Billie Eilish and her brother/producer Finneas almost signed a record deal with Jared Leto.
On Tuesday (January 26), the 30 Seconds to Mars frontman stopped by The Late Late Show With James Corden. During the interview, he revealed that he was close to signing a record contract with the sibling duo before Leto began working with Finneas.
“I met them through [film producer] Emma Ludbrook and [agent] Tom Windish,” he explained. “They weren’t signed, and I thought that maybe I would try and sign them. They were so incredibly talented and just special people. Music is one thing, but I think they’re just incredibly intelligent, really empathetic, just really good people, and I quite like them a lot.”
Since he was interested in working with them, he invited them to sing at a 12-person dinner party that he was hosting. “They showed up with a Guitar Center P.A. and played the most heartbreakingly beautiful music with, like… you know, it shouldn’t have sounded that good, it was impossible that it sounded that good.”
It wasn’t just Leto who became fans of their music that night.
“I remember [Leonardo] DiCaprio was there and a couple of other people and they were just, like, ‘How did you find these people and, like, who are they?’ Everyone was just jaws on the floor, twelve people max at my place in The Hills. Yeah, just great people. I’m a huge fan, too.”
Leto didn’t reveal what went wrong when he tried to sign the brother-sister duo. Eilish and Finneas later signed with Interscope’s DarkRoom and have since graduated from performing at dinner parties to selling out arenas.
Watch the interview, below.