guide me through, even as a male. They've touched so many lives in unimaginable ways, and for me, it makes them so far beyond LEGENDARY. I’m feel so thrilled, honored, and blessed to have an opportunity to present to you, Terry Ellis of En Vogue!
U.G. Digital Mag: I would like to thank you for your time. It’s more than an honor to talk with you. I look back, and feel as though I was raised by En Vogue. Obviously, I go back to In Loving Color, and shows like Roc where you were part of that. It was a part of my childhood. Seeing the transition of En Vogue through the years, it’s amazing for me to have this blessing. Doing this for the magazine, we love to give back and show our love and appreciation for artists who I have not only followed, but our readers adore and admire. I don’t feel artists get the credit, or see the love throughout their entire. I’m immensely grateful for you.
Terry Ellis: Aww, James thank you so much. I appreciate that. That’s one of the reasons why we do what we do. You know, for you to appreciate us and our music that much, it makes our work that much more gratifying. Thank you so much for that.
U.G. Digital Mag: I look at Kelly Rowland’s show, and she craves your input. She wants to know your opinions as a group. More importantly, she’s ushering in a group of new ladies to music, and she wants them to have the experience and expertise that is En Vogue. How does that make you feel to know that your thoughts are valued this way?
Terry Ellis: Well first, we were absolutely blown away. We have so much love and respect for Kelly, and Destiny’s Child as well. I mean, they were the largest selling girl group of all-time. For Kelly to approach us, and feel that our input was that important to her and the show for the girls, it was heart-warming. We were grateful and appreciative. And it felt good to be able to give back. We’ve had a lot of success. It has always been our intention, as black women representing our race and culture, and as women in general, to be able to represent in a way that we feel proud of our work, and our people feel the same way. It was awesome.
U.G. Digital Mag: How difficult in the transition of En Vogue, given you’ve been here so long and been a staple in our culture, how difficult has it been keeping the group going considering the line-up changes? Obviously, you are where you are supposed to be, but at the same time, it must have been difficult.
Terry Ellis: You know what? I must say that I think the fact that we work as much as we do, it’s a testament to the old cliché that good music is timeless. I’m so grateful for the producers who created the group and the music. We were blessed to encounter producers who have a great level of respect for women. They were from the group Club Nouveau, and were extremely talented. For us to come together with them, and they create the type of music they did for us, it says a lot, and it’s a testament to their talent and to good music standing the test of time. That’s what’s driving this machine.
U.G. Digital Mag: When you think about it, and some of the things they say in this generation now, they know you will sing your face off. Regardless of what goes on, you ladies can blow. In this digital age, it now breaks down to streams, and you ladies have over 30 million streams. On YouTube, you have over 26 million streams. People are trying to figure you out.
Terry Ellis: It’s truly a blessing.
U.G. Digital Mag: I love it. You ladies are so amazing. You never complain. You just work and make things happen. That’s what this industry is supposed to be about.
Terry Ellis: Definitely. It’s a blessing. That’s all I can call it. I’m so humbled and grateful for the opportunity to continue to do what we love to do. It’s our passion, and to be able to do it is a good old fashioned blessing.
U.G. Digital Mag: So, a lot of this issue has centered around being independent. I know you ladies started out with the majors, and I remember your first song coming out and I was in the seventh grade. My friends were so excited about Hold On. That’s what I see now, but the difference is you’re independent. How