During the 1990s, the seven-time Grammy-nominated R&B group En Vogue took the music industry by storm. Women were singing their songs and men were drooling over them. The four part harmony group become one of the most successful, and highest grossing female groups of all time. Best known for hits like “Hold On” and “My Lovin” (Never Gonna Get It)”, “Something He Can Feel”, the group won more MTV music awards than any other female group in MTV history.
The group was comprised of four beautiful ladies: Terry Ellis, Cindy Herron, Maxine Jones and the youngest member, Dawn Robinson. Throughout a career spanning 25 years, Robinson has sold over 40 million records with En Vogue. After the group disbanded, Robinson, along with Raphael Saddiq and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Qwest) Robinson joined forces to form Lucy Pearl, then The Firm with super producer Dr. Dre and as a solo artist. Her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including five American Music Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, seven MTV Video Music Awards, six Soul Train Music Awards and ten Grammy nominations.
Throughout the years, Robinson has had many ups and downs. Issues with the group’s finances, leaving and rejoining the group, labeled as a troublemaker, she also had several personal issues. In 2013 Dawn was devastated at the loss of her father. In 2007, her marriage failed and ended in divorce. And she found out that she was incapable of having children by conventional means. Yet even through all that, Dawn persisted and is now volunteering at local schools, still singing in the states and abroad and is loving life more than ever.
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Dawn still maintains her figure and voice by continually to drink a lot of water, aerobics routines and light weight lifting. She explains below where she is in this new time of her life:
“I’ve told people for years that each member of En Vogue made two pennies a piece. We garnered millions of dollars for the label, but we did not make a million dollars a piece. There is a huge problem with that, so yes I was extremely difficult… I stood up for what was right when I saw wrong, and because I did, and because I was alone, it made it look like I was the problem. I was just telling my girlfriend the other day that when slavery was abolished, many slaves didn’t want to leave the plantations because the master would give them food and shelter and they were afraid to leave. The same kind of…
…mentality exists today where people don’t leave their current situation because they are afraid. It’s scary to go out there and say enough is enough! It’s scary to fight the record company because they’re huge and have money. I am a trouble maker! We deserve so much more.
“When we first got together in 1989 there was no information out there for us. There were very few books and minimal information about how to run your business. You just had to depend on your attorney to give you the right information. You’re learning lessons as you go along, and you’re paying the price with your career.”
I would tell someone who is interested in the industry to look through their contract with a fine toothed comb. They’re not going to force you to sign it until you’re ready to sign it, so you should take your time and go through it. There’s all kinds of information on the internet, and there’s plenty of books out now so you can find the information for yourself instead of asking your attorney and getting charged more money. If you’re a group, stick together and listen to each other before you listen to outside forces. Communication is key.”
