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RCS Productions books Heart
Contact RCS Productions for booking Heart
in concert.
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Sisters
Ann and Nancy Wilson were the creative spark behind Heart,
a hard rock group who initially found success in the mid-'70s,
only to reach greater heights after engineering a major
comeback a decade later. The daughters of a Marine Corps
captain, Ann (born June 19, 1950) and Nancy (born March
16, 1954) grew up in both Southern California and Taiwan
before the Wilson family settled in Seattle, WA.
Throughout their formative years, both were interested
in folk and pop music; while Ann never took any formal
music lessons as a child (she later learned to play several
instruments), Nancy took up guitar and flute. After both
sisters spent some time at college, they decided to try
their hand as professional musicians, and while Nancy
began performing as a folksinger, Ann joined the all-male
vocal group Heart. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia,
Heart was actually formed in 1963 by bassist Steve Fossen
and brothers Roger Fisher and Mike Fisher; initially dubbed
the Army, they later became White Heart before settling
on simply Heart at the beginning of the '70s. After her
arrival in the group, Ann became romantically involved
with guitarist Mike Fisher; when Nancy joined in 1974,
she in turn began a relationship with guitarist Roger
Fisher. Soon after Nancy's arrival, Mike Fisher retired
from active performing to become the band's sound engineer.
After gaining a following in Vancouver, Heart was approached
by Shelly Siegel, the owner of the Canadian label Mushroom;
augmented by keyboardist Howard Leese and drummer Michael
Derosier, they recorded their debut album, Dreamboat Annie,
in 1975.
After selling more than 30,000 copies north of the border,
Mushroom issued the LP in the U.S. where it quickly achieved
platinum status on the strength of the hit singles "Crazy
on You" and "Magic Man." In 1977, Heart
jumped ship to the CBS affiliate Portrait, resulting in
a protracted legal battle with Siegel, who in 1978 released
the unfinished LP Magazine on Mushroom shortly after the
band issued its true follow-up Little Queen on Portrait.
The single "Barracuda" was another massive hit,
and like its predecessor, Little Queen sold over a million
copies.
After 1978's Dog & Butterfly, both of the Wilson/Fisher
romances ended and Roger Fisher left the group. In 1980,
Heart issued Bebe Le Strange; following a lengthy U.S.
tour, both Fossen and Derosier exited and were replaced
by ex-Spirit and Firefall bassist Mark Andes and former
Gamma drummer Denny Carmassi. After 1982's Private Audition
and 1983's Passionworks slumped, the group was largely
written off by industry watchers, and moved to Capitol
Records.
In 1985, however, Heart emerged with a self-titled effort
that ultimately sold more than five million copies on
its way to launching four Top Ten hits -- "What About
Love?," "Never," the chart-topping "These
Dreams," and "Nothin' at All." 1987's Bad
Animals continued their comeback success; "Alone"
was another number one hit, and both "Who Will You
Run To" and "There's the Girl" achieved
considerable airplay as well.
Brigade, issued in 1990, featured the number two smash
"All I Want to Do Is Make Love to You," as well
as the Top 25 hits "I Didn't Want to Need You"
and "Stranded." In the early '90s, the Wilson
sisters took a brief hiatus from Heart to form the Lovemongers,
an acoustic quartet fleshed out by Sue Ennis and Frank
Cox; in 1992, they issued a four-song EP that included
a cover of Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore."
Heart returned in 1993 with Desire Walks On, on which
Andes and Carmassi were replaced with bassist Fernando
Saunders and drummer Denny Fongheiser. With 1995's The
Road Home, Heart enlisted onetime Zeppelin bassist John
Paul Jones to produce a live, acoustic set reprising hits
like "Dreamboat Annie," "Crazy on You,"
and "Barracuda."
Heart went on hiatus by the late '90s, as the Wilson sisters
concentrated on the Lovemongers, issuing a pair of albums
-- 1997's Whirlygig and 1998's Here Is Christmas. But
Heart wasn't completely silent -- they were the subject
of one of the better episodes of VH1's Behind the Music,
a pair of best-of sets were issued (1998's Greatest Hits
covered their early classics, while their later years
were spotlighted on 2000's Greatest Hits: 1985-1995),
and their music continued to pop up in movie soundtracks
(2000's The Virgin Suicides, among others). In 1999, Nancy
Wilson released her first solo album, Live at McCabe's
Guitar Shop, and a year later penned the score to her
husband Cameron Crowe's hit motion picture, Almost Famous,
while Ann Wilson continued to play with others -- in the
summer of 2001, she participated in the A Walk Down Abbey
Road: A Tribute to the Beatles tour, which also featured
Todd Rundgren, John Entwistle (The Who), and Alan Parsons
(The Alan Parsons Project). |
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For
booking information contact
RCS Productions, Inc. |
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