Country and Western duo The Hickey sisters (Margaret and Kaye) grew up on a dairy farm, 28km from Shepparton, Victoria. Kaye was just 11, the youngest of three girls, when their mother died, meaning the girls had to become housekeepers while still at school. In 1956 when Kaye was about 15, she and Margaret began singing. After they had done a few concerts and dances around the Shepparton area, they entered a talent quest run by the local radio station, 3SR. Neville Pellitt was so impressed with the sisters, he began a CM program and a series of live shows, Harmony Trail, built around them. During this time, they were both Post Office telephonists.
The sisters travelled to Sydney and appeared on some Reg Lindsay shows with artists like Judy Stone and Athol McCoy. Their first recording was an EP 'Western Hits Vol 2' on the Viking label in 1958. In 1961 The Hickey Sisters recorded a self-titled EP under the auspices of Harmony Trail on W&G. The songs were: ''When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again'', ''It’s You, Only You That I Love'', ''Christmas Roses'' and the Col James-penned ''Angel Star'', one of their most popular hits. ''Angel Star'' was also released as a single. Another EP 'The Hickey Sisters Again' appeared in 1964. In 1965 the sisters cut their first album, 'Treasury of Country Music', in Shepparton for NZ label Viking, under the direction of Neville Pellitt.
When the sisters married and began their families, they phased out their music. Kaye and her husband had a dairy farm at Rochester, and Margaret lived in Wangaratta with her husband and family. In the late 70s Kaye did quite a bit of professional work with Basil Ray, an ex-member of Harmony Trail, but Basil died, curtailing her comeback. Kaye passed on her singing genes to her two eldest girls. In 1988 they were inducted into the Hands of Fame, Tamworth.
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