Who could forget P Diddy’s ‘Hottest New Girl group’ and their hit single He Loves U Not? Well, as it stands it seems most of you actually have. But as we love to give your musical memories a little jiggle every Monday afternoon, we have decided to get you up to date on the life and times of the little princesses.
The History Bit…
Dream
The foursome originally got together in October 1998 after being selected by talent scout Judith Fontaine. The lucky foursome were Holly Blake-Arnstein, Melissa Schuman, Ashley Poole and Alex Chester… woo!
However, as the fickle world of music took hold, the girls jumped ship from Fontaine and got themselves a sweet deal with man of the moment, Sean "Puffy" Combs (that‘s P Diddy to you and me) who put the girls on his Bad Boy Records label.
More changes were in store for the girls before they even got a song in the charts though, as, in January 1999, Chester was replaced by Blake-Arnstein's best friend, Diana Ortiz.
After the chopping and changing came to and end, Dream released their debut single He Loves You Not (which has be playing in our office all day) in 2000 before their debut album, It Was All a Dream on January 23, 2001.
I‘m sure anyone who loves a cheesy night out would have loved the single He Loves You Not back in it‘s heyday, and probably helped it to chart in the three countries it did, before it peaked at number two on the Hot 100 Singles Chart in the United States.
But they weren’t a one-hit wonder, oh no, they even brought out a follow-up, This Is Me before their demise. The second single did pretty well too, thanks to guest appearances by rapper Kain as well as Diddy. It even allowed them to blag some opening slots for artists such as N*SYNC, Britney Spears, and 98 Degrees.
What’s more, they were even featured in a segment of MTV Cribs, and - wait for it - Play Along Toys released toy dolls of the group in 2001 - toy dolls, of a band with two, just RTWO singles? Look how hard the Spice Girls had to work for their plastic friends! Shocking!
A New Direction
Although there were more singles in the pipeline for the girls, they were never released. The excuse was that they were shelved after the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, but we wonder if it was just because they were rubbish?
Anyway, not a peep was heard from the girls until April 2002, when Melissa Schuman left the group to pursue an acting career - which seems to have gone okay… but we’ll get to her later.
Anyway, with a girl down, Diddy did what all promotion-addicted folk would do, and launched a lengthy search for the ’Next member of Dream’ who turned out, in the end, to be 15-year-old Kasey Sheridan. Wonderful.
So now, with a new line-up and the dust settling on September 11, the girls headed back into the studio in 2003 and returned with a new, sexier image and a new single featuring rapper Loon called Crazy.
Whether it was because Kasey was a bit too young to be oozing sex appeal we do not know, but the single didn’t exactly do well, and as a result, the second single from the album, That's OK, was never released - Boo!
Their album Reality was also never released, and as predictable as a cheesy rom-com, they were dropped from Bad boy records and the group decided to call it a day.
Where are they now?
Well, when we said they had split, that obviously was never going to stop them from chasing stars on their own, and Ashley Poole and Melissa Schuman are currently pursuing solo singing careers whilst Holly Blake-Arnstein joined the California-based alternative band Whirl Magnet.
Although I wouldn’t be fooled by their claims to have split, as they have been ‘secretly’ releasing singles and albums online since September 2006, with two being released on iTunes last year; Daddy's Little Girl and Dream Never Land.
But that’s not the most exciting news, oh no, the best part is… they’re coming back! Yippeee! Well, that’s not quite the whole truth, but near enough… on January 28, 2008, Melissa Schuman announced that after a failed attempt to bring all of the original members of Dream back together, she Ashley Poole and Diana Ortiz are starting a new band. Hooray!
They got themselves (surprise, surprise) a reality show documenting their auditions for new members and a new name - Lady Phoenix - which is supposed to signify the life of the Phoenix; a bird that rises from the ashes, which the girls felt they have done from their past. Right.
Dream, sorry, I mean Lady phoenix, have even created an official profile on YouTube, and uploaded the odd video of them pratting around singing cover songs… which we have to admit, do sound pretty good… we are waiting with baited breath for this ‘triumphant’ return!
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison