Former En Vogue Member Living Out of Her Vehicle for the Past Few Years (1 Viewer)

[GrandAdmiral]

And is not looking for help. Dawn will always be my favorite member of the group and always will be. Doesn't seem to have any regrets for where she is at this point in life.



Thoughts?

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

When i was in my 20s i moved to California, half on a whim… i took the first job i was offered , which was at a company that did temporary work placements .. basically a job agency.. i made very little money and it pretty much sucked.. but i needed a paycheck and within a year i moved on to something better.. however, in my time there i became friendly with one of the other employees, an older black woman.. after a while she filled me in on her prior life, when she had been the lead singer of a successful pop/r&b group called Atlantic Starr… they had a few hits, including one that when i was dating my first girlfriend in junior high, was “our song”- For Always was the title.. anyway, she got a kick out if it when i relayed that to her, and she seemed to have been quite humbled by life- but it just shows how hard it is to stay on top in a fickle industry, and just like the En Vogue chick, you gotta do what you gotta do .

 

[livefromDC]

When i was in my 20s i moved to California, half on a whim… i took the first job i was offered , which was at a company that did temporary work placements .. basically a job agency.. i made very little money and it pretty much sucked.. but i needed a paycheck and within a year i moved on to something better.. however, in my time there i became friendly with one of the other employees, an older black woman.. after a while she filled me in on her prior life, when she had been the lead singer of a successful pop/r&b group called Atlantic Starr… they had a few hits, including one that when i was dating my first girlfriend in junior high, was “our song”- For Always was the title.. anyway, she got a kick out if it when i relayed that to her, and she seemed to have been quite humbled by life- but it just shows how hard it is to stay on top in a fickle industry, and just like the En Vogue chick, you gotta do what you gotta do .

Casually dropping that you knew one of the lead singers for one the best wedding songs produced by the 80s is maybe the most Mr. Blue Sky thing I've ever seen.

 

[whodatbe]

That's wild, sorta. Plus I love that song "Always"

 

[Madmarsha]

En Vogue continues to tour with a different lineup? I didn't know that. I thought they stopped being a thing in the mid '90s.

 

[Optimus Prime]

And is not looking for help. Dawn will always be my favorite member of the group and always will be. Doesn't seem to have any regrets for where she is at this point in life.



Thoughts?

she was always my favorite too
=======================

 

[superchuck500]

When i was in my 20s i moved to California, half on a whim… i took the first job i was offered , which was at a company that did temporary work placements .. basically a job agency.. i made very little money and it pretty much sucked.. but i needed a paycheck and within a year i moved on to something better.. however, in my time there i became friendly with one of the other employees, an older black woman.. after a while she filled me in on her prior life, when she had been the lead singer of a successful pop/r&b group called Atlantic Starr… they had a few hits, including one that when i was dating my first girlfriend in junior high, was “our song”- For Always was the title.. anyway, she got a kick out if it when i relayed that to her, and she seemed to have been quite humbled by life- but it just shows how hard it is to stay on top in a fickle industry, and just like the En Vogue chick, you gotta do what you gotta do .

That's cool - I remember that group and that song.

It's really sad, the recording industry is not set up for the artists to make money and there are so many stories like this. It has actually gotten better in the digital age - but up until recently, the industry held all of the leverage. Artists wanted to get signed and the labels would sign them to just awful contracts that allowed the labels to recoup everything and more from the artists' earnings. The standard deal was three albums and the unknown artists would just sign them - agreeing to make no money even if they had hits. Artists that made it big enough to get past that first contract or to have enough leverage to get out of it with bigtime lawyers made money but so few artists ever get to that point. Some artists with hits even ended up owing the labels money after it was all over.

Now that you no longer need a pro studio and a factory to press records and CDs, it has gotten better. It's much easier now for artists to record and distribute their music without having to be under the thumb of the industry. The digital music age has been positive in that sense, though it has opened a bunch of other factors that make it hard to make money - including the fact that nobody buys records anymore and streaming royalties are terrible.

Artists that write their own music, have hits, and keep the publishing - and artists that make profits on tour are the ones making money these days.

 

[El Caliente]

was she the one that said that she gives to the needy and not to the greedy?

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[GrandAdmiral]

En Vogue continues to tour with a different lineup? I didn't know that. I thought they stopped being a thing in the mid '90s.

It's only three in "En Vogue" now, two are original members. Dawn and Maxine formed a duo called Funky Divas for a while after the legal fight they went through.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

was she the one that said that she gives to the needy and not to the greedy?

Cindy...

(Huge mark who owned every CD before they split.)

 

[zeetes]

i have no idea who this is. who is it @guidomerkinsrules ?

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Casually dropping that you knew one of the lead singers for one the best wedding songs produced by the 80s is maybe the most Mr. Blue Sky thing I've ever seen.

I guess i forgot to add the “#humblebrag”..

 

[HoustonSaint68]

… they had a few hits, including one that when i was dating my first girlfriend in junior high, was “our song”- For Always was the title..

I remember that group also, but for less pure reasons. They had a small hit "Secret Lovers"...not a very good song, but it was around the same time I was messing around with someone under cover so the song kinda stuck in my head.

It really sucks so bad for so many artists. When I retired ten years ago, my son was doing music on the side and so I did some legal seminars in the music industry thinking that I might dabble in that as a part-time gig. The business was changing fast at that point, and it was easy to see how scummy a business it had been financially for the artists to that point, and also how hard it was going to be for them to make money going forward without doing EVERYTHING themselves.

I said "nah" to getting into that dirty business...and that was after 30 years in the oil business.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

I remember that group also, but for less pure reasons. They had a small hit "Secret Lovers"...not a very good song, but it was around the same time I was messing around with someone under cover so the song kinda stuck in my head.

You dirty dog .

Ive actually always thought it was a pretty good tune… but all my life, every time i hear it, i always feel a little twinge in my moral compass going ‘Should i really enjoy this song ??’…. Haven’t heard it in a while though .