Maxine said that Terry and Cindy sided with Denzil. She claimed they wanted to back out of the record deal with Universal Records Motown, and return the advance. “I was like — No absolutely not — crazy,” Maxine says.
“Cindy said to me, ‘Give the money back or we’ll be taking it out of your check.’ That means I’m not an equal partner – that I don’t have any say so. That was the barrier that she crossed. From that point on — I put all of them on notice.” -via Rumor Fix
After that last straw, Maxine hired her own attorney to handle her business. Terry and Cindy ended up reportedly firing her from the group that she was a part of founding. Maxine and Dawn then banded together and started touring as En Vogue. Eventually, there were two separate groups of En Vogue. Terry and Cindy weren’t trying to hear that, so they took Maxine to court to reportedly prevent her from using their name:
“The arbitrator asked me ‘Who should I give the name too?’ Maxine says. Her response was, “I can’t imagine you taking their right to use the name –- we all had a stake in building it. Let the fans decide which En Vogue they want to see because we’re all En Vogue. We all busted our a$$es to make that name what it is. We all should have the right to use the name. I wouldn’t dream of taking anything from them.” -Via Rumor Fix
The ending result was that Terry and Cindy won the right to use the name and Maxine says she eventually had to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy after taking a financial hit from that legal process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2RKb1R7jM0
MAXINE ON BEING BETRAYED
[Maxine says] “It’s silly … it’s crazy … it’s not fair,” she says. “I was with that group for more than 25 years – I have a stake in that trademark – we sold more than 30 million records. My voice is on most of the leads. That’s my fight. There’s no way I’m walking away from that. There’s no way until the highest judge in the land tells me. “I’ve more than earned the right to use the name – I am En Vogue.” (source: RedFix)
This is really sad, but not every story ends with a happy ending. Maxine Jones is now doing her own thing as a solo artist; and Terry and Cindy perform together as En Vogue. As bad as today’s music industry desperately needs REAL singers and female groups, we hope they will all reconsider pushing their differences aside for the sake of R&B. Lawd knows the music game needs them.
