These sweet girls have been singing together since high chairs! The two grew up in a very musical family. Ava and Lily’s father, David Rashed, who was a member of the 80’s band Haywire, had a huge impact on the girls’ musical career. The twins say he’s a great inspiration. As children, David always told his children his adventures about life on the road and the thrills of being in a band. This intrigued the young girls, and at the age of seven, Ava started learning guitar from her father. Everyday he would teach her a new guitar chord, building up her talent. Now, seven years later, both girls play guitar and I can tell you readers from first hand experience, they are fantastic! Ava’s other talents lie at the piano and Lily is an absolute whiz on the fiddle.
Growing up in a supportive family, where the girls were always encouraged to sing at family gatherings and birthdays, the duo soon took to creating their own art. They tried their hands at writing and soon came to learn they had a gift. Four years later the girls are writing songs left, right, and centre! Whenever one of them has an idea, they run home after school and write! To them, it’s really no biggie. Ava recalls writing her first song about what she thought of love at the age of ten. Lily says she wrote her first song about Ava! They say that being given a topic to sing about is harder than creating their own, but the more they write, the better they get! They dream to one day stand where other local artists are today. Ava+Lily want to own the stage wherever they can go, and share their music with the world. The goal is to make people happy. With the path these girls are traveling, their dream will be their reality in no time.
Back in 2012, at the age of eight, Ava+Lily performed for the very first time at Confederation Centre of the Arts. The event was focused on bullying awareness – a topic that is very important to the girls today. They blew the audience away with Demi Lovato’s Skyscraper. The twins remember their performance as thrilling. The adrenaline was overwhelming and the connection they felt with the audience was something else. For Ava+Lily, that was it. They needed to feel that adrenaline again. That’s when they knew they were meant to perform.
Since that night 7 years ago, the girls have had an abundance of performing opportunities. Some of the most memorable experiences include singing alongside Catherine MacLellan and traveling up to Toronto to present their work to the artist management team at Coalition Music!
Though, for Ava+Lily, the best memory of all took place this past summer at the Cavendish Beach Music Festival, the largest music festival in Atlantic Canada! When asked to perform at the Upcoming Artists stage for the festival, the girls were also asked to bring along some merchandise. These productive girls went all out, and they created their first ever album. With the help of their father’s recording studio, the twins made a nine-track album of original songs called Ava+Lily. Ava’s favourite track on the album is You’re Everything… make sure to check it out!
Now, even though Ava+Lily are country music celebrities on the island, they still live regular old junior high lives with common teenage girl interests. Ava’s favourite subjects in school are math and gym, and she also loves playing basketball with her school team. She has a love for horses and you can catch her listening to musical soundtracks such as The Greatest Showman and artist Camila Cabello.
Lily’s favourite subjects in school are science and band. She says her idol is Taylor Swift, and hopes to follow in her footsteps. Lily’s favourite animals are bunnies…or anything quiet and soft. She also enjoys Camila Cabello’s music as well as Halsey. The two girls are loving owners of a nine-year-old shih tzu puppy named Jack.
If you want to hear more about Ava+Lily, and see what surprises they have awaiting in 2019, you can follow them on Instagram @avaandlilyofficial. And don’t forget to listen to their album Ava+Lily on Apple Music or Spotify!