Dawn Robinson From En Vogue Reveals She's Homeless and Has Been Living in Her Car for Nearly Three Years

Photo/@dawnrobinsondiva/Instagram

Dawn Robinson, one of the founding members of the Grammy Award-nominated R&B group En Vogue, revealed that she's been living in her car for nearly three years. En Vogue is considered one of the most talented female R&B groups from the '90s. Their debut and sophomore albums, Born to Sing and Funky Divas, went Diamond, selling over 10 million copies per album. En Vogue also had four consecutive multi-platinum albums, an international fanbase, and many music awards.

Despite her absence from the music business, Robinson still interacts with her fans via social media and her YouTube channel. She released a YT video this week telling her fans that she is now homeless.

In the video, Dawn explained the various changes she went through before hitting rock bottom—from living with her parents in Las Vegas to depending on her co-manager for housing and finally having nowhere to live and deciding to live in her car.

Dawn left and rejoined En Vogue several times but explained in former interviews that she left for good due to the group's inability to reach an appropriate business agreement. She eventually joined the group Lucy Pearl with Raphael Saadiq, Joi, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad for a short time. En Vogue continues to perform without Robinson.

But, according to her interview with Halftime Chat, Robinson's brief stint with Lucy Pearl wasn't financially viable either, and she lost her home after joining the group. The songstress explained to HC that she and Raphael had known each other since they were teenagers, and he promised her when he put the group together, he would look out for her best interest.

Out of trust for Saadiq, Robinson admitted that she failed to thoroughly review her contract for Lucy Pearl, which she later discovered was another unfavorable agreement and the group only recorded one album. The songstress told HC, "Rafael, I had known him since we were both 16 years old... He played in my band in San Francisco. I was comfortable with him; he was like a brother to me. I didn't think he would take advantage of me with that contract; I believed he would be fair and have my back." "But he did not." "It wasn't a good contract at all."  

The "Hold On" singer also alleges that Saadiq became jealous of the individual attention she received and when she needed money from the group to save her mortgage, he refused to assist her. The former lead singer explained that things just didn't end well with Lucy Pearl, she said, "They kicked me out as well." Robinson told HC that she turned down a deal with RCA to sign with Lucy Pearl, after being promised she'd be treated fairly.

Robinson was a cast member on R&B Divas: Los Angeles for three years. The former lead singer also attempted to have a solo career. She and one of her former En Vogue group mates, Maxine Jones also attempted to form a new group, En Vogue to the Max, which never manifested due to a lawsuit from the other original group members, Terry Ellis and Cindy Herron.

Dawn is such a talented and powerful vocalist, it's unastounding that she hasn’t had a successful career.

It's unclear how she will rebalance her life. Yet, the former ‘Funky Diva’ seems somewhat at peace with her decision to live in her car.

Robinson stated in her YT video, that before deciding to live on the road, she researched "car life.” Once she transitioned into her new lifestyle, the singer said she found freedom, she stated, “I felt free.” “I felt like I was on a camping trip. It just felt like it was the right thing to do.”

The former lead singer contends that she's not looking for pity, she said, “It’s not ‘Woe is me.'" “I’m learning about who I am. I’m learning myself as a person, as a woman."

In 2020, when speaking to the Official Cherie Johnson podcast, the songstress said she was working on her memoir, Breaking Dawn. We surely hope things turn around for the R&B queen.

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