Local Music

Two sets of twins + Dolly Parton = One important message

Local country group MJ2 wrangles a celebrity lineup to benefit diabetes

Image
Local country group MJ2 is comprised of two sets of twins, all related.
Courtesy

Dolly Parton plus two sets of country crooning twins... Sounds more like the sexual fantasy of an odd cowboy than the makings of a charity collaboration.

While it may very well be the former, the latter is what’s making headlines.

Local country newcomers MJ2 — comprised of Jackie Singer, her identical twin sister Mollie Miller, and Jackie’s two “very similar looking” fraternal twin daughters, Mollie and Jackie Singer — enlisted the help of 20 celebrity friends, including Parton, to contribute to their benefit single, “You Can’t Say Love Enough.”

Already available on iTunes, the in-store release for the track is set for the beginning of March, with all net proceeds going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, an organization close to the twins’ hearts.

“I was diagnosed when I was four years old, and we’ve been very involved with JDRF since [Jackie and I] were about five or six,” says Molly Singer, who prefers to go by Molly J (for “junior”). “For the past 16 years we’ve been advocating and fundraising for a cure, anything we can do to help.”

How did a fresh-faced group whose debut album has yet to be released wrangle the all-star lineup, which also includes the likes of Wayne Newton, Lee Greenwood, Steve Wariner and the Gatlin Brothers?

MJ2

MJ2

“JDRF had involved a few celebrities including Steve Wariner and the Gatlin Brothers because they have direct contact to juvenile diabetes; they both have daughters with diabetes. So we started there. ... It’s really amazing because basically everyone on our song has a connection,” says daughter Jackie J.

The group’s producer Dennis Money, a diabetic himself, had a hand in bringing the voluptuous queen of country to the mix.

“He grew up in a very, very close town to Dolly Parton,” says daughter Jackie J. “They were talking about living back in east Tennessee ... Dennis had basically got Dolly to do it because of her history and how much they had in common. It was just a kind of funny coincidence.”

As for the help of fellow Las Vegan Wayne Newton, family ties played a part.

“Wayne is the girls’ godfather,” says mom Jackie. “So they’ve grown up with their Uncle Wayne and that’s not something we’ve ever talked about before. This’ll be the first time we’re actually making that public.”

With country music’s reputation for writing tear-jerk songs about achey (breaky) hearts, a tribute track might be expected to have a similar sentiment. But when picking the song that would serve as both the benefit song and album’s title track, the twins wanted to go in a different direction.

“We wanted it to be something very positive. We didn’t want a downer or a sad song,” says mom Jackie.

MJ2 is still waiting to see how much money “You Can’t Say Love Enough” will raise, but the group has high hopes.

“At least a million,” daughter Molly J. says of the track that is selling for 99 cents on iTunes.

“We’d like to do at least a million, but we’ll be happy with everything. If it happens to be 10 [dollars], that’ll be great too,” says mom Jackie.

Share

Previous Discussion:

Top of Story