Despite the album going gold the group became more popular than tween market like NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys before them. One of the big factors that contributed was the waning appeal and popularity of the teen pop movement around 2001/02. In early 2002, four of the members and their parents (McCartney, Raposo, Ballinger, and Gallasso) filed suit against Louis Baldonieri and Brian Lukow to revoke their prior approval of their initial production agreement. The New York Supreme Court denied the request. The group officially disbanded, with only Chris Trousdale staying with the production team of Baldonieri and Lukow.
New Beginnings
Soon after the ending of the group, 4 of the 5 guys began following different entertainment paths. Matt Ballinger joined a band for a short time before disbanding to help form "The Juice", a band based in Massachusetts, where Matt attends college. Chris Trousdale, with the support of Lukow and Baldonieri, finished The Biggest Fan, which would not be released until Summer 2005, after legal precedings were finished. Soon after finishing his movie Chris began recording and collecting songs for his new album, yet to be named/released. Greg Raposo came out as a force on Radio Disney, a popular tween station. He recorded and released a self-titled album, and released his 1st single "Take Me Back Home", which was soon a staple on Radio Disney. But the biggest breakout of Dream Street was youngest member Jesse McCartney. In 2003 he recorded a 3-track album JMac and soon released the 1st track titled Beautiful Soul, which immediately became a top 20 hit on the tween station Radio Disney. Jesse soon signed with Hollywood Records, owned by Disney, and began recording an album. Jesse soon joined in on the Jingle Jam tour the same year with fellow Dream Street ex-member Raposo and up-and-coming popstar Stevie Brock. In the meantime he landed a starring role on the hit WB teen show Summerland, which soon became one of the most popular shows for people aged 15-24, and shot the stars to fame, including Jesse. When he decided to re-release "Beautiful Soul", it became a large top 40 song, and was a common request for shows such as TRL. He then toured through the United States and Australia, making him a bigger star.
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