV3, the group's third album, was released in the spring and debuted at number eight on both the Billboard 200 and the Billboard R&B charts. The first single, the Babyface-penned and produced "Whatever" went on to become a top-20 pop hit, a top ten R&B hit, while also peaking at number five on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. On August 26, 1997, the single was certified gold by the RIAA. The follow-up single "Too Gone, Too Long" (which was produced by David Foster and written by Diane Warren) performed more modestly, managing to only peak in the top forty. Despite its being certified platinum, and the album being nominated for Grammy Award and a Soul Train Lady of Soul Award, sales of EV3 failed to live up to full commercial expectation. A world tour had been planned, but was canceled due to poor ticket sales.
In 1998, En Vogue recorded "No Fool No More" for the soundtrack to the motion picture, Why Do Fools Fall In Love as well as a version of I Want A Monster to Be My Friend for the Elmopalooza special on ABC. The following year, a greatest hits compilation, The Best of En Vogue, was released.
“Masterpiece Theatre” the group's fourth studio album, was released in May 2000. The album debuted at number sixty-seven and thirty-three on the Billboard 200 and R&B Albums Charts respectively. The first (and only) single, "Riddle," peaked at number ninety-two and ninety-five on the Hot 100 and R&B charts. As a result of poor sales, En Vogue was dropped from the Elektra Record label.
In 2001, original member Maxine Jones left the group to focus on her family. As a result, Amanda Cole joined the group. Ellis, Herron and Cole released a holiday album, The Gift of Christmas. Soon after the holiday album, Cole too left the group and was replaced with Rhona Bennett. Meanwhile, Robinson's first solo CD Dawn was released in early 2002, entitled “Dawn”, released by Atlantic Records on 29 January 2002. The single "Envious" received moderate airplay on radio and video outlets. According to Sister2Sister magazine, Robinson said the album "tanked" due to "poor promotion."
Soul Flower and impromptu reunion In 2004, En Vogue (now composed of Ellis, Herron and Bennett) released Soul Flower on independent label 33rd Street Records. While the album failed to chart on the Billboard 200, it managed to peak at number forty-seven on the R&B charts. The albums two singles: "Losin' My Mind" and "Ooh Boy", however, failed to chart. Soon after promotion had finished on this album, Maxine Jones returned to En Vogue, turning the group back into a quartet for the first time since 1996. 
In 2005, after an eight-year absence, Dawn Robinson rejoined En Vogue. Robinson sporadically toured nationally with the group while attempting to negotiate a new recording contract with The Firm Management for the original En Vogue. The original four went on to sign with one of the industry's largest management firms, The Firm Management Group. That September, they joined Salt N Pepa for the girl groups' first-ever joint public performance of their 1994 hit, "Whatta Man" at VH-1's Hip Hop Honors, and briefly toured. They also earned another Grammy nomination for the single "So What the Fuss", which featured Stevie Wonder and Prince. The group also appeared in the single's music video. After failing to agree on business terms, Robinson once again chose to defect from En Vogue and Bennett returned. As a result, En Vogue was let go from The Firm. En Vogue continued to perform spot dates in North America with Terry Ellis, Maxine Jones, Cindy Herron and Rhona Bennett. This line-up also saw the group return to Europe and Japan for select concert dates. During this time, En Vogue teamed up with Belgian singer Natalia for a song called "Glamorous" where Rhona Bennett's vocals are featured. The single reached No.2 in the Belgian charts and was followed by a DVD release of the concert, which went double platinum.
In 2007, Herron played Deena Jones in the stage version of Dreamgirls
Dawn returns again On 24 June 2008, the original lineup of En Vogue appeared on the BET Awards, performing with Alicia Keys, SWV and TLC as a tribute to girl groups of the 1990s. With speculation abuzz, En Vogue received the twenty-eighth highest number of hits on the Rock on the Net website for the month of June 2008. The following month, the group ascended to the twelfth position. As of June 30, Dawn Robinson has stated officially via an En Vogue Yahoo! fan site that she had indeed returned to En Vogue. On August 6, the original members appeared on Los Angeles' KTLA television station and announced that they have reunited and would do spot dates around the country during the latter part of 2008. The foursome kicked off the Americana at Brand Concert Series in Glendale, California that same evening.
2009 Robinson recorded and released two new songs made available on her official MySpace page, "Johnny Walker Get Up Again" and "I Like Boyz." Furthermore, En Vogue performed at the 2009 Essence Music Festival, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. They continue to tour throughout the United States. In October 2010, the band performed their first UK show in 18 years in London.
On September 26, 2011, a new single called "I´ll Cry Later" was leaked to select urban adult contemporary radio stations, but has yet to be officially released. Dawn Robinson left En Vogue once again in December 2011.
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