Dream (American group)
Dream was an American pop girl group, which was active in 1998–2003 and 2015–2016. Their biggest success came in 2000 with their track, "He Loves U Not", a transatlantic hit single. On May 29, 2015, the original members of Dream announced via Twitter that they would be making a comeback with new music. On October 5, 2016 Ashley Poole announced via Snapchat and Facebook that Dream had once again disbanded.
History
1998–2001: Formation
The quartet was originally formed in October 1998 when talent scout Judith Fontaine selected Holly Blake-Arnstein, Melissa Schuman, Ashley Poole, and Alex Chester, four teens from California, to comprise a new girl group. The group's original name, First Warning, was later changed to Dream.The group then left Fontaine and were signed by Sean Combs to his Bad Boy Records label. In January 1999, Chester was replaced by Diana Ortiz. Fontaine later sued Combs and Blake-Arnstein, Schuman, and Poole, but lost her court case.
2000–01: Debut and success
Dream released their debut single, "He Loves U Not", remixed by Marc Mozart, in 2000 and their debut album, It Was All a Dream, was released on January 23, 2001. "He Loves U Not" peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 17 in the UK Singles Chart. The video for the single peaked at number 2 on MTV's TRL. The subsequent single, "This Is Me", enjoyed a fair amount of success as well; the music video hit number 1 on TRL. The final single and video from the album was "This Is Me " and featured rapper Kain as well as Sean Combs. The song was later featured on the compilation Totally Hits 2001.During this time, Dream participated in the 2001 TRL tour, and opened for Destiny's Child, Eve and Nelly. They were featured in a segment of MTV Cribs. Play Along Toys released dolls of the group in 2001. Dream also made various appearances on television shows, including TRL, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Early Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, and Good Morning America.
2001–03: Lineup change and disbandment
Though Bad Boy Records had planned to release "Miss You" and "In My Dreams" as the third and fourth singles from It Was All a Dream and promotional copies of the latter were shipped, the singles were never released. According to Arnstein, this was partly due to the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Little was heard from Dream until April 2002, when Melissa Schuman left the group to pursue an acting career. Sean Combs appeared on TRL on April 3 to announce the news, noting that there were no bitter feelings. A lengthy search conducted by Combs and the three remaining members led to Kasey Sheridan becoming the youngest member of the group in the early fall of 2002.Dream spent the subsequent months recording new songs for their second album. In the summer of 2003, the girls returned to the scene with a sexier image and a new single featuring rapper Loon called "Crazy". Despite the fact that Crazy peaked at #39 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40, The single and its video did not receive the acclaim and success of "He Loves U Not", and the planned second single from the album, supposedly "That's OK", was never released. Dream's album Reality was completed and ready to follow in the fall, but its release kept being postponed by their label; Bad Boy Records later dropped Dream and they disbanded, although their dissolution was never formally announced.
2003–08: Post-breakup activities
Ashley Poole and Melissa Schuman pursued solo singing careers, and Holly Blake-Arnstein joined the California-based band Whirl Magnet.In September 2005, the unreleased Reality CD was available for purchase by Clockwork/2620/Universal Records from French Virgin Megastores. In April 2006, an MTV News article discussed the reasons behind Dream's break-up. Blake-Arnstein was interviewed for the article and noted that the sexier, more mature image pushed upon the group by Combs and their management was not a welcome change, and that she and the other members were no longer enjoying the music and the experience.
On May 9, 2008, two demo albums, Daddy's Little Girl and Dream Never Land, featuring songs recorded at Clockwork Entertainment with original member Alex Chester were released to iTunes. Subsequently, Reality was also available for digital purchase on iTunes on May 13, 2008.
2008–12: Lady Phoenix
On January 28, 2008, Melissa Schuman announced that after a failed attempt to reunite Dream's original lineup, she and Ashley Poole were starting a new band under a new name and a reality show documenting their auditions for new members was in the works. On July 27, 2008, she announced the name of their new group would be Lady Phoenix. On August 7, 2008, Schuman announced that Diana Ortiz, also from , would be joining the group. In 2012, Schuman confirmed that Lady Phoenix had disbanded following Ashley Poole's departure from the group and the reality show was not picked up by any networks.2015–16: Comeback and scrapped third studio album
On May 11, 2015, the original members of Dream got together for a mini-reunion and posted a video online performing a acapella version of their 2000 single "He Loves U Not" and the video quickly gained views and gaining online attention from MTV, Seventeen Magazine, Perez Hilton and other media sites. On May 29, 2015, the original members of Dream all announced they would be making a comeback and launched a Twitter and Facebook page. The Twitter page has gained over 18,000 followers since its launch. On December 17, 2015, Dream recorded and released a studio recording of "O Holy Night" as a treat to fans for the holidays while they work on the new album scheduled for 2016.On April 25, 2016, Dream announced that they would be going on tour in July with 98 Degrees, O-Town, and Ryan Cabrera as part of the 2016 My2K Tour and also performing at the 2016 Mixtape Festival on August 6 with New Kids On The Block headlining.
On August 2, 2016 Dream released their first single together in 13 years titled "I Believe" on Itunes and Spotify.
On October 5, 2016 Ashley Poole announced via Snapchat and Facebook that Dream has once again disbanded and a new album will not be released.