The guys were born in the fall of 1947, while the girls were born in 1949.
Rowen Thompson Hashiba was born to a white mother and a Japanese-American father in Brooklyn. His parents soon divorced and he went to stay with his father. While his father was very influential with his education, it was his mother—a feminist journalist and a beatnik—who influenced him to (starting in his preteens) question life and the society they lived in. As far as music was concerned, the first type of music he liked to listen to was jazz, thanks to his mother. Jazz prompted him to take up drums.
He was at the top of his class in all his school. His father had had a hard time accepting the fact that his son was going to California instead of going to Harvard.
Kento Rei Faun was born to a Chinese-Japanese father and a Chinese mother in Chinatown, the oldest of five children. His parents were Chinese immigrants who fled China during the civil war. They both owned a very influential Chinese restaurant in Manhattan, which made them quite wealthy. Kento didn't care about that. The first music he listened to that influenced him was the Beatles, as well as many guitarists during the late fifties and early sixties.
He was a strong supporter of peace in Vietnam and Civil Rights. One day in highschool, he got in trouble for writing about Malcolm X and why he supported him.
Rowen and Kento met when they were in the sixth grade, when Kento wanted to know how he was able to solve a math problem. Somehow, Rowen began helping him with math and the soon became friends afterwords.
Kayura Miyamoto was born to Nisei parents in Manhattan, both of them working prestigious jobs after the war. She was going to have a baby sister four years later, but the baby and her mother died soon after birth. She was then raised by her father and an aunt. She began playing the violin and the flute, and like Rowen, her favorite music was jazz. However, she began listening to every female singer, including Patsy Cline, Doris Day, and even Aretha Franklin. One day, after listening to Patsy Cline during her preteen years, she decided she wanted to be a singer. Naturally, her father disapproved of it, saying it wouldn't pay well, but her aunt encouraged her.
Luna Abdul Pollack (born Luna Abdul Kalawakan), the only one that doesn't have one drop of Japanese blood, was born to a drug-addicted Filipino father and a Pakistani mother in Harlem. She was the second child of the father, who married a white woman six years earlier and gave birth to a son. After their father committed suicide (when she was a toddler) and after her mother died of alcoholism, Luna and her half brother were living in the streets until he got killed in a brawl with the police in 1958. She was picked up and was transferred from foster home to foster home, suffering from abuse (one of the foster fathers tried to rape her), until a black elder woman (Mrs. Pollack) adopted her at the age of twelve.
Soon, the music she soon fell in love with, soul and Motown, and the rhythm guitars she heard in the songs, prompt her to want to play a rhythm guitar. Her "mother," the first parent since her birth mother to be nice and kind to her, supported her all the way, and an uncle gave her one for Christmas. Another thing that kept her spirits high, if she had any left, was comedy. She loved listening to comedies on the radio and the Three Stooges.
Kayura and Luna met at school while Luna was still in a foster home. The two girls couldn't have been more different: Kayura a happy "girly" girl from a prestigious Nisei family, and Luna an orphaned, abused foster child, who became a tomboy and had a bit of a temper. The two later realized that the loved music and wanted to spend the rest of their lives playing.
One day, in early '65, Kayura soon met Rowen at an ice cream shop. A song by Dusty Springfield began playing, and Kayura began singing every word of the song. Rowen was impressed, and pretty soon he fell in love with her. It took Kayura awhile to return the love because of her father, but she eventually rebelled and the two began dating.
Some time later after She also met Kento, Kayura finally introduced Luna to the guys. While Luna became instant friends with Rowen, she and Kento would soon engage in a battle of insults...
What each of them had in common was that they all wanted to play in a band and be famous. They took up their instruments and moved over to Rowen's where they began practicing, becoming a cover band.
By then, they were huge fans of The Mamas and the Papas, so in homage to them, the teenagers named themselves, The Brothers and the Sisters, performing songs by the Mamas and the Papas, as well as other music from famous bands. From the beginning, Kayura had asked her to sing backing vocals. Luna was pretty nervous about that, but since the guys didn't want to do any singing, she had no choice but to try. Luna's voice was less "lady-like" than Kayura's. However, when Luna's mother saw them play, she commented how the girls' voices, different as they are, created perfect harmony.
The first "public" performance they got to do was at Kento's youngest sister's birthday. While, Kento's mother didn't like the music, the kids were cheering for more.
Their performance at the high school prom a year later was their third "public" performance.
One obstacle stood in their way now: The guys were moving to California, and the girls still had another year to complete. It was very doubtful that Luna's mother and especially Kayura's father would ever let them go with the guys...