Exposé

Exposé the Freestyle dance/pop sensation from Miami are back and sound better than ever. The dance trio consisting of Jeanette Jurado, Ann Curless and Gioia Bruno have reunited in 2007 and performed several shows and we hope to see many more in 2008 and beyond, because these girls deserve a little more respect and are still talented as ever.

Exposé was initially formed in 1984 when Lewis Martineé, a Miami disc jockey and producer, and his Pantera Productions talent scouts hired Sandra Casañas ("Sandeé"), Alejandra Lorenzo ("Alé"), and Laurie Miller as the group's lineup They originally called themselves X-Posed. The next year, the trio recorded "Point of No Return" (with Lorenzo singing lead) for Pantera Records as a 12" vinyl single under the name X-posed., which became a number one Billboard Hot Dance Club Play hit. The song helped to introduce a still-popular genre of music that became known as Freestyle, which often features keyboard riffs, a sing-along chorus and electro funk drum patterns in the music arrangement. The success of "Point of No Return" quickly led Exposé to their signing with Arista Records, who promptly assumed distribution of the 12" vinyl single. A year later, Exposé recorded and released their second club/dance Freestyle hit 12" vinyl single entitled "Exposed to Love" (with Lorenzo singing lead).

Shortly thereafter, Casañas left the group to pursue a solo career, and Lorenzo quit to pursue other ambitions; they were replaced by Jeanette Jurado (born November 14, 1965, Pico Rivera, CA) and Gioia Carmen Bruno (born in Bari, Italy, on June 11, 1963, but raised in New Jersey). Before the completion of their debut album, Miller left the group due to personal and business problems and began a solo career; she was replaced by Ann Curless (born October 7, 1964, Albany, NY). For more on the original girls visit our Original Girls Tribute Page.

Then with the best Known lineup of; Jeanette Jurado, Gioia Bruno and Ann Curless in place, Exposé released their Debut Album titled "Exposure" in 1986, this multi platimum Album produced four Top Ten Singles including; "Come Go With Me" which was followed by 3 more top ten hits on Billboards Hot 100 including; "The Point of No Return", "Let Me be the One" and the Number #1 Hit "Season Change". In fact Exposé became the first group achive this honor of, four top 10 hits on a debut album breaking the record formerly held by "The Beatles" and "The Supremes".

Their second album titled "What You Don't Know" (1989), produced three more top ten hits making 7 in row!! These hits are; "What You Don't Know", Tell Me Why" and "When I looked at Him". "Your Baby Never Looked Good in Blue" (Jurado on lead vocals) and "Stop, Listen, Look & Think" (Curless on lead vocals) soon followed afterwards.

In August of 1990, while touring with Exposé, Bruno began having throat problems - later linked to a benign tumor on her vocal cords - and which caused the group to cut the tour short. 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—she also had to keep talking to a minimum. Ultimately, she was replaced by Kelly Moneymaker in 1992, though she later rejoined the group after entirely regaining her voice in 2003

After Kelly Moneymaker joined Exposé, the group released their third album Exposé, which integrated more adult-contemporary material in addition to their established Freestyle, house, R&B, pop, and love ballad repertoire. It was the first album to use producers besides Martineé, with Clive Davis taking over as Executive Producer and Martineé only doing four songs. The album was aimed to demonstrate musical growth for the group as well as to compete with the success of Wilson Phillips, who had great success in 1990 with their debut album.

The album was not as commercially successful as their previous albums, and several singles fared better on the adult-contemporary charts. They did manage to crack 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 (Jurado performing lead vocals). Subsequent releases "As Long as I Can Dream" and "In Walked Love", featured Curless in the lead vocal spotlight. A final, club-marketed single saw the release of the group's first remake. "I Specialize in Love" featured Jurado on lead with Curless and Moneymaker each supporting lead vocals towards the song's conclusion. The original version was performed by Sharon Brown.

In 1995, Exposé recorded the Diane Warren-penned song "I'll Say Good-Bye for the Two of Us" for 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. The song is distinctive for the group as Jurado performs solo without backing vocals.

Toward the end of 1995, Arista dropped the group, and the members disbanded at the beginning of 1996 to pursue their own projects. However, over time, labels part of licensing music from the Sony/BMG group have released two other variations of greatest hits collections, as well as a collection of popular remixes from their 12-inch singles, including the extended versions of the original "Point of No Return" (Lorenzo on lead vocals) and "Exposed to Love."

After a long hiatus, on August 1, 2003, the lineup of Curless, Jurado, and Moneymaker, reunited briefly for a reunion concert at the Mid State Fair in Paso Robles, California. Members of Safe Sax, including Carl Ferris on saxophone, were part of the live band Exposé used. While there was a desire to do more shows, according to Moneymaker they were unable to gets things active at that time.

In the year 2006, Jurado announced on MySpace they had signed with a major booking agency, and Bruno announced she was back with Exposé for the first time in 15 years. Moneymaker has stated she might fill in for any member who may not be available, or to appear with the full lineup on special occasions.

Then on October 21, 2006, Exposé kicked off their reunion tour at American Airlines Arena in Miami for the "Freestyle Explosion" concert, with the lineup of Ann Cureless, Jeanette Jurado, and Gioia Bruno (who, had fully regained her voice in 1997. In the years from 1997 until 2005, she'd decided to concentrate on a solo career, as well as singing in the band "Wet"). On November 29, 2006, at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino Northern Lights Theater in Milwaukee, Exposé performed a 16 song show with a full band, marking their first full concert together with Bruno since 1990.

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 counter suit 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 plaintiffs did not prove ownership of the mark, and established that due to the line-up being the same since 1986 (with Moneymaker only replacing Bruno because of her illness) and clear identification of the group members on the albums and with touring, 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 trademark.

UPDATE: On June 21, 2011 — The Eleventh Circuit upheld a lower court’s ruling statingy that the common law trademark for 1980s female singing group Expose is owned by its current members, not by the successor to the entertainment company that created the group in 1984.

Their success launched the dance sensation of Freestyle Music in to Main stream Music, and the rest is history as Exposé made magic on the Music scene. So Enjoy the Music they made famous and long live Exposé

Exposé 2007 Concert Promo

Exposé I Know You Know

Written By: Lewis A. Martineé

Exposé Promo # 2

External Links to Exposé Official Web Sites:

Exposé - Point of No Return
(Album: Exposure -1987)

Number of Visitors Since August 01, 2008