I may have just discovered a sure-fire way to become famous, a source of public eye-candy and success: Have a celebrity for a relative.

I realize situations of limelight families can be traced throughout time, with parents or siblings paving the way for future successes. Examples of such hand-me-down stardom include Lisa Marie Presley following the name of her father, the King himself; Liza Minnelli taking the entertainment reigns from her mother, Judy Garland; and even Angelina Jolie cashed in on her famous father, Jon Voight.

But as of late, it has become much more prevalent for siblings to share stardom, or in some cases, to compete for the camera. Their popularity has onlookers wondering if blood-relations are truly the golden ticket to fame.

Take the Simpson sisters, for example. Jessica, the blonde bombshell turned “newlywed” after marrying 98 Degrees frontman Nick Lachey, established herself in the late ’90s as a sex symbol and pop icon. Going two steps beyond that, the gal could hold her own singing, which is hard to come by nowadays. (See sibling, below.)

Jessica’s career, at least as a vocalist, peaked, and her younger sister, Ashlee, product of the WB’s highly saccharine series “7th Heaven,” entered the picture. Instead of sticking with playing the hometown girlfriend on television or maybe small-scale productions, Ashlee decided to take a stab at this singing gig.

“Jess made it look brainless enough,” she might have thought, soon to find out that her sister’s lack of intellect left her with no choice than for it to BE brainless, but I digress.

Taking a different sound, a different look and a drastically different hair color than her naturally blonde locks, Ashlee became a daringly dark brunette with a raspy “voice” known for lip-sync mishaps and fantastic dance moves. Good going.

Or take the Duff sisters, Hilary and Haylie. Hilary, introduced to us through the Disney-machine as Lizzie Maguire, took the high road and decided she too had the guts to belt it out. In defense of her studio-created “sound,” at least she was doing this on her own, without following the golden footsteps of an older sibling.

Now let’s examine the older sister, Haylie. Maybe she was stuck in a closet (or maybe even college) while her sister was exploring the world of pop music, but nevertheless, she decided to mix things up a bit and pursue whatever musical tendencies someone told her she had. Beyond that, she later dyed her hair dark, seemingly to set herself apart from her successful sister. A conspiracy for the ages.

These two even did a video together for a spine-chilling cover of a classic tune by The Go-Gos. Mind you it was nothing award-winning and made the original artists wish their lips were “sealed,” but regardless, it happened. This takes it beyond riding on your sibling’s coattails of success (which she still is doing, I should add) to publicly displaying your usage of your better-known sis. It would be one thing if Haylie established herself as an artist, had some multi-platinum records on her mantle and was the music-industry’s “it-girl.” No, she’s just the older sister that wanted a bit of the limelight, to be in a few commercials and to grace the cover of People at least once.

The majority of these siblings appear as their other half’s career is either at a lull or teetering toward retirement in the eyes of the hormone-crazed public they cater to. To illustrate, let’s look at the Speares family.

There’s another scary realization, isn’t it? Mrs. Federline’s little sis, Jamie Lynn, has been taking Nickelodeon by storm at the ripe age of 14 in the same fashion as the earlier Speare conquered the Mickey Mouse Club. Was it to be expected? In my eyes, yes. You can’t let those genes go to a career in academia now, can you?

And the startling fact about the majority of these sibling “stars” in the public eye nowadays is that one of them ends up a born-brunette or a product of dying darker. Evidence proves my point, showing that at least in the last three years, nine times out of 10, one sibling ends up a brunette.

For example, Ashlee Simpson is now a quite obvious fake-brunette (or black for that matter); Owen and Luke Wilson are known for their different hair shades; Mrs. Federline was last seen with darker locks; Nicky Hilton has taken the same route as Ms. Ashlee by bottle-blackening when compared to her platinum blond sister, Paris; Haylie Duff, in the latest commercial, was sporting brown hair; and even America’s favorite twins, the Olsens, have shied away from the identical colors.

Coincidence? I think not. Marketing scheme, rather, as is the whole “sibling-stars” gig for the most part. Find one example to prove me wrong, I dare you. You may want to check the $5 bin for movies and CDs as a starting point.

– Kaitlin Thaney can be reached at [email protected]