Indie-rock/New Wave duo Tegan and Sara first burst onto the Canadian music scene in 1998, when they earned the highest score in history at Calgary's "Garage Warz" competition; their quick rise didn't stop, for their melodic acoustics and charming stage personas led to a slew of dates with Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair that same year and a record deal with Neil Young's Vapor Records in April 2000. Natives of Calgary, these twin sisters derived their music interests from their parents. Tegan and Sara began playing piano at age eight, and in their teens they were skanking around in their own punk bands. This Business of Art, which was produced by singer/songwriter Hawksley Workman, marked their debut in mid-2000, and a summer tour with Neil Young and the Pretenders followed in July. Two years later, Tegan and Sara released If It Was You, followed in 2004 by their commercial breakthrough, So Jealous. In 2005, the White Stripes released a popular cover of If it Was You's "Walking with a Ghost." That same year saw the duo touring the U.S. with the Killers and landing seven songs in the popular medical TV drama Grey's Anatomy. In 2007, Tegan sang backup on a song on new Sire labelmate Against Me!'s album New Wave, and the twins, who had by then moved far from the singer/songwriter mold and were more interested in exploring pop, punk, and indie rock, came out with The Con, produced by Christopher Walla of Death Cab for Cutie. Working with Walla went well, and Tegan and Sara also utilized his production skills on their next album, 2009's Sainthood. 2009 also found the duo collaborating with Tiësto on the song "Feel It in My Bones" for his album Kaleidoscope and with comedian Margaret Cho on the track "Intervention" from her Cho Dependent release. 2011's live CD/DVD Get Along was paired with three short behind-the-scenes films called States, India, and For the Most Part. On their seventh studio album, the duo turned to producer Greg Kurstin (Lily Allen, Kelly Clarkson, Ke$ha), Justin Meldal-Jonsen (M83), and Mike Elizondo (Dr Dre, Eminem, Pink) for help in making an album that reflected a modern pop sound. The very slick, yet still emotionally powerful Heartthob was released in early 2013, which produced their biggest hit to date, "Closer".
MacKenzie Wilson
AllMusic.com
