Aly & AJ

Early childhood

The sisters, actresses and singers Aly & AJ, whose full names Alison Rene Michalka and Amanda Joy Michalka, loved to perform on stage from an early age: they began to play the piano, and soon entered the acting classes.

Los Angeles natives, Michalka sisters moved to Seattle in the early 90s, where their parents provided them with the opportunity to plunge into the world of a wide variety of music and supported their passion for acting and songwriting. Now they live in the city of Calabasas with their parents. Their parents were born in Germany, so Alison and Amanda have German roots. As the girls learned to play the piano and guitar, they also began to take part in filming for television and fashion magazines, which helped them to establish themselves in their desire to be creative in both directions more seriously after their return to southern California.

Today, the girls continue to simultaneously build an acting and musical career, Alison starred in the TV series "Phil of the Future" on the Disney channel, and her sister Amanda received several roles in various show programs. But this is not the main passion of girls. Alison and Amanda Michalka released their debut album in 2005.

Eli and AJ Michalka released their debut album in 2005. On it, the charming voices of the girls are accompanied by melodic guitar rock, which turned Into the Rush into one of the potential favorites for fans of actresses and singers such as Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan . The debut album of the duo “Into the Rush” in May 2005 reached platinum status. The sisters' concert took place on July 24, 2005 at the Henry Fund Theater in Hollywood. On September 19, 2006, Aly and AJ were nominated for the Christian Artist of the Year American Music Awards , but never received the award.

The slightly dark first song Rush actually turned out to be a rather life-affirming track about how to be able to leave the past behind, while the song Speak for Myself became a real anthem for teenagers who find it difficult to stand out from the crowd. Other topics covered on the album include teenage love (Something More), female solidarity (Sticks and Stones), the importance of parental support (Protecting Me), the problem of kidnapping (I'm One of Them) and an unrelated relationship (Collapsed and Slow Down). The song "On the Ride" with its melody resembles the composition of Natalie Grant - "Live For Today". In addition, the record included two cover versions. Reasonably placed at the very end of the album - apparently in order to highlight the duet's original songs - they turned out to be successful reworkings of the 1965 hit band Lovin 'Spoonful , " Do You Believe in Magic " and the song " Walking on Sunshine " pop 80s bands Katrina & the Waves . Considering today's huge popularity of “pop music for teenagers”, “Into the Rush” will surely succeed.

In 2006, Alison and Amanda starred in the movie Com Belles, where both played the sisters in the lead roles. The film was directed by Francine McDougall. Alison plays Taylor Callum, and Amanda plays Courtney Callum. The premiere of the film in the USA took place on Disney Channel on March 24, 2006, 5,800 thousand viewers watched the film. In Russia, the film premiered on October 2, 2010 on Disney Channel.

September 26, 2006 released the album "Acoustic Hearts of Winter". On this album, the sisters presented Christmas songs, including Joy to the World and Silent Night. And on June 10, 2007, the second studio album "Insomniatic" was released. The video for the song “Potential Breakup Song” was released on May 8, 2007 and immediately fell into the rigid rotation of mainstream television channels. The song went through all the main charts of the world and continues its ascent to the peaks. Writer Josh Tyrengil praised the girls for their lyrics to the song “Potential Breakup Song”, which sings a life story about girls like them. In early 2008, on January 18, before the premiere of the movie “Minutemen” on the Disney Channel, a video was released for the song “Like Whoa,” including footage from the film. And on February 2, a video for the same song, but without the frames of the film, the clip appeared on YouTube. Billboard has confirmed that the girls are working on their third studio album, which will be released in 2009. Most likely the album will contain 14 songs. In an interview for Radio Disney on April 23, 2008, the girls said that they would sing separately on the new album, rather than agree on their voices.

In 2007, the girls got a role in the movie Super Sweet 16. The Movie, which had the same name with a talk show on MTV channel - My Super Sweet 16. Alison played the role of Taylor, the girl who tried to break the friendship of two friends of Sarah (Amanda Michalka) and Jackie (Regin Ney). The film premiered on MTV on July 8, and a DVD release on July 10, 2007. On the same day, the album of the leading actors of the sisters Michalka (group Aly & AJ) - Insomniatic.

In August 2009, it was rumored for a long time that the girls were going to change the name of the group. Later Aly & AJ themselves announced that they were no longer Aly & AJ, and now they changed the name of the group to 78Violet. The name of the group consists of Alison's favorite number - "7", Amanda's favorite number - "8" and the girls' favorite color - "purple".

On February 19, 2010, 78violet announced on their official Facebook page that they were “no longer part of Hollywood Records,” and that the album recorded for Hollywood Records would probably never be released. However, they "continue to write and record new songs."

On December 1, 2010, 78violet released a soundtrack for Hellcats EP called Belong Here. Other songs originally recorded for Hollywood Records leaked over several episodes.

On January 24, 2011, a video appeared on YouTube with a fragment of the new 78Violet song - “Suspended”, but so far this is only a fragment. On April 21, 2011, a fragment from the new 78Violet song - “There Will Be Blood” appears on YouTube , but so far only in minus one. On June 2, 2011, this entry appeared on Twitter: ( Eng. 18 songs deep into the writing for this record. A few more to go and we will officially start production ) ( Eng. 18 songs are persistently written for recording. A little more effort and we we will officially start production ). On July 15, 2011, the sisters arranged an online chat where they informed fans that they had written two more songs for the new album: 8 Hours ( Eng. 8 Hours ) and 53rd Floor ( Eng. 53 Floor ). On October 5, 2011, the sisters tweeted that they had returned to New York to begin production of the album. On October 12, 2011, at the premiere of Saints Row, Alison Michalka confirmed that the new 78violet album will be released in 2012. Alison did not name the exact date, but said that the new songs will have a "completely new sound." It is also known that the album will have the single Belong Here. Video from the interview appeared on the Internet on November 9, 2011. ^[2] On November 25, 2011, iTunes released a new single from the group - Grace . But later it turned out that this single is a remix of the 2009 song - “Amazing Grace”. ^{[3] [4] [5]} On December 13, 2011, it was announced that the Michalka sisters would be producing a film based on a 2011 book, Wither. On June 16, 2012, the full version of the song appeared on the Internet, which sounded in the third series of the Infernal Cat series - The Good, The Bad And The Boring, but this song was not officially released. ^[6] On June 18, 2012, 78violet tweeted, "Off to NY to start cutting instrumentals for the record." On June 19, 2012, the girls announced on their Twitter that they started the first day of the album's production, and the record says this: “Officially the first day starting the album production :) it's taken 5 years but we are here!”. On June 22, 2012, they announced that "the album's track list is officially there." They also added that this is "not what you expect." On October 15, 2012, the girls announced on Twitter that their album was completely recorded and a release date is planned for the summer of 2013. The girls later confirmed that the first single from the single album would be “Hothouse”. They later announced that the album would be released under their own label, Violet House Productions. In March 2013, songs appeared on the Internet from an unreleased 78violet album called Walk Alone Tonight, The Edge, Bullet, Lovesick, and The Next Worst Thing. ^[7] In early June 2013, the girls announced that their new single Hothouse and music video for the song would appear on iTunes for download on July 8, 2013. ^[1] On July 8, 2013, the single Hothouse, as well as the music video, appeared on iTunes and YouTube, respectively.

Alison played one of the main roles in the Disney series - "Phil of the Future." Before acting separately, the girls starred in two films, the Disney Channel Beauty in Milk (2006) and MTV's Super Sweet 16: The Movie (2007). Prior to that, Alison Michalka also starred in the Disney movie “Now You See It ..” (2005) ..., along with Johnny Pakar. Alison in 2010 starred in the television drama “Hell Cat” (2010-2010) from CW along with Ashley Tisdale, and played with Vanessa Hudgens in the film “Bandslam” (2009), as well as playing Rhiannon in the film “Easy Trainee” "(2010). As for AJ's acting career, in 2009, she starred in a small role in the movie Lovely Bones (2009), directed by Peter Jackson. She plays along with Mark Wahlberg and Saoirse Ronan. In the film, AJ played the best friend of the main character Susie. In 2010, Amanda appeared as Kate Tweedy in “Champion,” a film from a true story about a horse that won the triple crown in 1973. AJ's next role was in JJ Abrams' Super 8, which was released on June 10, 2011. AJ was a guest star in the Hellcats series, where Ali plays a major role. The first appearance of AJ took place in the 18th episode entitled "Woke Up Dead" in the first season. Her name is in the series Deirdre. She plays a girl who works in a music store near the University of Lanser, where Marty (Eli Michalka) visits to find out more about her dad. In the 20th episode of "Warped Sisters", Deirdre and Marty turn out to be half-sisters and find a common interest in music. In the film, they sing two songs and one song - Belong Here, which was released as a single, was the main theme of the series.

Other activities

Huckleberry Toys has released a limited edition of Hello Kitty Aly & AJ's Dolls, which were sold in Target stores. Toys R Us is currently selling a line of dolls that have been available since November 15, 2007.

On November 20, 2007, Aly & AJ's Adventures was released for use on the Nintendo DS. In the game, the player will be an assistant to the sisters, helping to record video, music, etc.

As of June 12, 2008, the duo began releasing their own paperback adventure books, called Aly & AJ Rock-n-Roll Mystery. Each part describes the tour of Aly & AJ, each book describes adventures in different cities. Drawings for the book were made by Alison Michalka. The first two (First Stop in New York and Mayhem in Miami) were released on June 12, the third (Singing in Seattle) on September 2, and the last (Nashville Nights) went to stores on October 4, 2008.

Aly & AJ released guitars on the PlayStation 2 and they went on sale on November 10, 2008. Eli's heart-shaped and pink guitar (PlayStation 2), AJ's guitar looks like the Aly & AJ logo, featuring bright pink and purple prints (Wii, PS2). The duo introduced guitars on October 11, 2008 during events at Universal Studios CityWalk in California. The girls also created their clothes, accessories, jewelry and a line of cosmetics. According to Forbes and AOL, they are one of the highest paid Hollywood singers under the age of 30.

Charity

The girls collaborated with Samsung's Hope for Education on educational issues that provide product technology for schools in need, and with the co-chairs for the AmberWatch Found children's advisory board, and also held a charity concert to raise money for charity. The song "I Am One of Them", which was in Into The Rush's debut album, was designed to work with AmberWatch. The duo also held a fashion show for the Race to Erase MS show in early May 2008, demonstrating their support.

Incidents

On June 26, 2008, an Ohio man named Rex Metler was arrested for stalking a duo. The Lancaster man “received contact information about the duo and threatened on the Internet and over the phone, and also wrote threatening letters,” the police said. A duet was scheduled to perform on June 27, 2008 in Cincinnati, where this man was. Police later said Metler’s charge was related to incidents that began on December 15, 2007.

Two years later, on June 17, 2010, Caesar Brantley was arrested on suspicion of pursuing a duet. He pleaded not guilty. Alison Michalka stated that Brentley is an "obsessed fan" who decided to marry her at all costs. Another hearing was scheduled for June 30.

Religion

Along with creating music for a wide audience, Aly & AJ spoke very openly about their faith, which became an important thing for them. The song "Never Far Behind" was released only on Christian rock radio. She climbed to 1st place on the radio. Although the Michalka sisters both speak very openly about their Christian faith, they do not want to be known as “Christian music creators.” In an interview with Blender magazine in June 2006, the girls said their music contains a Christian perspective. "We never wanted to preach or shove something in the throat of people, we want our music to be inspiring." Amanda added: “If we have Muslim fans or atheist fans, this is their business. I will love them no matter what they believe in. ”

In an interview with Blender magazine, both expressed their denial of evolution. When asked whether they recognize the evolution of people, they replied, “No,” and Eli replied, “Do they teach that they teach in schools now?” When they say that they taught for most of the century, she answered: “I think that this is disrespectful, everything related to beliefs about religion, which should remain aloof from school. I mean, I think that people should be able to pray at school if people are believers. Amanda added: “Evolution is stupid. Monkeys? Hmm no

In 2010, Eli Michalka told Seventeen: “My faith is certainly a big part of my life, but not part of my career. This is what guides me in the right direction. But I think that when you make statements about your religion, people automatically go into religion after this ring breaks. "

The main ones:

• 2005: Mini Mall Tour
• 2006: Living Room Tour
• 2006: Holiday Season Tour
• 2008: Insomniatic Tour
• 2008: Mini Summer Tour

Support:

• 2005: The Cheetah Girls Cheetah-licious Christmas Tour
• 2008: Best of Both Worlds Tour

Album Singles

Movie Singles

Other Singles

• The band’s most successful single is “Potential Break Up Song”.
• Alison (March 25, 1989) two years older than Amanda (April 10, 1991)
• Alison and Amanda have German roots.
• Alison and Amanda have dogs: Bandit, Moneypenny, Willow, Roadie, Rivers and Saint (died in 2007).
• The girls themselves write all their songs, and some were written to them by their mother - Carrie Michalka.
• Alison has curly hair, and Amanda wears straight hair.
• The release date for the Insomniatic album coincided with the premiere date of Super Sweet 16. The Movie, where Alison played the role of Taylor and Amanda the role of Sarah.
• Aly & AJ were nominated for the Christian Artist of the Year »American Music Awards.
• No One song became the soundtrack to the film Princess Ice
• The song Division became the soundtrack for Super Sweet 16. The Movie, where Aly & AJ played
• The song Like Whoa became the soundtrack to the movie Cool Musical 3: Graduation, and plays in the movie “Lifeguards in Time”
• The song Rush became the soundtrack for the movie Twin Witches
• Alison and Amanda played half-sisters in the series Hell Cat, where Alison starred

• Into The Rush ( 2005 )
• Into The Rush (Deluxe Edition) ( 2006 )
• Acoustic Hearts of Winter ( 2006 )
• Insomniatic (2007)
• Insomniatic (Deluxe Edition) ( 2008 )
• TBA ( 2013 )

• Official site
• Aly & AJ on Twitter
• Aly & AJ on YouTube
• Aly & AJ on Facebook
• Aly & AJ on MySpace
• "There Will Be Blood" on YouTube