Exposé (group)

Exposé
Exposé at the 32nd Annual Grammy Awards in February 1990 (from left to right: Jeanette Jurado, Gioia Bruno, and Ann Curless)
Background information
Origin	Miami, Florida, U.S.
Genres	Latin freestyle dance pop
Years active	1984–1996 2003–present
Labels	Arista BMG Walking Distance Entertainmentz
Members	Gioia Bruno Ann Curless Jeanette Jurado Kelly Moneymaker
Past members	Sandra "Sandeé" Casañas (1984–1986) Alejandra "Alé" Lorenzo (1984–1986) Laurie Miller (1984–1986)
Website	www.exposeonline.net

Exposé is an American freestyle vocal group formed in 1984 in Miami, Florida. The group primarily consisted of lead vocalists Jeanette Jurado, Ann Curless, and Gioia Bruno. They achieved much of their success between 1984 and 1993, and became the first group to attain four top 10 entries on the Billboard Hot 100, including their 1988 number one single "Seasons Change." Exposé’s seven consecutive Top 10 hits on the US Hot 100 landed them only behind The Supremes (with nine consecutive Top 10 hits) for most Top 10 hits by an all-female group. In March 2015, Billboard magazine named the group the eighth most-successful girl group of all time.

The group was popular in dance clubs, mainstream Top 40, as well as adult contemporary charts in the United States. They toured and recorded music from 1984 to 1995, then retired from recording and public performances until 2003.

History

Formation and original members (1984–1986)

Exposé was formed in 1984 by Miami disc jockey and producer, Lewis Martineé. Working with his partners Ismael Garcia and Frank Diaz at Pantera Productions, talent scouts hired Sandra Casañas (Sandeé), Alejandra Lorenzo (Alé), and Laurie Miller as the group's lineup, under the name X-Posed, which later became Exposé. That year, the trio recorded "Point of No Return" for Pantera Records. The following year, Exposé signed with Arista Records, which re-released the song as a 12-inch vinyl single, and it became a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. The song helped introduce a genre of music that became known as freestyle. Later that year, Exposé recorded and released their second single titled "Exposed to Love." Following the success, Arista approved a full-length album from the group.

Lineup change and Exposure (1986–1988)

During the recording of their first studio album Exposure, there were changes to the group's lineup. According to People magazine, two of the original singers quit, while one of the girls was fired midway through the recording of the album, but according to Billboard, all three singers were fired. Arista Records felt the three original singers lacked star potential. While Martineé states he made the decision to replace the three girls, Miller maintains each member quit by choice. Casañas and Miller pursued solo careers and Lorenzo pursued other ambitions. A new lineup was put together featuring Jeanette Jurado, Gioia Bruno, and Ann Curless.

In March 1987, with their new lineup, Exposé released Exposure on Arista Records, led by the pop/dance hit "Come Go with Me" which reached #5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. During the summer of 1987, a re-recorded version of "Point of No Return" was released, with Jurado now performing lead vocals. It topped out at #5 on the US Hot 100. While the initial distribution of Exposure to suppliers contained the original 1984 version of that song, subsequent pressings contained the new version. "Let Me Be the One", a mid-tempo R&B song, reached #7 on the US Hot 100. The group's highest charting hit occurred in February 1988 with the #1 US hit ballad "Seasons Change." Other accolades included a Soul Train Award nomination for Best New Artist; television appearances on American Bandstand, Solid Gold, Showtime at the Apollo, and The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers; and an opening slot on the national tour for Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. Exposé also performed backing vocals on the song "Who's Getting Serious?" on Kashif's 1987 album Love Changes.

During this time, the group dealt with legal issues behind the scenes. According to Bruno, they were only paid $200 per show. The members filed a lawsuit and ultimately settled their legal case for a renegotiated contract.

What You Don't Know (1989–1990)

The group's second album, What You Don't Know (1989), was certified gold in the US with sales over 500,000. The album's first single, "What You Don't Know", peaked at #8. The second single "When I Looked at Him" rose to #10 on the US Hot 100. The next single "Tell Me Why" (#9) gave Expose seven consecutive Top 10 hits on the US Hot 100, behind The Supremes nine consecutive Top 10 hits. "Tell Me Why" addressed youth in street gangs, and rewarded the group with additional praise for its socially conscious lyrics. "Your Baby Never Looked Good in Blue" (#9 U.S. Adult Contemporary / #17 Pop) followed soon afterwards. "Stop, Listen, Look & Think" was released promotionally and also included in the film The Forbidden Dance (1990).

Exposé did their first headlining tour and continued television appearances on Soul Train, The Pat Sajak Show, The Byron Allen Show, and the 1989 broadcast of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. In Japan, the members appeared in a few music video-style television commercials in 1989 for Takara CAN Chuhai, a Japanese alcoholic beverage.

Arista Records released the music video compilation, Video Exposure, on VHS and laser disc formats in 1990. Exposé performed backing vocals on Barry Manilow's 1990 Arista album Because It's Christmas on the track "Jingle Bells" and also appeared in Manilow's long-form music video of "Because It's Christmas."

In August 1990, while touring with Exposé, Bruno began having throat problems—later linked to a benign tumor on her vocal cords. The group took time off from their schedule in hopes that she would recover. Ultimately, Bruno lost her voice, and could not sing at all for several years and was replaced by Kelly Moneymaker in 1992.

Exposé (1991–1996)

After Kelly Moneymaker joined Exposé, the group released their self-titled, third album Exposé, which integrated more mature material in addition to their established freestyle, house, R&B, pop, and love-ballad repertoire. It was also the first album to use producers besides Martineé, with Clive Davis taking over as executive producer and Martineé only contributing production to four songs.

The third album was not as commercially successful as their previous two, but it still achieved gold status, and several singles fared well on the adult-contemporary charts. The group landed on the U.S. Top 40 pop chart with "I Wish the Phone Would Ring" and "I'll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me", which also reached #1 on the adult contemporary chart. Subsequent releases "As Long as I Can Dream" and "In Walked Love" featured Curless in the lead-vocal spotlight. "I Specialize in Love" featured Curless and Jurado on lead with Moneymaker supporting lead vocals toward the song's conclusion. Among the group's television appearances during this period include Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Les Brown Show, and the Brazilian actress-singer children's show Xuxa.

In 1995, Exposé recorded the Diane Warren-penned song "I'll Say Good-Bye for the Two of Us", which appeared on the soundtrack of the film Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home with Jurado performing lead vocals; that same year, the song was issued on their Greatest Hits.

Label inactivity and solo projects (1996–2003)

Toward the end of 1995, Arista dropped the group, and the members disbanded at the beginning of 1996 to pursue their other projects. In the years that followed, two greatest hits compilations and a collection of remixes were released.

After the group broke up, Jurado performed in the stage play Mad Hattan and supplied vocals for contemporary jazz guitarist Nils and Safe Sax; Moneymaker married soap opera actor Peter Reckell and released four solo albums. Moneymaker wrote and produced the "Love Songs" LP for NBC's Days of Our Lives and has had original songs placed in over 25 film, TV and game productions including "Guitar Hero", "Hawaii 5-0", "CSI", etc; Curless worked in songwriting, supplied vocals to several club-dance projects, and also taught music and the music business. Eventually, both Jurado and Curless married and had children, temporarily retiring from performing.

In 1997, Bruno fully recovered from her throat tumor and began singing again. After a small stint with the band Wet, she worked on a solo career focused mostly on dance-oriented material. Her first album, Expose This, was released in the spring of 2004.

Reformation (2003–present)

Moneymaker, Jurado and Curless during an autograph session after the first show at the Mid State Fair (Paso Robles, California) in 2003

After a long hiatus, on August 1, 2003, Curless, Jurado, and Moneymaker reunited briefly for a reunion concert at the Mid State Fair in Paso Robles, California.

In 2006, Jurado announced on MySpace that they had signed with a major booking agency, and Bruno announced that she was back with Exposé for the first time in 15 years. Moneymaker remains an honorary member of the group.

On October 21, 2006, Exposé kicked off its tour at the American Airlines Arena in Miami for the Freestyle Explosion concert, with the lineup of Curless, Jurado, and Bruno. On November 29, 2006, at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino Northern Lights Theater in Milwaukee, Exposé performed a 16-song show with a full band led by Steve Fansler, marking their first full concert together with Bruno since 1990. The group continues to perform at special events throughout the United States, including venues such as Epcot and Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den.

Gioia Bruno, Ann Curless and Jeanette Jurado during a live concert in Palmdale, California, on July 14, 2007.

In 2010, Exposé informed fans on Facebook that they were recording a new album. Exposé recorded a 2011 version of their hit "Point Of No Return" working with dance producer Giuseppe D. and Chris Cox. The CD single was released on June 20, 2011. The group released a single for Christmas called "I Believe In Christmas (Like It Used To Be)" in December 2011 co-written by Adam Gorgoni, Jeanette Jurado and Shelly Peiken. Proceeds of the single went to the Wounded Warrior Project. In August 2012, the group independently released the single "Shine On," co-written by Ann Curless. Curless also sings lead vocals on the track.

In January 2015, Cherry Pop Records reissued the group's debut album. Consisting of two discs, the expanded reissue came with an extensive booklet and remixes.

Trademark lawsuit

In December 2007, Jurado, Bruno, Curless, Moneymaker, Paradise Artists, and Walking Distance Entertainment were named as defendants in a lawsuit by Crystal Entertainment & Filmworks (I & II). At issue was the trademark licensing agreement for the rights to use the name Exposé. The first case was dismissed without prejudice. The second one went to trial. During the process, both Paradise Artists and Moneymaker were dismissed as defendants, and a countersuit was filed against the plaintiffs. On May 26, 2009, the court ruled in favor of the defendants on most counts, finding them only guilty of a contractual breach with the plaintiffs. The court also ruled that the defendants showed common-law proof of ownership and the "[consumer] goodwill associated with Exposé was with the members." The court awarded Jurado, Bruno, and Curless exclusive rights to the name Exposé as a trademark. Exposé mentioned this victory and performed for the first time with Moneymaker as a guest at the LA Gay Pride Festival on June 14, 2009, making it the first time all four core members, Jurado, Bruno, Curless, and Moneymaker, appeared on stage together.

Discography

Main article: Exposé discography

• Exposure (1987)
• What You Don't Know (1989)
• Exposé (1992)

External links

• Official website

Further reading

• Various (2003). All Music Guide to Soul: The Definitive Guide to R&B and Soul. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0-87930-744-7.