Dream Street
Dream Street was one of many boy bands spawned in the late 90’s. And when I say boy band, I mean boy. Some of these kids were as young as 11 when the group began. The group’s original name was Boy Wonder (from Batman and Robin) but was changed to Dream Street, which was the name of their producer’s recording studio in New York City. The producers of the band, Louis Baldonieri and Brian Lukow, tried to jump on the Boy Band bandwagon (that’s fun to say) by plucking young boys ages 11-14 from the New York Broadway scene. Dream Street consisted of Jesse McCartney, Greg Raposo, Matt Ballinger, Frankie Galasso, and Chris Trousdale.
In July 2000, Dream Street made their recording debut with their single “They Don’t Understand,” which was featured on the soundtrack to Pokemon 2000, The Power of One. The boys released their debut self-titled album in 2001 which went gold. They also recorded the soundtrack to the movie “The Biggest Fan” that starred member Chris Trousdale. That was released in 2002 and then Dream Street was no more.
The group broke up in 2002 over a lawsuit. The producers wanted the boys to quit school to focus solely on the boy band. The parents filed a lawsuit against the producers and won. Member Chris Trousdale took the producer’s side so I’m guessing he’s a real smart 33 year old right about now. Does he have like a 9th grade education? Part of the settlement of the lawsuit was that the boys were never allowed to perform as a group again. Unhappy ending. Oh well. They all went on to have some success in their field.
Greg Raposo
Greg Raposo, born May 3, 1985, continued on with his music. He had a solo career and was a rock singer in his band The Taken (which was also called Raposo and Stereopath). Greg released a solo album in 2003 that did mildly well. He continues to sing and last released an album in 2012.
Matt Ballinger
Matt Ballinger, born April 22, 1985, returned to regular life once Dream Street broke up. He finished high school and was accepted into Tufts University in Massachusetts. He started singing in a new band called The Juice while at college. The Juice apparently broke up in 2008. Jesse McCartney called Matt the brains of Dream Street. This proved to be true in a sense as Matt is the only college graduate of the group. He graduated from Tufts University in 2007. He has been married since 2013.
Frankie Galasso
Frankie Galasso, born January 24, 1985, attended college after Dream Street though I don’t think he graduated. He did a few more acting bits after Dream Street ended. He was an ensemble cast member of the First National Touring of Jersey Boys and recorded a cover of Say Something in 2014.
Big Head
Chris Trousdale, born June 11, 1985, probably has the biggest head of the Dream Street members. He continued to sing and perform after the demise of Dream Street. He also continued to act. According to Wikipedia, he joined the Spectra Music Group in 2014 to work on his solo album.
Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney, born April 9, 1987 and therefore the youngest of the boys, is easily the most successful of the Dream Street members. He has had success as both an actor and singer since Dream Street disbanded in 2002. Jesse appeared on the TV shows Summerland and Greek as well as doing many voice over roles in cartoons. He released his solo debut album, Beautiful Soul, in 2004 and it has been certified platinum. He has since recorded four more albums.
Jesse McCartney has said that Dream Street was a nice stepping stone for his career. I think that’s a healthy way to view things. I hope all of the boys (men) are happy and living life to the fullest.