Brooklyn Dreams

Brooklyn Dreams combined the harmonies of vintage doo wop with the electronic textures and rhythms of contemporary dance music to emerge as one of the more distinctive acts of the disco era. Members <a href="spotify:artist:603Q8uOwTjPYqTTBfwF8pZ">Bruce Sudano</a>, Eddie Hokenson, and <a href="spotify:artist:65dOI8VCioOZndbxxqxc0U">Joe "Bean" Esposito</a> grew up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood and began collaborating as teens. In 1968, <a href="spotify:artist:603Q8uOwTjPYqTTBfwF8pZ">Sudano</a> joined the group <a href="spotify:artist:6sIWmcJRaS1WZe5XPjRf0j">Alive 'N Kickin'</a>, scoring a Top Ten pop hit with the <a href="spotify:artist:7eRORqxEbt7ftbaaWP0k5v">Tommy James</a>-penned "Tighter, Tighter" before splitting in 1970 after just one LP. <a href="spotify:artist:603Q8uOwTjPYqTTBfwF8pZ">Sudano</a> returned home and reunited with Hokenson and <a href="spotify:artist:65dOI8VCioOZndbxxqxc0U">Esposito</a>, with whom he also began writing songs. When friend and future manager Susan Munao landed an executive position with Los Angeles-based Casablanca Records, she encouraged the trio to travel west, where they signed to producer Jimmy Ienner's Casablanca subsidiary Millennium. Produced by ex-<a href="spotify:artist:4FAEZeJcsYYBkNq2D3KGTV">Three Dog Night</a> member Skip Konte, Brooklyn Dreams' self-titled LP appeared in 1977. The record fared poorly at retail, but the group received an unexpected boost via their appearance in the 1978 feature film American Hot Wax. Brooklyn Dreams' 1979 follow-up, Sleepless Nights, featured the smash "Heaven Knows," a duet with disco queen <a href="spotify:artist:2eogQKWWoohI3BSnoG7E2U">Donna Summer</a>. The trio not only opened for the singer on tour, but <a href="spotify:artist:603Q8uOwTjPYqTTBfwF8pZ">Sudano</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2eogQKWWoohI3BSnoG7E2U">Summer</a> later wed. The ambitious, Juergen Koppers-produced Joy Ride nevertheless proved a commercial disaster, and when 1980's Won't Let Go met a similar fate, Brooklyn Dreams dissolved. A year later <a href="spotify:artist:603Q8uOwTjPYqTTBfwF8pZ">Sudano</a> issued a solo LP, The Fugitive Kind, but earned his greatest success as a songwriter, penning <a href="spotify:artist:2eogQKWWoohI3BSnoG7E2U">Summer</a>'s classic "Bad Girls" as well as the <a href="spotify:artist:32vWCbZh0xZ4o9gkz4PsEU">Dolly Parton</a> smash "Starting Over." <a href="spotify:artist:65dOI8VCioOZndbxxqxc0U">Esposito</a> also returned to the limelight in 1983 when his solo cut "Lady, Lady, Lady" was included on the blockbuster soundtrack to Flashdance. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi