The last woman standing in the award-winning female R&B group En Vogue, Terry Ellis was born on Sept. 5, 1966, in Houston. The renowned vocalist launched her musical career as a member of For You in 1990.

Her group mates Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron and Maxine Jones had originally planned to form a trio, but Ellis’ five-octave vocal range had impressed the group’s producers so much that they decided to form a quartet instead.

The foursome would ultimately change its name to En Vogue and go on to amass a bevy of awards, including seven MTV Video Music Awards, five Soul Train Awards, six American Music Awards and seven Grammy nominations.

When the group went on a three-year hiatus, she took the opportunity to record a solo album, Southern Gal, on Elektra in 1995. The album spawned two hit singles, “Wherever You Are” and “What Did I Do to You.”

Although En Vogue cemented its reputation in music history as one of the most popular and successful female groups of all time, it also lost and gained a number of members throughout the 1990s and 2000s, making Ellis the only member to have never left the group at any point in time.

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(Photo: WENN)