S T A T S

A B O U T

Heart is a rock band formed in Bellevue (a suburb of Seattle), Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Going through several lineup changes, the only constant members of the group are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. The group rose to fame in the 1970s with their music being influenced by hard rock as well as folk music. After diminishing in popularity by the mid-eighties, the band created a major comeback in 1985, experiencing further success with their power ballads throughout the rest of the decade. By the mid-1990s, Heart left their eighties sound and went back to their hard rock roots which they continue to play today. They have sold over 30 million albums worldwide.

The Wilson sisters grew up in Southern California and Taiwan before their Marine Corps father retired to the Seattle suburbs. After attending college they returned to Seattle, with Nancy working as a folksinger and Ann joining a hitherto-all-male local group in 1970. (This group was formed in 1963 by Steve Fossen and Roger and Mike Fisher as The Army. They later changed their name to White Heart, and shortened it to Heart in 1974.)

The band moved to Canada. After many one-nighters around their new home of Vancouver the group recorded a demo tape with the assistance of producer Mike Flicker and session guitarist and keyboard player Howard Leese. Soon after, Leese became a full time member of the group. The same team then cut the debut album Dreamboat Annie, which attracted the attention of the newly formed Mushroom Records in 1975, a Vancouver-based label run by Shelly Siegel. Upon release in Canada the album sold an impressive 30,000 copies, no doubt benefitting from Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) Canadian content regulations. In the US Siegel released the album first in Seattle, where it quickly sold another 25,000. With two hit singles — "Crazy on You" (#35, 1976) and "Magic Man" (#9, 1976) — Dreamboat Annie eventually sold over a million copies. Songs of this era can be played on Canadian radio to satisfy CanCon content requirements. Success did not come without controversey, as rumors spread the Wilson sisters were witches and that "Magic Man" is about the seduction of innocents by the devil.

By early 1977, the band was able to return to the United States after President Jimmy Carter granted amnesty to Vietnam draft evaders. By this time Heart had broken its contract with Mushroom Records and signed with CBS' subsidiary Portrait, a move that resulted in a prolonged legal battle with Siegel. In retaliation, he released the partly completed Magazine at the same time that Portrait released Little Queen. A Seattle court ruled that Mushroom had to recall Magazine so that the group could remix several tracks and re-do vocals before re-releasing the disc. Mushroom responded by spreading a rumor that the Wilsons were lovers - Ann's angry response was the lyrical bombast of "Barracuda".

Little Queen, with the hit "Barracuda" (#11, 1977), became Heart's second million-seller; Magazine and the double-platinum Dog and Butterfly followed suit in 1978. After the 77-city Dog and Butterfly tour the Wilson-Fisher liaisons ended; Roger was fired from the band and Mike was no longer their manager. Roger Fisher formed his own band in the Seattle area. Longtime guitarist Howard Leese and Nancy took up guitar slack, and her childhood friend Sue Ennis helped out on song collaborations. The group then released Bebe le Strange in 1980.

Following the release of Private Audition in 1982, Fossen and Derosier left the band. Both Private Audition and 1983's Passionworks, (featuring new bassist Mark Andes and new drummer Denny Carmassi), failed to go gold, putting Heart at a career crossroads.

In 1984, Ann Wilson recorded a duet with Mike Reno of Loverboy called "Almost Paradise". The song was featured on the soundtrack of the movie Footloose and hit number 7 on the pop charts. Then, the group’s first album for Capitol, simply titled Heart (#1, 1985), sold five million copies on the strength of four Top-10 hits: "What About Love?" (#10, 1985), "Never" (#4, 1985), "These Dreams" (#1, 1986), and "Nothin' at All" (#10, 1986). By that time, the group had abandoned their earlier hard-rock aspirations to make slick, radio-friendly pop.

Bad Animals (#2, 1987), too, contained a chart-topper, in the power ballad "Alone", as well as "Who Will You Run To?" (#7, 1987), and "There's the Girl" (#12, 1987). The Wilsons also opened a recording studio in Seattle under the same name.

In 1989, Ann Wilson and Cheap Trick's Robin Zander had a #6 hit with their duet "Surrender to Me." Brigade (#3, 1990) became Heart's sixth multi-platinum LP and added three more Top-25 hits to its catalogue, the most notable of which was "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You".

Following a 1990 tour, the Wilson sisters put together an informal acoustic group called The Lovemongers with Sue Ennis and Frank Cox; a four-song EP that included a version of Led Zeppelin's "Battle of Evermore" came out in late 1992, and the quartet performed several times in the Seattle area. The Lovemongers released a full-length album titled Whirlygig in 1997.

When Heart re-emerged with Desire Walks On (#48) in 1993, Mark Andes had left the band and Shuyler Deale played the bass. For the group's subsequent tour, Heart was joined by bassist Fernando Saunders and drummer Denny Fongheiser (replacing Deale and Carmassi). The band offered live acoustic versions of its best-known songs on 1995's The Road Home, which was produced by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones. Ann and Nancy toured together without the rest of the band in 1999.

In 2004, the Wilsons released Jupiter's Darling, their first studio album as Heart since 1993. It features a variety of songs that include a return to Heart's original sound, as well as a blend of pop and new textures. Stand-out tracks include "Make Me", "Enough", "Oldest Story In The World" and "Lost Angel".

Heart was honored at the second annual VH1 Rock Honors (24 May 2007), and also performed, along with Ozzy Osbourne, Genesis and ZZ Top. Soon afterwards, pop songstress Fergie covered "Barracuda" for the soundtrack to Shrek The Third. In September 2007, Ann released her first solo album Hope & Glory, and Heart played Barracuda with both Fergie and Anastacia.

Currently, Nancy Wilson is writing her autobiography and Ann is promoting her solo album. -wikipedia.com

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