Marvin Etzioni and Willie Aron met at Aron’s Records in 1978. Willie was 15 years old and Marvin was a clerk in the record shop. They soon found they shared a love of the same records, starting with The Who “Live At Leeds” and a great friendship began that led to them singing together. By the early ‘80s, Marvin met Ryan Hedgecock and Maria McKee and first mentored them and then recruited Don Heffington to play drums and founded Lone Justice. They signed to Geffen Records, released their debut to rave reviews, won the respect of major rock stars and U2 invited them to open a tour with them.  

At the same time, Willie’s band, the Balancing Act, released an EP (produced by Peter Case) and signed with IRS Records, where recorded and released two albums. The band was critically acclaimed and worked hard touring but they never received the public recognition needed to keep their record company promoting them. The band broke up before the start of the twenty-first century.

 Through the years Marvin and Willie had been collaborating on many projects, but they never considered forming a duo or recording an album with their own unique sound until one day their Rabbi greeted the pair at Temple services. Rabbi Finley jokingly referred to them as the Holy Brothers and they soon realized they were onto something. They prefaced Holy Brothers with “Thee” as a tribute to East L.A. music legends Thee Midnighters.

Marvin Etzioni and Willie Aron are Thee Holy Brothers. 

Thee Holy Brothers

with Paul Zollo 

March 21, 2019