En Vogue

Released: March 24, 1992

Songwriter: Wayne Jackson Denzil Foster Thomas McElroy

Producer: Denzil Foster Thomas McElroy

[Chorus: Maxine Jones]
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

[Verse 1: Dawn Robinson]
Here's a flow
An En Vogue hip-hop intro
Time to rap, talk about the info
Pertaining to the four
Who re-opened the harmony door
And let the vocals soar
(Shoo wop shoo wop)
All of the gossipin' it put us in a recite mode
Unloadin' while the grooves explodin'
Just steppin' and keepin' pepin'
A vocal lethal weapon
In this song will be givin' ev-ology lessons
About our history and our passin'
How long steady, strong will the En Vogue be lastin'?
Ask us the prediction
Already predictin' the quad squad will roll
And continue to kick it wicked
Doubts about the En-V? It's envy if you ask me
Trying to down Dawn, Maxine, Terry and Cindy
Black, beautiful, intelligent, well-structured and strong
It's gonna be a long forever, hold on

[Chorus: Maxine Jones]
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

[Verse 2: Dawn Robinson]
So, continuing my flow
Goin' back about two years ago
Lip-synching was the way to go, though
A face to a voice, a voice to a face
All the real talent was just going to waste
The word was out, a talent search was on
Auditioned with ambition
A vision, En Vogue was born
To sing, the essential ingredients mended
Four individuals perfectly blended
Strong mind, positive, attitude is a must
Group trust, eliminate the outside rush
Using lies as alibis to get to us it's strange
Negative attenion you gain in the world while you entertain
Stuck up? Of course not, the knives in our back
Those coming from behind on a publicity attack
It's not easy duplicating the four
There's a lot more in store
Until the fat lady roars

[Chorus: Maxine Jones]
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

[Verse 3: Dawn Robinson]
People wonder if we're rich
I'll tell you this
More money now than before the music hit
And our hair, of course it's real
We just jazz it up a bit for the sex appeal
And no we don't lip-synch, it's all from the heart
2 Tuff-Enuff Productions put us on the charts
A few answers that I thought I should give
For the minds who enquire how the En Vogue lives
Born to sing, and we proved it
A gift from the man above
Peace to our fans, and to competitors, one love
Sorry, not in it for the competition status-quo
Our only perspective is to grow and to blow, ya know
In house, in reggae, in rock, En Vogue
Stylin' profilin' sippin' coke with a smile
2 Tuff funk it, pump it, hip-hop jump it
Now En Vogue's comin' versatile
(Shoo wop shoo wop)

[Chorus: Maxine Jones]
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

[Bridge]
Here we go, here we go, here we, here we, here we go
It ain't over, it ain't over, it ain't over, it ain't over
It ain't over, it ain't over, it sure ain't over
Here we go, here we, we got a long way to go
Here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go...

[Chorus: Maxine Jones]
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

Cindy Herron, Terry Ellis, Maxine Jones, and Dawn Robinson are the original members of the R&B girl group En Vogue. The group was put together by producers Thomas McElroy and Denzil Foster after a talent search in Oakland, California in 1989. Their debut album Born to Sing was released in 1990 and featured the #1 R&B hits “You Don’t Have To Worry,” “Lies,” and their platinum debut single “Hold On,” which also peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and won a Billboard and Soul Train Music Award. Their 1992 follow-up album Funky Divas hit #1 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart and peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 on its way to triple platinum status. The lead single, “My Lovin' (You’re Never Gonna Get It),” helped propel that success as it hit #1 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also featured the #1 R&B hit cover of Aretha Franklin’s “Giving Him Something He Can Feel” as well as the Top 10 pop single “Free Your Mind.”

In 1993, they released the EP Runaway Love and made appearances on the TV shows In Living Color, Roc and A Different World. In 1994, they collaborated with Salt-N-Pepa on their Top 3 platinum single “Whatta Man” and in 1996 they contributed to the Set It Off soundtrack with their hit single “Don’t Let Go (Love)” which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit #1 on the R&B Singles chart.

While working on their third album, Dawn Robinson decided to leave the group due to issues with management. The group decided to go on as a trio and released their third platinum album EV3 in 1997 featuring the Top 10 R&B/Top 20 pop hit “Whatever,” which was produced and co-written by Babyface. They went on to release three more albums—Masterpiece Theatre in 2000, The Gift of Christmas in 2002, and Soul Flower in 2004. During that time, Maxine Jones left the group in 2001 and was replaced by Amanda Cole, and Cole was later replaced in 2003 by Rhona Bennett. While the original four members have reunited for performances throughout the years, the current lineup consists of Herron, Ellis, and Bennett, and they released the single “Déjà Vu” in 2016 and released their album Electric Café in 2018.

more tracks from the album

Funky Divas

From the album

Funky Divas (1992)

En Vogue popular songs

It Ain’t Over Till The Fat Lady SingsEn Vogue

En Vogue

Funky Divas