Dream Street was an American pop boy band that was formed in early 1999 and broke up in 2002.
History
The group was initially put together by producers Louis Baldonieri and Brian Lukow and titled 'Boy Wonder' (a name borrowed from the nickname of comic book character Robin from the Batman graphic novels and films)
. The band featured several 11-14 year old boys from the New York Broadway/Acting scene. Baldonieri and Lukow hoped to make an impact on the pop music industry by introducing a group of teenagers to the scene, all of whom had prior stage-singing experience. Among these original members were Greg Raposo and Chris Trousdale, who would continue on into the remade group in 1998.
The lineup was changed not long after they debuted the show in front of several talent agents and record label reps. Their debut involved among other things a tap dance number, and a jazzy theme song... both of which were sacked quickly after, as well as a cover of the Jesse McCartney, Gregory Raposo, Matt Ballinger, Frankie Galasso, and Chris Trousdale would become the new faces of the group, and were given the name "Dream Street" (which incidentally was the name of Lukow and Baldonieri's recording studio in New York City). The only original song they kept was titled "Jennifer Goodbye", which was initially written as a folk-pop ballad, then was changed into its modern incarnation months later.
Their eponymous debut album was released in 2001 It was certified Gold in the US by the RIAA peaking #1 on Top Independent Albums and at #37 on The Billboard 200. The final Dream Street release was the soundtrack album to the released 2002 film The Biggest Fan starring former Dream Street member Chris Trousdale. He co-starred in this film with Kaila Amariah.
One of the big factors that contributed was the waning appeal and popularity of the teen pop movement around 2001/02.
In 2002, the band broke up over a legal dispute between the group members and their parents. The producers wanted the boys to quit school and focus solely on their boy band occupation. Problems escalated, resulting in a lawsuit aimed to remove the band from its producers in the summer of 2002. The band also learned that one of the producers was heavily involved in teenage porn, which didn't go over well with the boys' families. Dream Street won its lawsuit, but the decision had an unanticipated result: as per the settlement, the boys were never allowed to perform as a group together again.
