I don't know why they're still working with Foster & McElroy. That's one of the reasons Maxine & Dawn left. It's not like F&M has had a hit since En Vogue's heyday in the 1990s.

F&M was not the reason Maxine left. She was around way after Dawn did her hokey pokey dance with being in the group. And hell, they're all suing each other all the time. Terry & Cindy sued for the En Vogue brand and won. They sued Maxine & Dawn for $1M in damages for using the name.

Then Maxine & Dawn were going to start a group together, Heirs To The Throne, then they didn't. dawn chased a paycheck on R&B Divas LA, then turned coward again, and left the show. Maxine & two other random chicks toured under En Vogue To The Max, then broke up. Dawn left their LLC, and lost all rights to use the name. Maxine released 1 song, then filed bankruptcy from the lawsuits, etc. Dawn threatened to sue Lifetime if they aired a Christmas special, and En Vogue released Christmas music. Rufftown Entertainment is suing them for $310M (sans Rhonda Barrett).

In short, they are a fucking mess, and I really don't give them any credence anymore. Their cutesy smiles and giggles on television interviews don't fool me. I don't believe in them anymore. They're all so focused on the money (and they should get paid, of course), and hurting each other, owning this or that, and being the alpha, that the fans have long since moved on.

I don't really know if F&M have hits in them anymore. They've worked with a few other artists like Jay Z, Tony Tone Toni, Puffy, and a few others, but they've long ridden the fuck out of En Vogue. They've written and worked on just about every one of their records, and as you stated - they've had no real hits since "Riddle", which was 2000, and that wasn't that big of a hit.

Funky Divas was their only #1 album. Anywhere. Their last #1 song was "Don't Let Go (Love)". Amazingly, "Free Your Mind", "Whatta Man", and "Give it Up, Turn It Loose" weren't even close to #1s. That's crazy. I think En Vogue's days are over. They're a retro act at this point. I dare say no one's interested in new En Vogue music anymore. They'd do better with Jam & Lewis, or even fucking Rodney Jerkins than F&M. Ohhh, maybe they'll do an updated cover of "Rumors".

envouge needs to call it quits if it not with all 4 orginal members dancing around with this new chic is boring and doesnt even have hype.together all 4 of them had magic

well,it's not as if they have a huge budget to hire some "hot" producers I'm sure that whatever label they're on,the money isn't there to hire Pharrell or any other hot shot producer who is currently producing hit records these days.

MickyDolenz said:

I don't know why they're still working with Foster & McElroy. That's one of the reasons Maxine & Dawn left. It's not like F&M has had a hit since En Vogue's heyday in the 1990s.

their best bet is to keep playing shows.As I mentioned in the Xscape reuinion thread,these groups should plan a tour that features all of them together......EnVogue,Xscape,TLC, and SWV.....a 90s R&B package tour that focuses on the female groups.

cbarnes3121 said:

envouge needs to call it quits if it not with all 4 orginal members dancing around with this new chic is boring and doesnt even have hype.together all 4 of them had magic

You really touched on something there that I wanted to highlight. Back when Dawn left the first time (there are so many), the other girls noted in interviews how Dawn's voice was so different, and kept them balanced in the middle. Dawn wasn't a super high soprano, nor was she a deeper alto like Ruth Pointer had. She was the perfect glue in the middle that held the higher fragility of Terry or Cindy's voice close, and balanced about Maxine's growly "I'ma fuck you up" voice.

I think it wasn't that Dawn left the group. People leave groups all the time. Look at the changes Destinys' Child went through from a foursome to a threesome. They became stronger and more purposeful as a trio. Groups survive those things, and move forward in a good way, produce hits, and just adapt. The public adapts. The difference with En Vogue is that the public didn't just know Cindy, Dawn, Maxine, & Terry - they knew the sound. The sound of the voices wasn't the same. The balance of Dawn's voice against others, and others against her was noticeable. There are songs produced with Dawn that had to have her voice removed and it totally changed the songs once they were released. There was a flagrant hole in the vocals, and they never really survived that. There was magic in the four of them. There is nothing but drama otherwise.

Regrettably, this got slept on by virtually everyone, but I dig it. It's the comeback song that never was.


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