Felisha And Fallon King Turn Twinning Into Winning

Twin sister singer-songwriters, Felisha and Fallon King have always had an unspoken connection. How could they not? The two started as womb-mates and have since grown up together singing, writing, and participating in music groups since they could talk—or even before that. As infants, Felisha (who recently married and is now Felisha King-Harvey) and Fallon were always humming, warbling, or intoning. When they asked their mother for a snack, it was in-melody. Seeing talent in his daughters by the age of six, the twins’ father, Charles, began to manage them. They formed the group, Cherish (with older sisters Farrah and Neosha), and have since gone on to work with artists like Justin Bieber and earned No. 1 songwriting spots on Billboard.

“Me and Felisha look at it not just as a job but as a lifestyle,” Fallon tells American Songwriter. “Everyone wants to do what they love but not everybody has put in the 10,000 hours. A lot of people don’t know what it consists of or takes. The best thing is that we have each other. Being a twin, you can’t really slack.”

Fallon explains that if one of the two sisters is tired or unwilling to do work, the other pushes her to move through lackadaisical moments. It’s one thing to know a job is difficult, it’s another to actually get up every morning at 6 a.m. to get the day’s to-do list done line item by line item. But the hard work has paid off with writing credits on big songs like Bieber’s “Peaches” and Sevyn Streeter’s hit, “Before I Do,” among others.

“Both Fallon and I are driven by the challenge,” Felisha says. “The passion is there but, in the end, it takes discipline.”

To date, the twins’ list of accomplishments is long and varied. But it wasn’t always as glamorous for the duo. After Cherish concluded, the two later found themselves unclear of their creative and career directions, as well as in need of more income. In other words, they were at a collective crossroads. Unsure what to do, Fallon then proposed a plan.

“I remember sitting in the house with Fallon,” Felisha says. “Saying, ‘What do you want to do? Do you want to continue?’ And Fallon said that the main thing we needed to do was stay consistent.”

The two made a pact based on this idea of consistency. They decided they wouldn’t throw in the proverbial towel until they’d written 100 new songs. If at the end of the process of writing those 100 songs they didn’t want to continue or move ahead, if no fruit came from that work, then, okay fine, the dream could fizzle. But of course for the twins, the opposite happened: both Fallon and Felisha earned publishing contracts—Fallon with Universal and Felisha with Sony.

“Discipline and focus make all the difference,” Fallon says.

“When it comes to the time where there’s no way out but through,” Felisha says, “you get to the point where dedication and determination supersede feelings.”

The two put their heads down and worked and eventually lifted themselves up with that effort, as a result. The good fortune is both a result of sweat equity and of trust in one another, born from birth and later from countless hours together. It also comes from sharing the guidance of a guitarist father who, in his day, opened for bands like Earth, Wind & Fire and sharing good old fashion DNA.

“Even if we disagree,” Fallon says, “we know exactly what we’re disagreeing about, exactly what’s going on in each other’s head. It’s weird.”

“Being a twin,” Felisha says, “is like the oddest thing ever that you cannot explain to someone who’s not. It’s a cosmic connection. The duality of it is very much like living in a parallel dimension. You’re the same person in different worlds. Being a twin is like having a child you didn’t give birth to.”

Both Fallon and Felisha grew up in the church. So, Faith plays a strong role in who they are. In this way, believing in a higher power, they say, allows them to think bigger than themselves and achieve more. Of late, the two appeared on the BET show, The Encore, a reality show about women in former girl groups coming together to create a new one. Despite typical drama and infighting on the show, the twins stuck it out and formed the quartet, BluPrint, with musicians, Shamari Devoe and Kiely Williams. BluPrint recently released its debut self-titled six-song EP on August 11, which quickly hit No. 1 on the iTunes Top 40 urban music chart. 

“I love the process,” Fallon says, “of showing the consumer one way of how making a girl group happened. It’s important to see that it’s not what you think it is.”

With so much already behind them, for the 34-year-old Felisha and Fallon, who have traveled the world playing big stages since they were 8, there is likely much more ahead. But the twins are loath to make significant formal plans. Given their faith, they know how that can easily go south. As the saying goes, “Man plans, God laughs.” Nevertheless, there are still ideas for potential television shows, solo albums, duo albums, maybe even a new Cherish or BluPrint record. It’s all part of the ride, which is, of course, full of plenty of ups and downs.

“It’s about the music for me,” Fallon says. “If it wasn’t, I don’t think I would ever pick this industry in my life!”

“It’s about the creative process,” Felisha says. “It’s also about creating memories. One thing our dad always said, you can hear a song and remember exactly where you heard it for the first time. We’re part of other people’s memories.”