Cindy Herron

Cynthia Ann Herron (born September 26, 1961)[3], professionally known as Cindy Herron and sometimes credited as Cindy Herron–Braggs is an American singer–songwriter, model and actress. Herron is best known as a founding member of the R&B/pop group En Vogue, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time.[4] She sang lead vocals on the group's first single "Hold On", which garnered mainstream success and sold over a million copies. Despite being absent from the group during certain periods, Herron and fellow group member Terry Ellis are the only original members to appear on all of the group's album releases to date.[5] In the 1980s, Herron began her career as an actress, making her debut appearance in Up and Coming as "Valerie".

Cindy Herron
Herron in 2015.
Born
Cynthia Ann Herron

(1961-09-26) September 26, 1961[1]
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • actress
  • model
Years active1981–present
Spouse(s)
(
m. 1993)
[2]
Children4
Musical career
OriginOakland, California, U.S
Genres
InstrumentsVocals
Labels
Associated acts

She would eventually land roles in more popular TV series including Amen and Full House. She landed a supporting role in the 1986 film release Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI, and co-starred in Wally and the Valentines as "Roxanne Valentine". Throughout her career, Herron has sold a total of over 20 million records with En Vogue. Her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including two American Music Awards, a Billboard Music Award, seven MTV Video Music Awards, four Soul Train Music Awards and six Grammy nominations.

Early life

Herron was born in San Francisco, California, to a black African-American father and a white Swiss-German mother.[6] Herron began her musical career in the cabaret scene in San Francisco, during the 1980s. Herron also worked as a background vocalist for local San Francisco Bay Area acts such as Tiggi Clay.[7] She also appeared in the original company of the Jerry Herman musical revue Showtune (then titled Tune the Grand Up).

Career

Pageants and acting

Herron was featured as a Jet Magazine's JET beauty in the January 13, 1980 issue.[8] Herron was named "Miss San Francisco 1986" and placed 2nd-Runner Up in the 1986 Miss California Pageant. She is also a former Miss Black California.[9] Herron has also worked as an actress, beginning in 1980 as a cast member of the PBS television drama Up and Coming.[10] She appeared in episodes of 'Amen' & 'Full House' in the late-1980s. She later appeared in such films as Juice,[11] Batman Forever[12] and Lexie.[13] In 2007, Herron played Deena Jones in the stage version of Dreamgirls.[14]

En Vogue

In 1988, Herron was chosen along with Dawn Robinson and Maxine Jones to be in a three-piece girl group by producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy. After adding Terry Ellis to the line-up, the group became a quartet and chose the name En Vogue.[15] Herron sang lead vocals on the group's first single "Hold On", which peaked at number 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart,[16] and sold over a million copies becoming platinum certified by the RIAA.[17] Later that year, the group released their debut album Born to Sing, which went platinum. Herron also sang lead vocals on the singles "Lies" and "You Don't Have to Worry", both of which peaked at number 1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[16]

The group released their second album Funky Divas in 1992, which sold over 3.5 million copies in the United States. Herron shares lead vocals on one of the album's top-charting singles "Free Your Mind". "Free Your Mind" won two MTV Video Music Awards, for "Best R&B Video" and "Best Dance Video". En Vogue released an EP in the fall of 1993, entitled Runaway Love. In 1994, Herron went on maternity leave and temporarily left the group. Due to her brief absence from En Vogue, Herron did not record on the single "Freedom (Theme from Panther)" without the rest of the members in the music video.

In 1996, En Vogue recorded "Don't Let Go (Love)" with Herron singing the outro of the song. The song was featured on the soundtrack to the motion picture Set It Off. Released in the autumn, it became the group's biggest hit to date going number one worldwide. It also sold over 1.8 million copies worldwide and became certified platinum by the RIAA.[17] In response to the large commercial success of "Don't Let Go (Love)", the group steadfastly went to work on its third album. As the album was nearing completion, Robinson chose to leave the group in April 1997 after difficult contractual negotiations reached a stalemate. The ending result saw En Vogue re-recording their third album with Herron singing lead vocals on more of the songs. In June 1997, the group released their third studio album EV3, which went platinum.[17] Throughout the years, Herron continued to record on the group's album: "Masterpiece Theatre" (2000), "The Gift of Christmas" (2002), and "Soul Flower" (2004). Following the release of Soul Flower, Herron chose not to tour with En Vogue during the latter part of 2004 due to being on maternity leave again, but returned to the group the following year.

In 2012, Herron and fellow member Terry Ellis sued now-former member Maxine Jones demanding $1 million for unauthorized use of the name, though the damages request was ultimately determined to be without merit, as Herron and Ellis could not demonstrate harm done to the company from Jones's use of the name (although Robinson was named in the suit, she was not directly involved in the dispute, as she had surrendered her rights to use the name herself when she departed from the LLC years earlier).[18] However, the judge decided to award full rights of the "En Vogue" name to Herron and Ellis.

In July 2014, Herron signed to Pyramid Records along with fellow member Ellis and Rhona Bennett.[19][20] In November 2014, they released An En Vogue Christmas. In February 2015, Rufftown Entertainment filed a lawsuit against En Vogue, which names Herron and Ellis for breach of contract. Rufftown owner Rene Moore is seeking $310 million from the group.[21]

Vocal range

Herron is a classically trained soprano. Possessing a two-octave range, Herron sang second soprano and alternated with Dawn Robinson when she was a member of the group, and even sang lower harmonies when Maxine led songs.

Personal Life

Herron has been married to former MLB player Glenn Braggs since June 1993.[22][23] Together, they have four children; Donovan Andrew Braggs (born March 17, 1994)[24], Jordan Braggs (born April 22, 1998), Natalia Braggs (born 1999) and Solomon Braggs.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1986 Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI Gloria Powell TV movie, Supporting role
1989 Wally and the Valentines Roxanne Valentine TV movie, Main role
1992 Juice Yolanda Supporting role
1995 Tank Girl Model Cameo appearance
Batman Forever Girl on the corner #3 Cameo appearance
2001 Deadly Rhapsody Cindy
2004 If Love Hadn't Left Me Lonely Lexie Main role
2012 A Fool and His Money Herself Supporting role
2014 The Next Dance Mrs. Hamilton Supporting role
An En Vogue Christmas Herself Main role

Television
Year Title Role Episode
1980 Up and Coming Valerie "Pilot"
1984 ABC Afterschool Special Betty "The Hero Who Couldn't Read"
Partners in Crime Fan #1 "Celebrity"
1988 Amen Mary Lee Stehle "Thelma's Handyman"
1989 Full House Cindy Daniels "Joey & Stacy and... Oh, Yeah, Jesse"
1992 The Royal Family Torrid Terri "The Fame Game"
1993 In Living Color Herself "Stacy Koon's Police Academy"
A Different World Hope "Mind Your Own Business"
Roc The Downtown Divas 3 episodes
1994 Sesame Street Herself "Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration"
On Our Own Shannon "Matchmaker Mama"
"A Family Affair"
1995 "Girl Talk"
Sesame Street Herself "Elmopalooza"
1997 The Wayans Bros. Herself "I Was En Vogue's Love Slave"
1999 Malcolm & Eddie Olivia Simmons "B.S I Love You"
2000 Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child Doll "The Steadfast Tin Soldier"
2013 Basketball Wife E. Cheryl Copeland Episode 8

Theatre
Year Title Role Notes
2007 Dreamgirls Deena Jones Main role
gollark: I think the 1 in 31 thing puts them at probably... uncommons, generally?
gollark: You'd expect it would be 1 in 26 if you don't think about it much, but it's not.
gollark: As they say, only 1 in 31 eggs are Z-coded!
gollark: I'm aiming for gold before the end of the year.
gollark: Then grab rareishes and trade them for reds!

References
  1. Dress worn by Cindy Herron in "Hold On" video | National Museum of African-American History
  2. JET Magazine - People Are Talking About... - November 29, 1993
  3. Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema - By S. Torriano Berry, Venise T. Berry
  4. Business Wire (February 12, 2009). "Grammy® Nominated R&B Group En Vogue Closes Out Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit". Business Wire. Orlando, Florida, United States. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  5. En Vogue page at Amazon.
  6. "Mixed Singers Page 3", Mixedfolks.com.
  7. Cindy Herron at Discogs.
  8. JET Magazine - January 13, 1980
  9. "Miss San Francisco Scholarship Program - misssanfrancisco.net". Archived from the original on June 14, 2007.
  10. http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/coming/news/205266
  11. "Juice" at Amazon.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 5, 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Lexie".
  14. http://media.www.redandblack.com/media/storage/paper871/news/2007/07/19/Variety/Dreamgirls.Holliday.To.Serenade.Atlanta-2925118.shtml%5B%5D
  15. AOL. "News, Sports, Weather, Entertainment, Local & Lifestyle - AOL". Archived from the original on January 24, 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
  16. "Artist Chart History - En Vogue". Billboard.
  17. "US Certifications > En Vogue". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
  18. TMZ Staff (April 1, 2013). "Celebrity Justice: En Vogue Legal War Settled... Losers Stripped of Name". TMZ.com. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  19. En Vogue | Pyramid Records. Pyramid Records. Retrieved on September 1, 2014.
  20. En Vogue Vocal Outtakes for New Album "Electric Café". Youtube.com. Retrieved on December 25, 2014
  21. En Vogue Sued for Millions After Label Flip. Billboard.com. Retrieved on February 17, 2015
  22. JET Magazine - People Are Talking About... - November 15, 1993
  23. Joel Whitburn's top pop albums, 1955-1996
  24. JET Magazine - En Vigue Singer Gives Birth To Baby Boy - April 25, 1994

Cindy Herron on IMDb

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