Tegan and Sara

Identical twins Tegan and Sara Quin found common ground in music. “I think making music was the first thing both Sara and I felt passionate about,” Tegan says. “It created a path for us to follow after high school. Neither of us were inspired to go to university but we craved hard work. We wanted to prove ourselves.” Not an easy task in a competitive industry, but eight albums, seven gold certifications, three Juno awards, and over 1 million album sales later, the indie-pop duo has done just that. If that’s not enough, their memoir, “High School,” comes out this fall. And they are the founders of the Tegan and Sara Foundation, which advocates progressive social change for LGBTQ women and girls. (A ninth album is also in the works). As LGBTQ women themselves, Tegan knows that their status may have affected their own journey in an industry where all women encounter misogyny and homophobia. “There’s no way to know if we were straight (or more straight-looking) if we’d have had more success,” she tells GO. “It feels crappy to me to complain about what was no doubt a limitation on our career—aka being gay—when we’ve had so much success.” She does know how lucky she and her sister have been. “I think being out allowed us to connect to a community of people like us, who were quick to support us. And that helped us in some ways in the early days.” —RK