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For decades fans have been petitioning for a reunion with the original members of the R&B quartet En Vogue: Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones.
You may remember in the late nineties, the group’s future became more and more uncertain as members left one by one. First, Dawn Robinson left in 1997. Maxine Jones left in 2001. Rhona Bennett joined the group in 2003 and has been singing and performing with them ever since.
While the original members have reunited on two different occasions, once in 2005 and again in 2009, for the most part the group has performed as a trio featuring Terry Ellis, Cindy Herron and Rhona Bennett.
Last year, the group sparked all types of reconciliation rumors when they performed at the City of Hope gala honoring music industry legend Sylvia Rhone.
Later, the group members teased a reunion tour set to take place this year, in celebration of their debut album Born to Sing. But we all saw and experienced how 2020 went for us.
And it wasn’t just the pandemic that kept these ladies apart.
In an interview, YouKnowIGotSoul, Robinson spoke about the reasons why the original members stopped touring together but also why there might be a chance for them to reunite and perform together in the future.
“That [touring and performing together as a part of The Funky Divas] kind of fell apart for a different reason. It was a personal situation that happened between her and I. I know it happened a long time ago but it was something I couldn’t let go. I just couldn’t trust her after that, so it was just personal with me. I always say this. Also Cindy and Terry were trying to get the name Funky Divas. They don’t go by Funky Divas, they go by En Vogue. I left in 1997, I came back to the group in 2009 for our 20 year anniversary and we toured the states and overseas. I don’t understand why they’re fighting to get the name. I thought they were being nasty and vicious. I just said the hell with it. Every time I try to go back and do something with them it just blows up. Some things are just better left undone and finished.”
Having an issue with Rhona Bennett performing with the group and touring for their 30th anniversary.
“I won’t say never. My problem is Rhona being there. I think she’s great, she has never done anything to me. She’s not a bad person at all. I do know that she needs to step back if we are going to do a reunion at all. It just needs to be the four of us. Cindy and Terry have gone out and spent time with the fans this whole time representing the group. They use the name Maxine and I helped build to share with the fans. But Maxine and I have not had the chance to be with the fans. I just think we deserve the time with our fans for what we helped build before Rhona came along.”
You can listen to the full interview in the video below.
