Twin-sister pop duo Tegan and Sara (Tegan's on the left).
In greek mythology, the dioscuri were twin sons of Zeus who, upon death, transformed into the Gemini constellation, a navigational tool for sailors. They also appeared as St. Elmo's fire, scrambling compasses. They showed the way yet often confused travelers. Either way, no one could look away from them.
The pop-rock duo Tegan and Sara offers a similar combination of direction and dazzle. At 32, the twin sisters have spent half their lives in the music industry. Their career has built slowly and steadily, buoyed by endless touring and marked by flash points of exposure that should have brought them superstardom on the order of Lady Gaga--or at least Ke$ha. Their seventh and most recent studio album, the euphoric Heartthrob, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard album charts; they've performed its lead single, a fizzy wonder of a come-on called "Closer," on Ellen and seen it covered on Glee. This summer, they are touring 23 North American cities as the opening act for Grammy winner Fun. They are stylishly earnest--out and proud lesbians since their teens, tirelessly supportive of LGBT causes, their closets used only for skinny jeans--and earnestly stylish, with razor-sharp haircuts and gorgeous slouchy tailoring.
Somehow, strangely, they are still not household names--not quite, not yet. But they've never sounded happier.
Tegan and Sara Quin grew up outside Calgary, Alberta, "'80s feminist kids raised by a feminist social worker," as Tegan puts it, over coffee at their record label's office in New York City. At home, the girls constantly recorded themselves with a Fisher-Price microphone. "We were also obsessed with recording TV shows on our portable stereo," Sara says, "just the audio, and then we would lie in bed and listen to them." They began recording songs of their own, written separately but played together. "We would make our own demo tapes"--two albums' worth, recorded at their high school's studio--"make artwork for them and sell them at school," Sara says.
They strummed acoustic guitars to start, fashioning self-mocking epigrams like "Take my heart/ Why don't you sign me up to sell me out?" Neil Young's manager called their bluff, signing them when they were 18 and putting them on a 2000 tour, opening for Young and the Pretenders. Another milestone was the accomplished 2004 album, So Jealous, which shined up their close harmonies with a coat of New Wave gloss; the haunting single "Walking With a Ghost" was covered by the not-yet-but-almost legends the White Stripes.
"It was the perfect description of a love I had lost in my life then," says Jack White. "I wished I'd written it myself. Those gals have beautiful voices--nice enough that sometimes it makes me want to kiss them. But I don't want to bother them with my problems."