Almost 20 years after the release of their first album, En Vogue have reunited. All four members appeared at the Essence Music festival in New Orleans on Sunday, performing old hits, promising a new album, and even talking up a reality TV show.
"It's like we never missed a beat," said Cindy Herron-Bragg. "It feels normal again."
Created by producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy, En Vogue formed the template for female R&B groups in the 90s. The quartet of singers, Cindy Herron-Bragg, Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson and Maxine Jones, sold more than 20m albums worldwide and enjoyed seven gold singles in the US. But for all their successes, En Vogue ultimately became the "other" R&B group, dwarfed by acts like TLC and, later, Destiny's Child. Robinson left the quartet in 1997, followed by Jones in 2001.
Though En Vogue recorded albums in 2002 and 2004, they were released on independent labels and sold poorly.
"We come from a time when 'singing' was the norm," Herron-Bragg emphasised after the performance. Now in their forties, En Vogue's members paint a different picture from the image-obsessed pop of Lady Gaga. "I think that's one of the things that continues to draw fans to us."
That said, the group have every intention of catching the 2009 zeitgeist – and hope to do it with the help of a reality TV series. "It's just another venue to get our music out there," Robinson said. "The industry has changed. It's not just about getting a record deal anymore. It's about exposure."
