Blackiston Brothers Twin Spinning Keys

Sky and Sandy Blackiston, identical twin brothers, were born in New York City, and grew up mainly in Concord, Massachusetts. They currently live and work in Clermont, New York, which is not far from where they visited their grandparents on the weekends and summer vacations for many decades as children and adults.

Their parents first sat them both down at the piano when they were about two years old, and they were both fascinated by all of the keys. Years later, their uncle inspired and taught both of them to play songs on the piano when they were about eight years old, and he played his own renditions of Elvis tunes that they had heard on old records. When they were thirteen, they began more formal classical and ragtime piano lessons.

For the last 16 years, Sandy and Sky have owned and operated a musical entertainment business, which involves performing their own duet renditions of popular tunes from the rock n' roll, swing, jazz and blues genres, and spicing them up with their own boogie-woogie strides and melodic riffs. They perform either as four hands on one piano or as two hands on two pianos or keyboards, depending on the space and needs of the venue. Some sample pieces from their repertoire include "In The Mood”, "Mr. Sandman", "Blue Moon" and "Don't Be Cruel”.

The twin brothers have given numerous duet piano and keyboard concerts at various venues such as retirement homes, restaurants, bars, private parties, ski resorts, ice cream shops, farmers’ markets and fundraising events such as Teatown Lake Reservation, hosted by the Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Ossining, New York. Two years ago, they performed for an event hosted at The Union Club in New York City to support the Society for the Relief of Women and Children. Last year, they performed for another fundraiser event for the Irvington Historical Society, hosted by the Ardsley Country Club, and are eagerly looking forward to returning there this November.

They usually attend the annual Twins Days festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, where they participate in their “Double Take” parade, and perform one or two of their best songs in their talent show, which hosts an audience of about 500 people. They absolutely love being a part of a large twin celebration with about 2,000 sets of twins from all over the world.

One of their favorite performances was returning to their old school to perform at their school assembly, where they introduced their duo piano act with a twin trick. Sandy appeared on the main stage, then disappeared behind the curtain. Then Sky appeared up on the second floor balcony in the back of the large hall only seconds later, and then Sandy reappeared on the stage almost instantaneously. All of the children couldn’t figure out how Sandy got up to the balcony and then back down to the stage again so quickly! And then to see the looks on the boys faces when they realized there were two of them was a moment not to forget.

Last year, the brothers performed at two local concert halls, one being Mettabee Farm and Arts in Ghent, New York, and the other being The Lace Mill in Kingston, New York, and plan to return to these venues in the Spring of next year. About two weeks ago, they performed at the Bard College Music Festival where they entertained an audience in the courtyard amidst the newly constructed dormitories and campus center.