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 Bruce Sudano, Eddie Hokenson, and Joe "Bean" Esposito grew up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood and began collaborating as teens. In 1968, Sudano joined the group Alive 'N Kickin', scoring a Top Ten pop hit with the Tommy James-penned "Tighter, Tighter" before splitting in 1970 after just one LP. Sudano returned home and reunited with Hokenson and Esposito, 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-Three Dog Night 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 Donna Summer. The trio not only opened for the singer on tour, but Sudano and Summer 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 Sudano issued a solo LP, The Fugitive Kind, but earned his greatest success as a songwriter, penning Summer's classic "Bad Girls" as well as the Dolly Parton smash "Starting Over." Esposito also returned to the limelight in 1983 when his solo cut "Lady, Lady, Lady" was included on the blockbuster soundtrack to Flashdance.