| Megan & Liz | |
|---|---|
From left : Liz, Megan, with a picture posted to Twitter. |
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Edwardsburg, Michigan, United States |
| Genres | Pop, acoustic pop, teen pop |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Labels | Collective Sounds |
| Associated acts | Boyce Avenue, Plain White T's, Shenae Grimes, Allstar Weekend |
| Website | www.meganandliz.com |
| Members | |
| Megan Mace Liz Mace |
|
Megan and Liz (commonly stylized as Megan & Liz) are an American pop girl band composed of fraternal twin sisters, Megan and Liz Mace, from Edwardsburg, Michigan. They are both songwriters, and Megan additionally plays guitar.
The duo gained their popularity from the video-sharing website YouTube where they began posting their videos on 2007.[1]
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Megan McKinley Mace and Elizabeth Morgan Mace were born on November 21, 1992 in Indiana. Megan is one minute older then Liz.[2] Megan learned to play guitar in 2005 and plays in all but 18 of their videos.
Their first video on YouTube, titled "This Note", is a song they written by the twins at the age of 15.[3] Their first cover is of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", made famous by Diana Ross. Their first song with live guitar accompaniment was "I Am One of Them" by Aly & AJ in 2008. Eighteen original songs have since appeared on YouTube (as of early September 2011).[4]
Their YouTube channel currently has over 600,000 subscribers and over 120 million video views. They are the 33rd most subscribed music channel on YouTube.[5]
The duo have been posting song covers and original songs on YouTube since 2007. Their first EP, "All Of Our Boyfriends" was released on Amazon.com on December 9, 2009. As of June 2009 they have released studio recordings of their original songs, as well as covers, on iTunes.
In 2009, Megan and Liz entered an Oxford Film Festival contest and won the chance to be the opening act for recording artist Savannah Outen on July 26 in West Chester, Ohio.
In October 2009, the duo appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show.[6] They were told they would be video chatting to a producer about an appearance but in actuality, they ended up video chatting with Oprah while interviewing Taylor Swift. The twins met Taylor Swift at one of her concerts in Chicago a short while later.
In the summer of 2010 they met with The Summer Set, a boy band from Scottsdale, Arizona. Their cover of "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry with Brian Dales and Josh Gomez of the band was put on YouTube on August 3.[7]
Megan & Liz met with the Plain White T's in early 2011 for a collaboration on their song Rhythm of Love. This cover was released on YouTube, with the studio version without the Plain White T’s being released on iTunes on January 27, 2011.[8]
In 2011, they had a cameo in Justin Bieber's documentary movie, Never Say Never (the movie). One of their videos appeared in a fan montage during the movie.
They also appeared on one tour as an opening act for the band Boyce Avenue. Fellow YouTube artist, Tiffany Alvord, also appeared on this tour.
On April 22, 2011, the twins announced that they would perform at the Totally Tube concert in Westbury, New York on May 22, 2011.[9][10] There, they joined the likes of Kurt Schneider, Tiffany Alvord, Joseph Vincent, Kait Weston, and Jenna Rose, all of whom have gained popularity from YouTube.
The duo released their first official music video on May 20, 2011 [11] of their original song "Happy Never After." Since then they have posted 5 original and official videos.
Since moving to Nashville, Tennessee the duo has been added to Nashville Hootenanny's 'Teen Hoot' roster, where local artists perform for a crowd of teens at Westwood Studios. Megan and Liz have appeared in June 26, 2011 and August 20, 2011 performances and will continue to play both covers and original songs for further shows.[12] In the August 20 show, they performed a duet with "Need Your Poison" co-writers Memphis High.
Their second music video, "Rest of You", was released on June 17, 2011.[13] The video was shot in their hometown of Edwardsburg with several of their friends. Views of Lake Michigan can be seen in the video. The single was released two days prior to the music video's release on YouTube and Celebuzz.
On July 13, 2011, Megan and Liz were featured in Lady Antebellum's webisode series, where they briefly sang "Just a Kiss" by the popular country band, along with other YouTube artists.[14]
In the beginning of August 2011, Megan and Liz debuted their new single, "Here I Go", on Celebuzz!. The song was co-written by the girls and Paula Winger.[15]
In late August 2011, the twins released their original song, "Run Away", along with a corresponding music video. The girls co-wrote the song with Alexz Johnson and Jimmy Robbins. The video was shot at Edwin Warner Park in Nashville.[16]
Their original song, "World's Gunna End", was released on September 6, 2011. The accompanying music video was released on September 12. Megan and Liz co-wrote the song back in May 2011 with songwriter and music producer Chris Sernel.[17] The girls, along with their video producer (who had appeared in the "Here I Go" music video), visited over thirty locations in Nashville to shoot the many alternating scenes in the video.[18] The girls released an acoustic version of the song as a free download on their Facebook fan page on October 3.[19]
On August 27, 2011, Megan & Liz announced that they would soon be going on tour with the band Action Item.[20][21]
In June 2011, the girls announced that they had officially begun production on their debut album, to be released in the spring of 2012.[22] In early September 2011, Megan revealed on her official Twitter account that they would be releasing a Christmas EP before the release of their debut album.[23] Their EP, A Twinning Christmas, was released online (digitally on iTunes and Amazon MP3) on November 15, 2011.[24] Their first original Christmas song, "It's Christmas Time", was released on November 8.
In mid-September 2011, Megan & Liz announced that they were heading to Los Angeles, California to shoot multiple music videos. One of them was for an original song, "Are You Happy Now?" (co-written with Paula Winger), which was directed by Shenae Grimes of 90210. This song was also recorded for the Do Something organization against bullying.[25] The single was released on October 8, 2011. The music video premiered on Teen.com on October 17, 2011. The website had been promoting Megan & Liz the week prior, including releasing exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the video shoot with Grimes, premiering a video teaser, and hosting a giveaway of some of the props used in the video.[26][27]
Their original song, "Old School Love",[28] was released early on December 21, 2011, with the re-release slated for January 3, 2012. The filming of the video was completed on October 1, 2011.[29]
The duo performed an unreleased song, titled "Switch Hearts", at a show at Michigan State University in late October. A new unreleased song, "Just Friends", can be heard in the girls' tour vlog released in early December.[30][31] In late December 2011, it was revealed that the duo would be collaborating with the all-boy band, Allstar Weekend, on a song called "Telescope."[32]
As of fall 2011, Megan & Liz are under the management of The Firm, an entertainment and talent agency. Their current manager discovered them after seeing the YouTube video of their cover, "Here We Go Again", originally sung by Demi Lovato.[33]
On December 2, 2011, the girls performed at the annual 107.5 The River's Acoustic Christmas 2011 concert in Nashville, alongside Demi Lovato, Hot Chelle Rae, Colbie Caillat, Andy Grammer, and Cobra Starship.[34] On December 9, the girls were invited to perform at Z100 Jingle Ball 2011 Pre-Show in New York City.[35][36]
Both of the girls attended Edwardsburg High School in Michigan, where they were both cheerleaders. After their relocation to Tennessee, they returned to Michigan to graduate with their class in June 2011.
Liz is a vegetarian.[37] She can also play a little bit of piano and is currently attempting to learn the guitar in her spare time.[38]
The twins have met and collaborated with several other fellow YouTube artists, such as Memphis High, Emily Harder, Hayley Stayner, Boyce Avenue, and Tiffany Alvord. They have also listed YouTube artist Christina Grimmie as one of their inspirations.
Other inspirations of the Mace twins include Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Demi Lovato, Katy Perry and Aly & AJ.
Megan & Liz also have one pet, a cat named Addy. They teamed up with Friskies to raise $1,000 for the Friends for Dearborn Animal Shelter during the 2010 holiday season. The donation was awarded when their holiday jingle video surpassed 100,000 views after 18 days.[39]
As of May 2011, the sisters have relocated to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue more music opportunities.[40][41] They now release their singles through Collective Sounds.[42]
The duo also have a beauty channel on YouTube where they post videos that focus on hair, makeup, and style, as well as aspects of inner beauty.[43]
In 2011, Megan & Liz attended the annual Teen Vogue Young Hollywood party held at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, CA.
Megan is now dating Connor McDonough from the YouTube band "Before You Exit" .[44]
Megan & Liz have released two EPs. Their first EP is available for online download through Amazon.com and iTunes. It contained all original songs. Their self-titled second EP was only available to purchase on tour in February 2011. This EP contained three covers, as well as two original songs. Their cover "Your Guardian Angel" on the EP was previously unreleased and has not been released online.
| EP Information |
|---|
All of Our Boyfriends [45]
|
| Megan & Liz [46] |
A Twinning Christmas [24]
|
In mid-January, the Mace twins announced they would be special guests along with Tiffany Alvord on tour with the band Boyce Avenue. They will be on tour from February 11 to February 27. On March 1 they announced that they will open for Boyce Avenue in two more shows at the end of the month. The dates are below:[49]
| Date | Location | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| February 11, 2011 | Vancouver, BC | Venue |
| February 12, 2011 | Seattle, WA | Vera Project |
| February 15, 2011 | San Francisco, CA | Great American Music Hall |
| February 17, 2011 | Los Angeles, CA | The Roxy |
| February 19, 2011 | Phoenix, AZ | The Duce |
| February 21, 2011 | Dallas, TX | House of Blues |
| February 22, 2011 | Austin, TX | Emo's |
| February 23, 2011 | Houston, TX | House of Blues |
| February 27, 2011 | Orlando, FL | Plaza Theatre |
| March 27, 2011 | Chicago, IL | Bottom Lounge |
| March 28, 2011 | Ann Arbor, MI | The Blind Pig |
In late August, Megan & Liz announced that they will be opening for Action Item on their upcoming, "The Stronger The Love" tour, along with The After Party. They will appear in eight shows.[50]
| Date | Location | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| November 11, 2011 | St. Louis, MO | Cicero's |
| November 12, 2011 | Nashville, TN | Rocketown |
| November 13, 2011 | Atlanta, GA | Vinyl |
| November 15, 2011 | Pompano Beach, FL | Rocketown |
| November 16, 2011 | Orlando, FL | The Social |
| November 18, 2011 | Greensboro, NC | Greene St Club |
| November 19, 2011 | Vienna, VA | Jammin Java |
| November 20, 2011 | Sayreville, NJ | Starland Ballroom |