The Veronicas

The Veronicas are an Electro-Pop, Pop-Rock duo based in Australia. Twin sisters Jessica and Lisa Origliasso formed the duo in 2004 in Brisbane. Born on 25th December 1984, to Italian-Australian parents Colleen and Joseph. Jessica became the older one by one minute. Jessica and Lisa started performing in small parts on various television shows, including a recurring role in the short-lived 2001 Australian children's series ‘Cybergirl‘. The American Disney Channel series ‘The Suite Life of Zack and Cody’ where they portrayed twin sisters. They have also appeared on Neighbours, the Australian drama.

On their 18th birthday, Jessica received her first guitar, at which time the sisters began writing and singing songs. They formed the group Teal with two friends. The group experimented with different sounds and genres working with songwriters and producer, releasing a song called "Baby It's Over" which received minor airplay in Brisbane.

In 2004, Lisa Origliasso and Jessica Origliasso were introduced to the Music Director of The Bell Hughes Music Group, Hayden Bell. After producing some demo recordings with the twins, Bell invited them to sign a publishing agreement with Excalibur Productions. In the process, Bell helped facilitate their progression in musical style from acoustic pop to the more rhythmic rock pop approach which is now their trademark. On the strength of these demos, Bell took them to meet the executives at Engine Room and they were immediately signed to a production deal. To further develop their song writing skills, Bell connected them with several internationally acclaimed songwriters and producers where they created a catalogue of over 50 songs.

Meetings were then arranged with Warner Bros Records in the USA. Seymour Stein and senior executives recognised that Bell had indeed discovered and developed a musical talent, signing them quickly to a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records/Sire America, for a reported sum of 2 million dollars.

The Veronicas debut album, entitled The Secret Life of..., was released in Australia on 17 October 2005, entering the ARIA Album charts at the position of number 7. Since then, it has peaked at number 2 and gone 4x Platinum. The Secret Life of the Veronicas spent a year in the ARIA album charts without leaving the top 40. In September 2006, the album was nominated for three ARIA awards including, "Best Pop Release", "Highest Selling Album" and "Best Breakthrough Album". They won "Best Pop Release".

The Secret Life of… album was released in the US on 14 February 2006, it debuted at number 133 on Billboard 200 and number 3 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. Only two singles were released in the United States off the album. A special DVD was released with the US version as a limited edition exclusive. The limited edition included two extra songs and videos, and was only available online. The album has also had success in other countries such as New Zealand and Belgium. Due to their chart success in Belgium, they won the award for Best International New Artist at the TMF Awards of 2006. Lisa and Jessica have been the faces of Choice Calvin Klein and an Australian hair product company. Blender magazine named included them in their list of hottest women in rock in 2006.

On 2 December 2006 The Veronicas released a CD/DVD, entitled Exposed... The Secret Life of The Veronicas in Australia which features live performances from their Australian 2006 Revolution Tour and a DVD featuring parts of the sisters' live performances throughout 2005–2006, including footage that had previously not been seen, and their music videos.

In 2007, the Veronicas began work on their second album. The album was written and recorded in Los Angeles. Hook Me Up was released in Australia on 3 November 2007. The album debuted at number two on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart with sales of 9,531 copies in its first week. Hook Me Up was released in the UK on 12 October 2009 and has peaked at number thirty-five. The lead single from the album, "Hook Me Up” debuted at number five, eventually reaching number one after seven weeks on the ARIA Singles Chart, making it their first number one hit in Australia.

‘Untouched’ made The Veronicas first debut single in the UK, peaking at number eight and in Ireland peaking at number one, their first international number-one single. Their debut single "4ever" was released as their second single in the UK and Ireland on 21 September 2009 and has peaked at number 17 in the UK and twenty in Ireland. In support of the album, The Veronicas had a third Australian tour The Hook Me Up Tour in 2007. The tour which began on 30 November and concluded on 12 December was held in eight major cities around Australia. On 16 October 2008 The Veronicas announced their second tour for the album, Revenge Is Sweeter tour, which was their first tour to extend into New Zealand, United States, Canada, UK and Japan.

2010 presents a third album from The Veronicas, on 8 October 2009 Jess announced on her twitter page that the writing for an upcoming 3rd studio album had begun, the album will have a different sound. Lisa also confirmed that recording for the third album would commence in January of 2010. Currently both sisters live in Los Angeles and in their hometown of Brisbane, Australia, when not touring or travelling.

Regarding how they chose their band name, Jess Origliasso stated: "The name is something we thought about for a short time, and we wanted it to be a girl's name, but we didn't want it to be 'the Jesses.' We were very conscious of not wanting to make it a twin thing, because we don't think that's really cool." "We didn't want it to be called 'the Lisa’s,' either," singer Lisa Origliasso added. "So one day we saw the movie Heathers, and there's a line where Christian Slater asks, 'Are you a Heather?' and Winona Ryder's character answers, 'No, I'm a Veronica,' and so we went with that, because she was this kind of cool, unique chick with an attitude."