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Sun 14 December 2025 19:00, UK
Distinguishing yourself as a major player in the rock scene was a tough challenge in the 1970s, but Heart, comprising sisters Nancy and Ann Wilson, managed to do just that.
The biggest challenge wasn’t just about having the right amount of talent, although that was a main facet too. It was also about having something unique, something that wasn’t just a carbon copy of all the 1960s heroes that everybody was trying to imitate. After all, that was one of the most innovative eras in music history, giving us longstanding legends like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
From the moment that the Wilson sisters decided to pick up their instruments, therefore, they had their work cut out for them. Not only this, but they also had to fight twice as hard to earn respect from their peers and audiences, knowing that women in rock weren’t as readily embraced as their male counterparts.
This was something that they continue to reflect on, as with many female stars that emerged around the same time. Nancy, in particular, commented on how the landscape often prevented women from even trying, which, obviously, was a major problem. “I don’t know whether the woman thing in rock was the chicken or the egg because, for a long time, women didn’t even attempt to enter the rock scene because it was just too hard,” she said.
From their perspective, it was tougher to get credibility because nobody wanted to give it, but that things started to change when a handful of people – them included – “kicked the door open”, proving that it could be done, you just needed to have enough ambition and resilience to commit to the challenges that would arise at every step of the way.
Although Heart didn’t have many female idols to look up to or follow in the same footsteps, much of this fight to become another major name came from their influences. The Beatles were an obvious source of inspiration when it came to learning the ropes, but when it came to shaping their own distinctive sound and fuelling the fire that made it all come together, inspiration came from another handful of songs.
Sharing them with The Red Bulletin, Ann Wilson proved the different forces of rock that went into making Heart withstand the test of time. One was Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’, which was a major influence in the beginning of their journey, mainly because, as Ann claimed, it “takes you on a real journey” because it’s “timeless and ageless and beautiful”.
Another that evoked a similar emotional response was Peter Gabriel’s ‘Don’t Give Up’, from So. “That is such a beautiful duet,” said Ann, praising the collaboration with Kate Bush. “It’s hopeful and optimistic and soulful and makes me think, man, that song’s got it all. It sort of tears you up to listen to it, because it’s so sad but then so beautiful.”
While she had similar feelings towards The Who’s ‘Love, Reign O’er Me’, which she described as “gorgeous” and like “this soul crying out for love”, a surprise entry that most people wouldn’t have even been able to guess was James Blunt’s ‘You’re Beautiful’, which Ann claimed to be one of the most emotionally raw radio songs she’d heard in recent years.
“For a radio song in this era, it has the most substance I’ve heard in a long time,” said Ann. “It’s simple and can mean whatever you want it to mean. I have a friend who’s a Buddhist monk. He texted me: ‘Have you heard this? I can’t believe it. He’s speaking to the one.’ And that’s an excellent song, when it can be that you’re talking to your friend or to God. Either one. That’s universality.”
Clearly, any song can resonate with Ann so long as it has that emotional connection and sentimental quality, with enough space to apply her own meaning without losing its own sense of precision. With Ann, it’s often simplicity that’s key, especially when it comes to the more personal themes in music, which is also an integral feature that ensured Heart’s longstanding success.
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