Twin brothers from Long Island with a hit that came back in films

Billy and Bobby Alessi are identical twins, born in West Hempstead, New York, in 1953. As young teenagers they formed a band called The Country Gentlemen with schoolmate Don Droege and drummer Bob Pelicane, playing teen clubs, Long Island summer beach clubs and even Café Wha? in Greenwich Village. By 1967 the group had evolved into The Look, which recorded a single for Verve Records.

In 1970 the brothers were working in the Broadway cast of Hair when former Blues Magoos guitarist Peppy Castro joined the show. The three formed the band Barnaby Bye, signed to Atlantic Records, and released albums in 1972 and 1973. After those early years the brothers carried on as the duo Alessi, and in 1977 “Oh Lori”, from their 1976 album, reached number eight in the UK singles chart, spent eleven weeks there and became a top-ten hit in seventeen other countries.

Their discography stretches beyond that single. “Put Away Your Love” reached number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982, and “Forever”, recorded with Christopher Cross, charted in Brazil. The first four albums came out on A&M, the fifth, Long Time Friends, on Quincy Jones's Qwest label. In 1984 they contributed “Savin' the Day” to the Ghostbusters soundtrack. They also worked with Paul McCartney, Frankie Valli, Olivia Newton-John and others, sang backing vocals on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Milk and Honey, and toured with Andy Gibb.

A later surprise came from their song “Seabird”. It appeared on a 2012 compilation by Metronomy and has since been used over the closing credits of the film Hunt for the Wilderpeople and the series Resident Alien, among other titles. In 2012 the brothers were inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. For a duo with a career that began in teen clubs, the long afterlife of a single quiet song is a satisfying twist.