Looking back! While Dream Street’s tenure on the boy band scene may have been fleeting, they provided fans with several dance-worthy pop hits and catapulted its members to well-known solo career acclaim.
The pop group was formed in 1999 by Louis Baldonieri and Brian Lukow, bringing together the vocal stylings of Jesse McCartney, Chris Trousdale, Greg Raposo, Frankie Galasso and Matt Ballinger. During the group’s heyday, they released two albums: Dream Street and The Biggest Fan. However, the group soon disbanded after less than three years together amid a legal battle between management and the singers’ parents.
Their parents previously filed a 2002 lawsuit in New York against Baldonieri and Lukow, alleging that they exposed their sons to alcohol, women and pornography despite being underage, according to a Billboard report at the time. While the band executives denied such claims, the boy band split up and the teens started developing their own solo careers. While the former Dream Street stars went their separate ways, they never forgot their roots.
“I don’t really have any negative memories of [All My Children]. Dream Street too, we got to tour with Britney Spears [when] I was, like, 12 or 13,” the Summerland alum recalled during a September 2021 interview with Bustle. “Justin Timberlake’s coming backstage, giving us a hug. All the things that you thought of when you were a young kid singing into your mirror with a comb, those things happened to me. I remember it being really fun, and then of course when I had to start learning the business side it was like, ‘OK, this is why people get into lawsuits and stuff.’”
At the time, the “Beautiful Soul” crooner gushed about his fellow bandmates, noting, “those guys are a huge part of my childhood.”
McCartney even teamed up with his former colleagues to celebrate the life and legacy of Trousdale, who died in June 2020 after complications from COVID-19.
“In Loving Memory of our friend Chris Trousdale,” the Masked Singer alum wrote via Instagram at the time as the remaining bandmates sang “It Happens Every Time” via Zoom. “6.11.85-6.2.20 #DreamStreet.”
During the musical performance, Rapaso quipped, “This one’s for you, old friends. Dance in Peace.”
After his bandmate’s sudden death, Galasso also penned a sweet tribute via Instagram, writing, “Life can take unpredictable turns. People move, occupations change, friendships drift. Chris and I’s friendship drifted after the group, but we shared an incredible moment in time that most people can only dream of, let alone experience. Some of the fondest memories in my life are ones that he was a part of. His passing weighs heavy on my heart, but I will always have the memories, of those years with him, to look back on fondly.”
McCartney, for his part, later gushed over their impromptu reunion, which was filmed in honor of what would have been their late friend’s 35th birthday.
“I certainly wish that it was better circumstances that we got together on that Zoom call, but it was a really nice moment,” the Young & Hungry alum told Bustle. “We talk to each other now much more often. We have a group Dream Street text message thread with the four of us, and we promised each other that no matter what we would check in with each other much more often than we used to.”
Ahead of the group’s reunion, McCartney exclusively revealed he was down to get the group back together.
“Never say never,” the “Better With You” musician told Us in May 2020. “Dream Street was so important for me for the building blocks in my life about recording music, singing and dancing, collaborating and working well with others, so yeah. I’ll never say never, crazier things have happened!”
Scroll below to see what the Dream Street members have been up to since the band’s heyday: