Funky Divas

Funky Divas is the second album by American female vocal group En Vogue. Released in 1992, it became their highest selling album to date and one of the top selling albums of the year, selling over five million copies worldwide.

Background

The lead single, "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)," became an instant hit, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 in the UK Singles Chart. The accompanying video for "My Lovin'" won two MTV Video Music Awards. The song samples the funk guitar line of James Brown's 1973 song "The Payback" from the album of the same name.

The second single, "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" (a cover of the Aretha Franklin hit from the film Sparkle), also became a top ten hit on the US Hot 100 (and also their fifth #1 single in the US R&B chart). Another Franklin song from Sparkle, "Hooked on Your Love," is also on the album, as is a rendition of The Beatles' hit "Yesterday."

The third single, the rock-infused "Free Your Mind," became another top ten hit. In the UK, the single made the top 20 and was backed with "Giving Him Something He Can Feel," which had failed to make the UK top 40 by itself earlier that year. The video for "Free Your Mind" won three MTV Video Music Awards in 1993.

By the time the fourth single, "Give It Up, Turn It Loose," was released in late 1992, the Funky Divas album was already certified triple platinum in the US by the RIAA. The single gave the group another UK Top 40 hit (#22).

The fifth and final single released from Funky Divas was "Love Don't Love You," which was remixed for its release. The video for the single consists of clips from previous En Vogue videos "Giving Him Something He Can Feel," "Free Your Mind," as well as two of their 1990 videos "Lies" and "You Don't Have To Worry."

A second edition of the album containing the later hits "Runaway Love" and "Whatta Man" (with Salt-N-Pepa) was released in the UK in 1994. This edition of Funky Divas also includes remixed versions of "Hip Hop Lover," "It Ain't Over Till the Fat Lady Sings," and "Love Don't Love You" (a different remix from the US single release in 1993), along with slightly altered artwork inside the CD booklet.

As with En Vogue's first album, Born to Sing, Funky Divas includes lead vocals by each member of the group on different songs.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Robert Christgau	link
Entertainment Weekly	(B-) link
Los Angeles Times	link
New York Times	(favorable) link
Q	link
Rhapsody	(favorable) link
Rolling Stone	1992
Rolling Stone	2004
Yahoo! Music	(favorable) link

Track listing

#	Title	Length	Lead vocals	Writer(s)
1.	"This Is Your Life"	5:05	Terry Ellis (spoken intro by En Vogue)	Denzil Foster, Thomas McElroy
2.	"My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)"	4:42	Maxine Jones/Dawn Robinson	Foster, McElroy
3.	"Hip Hop Lover"	5:13	Jones/Ellis (background leads by Robinson)	Foster, McElroy
4.	"Free Your Mind"	4:52	Cindy Herron/Robinson/Ellis/Jones (spoken intro by Ellis)	Foster, McElroy
5.	"Desire"	4:01	Ellis/Herron	Foster, McElroy
6.	"Giving Him Something He Can Feel"	3:56	Robinson	Curtis Mayfield
7.	"It Ain't over Till the Fat Lady Sings"	4:13	Robinson (background leads by Jones)	Foster, McElroy
8.	"Give It Up, Turn It Loose"	5:13	Jones (spoken intro by En Vogue)	Foster, McElroy
9.	"Yesterday"	2:30	Herron	John Lennon, Paul McCartney
10.	"Hooked on Your Love"	3:35	Ellis	Mayfield
11.	"Love Don't Love You"	3:56	Ellis/Herron (spoken words by Jones)	Foster, McElroy
12.	"What Is Love"	4:19	Jones/Herron (spoken words by Ellis)	Foster, McElroy
13.	"Thanks (Prayer)"	0:43	Herron (backgrounds by Jones, Ellis and Robinson)	Foster, McElroy

Personnel

En Vogue

Adapted from Allmusic^[5]
Terry Ellis, Cindy Herron, Maxine Jones and Dawn Robinson: lead, backing and harmony vocals

Additional musicians

Denzil Foster, Thomas McElroy: keyboards, drum programming, talking, spoken word
Jinx Jones: electric, acoustic and bass guitars
Michael Fellows: drums
Jon Bendich, Juan Escovedo, Peter Michael: percussion
Chuckii Booker: talking, spoken word
Wayne Jackson: rap
Tony George: trumpet
Les Harris: saxophone
Chris Mondt: trombone

Charts

Album

Chart	Position	Certification
US Billboard 200	8	3x Platinum
UK Albums Chart	4	Gold

References

↑ "En Vogue - My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) Genius Lyrics". Retrieved January 26, 2016.
↑ "En Vogue - Giving Him Something He Can Feel - Amazon.com Music". Retrieved January 26, 2016.
↑ "En Vogue - Free Your Mind - Amazon.com Music". Retrieved January 26, 2016.
↑ "En Vogue - Give It Up, Turn It Loose - Amazon.com Music". Retrieved January 26, 2016.
↑ Personnel at allmusic