The Pierces

Contrary to popular belief, not all home-schooled children of hippies turn into socially awkward vegans who work with dolphins. Meet the Pierces, two gorgeous, talented and decidedly graceful sisters from Birmingham, Alabama. Before the Pierce girls, Catherine, 27, and Allison, 29, started singing luscious folk-pop ballads about loss and heartache -- their recently released second album, Light of the Moon (Universal), makes us want to sip lemonade under the stars -- they were serious ballet dancers. But after a hip injury left Catherine sidelined, the two rethought their life plans. "Catherine said let's quit and sing," Allison (pictured right) recalls, "and I said OK."

They moved to Nashville in 1997 and played coffee shops, before a Christian label picked them up. "The label told us, 'It would be great if you were virgins,'" Catherine says with a laugh. Jessica Simpsons these girls are not. After switching to Epic in 1999, they released an awkward, self-titled debut that met with less than stellar reception. Determined to start anew, they moved to New York City, signed with Universal, recorded a second album and, fittingly, started dating a music executive and a Stroke (Albert Hammond Jr.), respectively. Incidentally, Catherine and the Stroke are engaged. Creepy Christian label executives well in their past, the Pierces are now working on a third album. "The new stuff we're writing sounds more country," explains Allison. "We're sort of giving into it."