As Billie Eilish Heads to Denver, Here Are Ten of the Best Brother-Sister Musical Teams

In the world of music, bands of siblings abound. The Jacksons, the Corrs, Tegan and Sara, Oasis and more. There's no shortage.

What's rare, though, are the musical collaborations that boast just one brother and one sister. Speculate all you want as to why — childhood antagonism, head-to-head rivalry, some outdated metric of industry marketing — the fact remains. But when a brother-sister collab does happen to coalesce, it's often magical.

Here are ten such projects that have flourished over the decades, each with their own unique familial chemistry. (And no, we're not counting Jack and Meg White's rumored siblinghood during the early years of the White Stripes, because they were actually married at the time. Um, gross.)


Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell
Billie Eilish's daring music and mercurial imagery have been grabbing all the spotlight since she burst on the scene in 2016. Meanwhile, her older brother, Finneas O'Connell, has worked more quietly in the background. An accomplished singer-songwriter in his own right, he's penned and produced a large portion of Eilish's hits, including her most recent, "Birds of a Feather," off her new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft. The pair will be in Denver to perform at Ball Arena on Tuesday, November 19, and Wednesday, November 20.


The Carpenters
When Karen and Richard Carpenter rose to fame in the early ’70s, they seemed like a novelty: grinning siblings who played sunny pop on the piano (Richard) and the drums (Karen). But the duo's music eventually revealed a melancholy underside, which made Karen's death from anorexia nervosa in 1983 at the age of 32 even more tragic.

Strangely enough, there's a rampant internet theory that contends that Billie Eilish is the reincarnation of Karen — and that the shared brother-sister dynamic is proof.


Aleka's Attic
Another brother-sister band that ultimately succumbed to tragedy is Aleka's Attic. With River Phoenix on guitar and lead vocals and his younger sister, Rain Phoenix, on vocals and percussion, the group's sibling-fueled, alt-rock charm garnered lots of industry attention in the late ’80s and early ’90s. But Aleka's Attic was put on hold as River's movie career took off — and then ended forever when he died of a drug overdose in 1993 at the age of 23.


AKMU
Originally known as Akdong Musician, the K-pop twosome of Lee Chan-hyuk and Lee Su-hyun stormed South Korea's pop charts in 2014 after winning the competition reality show K-pop Star the year before. It isn't hard to see why: The duo's sugary ballads, emotionally charged anthems and angelic harmonies speak to a shared childhood that transcends mere musical talent.

The B-52s
Ricky Wilson of the B-52s was just 32 when he died of AIDS in 1985. But by then, he had already cemented his position as an original and influential guitarist. His younger sister, singer Cindy Wilson, was also a founding member of the band, which continued on after Ricky's death. The group released its most popular music later on in the ’80s, but the cult vibe of Ricky's and Cindy's tight-knit collaboration during its early years remains a high point of American post-punk.


BeBe and CeCe Winans
Originally members of the sprawling gospel family group the Winans, big brother Benjamin "BeBe" Winans and little sister Priscilla "CeCe" Winans splintered off to form their own duo in 1987. Since then, the pared-down outfit has mined a more R&B-centric take on the Winans' spiritual sound. In 1995, the siblings parted ways in favor of solo careers — but not after winning several Grammys and becoming the first gospel artists to top the Billboard album chart in 1988 with their album Heaven.

Fiery Furnaces
Another brother-sister group that split apart to result in solo careers is Fiery Furnaces. Matthew Friedberger had already been playing in various indie-rock bands for years before he coaxed his younger sister Eleanor Friedberger into singing lead vocals on some new songs he had written. Out of that collaboration, Fiery Furnaces was born. The duo confounded audiences with its ambitious, experimental music from 2000 to 2011 before going on hiatus, during which Matthew and Eleanor released several solo albums. But blood is blood, and Fiery Furnaces staged a family reunion in 2020.


Halestorm
Singer-guitarist Lzzy Hale is undoubtedly the lightning rod of the metal band Halestorm. That said, another Hale has backed up the group since its inception: Lzzy's younger brother, Arejay. The faithful drummer of Halestorm for the past 27 years, Arejay has shied away from the front of the stage, which makes perfect sense. Lzzy owns it, and he lets his big sister lead the way. Still, it wouldn't feel like Halestorm without both Hales in the band.

The Knife
For the first seven years of its life, the now-defunct Swedish duo the Knife existed only as a studio project. However, after successful covers and commercial uses of its catchy electronic music upgraded the group's public profile, singer Karin Dreijer and her instrumentalist brother Olof Dreijer were forced to start performing live. But even then, the siblings were mysterious about their identities, sometimes wearing creepy Venetian carnival masks on stage.

No Doubt
It's unusual for a bandmember to leave a group immediately after its first brush with massive fame and success. It's even more unusual when that bandmember has a family connection to the band. Then again, keyboardist Eric Stefani had gone back and forth with his commitment to No Doubt since he co-founded the group with his sister Gwen Stefani in 1986. Eric finally quit No Doubt for good, though, following the breakthrough triumph of the outfit's platinum-selling 1995 album, Tragic Kingdom. At least he had a decent fallback: He was already working as an animator on The Simpsons. As for Gwen? Well, she didn't do too badly herself.

Billie Eilish, 7 p.m. Tuesday, November 19, and Wednesday, November 20, Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle. Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com.