The Haim Sisters: All About Este, Danielle & Alana and Their Sibling Rock Band

Este, Danielle and Alana Haim have been performing together since 2007

The Haim sisters — Este, Danielle and Alana — make up one of the biggest sibling bands in music.

They count icons like Elton John among their fans, Taylor Swift and Lorde among their collaborators and Lizzo, Stevie Nicks and the Foo Fighters among artists with whom they've shared the stage.

The sibling group made music history at the 2021 Grammys, where they became the first all-female rock band nominated for album of the year, but they'd much rather not discuss specifically being women in music — so much so that they cheekily named their third full-length album Women in Music Pt. III.

Related: Haim Sisters Excited for 'Backstage Dance Parties' on Taylor Swift 'Eras' Tour: 'It Is Perfect'

"In the spirit of being spontaneous, it made us laugh and we thought it was funny because we got asked, 'What's it like to be a woman in music?' Or, 'What's it like to be women in music?' We had gotten that question every interview since 2012," Danielle told PEOPLE in 2021. "So we thought, we think it's funny: 'Maybe if we name our album that, people will get the picture not to ask the question.' And it worked."

In July 2023, Haim joined their pal Swift as the opening act for her Eras Tour, and the "Lover" singer celebrated their arrival by adding their collaboration, "No Body, No Crime," to her set list. The sisters joined Swift on stage to sing the country track, which the group will continue to perform together throughout the rest of Swift's North American tour dates.

So who are the Haim sisters? Here’s what to know about Alana, Danielle and Este Haim, and how they went from playing music with their parents to selling out arenas around the world.

The Haim sisters have music in their blood

Their parents, Mordechai "Moti" and Donna Haim, met on a blind date, and Donna — who won an episode of The Gong Show covering Bonnie Raitt — was ready to walk out until Moti began drumming at the table. They fell in love by bonding over music, and their daughters inherited their passion. They formed a family band, Rockinhaim, when youngest daughter Alana was just 5 years old, teaching the girls instruments and taking them to piano lessons.

"It was the best school. To learn songs, we'd have to record them off the radio to cassette tape and then press pause and play for hours to learn all the chords and lyrics by ear," Alana told the Guardian in 2012. "By the end we knew every chord progression out there."

After graduating high school, Danielle toured with Jenny Lewis and Julian Casablancas and performed on The Tonight Show with CeeLo Green. Este, meanwhile, finished a five-year ethnomusicology degree program at UCLA in just two years. In 2004, Este and Danielle joined the band the Valli Girls, with which they released a song on The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants soundtrack. They left the group in 2005 and formed their own band with Alana in 2007.

They are born and bred California girls

Haim could change the "Valley Girl" stereotype in a big way. The sisters grew up in the Los Angeles suburb San Fernando Valley, an experience that influenced their work.

“We grew up along Laurel Canyon on the Valley side, north of Ventura [Boulevard], in a city called Valley Village, which we affectionately call Valley ‘Vill-ahh-ge,’ to make it a little more chic," Este told Variety in 2020. "And we were, what, three or four exits away from Hollywood? But it still felt really far away."

The band wrote their song "Los Angeles" about Este driving them into the city. "When I got my license and got a car with a sunroof and a f—ed-up CD player with my bat mitzvah and chore money, I would get Danielle and Alana and drive over Laurel Canyon to get to the Roxy and Troubadour," she recalled.

They're proud of their Jewish heritage

The Haim sisters are Jewish and their religion was a big part of their upbringing and bonding with their parents, they told GQ.

"When it comes to Judaism, the thing that really kept us together was the family aspect. It was the High Holidays, coming together as a family for an event. A meal," Alana said. Este added, "We did Shabbat, but that was more about just coming together as a family."

Their faith and secular Jewish traditions even informed their music career. One of their earliest performances with their family band Rockinhaim was in the back of Canter's Deli, a famous Jewish-style deli in L.A., and they were paid in matzo ball soup. Paying homage to those roots, the sisters planned a tour of delis in 2020, but that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In December 2021, Haim released their own rendition of Adam Sandler's "The Chanukah Song," name-dropping Doja Cat, Timothée Chalamet, Rashida Jones, Dan and Eugene Levy and Maya Rudolph, among others. Sandler approved of the tune, retweeting the video and writing, "Love you ladies! You are three badass Jews! See you on tour!"

JAY-Z signed them to his agency

Fans can thank JAY-Z for the Haim sisters being household names. The rapper and mogul signed Haim to Roc Nation in 2012.

"To say that JAY-Z is my boss makes me want to throw up," Alana told Fuse in 2013. "We are obsessed with JAY-Z and we're just really excited that he wants us to be in his personal space."

A year after signing with Roc Nation, Haim dropped their debut album Days Are Gone. The sisters told Rolling Stone that JAY-Z sent them a congratulatory note when their opening week numbers were unveiled. In 2017, they signed with Full Stop Management.

Este "almost died" during a performance

Este had a medical emergency onstage during Haim's set at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival. She told BBC News, "I think we've had a lot of trials and tribulations on the road, there have been a couple of little mishaps — Glastonbury being one of them when I almost died."

Este, who has Type 1 diabetes, said she started feeling unwell early in their set, and by the sixth song, she could feel her "blood sugar levels plummeting really really fast."

"My eyes were kind of fluttering in the back of my head," she recalled. She went offstage and was in and out of consciousness when her manager checked her blood sugar levels. He discovered that Este was five points away from a seizure.

"My manager, he's the best manager in the world, he had to put chocolate on his finger and stick it in my mouth," she added. When she recovered, Este went back onstage to finish the performance seated — "like B.B. King."

The singer said the incident was a result of missing a meal, a risk that's all too common while touring.

"It's due to the fact that your hours are always so different and food is never really constant," she explained. "It definitely is not easy but it is manageable, you just have to make it a priority and make sure you stay healthy."

They made their big screen debuts together

In 2021, Alana starred in Licorice Pizza, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson — who was actually a student of Donna’s in elementary school. It was Alana’s first movie role ever, and her sisters and parents played her family in the film.

While Anderson wrote Alana's part specifically for her (and used her name for the character), Alana said she was nervous about being "terrible" in the movie. “I was like, ‘I don’t even know where to look. What if I look at the camera?’ ” she recalled. But Anderson thought she did exceptionally well.

Related: Fun Facts About 'Licorice Pizza' 's Breakout Star Alana Haim

"I didn't know she was going to be that good," he told the New York Times.

Alana credited her work as a musical performer for preparing her for work in front of the camera. "Being in Haim, I’m doing so many different things and there are so many different distractions that you have to tune everything out and just be very present in your body," she told the outlet. "And I think that really helps with shooting a movie."

They use "telepathy" in their songwriting

The Haim sisters are so in sync with one another that they sometimes manage to collaborate without even speaking a word.

Speaking about the songwriting and production process of their album Women in Music Pt. III, Alana told PEOPLE, "Sister telepathy is a real thing. Because we're family, it's easy to trust who you're working with."

Sometimes that closeness had a negative impact, Este told Variety. During the COVID-19 pandemic, and after a series of personal struggles, including the death of a close friend, the sisters were closer than ever — but they were having trouble communicating.

"It's this weird dichotomy that we tend to tell each other everything, and then wear the emotions of each other. So when one of us is feeling glum or blue, the other two tend to join that person in their loneliness," Este explained, adding that she felt guilty subjecting her sisters to her sadness. "We are so close, but we still felt lonely and isolated at the same time," she said.

But they felt those emotions anyway, and the sisters think it might be genetic.

"We do have a theory also that our grandma is clairvoyant, so it might've been passed down from generation to generation," Este added. "There's a telepathy that doesn't happen if you're not a sister."

They're good friends with Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift counts the Haim sisters as some of her closest friends. In addition to opening for Swift on the Eras Tour, the band previously toured with her in support of her album 1989. In July 2022, Swift joined Haim during a performance at London's O2 Arena.

They've collaborated offstage as well: The Haim sisters played Swift's stepsisters in her "Bejeweled" music video. Swift is featured on their song "Gasoline," while they harmonized with her on the evermore track "No Body, No Crime," which even mentions Este.

Related: Taylor Swift Is Dressed for Revenge on Girls' Night with Blake Lively, Gigi Hadid and Haim Sisters

During their downtime, the Haim sisters often hang out with Swift and were spotted at her 25th birthday party in 2014 and her 32nd birthday party in 2021.

Ahead of the Eras Tour, PEOPLE chatted with Haim about what had them most excited to hit the road with Swift again.

"Backstage dance parties," Este said. "Backstage pre- and post-show dance parties with Taylor."

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