Born to sing...

Nostra Dam
Sep 10, 2020
6 min read

Updated: Jun 22

En Vogue is an American group formed in 1989 in Oakland and originally composed of Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Maxine Jones and Cindy Herron. A group (which will start as a quartet and end as a trio) composed exclusively of girls and which can boast of having sold no less than 20 million records around the world.

The first album "Born to sing" was released a year later in 1990. First attempt and master stroke for this album which ended up being certified Triple Platinum and which produced 4 hits, the most important of which was "Hold on". Single flagship which will be a real hit in the Charts. Three more hits that were slightly less successful followed, namely "Lies", "You don’t have to worry" and "Don’t go".

New album "Funky divas" in 1992 and new colossal success. The album will sell around 5 million copies ! The Singles "My lovin (You’re never gonna get it)" and "Giving him something he can feel" will be the biggest hits. Little followed by "Free your mind" (which won no less than 3 MTV Video Music Awards) and "Give it up turn it loose".

The group joined forces in 1993 with another group, in this case Salt-N-Pepa, to produce the single "Whatta man" which in turn hit the peaks of the Charts.

It was in 1996 that the group achieved its biggest success with the track "Don‘t let go (Love)". Despite these repeated successes, Dawn Robinson decided to leave the group in 1997. It therefore continued as a trio and released the album "EV3".

Whether the girls are 4 or 3 doesn't change much, the hits follow one another in an impressive way. The album will be certified Platinum and the Single "Whatever" it comes from will experience its heyday.

But which will indeed be the last notorious success of the group. The singles that will be released subsequently cannot compete with their predecessors.

Which will not prevent them from continuing the adventure afterwards and in a very good way...

To discover or rediscover...

Discography (among others ...) :

90s Decade :

Hold on 1990
Lies 1990
You don't have to worry 1990
Don't go 1991
Strange 1991
My lovin’ (You’re never gonna get it) 1992
Giving him something he can feel 1992
Free your mind 1992
Give it up, turn it loose 1992
Love don't love you 1993
Runaway love 1993
What is love 1993
Whatta man 1994
Don’t let go (Love) 1996
Whatever 1997
Too gone, too long 1997
No fool no more 1998

2000s Decade :

Riddle 2000
Falling in love 2000
Whatever will be will be 2000
Have yourself a merry little Christmas 2002
Snowy nights 2002
This Christmas 2002
Ooh boy 2004
Losin' my mind 2004
All you see 2004
So what the fuss 2005
Glamourous 2007

2010s Decade :

I'll cry later 2011
Emotions 2015
Déjà vu 2016
A thousand times 2016
O holy night 2016
I'm good 2017
Have a seat 2017
Rocket 2017
Reach for me 2018
Luv my thangz 2018

2020s Decade :

Bring back the time 2022

Tracks :

1990 ... a very R'n'B start and which from the outset propelled the 4 girls to the top of the Charts. A shattering start that already says a lot about the group's potential ...

1990 ... and success started to be global, an extremely rare thing. It's a wave sweeping the world that nobody and nothing can stop...

1990 ... the 'little' hit of the year. After the previous 2 huge steamrollers, it's hard to compete as they say. But we will largely be satisfied with it !

1991 ... a title which literally floats in the air and which will meet only a limited level of success. Go figure ...

1991 ... the years go by but are not necessarily alike. As much as 1990 was remarkable from all points of view, 1991 will prove to be somewhat disappointing on the Charts side. And this despite pieces of more than certain quality ...

1992 ... but it is to be better reborn the following year. They sign here one of their biggest successes to date and surely one of the flagship titles of the decade. Good job girls !

1992 ... a little foray into Glamor, an area where girls can play the femme fatale. And my faith, they are as at ease in the Dance as in the Intimist...

1992 ... a parenthesis that closes as quickly as it opened. Return to the pure and hard Dance and in tigress mode moreover. Day and night with the previous track ...

1992 ... 1992 will undoubtedly stay as THEIR best year. They align the mega hits with such ease that we see them parties for 20 years minimum career. To be continued...

1993 ... the adventure continues unabated. Girls are at the top of their game and it shows. Especially it can be heard !

1993 ... as a rule, even years do better for them than odd years. The year 1993 will be a good vintage but nothing more ...

1993 ... a title which will pass somewhat under the radar. And yet it is far from unworthy. But in an ocean of mega hits, it's hard to find your place ...

1994 ... only one title for the year 1994 but of a very large caliber. The girls play it in duet mode with one of the heavyweights of the moment namely Salt-N-Pepa. The result is necessarily up to the task !

1996 ... small air hole in 1995. It is better to return the following year. They deliver here one of their biggest hits to date, and as paradoxical as it may seem, in Intimist mode. Tigresses yes. But tigresses with a big heart !

1997 ... the last mega hit of the decade. One of many. A busy career that will have made this group one of the leading groups of the end of the 20th century...

1997 ... an essentially Glamor-oriented end of the decade. After the dance mega hits of the beginning of the decade, we ended very gently. And why not...

1998 ... further proof of their special talent for the Intimist. A song that literally floats in the air ...

2000 ... and here they are in the 2000s. Even if the best years are now behind, they will still sign their last mega hit here. 10 years at the top, a mighty feat as they say !

2000...it now remains to be seen whether they will be able to resist competition during this new decade. Good question...

2000 ... given the success achieved by this opus we imagine that yes. Afterwards, it remains to be seen if they will succeed in remaining in the Albums Charts for a very long time...

2002 ... what was to be feared will start to happen from this opus, that is to say a pure and simple disappearance from the Charts ...

2002... which will not prevent them from continuing their adventure quietly but surely and this to the delight of their basic fans...

2002 ... and frankly when you see what they continue to offer it would be a shame to stop there, that's clear ...

2004...we find them two years later still determined to move forward no matter what. We can only encourage them in this direction...

2004...of course they no longer appear at the front of the race but they are far from being ridiculous. So they might as well go as far as possible...

2004...an adventure that has lasted for almost 15 years, which is no small thing. You can't last like that without real talent, that's for sure...

2005... sharing the poster with the brilliant Stevie is not reserved for everyone, which underlines all the more the privilege that the girls have on this title...

2007...partnerships that benefit girls at least a little with a return to the Charts that is unexpected to say the least...

2011...and another decade on the clock, one more ! The girls are still there and prove by the same that we will still have to count on them in the years to come...

2015...of course air holes follow air holes but they always come back again and again. And each time they come back with titles of more than certain quality...

2016...there will be almost no new opus during this 2010 decade but rather a succession of singles here and there...

2016...Singles of quality in any case. And as they say, quality is better than quantity and in this case it is indeed the case...

2016... here they are again in special Christmas title mode. It's certainly nice but it won't add much more to their discography...

2017...we find them in a musical mode that is much more current and which suits them much better. Traditional is good but in small doses...

2017...in any case they are not giving up. A desire to believe in it until the end which commands respect and which we can only salute...

2017...the number of titles released during this decade shows that there is still hope for them and that the adventure is far from over...

2018...a rich, dense and interesting decade, what more could you ask for. It remains to be seen whether we will see them again next decade or not...

2018...come on, one last title to close this 2010 decade in the best possible way. We'll just have to wait and see if they come back or not later...