The fair’s gonna get it with En Vogue

Young Chang

There’s a spot for a fourth Voguer in En Vogue’s now three-person

entourage.

This person should be able to sing really well, harmonize really well,

move really well and -- get ready for this -- have an inherent desire to

walk on the “off” side, as the multi-platinum group is known to readily

do.

In their rap, rock, reggae, R&B; and pop styles, critics have lauded

the group’s medley of new, old and daring tastes. In hits including “Free

Your Mind,” “My Lovin”’ and “Giving Him Something He Can Feel,” the

ladies who dominated the pop charts in the early ‘90s broke the

stereotypical image of a bubble-gum style all-girl band.

Now, with a circle of faces including original members Cindy Braggs,

Terry Ellis and newcomer Amanda Cole, the group looks to find a fourth to

complete its range of harmony and launch its next album of “funk” and

“off-beatness.”

The women will perform as a trio at the Orange County Fair Monday, but

continue to look for their fourth member with rehearsals in Burbank at

the end of July.

“In the studio, with just three, we can handle everything. But when

we’re live on stage, there’s always that one harmony that’s missing,”

Braggs said. “To me, it’s not quite as full unless there’s a third

member.”

Dawn Robinson left the group during the making of its third album

“Funky Divas,” and Maxine Jones left more recently. But Braggs maintains

that En Vogue’s sound won’t change in style.

“I think there’s a funkiness and a sultry amount of sophistication,”

she said. “A certain amount of style and a certain amount of ever so

slight off-beatness, too.”

Steve Beazley, deputy general manager of the fair, said En Vogue’s

medley of genres exemplifies the group’s commitment to innovation.

“I think that’s admirable and honorable, that they’re trying to mix it

up too. Maybe their goal is the same as ours,” he said, “to not be

totally predictable about their approach to music, as we try not to be

totally predictable in planning our lineup.”

Braggs said the group’s priority is to keep “funk” levels to a maximum

-- partly because the style is danceable, and partly because it’s

different.

“There’s always been that little bit of an off side [to us]. And I

think, for the sake of art, it’s important to explore those areas,” she

said.

Take the video for “Whatever,” from the group’s “EV3” album. Now that

was a risk, Braggs admits.

R&B; groups weren’t trying to mix rock with soul at the time -- it was

the the late ‘90s -- and urban radio stations as well as listeners didn’t

respond too well to the artistic dare the video took.

The song was about loving someone despite anything, “whatever” he may

have been thinking, saying or feeling.

Braggs remembers hearing that they looked ugly, that the image and

mood of the video was just so “bizarre.”

“But I thought it was so brilliant,” she said, still prizing the

artistic decision over the lack of public support.

The group is preparing to sign a new record deal for a still untitled

album, which Braggs hopes will be out by the fourth quarter of this year

or the first of 2002. The women are currently writing some of the songs

and recording a few too, with plans to bring the fourth member into the

mix as soon as possible.

Anything “bizarre” to come?

Braggs thinks so.

“We’ve been doing some pretty weird stuff ‘cause, again, that’s us,”

she laughs.

FYI

WHAT: En Vogue

WHEN: 8 p.m. Monday

WHERE: Orange County Fair’s Arlington Theater, 88 Fair Drive

COST: Free with general fair admission, which is $7. $10 for reserved

seats.

CALL: (714) 708-FAIR. For audition information, call (310) 281-8124.