Exposé: The Most Overlooked Group of All Time
When people ask who
was the greatest girl group of all time: Spice Girls, The Supremes, TLC are
names that often get thrown around. But in the 80s, there was a girl group that
had a run full of hits. The group name was Expose. They were known for pushing
the freestyle sound to the mainstream but over the years, often overlooked as
one of the greats and they deserve their flowers. Today on jgtv, we are going
to go through the journey of Expose, the most Overlook Girl Group of All Time.
Exposé: The Most Overlooked Group of All Time
Finding a starting
point for this video is kind of tricky. But let’s start off with a question
what is freestyle. Not talking about what rappers do on the top of their heads
but freestyle, the genre. It was genre that blends early hip hop, R&B,
dance pop and Latin rhythms. Latin
freestyle was one of the first mainstream U.S. genres where Latino artists
found success without singing in Spanish. The genre was specifically big in two
places New York & Miami, two cities that have huge Latino communities. But
it’ll be Miami where this story begins. A disc jockey named Lewis Martineé and
Frank Diaz of Pantera Records wanted to start a girl group with the Latin
freestyle sound in mind. Lewis met Sandra "Sandeé" Casañas and
immediately felt like she was a perfect fit for the group. They then added Alejandra
Lorenzo, an aspiring dancer and singer and Laurie Miller. They would call the
group X-Posed.
In 1985, they
recorded and released the song “Point of No Return”. The song went to #1 on the
Dance Charts and it became a pioneering song of the freestyle. X-Posed hit up
every nightclub to promote the single. The song eventually landed into the
hands of David Jurman and he had them sign to Arista so the song could go
national. But he changed the name from X-Posed to Expose. They followed up
Point of No Return with “Exposed to Love” and that song reached #12 on the
Dance Charts. After seeing how the first two songs performing well on the Dance
Charts, Arista ordered an album from Expose.
Then things get a
little weird. Sandra Casañas decided to leave the group to pursue a solo
career. She would be replaced by Gioia Bruno (pronounced joy-a), an Italian
born, Jersey raised singer. Then Alejandra Lorenzo decided to leave the group
to pursue other endeavors. To find her replacement Ale and Laurie decided to
recruit Jeanette Jurado for the job, which she accepted. The group started to
work on their debut album but then as almost as soon as the album was near
completion, Laurie Miller, the last original member left the band due to
business decisions and other personal reasons. She would be replaced by Ann
Curless. So, within a year, Expose
became a new group.
In January 1987,
the new lineup of Ann, Gioia & Jeanette released the first single as the new
lineup in “Come Go With Me” and by this time, thanks to the rise of Lisa Lisa
and Cult Jam, the Latin Freestyle sound was now mainstream. Come Go With Me
reached the #5 on the Hot 100, #1 on the Dance Charts. In March 1987 Expose
released their debut album Exposure. On the album, it featured the group’s
debut single “Point of No Return” but a rerecorded version with Jeanette on
leads. Thanks to the re-release the song reclaimed the #1 on the Dance Charts
while reaching #5 on the Hot 100. Next single was “Let Me Be The One” and song
featured Gioia on lead and that became yet another top 10 hit and #2 on the
Dance Charts. Final song was the ballad “Seasons Change”, the song was a pivot
from the freestyle sound but it winded up becoming a smash. The song reached #1
on the Hot 100. Exposure would go on and go double platinum and they became the
first girl group to chart multiple top 10 songs from their debut with four. to
promote they were the opening act for fellow freestyle act Lisa Lisa & Cult
Jam. However, the group were struggling with their contract situation.
According to Gioia, the group was only paid $200 per show. Label tried to make
things peaceful but it was to no avail and they filed a lawsuit, which winded
up settle with a new renegotiated contract.
In 1989, Expose
released their follow-up album What You Don’t Know. Kickstarted by the title
track, the song reached #8 on the Hot 100 & #2 on the Dance Charts. This
followed up with another ballad “When I Looked at Him” and that song reached
#10 on the Hot 100. Next in line was the song “Tell Me Why”, this song shined
the light on gang and it’s influence on the youth. The song reached #9 on the
Hot 100. What You Don’t Know went Gold. To promote, they went on their first
headlining tour. But in August 1990, member Gioia started to have vocal
problems. It was later revealed that she had a benign tumor on her vocal cords.
Due to these issues Gioia would leave to group and would be replaced by Kelly
Moneymaker.
In 1992, the group
started to work on their third album. Throughout their run, Lewis Martineé
produced most of their first two albums. This time, especially with the
freestyle sound fading, the group worked with a wide range of producers. The
self-titled album would be released that same year. The album had one major hit
in “I’ll Never Get Over You”. The ballad was written by Diane Warren and it
reached #8 on the Hot 100. But other singles only made minimal impact and
despite those setbacks the album still went Gold. In 1995, they teamed up with
Diane Warren to record the song “I’ll Say Goodbye for the Two of Us” and that
appeared on the Free Willy 2 soundtrack. By the end of 1995, Expose was dropped
by Arista Records and the group disbanded shortly after.
With the group
ending, Jeanette participated in a stage play for “Mad Hatten”. Kelly married
soap opera actor Peter Reckell. They have one daughter and Kelly would drop
multiple independent solo projects. Curless worked in songwriting, supplied
vocals to several club-dance projects, and also taught music and music
business. Gioia would start performing again once she recovered from her vocal
emergency. In 2004 she released her first solo album Expose This. The album was
a success in the dance realm.
In 2006, Expose
with Gioia announced that they were touring for the first time in a decade. But
in 2007, Crystal Entertainment sued Jeanette, Gioia, Ann, Kelly (who only
performs with the group occasionally), Paradise Artists and their company
Walking Distance Entertainment over the name Expose. Crystal claimed it owned
the rights under a licensing agreement, while the group disputed that they have
been using the name for two decades. The suit was dismissed but Crystal
Entertainment filed a second action and they went on trial. The second suit
dropped Kelly and Paradise Artists. In 2009, the court ruled in favor of Expose
and granted exclusive rights to the name and given trademarking over the name.
Today Expose still
perform and tour. Kelly as mentioned earlier only performs with them on
occasion as an honorary member as she resides in New Zealand. Expose run
might’ve been quiet, but proved effective. They were pioneers of freestyle
sound as they were able to make the sound commercial friendly. Seasons may
change but their legacy remained.
SOURCES
https://www.mentalfloss.com/entertainment/music/expose-most-successful-girl-groups-1980s?utm
https://freestylemusicmag.com/index.php/2023/11/26/miami-freestyle-the-truth-about-expose/?utm
https://rareandobscuremusic.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/expose/?utm
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