walking upstream…
En Vogue
In 1988, producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy auditioned thousands of hopefuls in Oakland for a girl group built to a private specification: Thomas McElroy later said Foster's plan was an "all-star team," "essentially Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, and Diana Ross, all in the same group." The producers picked four strangers — Terry Ellis, Cindy Herron, Maxine Jones, and Dawn Robinson — who could each sing lead, and built 1990's Born to Sing around them, opening the debut single "Hold On" with an a cappella hook. 1992's Funky Divas, with "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)," "Free Your Mind," and "Giving Him Something He Can Feel," turned that blueprint into a run of Grammy nominations and pop-and-R&B crossover hits. Foster and McElroy built the frame; the harmony inside it — four singers trading lead like a relay — was theirs alone.
the sound in question
1992
Free Your MindEn Vogue
walk the tributaries ↓
Natalie Cole1970s–90s · R&B / Soul / Jazz / Pop
Terry Ellis was, in Cindy Herron's words, "a huge fan of Natalie Cole" long before the group's producers put Cole's "Just Can't Stay Away" in front of them for a cover on 1990's Born to Sing. Cole later invited En Vogue onto her television talent show Big Break, where all four sat on the stage stairs and sang the song together. "It took everything in me not to cry," Ellis remembered, "I couldn't believe it was happening. I was scared too!"
listen: upstream & heresource: Albumism — Songbirds of a Feather ↗
1977
Just Can't Stay AwayNatalie Cole
1990
Just Can't Stay AwayEn Vogue
listen forSet Natalie Cole's 1977 "Just Can't Stay Away," from her platinum album Thankful, beside En Vogue's 1990 cover on Born to Sing. Cole rides a slinky, unhurried groove with a single conversational lead vocal, all cool control. En Vogue keeps the tempo and the bassline but thickens Cole's lead into four-part harmony on the chorus, the hook arriving in stacked voices instead of one — the sound of a solo torch song rebuilt for a group built to trade leads.
Aretha Franklin1960s-70s · Soul / R&B / Gospel
Terry Ellis names Aretha Franklin as one of the reasons she's a singer at all: asked about her pre-show playlist, she rattled off "all our soul sisters — Erykah Badu, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Patti Labelle" before landing on the point — "that's our roots... why we wanted to be singers in the first place," she told Pride magazine. On Funky Divas (1992), the debt became literal: En Vogue rerecorded Franklin's "Giving Him Something He Can Feel," its horn-punched drama and vocal runs remade for a hip-hop-inflected quartet.
listen: upstream & heresource: Pride Magazine — Still En Vogue ↗
1976
Something He Can FeelAretha Franklin
1992
Giving Him Something He Can FeelEn Vogue
listen forPlay Aretha Franklin's 1976 "Something He Can Feel" — written and produced by Curtis Mayfield for the Sparkle soundtrack — against En Vogue's 1992 remake. Franklin sings the entire record herself, stretching and re-timing the melody behind a slow horn bed. En Vogue's cover keeps the horns and the aching tempo but wraps Dawn Robinson's lead in three-part harmony underneath, filling the space Franklin's solo delivery leaves open.
The Andrews Sisters1940s · Swing / Pop / Vocal jazz
It was Cindy Herron's idea. "I might have brought that idea to the table because I was such a big fan of '40s era music, vocals, girl groups and singers like Ella Fitzgerald," she told Albumism, of the vintage swing cover that landed on 1990's Born to Sing. Herron's fandom for the close-harmony blend the Andrews Sisters popularized in the 1940s ("who's doing this, we should do it, let's try to bring it back!" she recalled thinking) shows up in the interlocking, syllable-tight harmonies En Vogue layered under their own hip-hop-era productions.
listen: upstream & here
1941
Boogie Woogie Bugle BoyThe Andrews Sisters
1990
Boogie Woogie Bugle BoyEn Vogue
listen forCompare the Andrews Sisters' 1941 "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" with En Vogue's version on Born to Sing. The Andrews Sisters sing the entire tune in tight, unison-close harmony, three voices moving as one on a wartime swing rhythm. En Vogue keeps that vocal-blend instinct but drops it over a hip-hop-tempo groove, four voices still locked in the same close intervals — the period harmony surviving the change of decade underneath it.