Brooklyn Dreams | |
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Origin | New York City, U.S. |
Genres | R&B, disco, pop |
Years active | 1977–1980 |
Labels | Casablanca Records, Millennium Records |
Members | Joe "Bean" Esposito Eddie Hokenson Bruce Sudano |
Brooklyn Dreams were an American singing group of the late 1970s, mixing R&B harmonies with contemporary dance/disco music and best known for a number of collaborations with singer Donna Summer. The band consisted of Joe "Bean" Esposito, Eddie Hokenson and Bruce Sudano. Esposito provided lead vocals for the band and played guitar, while Sudano played keyboards and Hokenson played drums and occasionally sang lead vocals. [1]
The group formed in the 1970s in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Their biggest hit was the single "Heaven Knows", a single by Donna Summer, featuring Joe Esposito on second lead and the group singing backup. Released on Casablanca Records in January 1979, the single reached # 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The band's version of the song appears on their 1979 album Sleepless Nights, but, on this version, Esposito is singing lead vocal and Summer is singing second lead, with the group again contributing backing vocals. This version is credited as Brooklyn Dreams with Donna Summer. It is one of the few recording scenarios were two acts duet on a song, and switch their vocal parts for the same exact song and production, and have both versions released simultaneously.
The band sang backup on other tracks from several Summer albums during this period.
Their self-titled debut album Brooklyn Dreams (1977) received positive reviews, comparing the group's harmonies to those of the Righteous Brothers. Singles "Sad Eyes" and the dance track "Music, Harmony and Rhythm" were modest hits. The latter song has been sampled over the years by various Hip hop artists. While the album was a modest hit, the group gained public awareness via an appearance, along with Kenny Vance of Jay and the Americans, as "Professor La Plano and the Planotones" in the 1978 film American Hot Wax .
Their sophomore effort Sleepless Nights (1979) was a greater commercial success for the group as it featured their musical collaboration with their label mate Summer. The group toured as opening act for Summer and also hosted The Midnight Special musical TV show [2] and performing on the popular talk shows The Mike Douglas Show and The Merv Griffin Show , as well as Dick Clark's American Bandstand , Solid Gold and "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert". That year, the band co-wrote the song "Bad Girls" with Summer, and the single topped the US Billboard Hot 100, Hot Black Singles, and Hot Disco charts. Their own single "Make It Last", however, was not a major hit.
Their third album Joy Ride (1979) was a solid effort but moved them further away from their R&B roots. Produced by recording engineer Juergen Koppers, who also worked with Summer on occasion, it did not have the major support of Casablanca Records, which was having financial difficulties at the time. The album did not generate a chart single and had a much more Euro dance sound. Casabalanca (which distributed the band's label, Millennium Records) had changed direction by 1980 with the demise of Disco with which the label was closely related, and Casablanca's chairman Neil Bogart's departure.
"Won't Let Go" (1980) was the last album by the group which was moving away from the label's push to disco, and closer to an R&B/pop sound they originally intended to produce. By this time, members of the group were pursuing other projects separately or together, but not under the name Brooklyn Dreams.
"Deez Hollywood Knights", a track on Snoop Dogg's 2008 album Ego Trippin , samples the group's title track for the soundtrack for the 1980 film The Hollywood Knights .
Esposito went on to a solo career, with songs appearing on numerous movie soundtracks, notably Flashdance , The Karate Kid , and Coming To America for which he recorded a duet with singer Laura Branigan. He also released three solo albums "Solitary Man" with Giorgio Moroder, followed by "Joe, Bruce and 2nd Avenue" a collaboration with a former bandmate, and Treated and Released . In 2013, Esposito became the lead singer of The Brooklyn Bridge, formerly known as Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge.
Sudano and Donna Summer later married. Sudano notably co-wrote the Dolly Parton hit "Starting Over Again", and a number of album tracks for Summer. Sudano released his first solo album, Fugitive Kind, for Millennium/RCA in 1981, which included his recording of "Starting Over Again". The song was recorded again in 1997 by Reba McEntire and was the title song of her CD. Sudano released his second solo album, Rainy Day Soul, 23 years later, in 2004. Sudano was voted AC artist of the year by New Music Weekly. Sudano's next CD, Life & the Romantic, was set to be released in March 2009.
Year | Single | US | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1977 | "Sad Eyes" | 63 | Brooklyn Dreams | |
1978 | "Music, Harmony and Rhythm" | 57 | Brooklyn Dreams | |
1979 | "Make it Last" | 69 | Sleepless Nights |
Donna Adrian Gaines, known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music gained a global following.
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Bad Girls is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. It was released on April 25, 1979, by Casablanca Records. Originally issued as a double album, Bad Girls became the best-selling and most critically acclaimed album of Summer's career. It was also her final studio album for Casablanca Records. In 2003, Universal Music re-issued Bad Girls as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition.
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"Bad Girls" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer from her 1979 seventh studio album of the same name. Casablanca Records released it as the album's second single on June 23, 1979. The song was produced by Summer's regular collaborators Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, and co-written by Summer and the members of Brooklyn Dreams, Bruce Sudano, Joe "Bean" Esposito and Edward "Eddie" Hokenson.
Joe "Bean" Esposito is an American singer-songwriter whose career spans from the 1970s to the present day. Esposito is known for creating songs that have appeared in film soundtracks, such as those of American Hot Wax, Staying Alive, Scarface, The Karate Kid, and Coming to America. Several of his songs have also been recorded by Donna Summer, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, and Stephen Stills, among others.
On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II is the first greatest hits album by American singer Donna Summer, released on October 15, 1979. It was her fourth consecutive double album, and also made her the first person ever to take three consecutive double albums to the number one spot on the U.S. album chart. This would become Summer's third multi-platinum album to date.
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"Heaven Knows" is a song by American singer Donna Summer, with guest vocals from Brooklyn Dreams. It is a single from Summer's Live and More album. The song became a number 4 hit for Summer in the US the week of March 17, 1979, and held there for three weeks. It features the group Brooklyn Dreams with vocals by Joe "Bean" Esposito.
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