Jesse McCartney's Fellow Dream Street Members Reveal the Parenting Advice They Shared with the Singer (Exclusive)

Stephanie PetitTue, March 3, 2026 at 6:45 PM UTC

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Jesse McCartney; Matt Ballinger and Greg RaposoCredit: Robin L Marshall/Getty; Vicki/Garnet Dahlia -

Dream Street's Greg Raposo and Matt Ballinger tell PEOPLE about sharing parenting advice with fellow boy band member Jesse McCartney

McCartney and his wife, Katie, welcomed their son in May 2025, and the little one spent time in the NICU due to his premature arrival

Both Raposo and Ballinger met their wives during their time with Dream Street

Dream Street has gone from a boy band to father figures.

Before Jesse McCartney welcomed his son Archer in May 2025, his fellow Dream Street members — Greg Raposo, Matt Ballinger and Frankie Galasso — were sure to give him some parenting advice.

Raposo — who is back performing the boy band's biggest hits as a duo with Ballinger — tells PEOPLE they pitched baby names during a group trip to Iceland with their wives.

"We were all talking about baby names and sharing our lists from before we had kids, the names that we liked," he says. "That was cool."

Raposo adds that the "Dream Wives," as their spouses have been dubbed, also talked to Katie about pregnancy.

"I think the wives definitely did their 'this is what it's like in this trimester.' The moms definitely connected on that stuff," he says.

Archer spent 70 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after he was born three months ahead of his due date, and McCartney previously told PEOPLE that bringing him home was “the greatest day of my life."

“I’m sure that there’ll be a lot more trials in fatherhood coming up, but I feel like if I got through that one, I can get through most,” said the "Beautiful Soul" singer, 38.

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Jesse McCartney with his son, ArcherCredit: Denise Crew

Although Dream Street was together for only a couple of years in the early 2000s, Raposo and Ballinger, both now 40, can each trace the start of their families to their time with the boy band known for the hit "It Happens Every Time."

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During a Dream Street performance at a local mall, Raposo brought a girl up on stage to serenade during the song "Jennifer Goodbye." Without his knowledge at the time, it was his high school classmate and future wife.

"That was technically our first time ever meeting," he recalls to PEOPLE. "It wasn't until bumping into each other in the hallways at school that she's like, 'What are you doing here?'"

Ballinger also first met his wife thanks to Dream Street. By chance, she was visiting New York City when the band was filming their music video, and she asked her local newspaper if she could interview the group when they had a concert near her home in Pennsylvania. Since they didn't usually get interviewed by a fellow teenager, she stuck out in Ballinger's mind, and they later reconnected via Facebook.

"We exchanged messages through college, and then we reconnected in New York City," he explains. "Now we're married and have two kids."

Matt Ballinger and Greg Raposo of Dream StreetCredit: Vicki/Garnet Dahlia

While McCartney and Galasso aren't performing with Dream Street's revival, Ballinger says they gave their "blessing."

"We're all really good friends at this point, and there's no pressure on anyone to do anything at this point in any of our lives. We're doing it, they've been supportive and it's been all good," he says.

In fact, they even recorded a new song at Galasso's home studio.

Dream StreetCredit: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

However, the group's friendship as adults and reunion as performers was sparked by a tragedy: the 2020 death of their fellow Dream Street member Chris Trousdale, who died shortly before his 35th birthday of COVID-19 complications.

Ballinger tells PEOPLE, "Chris passing away, unfortunately, gave us a lot of perspective like, 'Wow, life is short.' I think that brought everyone together."

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”