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Heart
Sisters Ann (left) and Nancy Wilson in the early 1970s
Background information
Origin	Seattle, Washington, USA Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genre(s)	Rock, Hard rock, Pop rock,
Years active	1976–present
Label(s)	Mushroom, Portrait, Epic, Capitol, Sovereign Artists, Sony
Website	www.heart-music.com
Members
Ann Wilson Nancy Wilson Ben Smith Ric Markmann Craig Bartock
Former members
See: Members and former members

Heart is a rock band which came out of 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 groups like Led Zeppelin, as well as folk music. They have sold over 30 million albums worldwide.^[1] They experienced further success in the 1980s with their power ballads before dropping out of mainstream popularity in the mid-1990s.

Heart was ranked #57 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins (1963–1974) 1.2 Success (1975–1982) 1.3 Comeback (1983–1990) 1.4 1991–1993 1.5 1994-2003 1.6 2004-Present 2 Legacy 3 Controversy 4 Heart songs in other media 4.1 "Alone" 4.2 "Barracuda" 4.3 "Crazy on You" 4.4 "Magic Man" 4.5 "Never" 4.6 "No Other Love" 4.7 "The Heat" 4.8 "These Dreams" 4.9 "What About Love" 5 Members and former members 5.1 - by Period 5.2 - by Skill 6 Discography 7 See also 8 References and Notes 9 External links

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.) Upon joining, Ann became Mike Fisher's girlfriend, and when Nancy joined in 1974, she became involved with Fisher's brother, lead guitarist Roger.

The band moved to Canada.^[2] After many one-nighters around their new home of Vancouver, they attracted the attention of Mushroom Records in 1975, a Vancouver-based label run by Shelly Siegel. He had them cut Dreamboat Annie, which upon release in Canada sold 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.

By early 1977, 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. (They had wanted the album taken off the market completely.)

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.^[3] Roger Fisher formed his own band in the Seattle area. 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. That album, and the following year's Passionworks, (featuring new bassist Mark Andes {Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne}, and drummer Denny Carmassi {Gamma}), failed to go gold, putting Heart at a career crossroads. In 1984, Ann Wilson did 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.

In June 1986, Nancy Wilson married journalist, screenwriter, and director Cameron Crowe; she had made a cameo appearance in his movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982. 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). 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.

The pared-down format echoed Heart's low profile in the late 1990s. Of the two sisters, Nancy kept busier, scoring her husband's movies, Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, and Elizabethtown, and releasing a solo album ("Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop") in 1999. That same year, she and Ann embarked on a tour of their own, the first time that they had done so.

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".

In 2005, the Wilsons appeared on the CMT Music Awards as a special guest of Gretchen Wilson (no relation), and performed the Heart classic, "Crazy On You" with Gretchen. Heart performed again with Gretchen on VH-1's tribute to the band, Decades Rock Live. The special also featured Alice in Chains, Phil Anselmo, Dave Navarro, Rufus Wainwright and Carrie Underwood.

Heart was honored at the second annual VH1 Rock Honors (24 May 2007), and also performed, along with Ozzy Osbourne, Genesis and ZZ Top. This, along with the inclusion of "Crazy on You" in Guitar Hero II and "Barracuda" in the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock video game, renewed interest in the band.

In September 2007, Ann released her first solo album Hope & Glory.

In addition to their own recording careers, the Wilson sisters have played a key role on the Seattle music scene. Among the groups who have recorded at their Bad Animals studio are R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Candlebox. Heart's Heart: 20 Years of Rock & Roll was the first CD-ROM multimedia biography/greatest-hits package ever released.

When Dreamboat Annie was released in 1976, rumors spread that the sisters were witches. It was said that the album's hit, "Magic Man", was about Satan's seduction of a child.^[4] It was also rumored at the time that "Magic Man" was a reference to cult-leader Charles Manson.^{[citation needed]} In a 2002 interview Ann Wilson stated that the song was autobiographical; she was the young girl and Mike Fisher, Wilson's first love, was the "Magic Man".^{[citation needed]}

In 1977 Heart's record label, Mushroom Records, is said to have started a rumor that Ann and Nancy were lesbian lovers.^{[citation needed]} The label ran a full page ad in Rolling Stone showing the sisters bare-shouldered and suggestively captioned, "It was only our first time". When a reporter suggested after one live appearance that the sisters were sexual partners, Ann returned to her hotel room and wrote the lyrics to "Barracuda" to relieve her frustration.^{[citation needed]} The song became one of Heart's biggest hits.

• "Alone" is sampled in the 2003 electronic song "Keep it Up" by J&R Project.
• "Alone" is featured at the end of the Cold Case episode called "Lonely Hearts".
• Carrie Underwood covered "Alone" on #1 Hits Night on American Idol 2005
• Jill Gioia covered "Alone" as a bottom three performance on Rock Star: Supernova in 2006.
• Gina Glocksen covered "Alone" during the semifinals on American Idol 2007
• Céline Dion covered "Alone" on her 2007 album Taking Chances.

• "Barracuda" is featured in the 2000 movie Charlie's Angels.
• "Barracuda" can be heard playing on Silvio Dante's car radio in the 2004 episode "Long Term Parking" on the HBO series The Sopranos.
• "Barracuda" is sung by the members of the Reno Sheriff's Police Department in the Comedy Central show Reno 911.
• "Barracuda" is featured in the 2004 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game on the K-DST radio station.
• A cover of "Barracuda" is featured on Rasputina's 2005 live album A Radical Recital.
• "Barracuda" is played at the bar on the alien spaceship in the 2006 video game Prey.
• "Barracuda" is featured in the 2007 film Shrek the Third, covered by singer, Fergie.
• A cover of "Barracuda" is on the tracklist of the 2007 video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
• It was the first song that Ross Geller (Friends) learned to play on the keyboard. Ref: Friends 6.12
• "Barracuda" is played during the 2008 Honda Odyssey commercial "Viking".

• "You Can't Do That on Television" uses samples of "Crazy on You" and "Magic Man" in the 1983 Classical Music episode.
• The soundtrack of the 1999 Sofia Coppola movie The Virgin Suicides features "Crazy on You" and "Magic Man". In the movie, "Crazy on You" is played in the first kiss scene between Lux Libson(Kirsten Dunst) and Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett).
• The 2001 movie A Knight's Tale features "Crazy on You".
• The 2004 Eminem song "Crazy In Love" samples the chorus of "Crazy On You"
• "Crazy on You" is featured in the 2004 movie Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle.
• Heart performs "Crazy on You" in the season finale of the second season (2005) of the Showtime drama The L Word.
• "Crazy on You" is featured in the 2006 video game Guitar Hero II.

• "You Can't Do That on Television" uses samples of "Crazy on You" and "Magic Man" in the 1983 Classical Music episode.
• The soundtrack of the 1999 Sofia Coppola movie The Virgin Suicides features "Crazy on You" and "Magic Man".
• "Magic Man" is featured in the 1996 movie Swingers.
• "Magic Man" is featured in the game Harley Davidson Motorcycles.
• "Magic Man" is frequently referenced in the Nick Earls novel "World of Chickens"
• "Magic Man" is covered during "Homecoming" VIP-only concerts performed by American Country singer Kenny Rogers at Barona Casino.

• Mandisa covered "Never" during the semifinals on American Idol 2006

• "No Other Love" is featured in The L Word season 2 (2005).

• "The Heat" is featured in the 1984 movie Up the Creek.

• An instrumental version of "These Dreams" can be heard in an episode of season 6 (2006-7) of The Sopranos.

• Lil' Wayne samples "What About Love" in his song "Something You Forgot".
• On his 2007 album Trilla, Rick Ro$$ samples "What About Love" in his song "Shot to the Heart".
• Melissa McGhee covered "What About Love" during the semifinals on American Idol 2006

Artist	Skill(s)	Period
Roger Fisher	Lead Guitar	1963–1979[5]
Steve Fossen	Electric Bass	1963–1982[5]
John Hannah	Keyboards	1970-1974[6]
Brian Johnstone	Drums	1970-1974[6]
Mike Fisher	Guitar	1970–1979[6]
Ann Wilson	Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Harmony Vocals, Flute	1970–present[6]
Nancy Wilson	Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals, Piano[7]	1974–present
Michael Derosier	Drums	1975–1982
Howard Leese	Guitar, Keyboards, Synthesizer	1975–1997
Mark Andes	Electric Bass	1982–1993
Denny Carmassi	Drums	1982–1993
Schuyler Deale	Electric Bass	1993
John Purdell	Keyboards	1993
Denny Fongheiser	Drums	1994–1995
Fernando Saunders	Electric Bass	1994–1995
Scott Olson	Guitar	2002
Tom Kellock	Keyboards	2002
Ben Smith	Drums	2002–present
Mike Inez	Electric Bass	2002–2006
Gilby Clarke	Guitar	2003
Darian Sahanaja	Keyboards	2003–2004
Craig Bartock	Guitar	2004–present
Debbie Shair	Keyboards & Synthesizers	2004–present
Ric Markmann	Electric Bass	2006–present

Artist	Skill(s)	Period
Guitar(s)
Roger Fisher	Lead Guitar	1963–1979[5]
Mike Fisher	Guitar	1970–1979[6]
Nancy Wilson	Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals	1974–present
Howard Leese	Guitar, Keyboards, Synthesizer	1975–1997
Scott Olson	Guitar	2002
Gilby Clarke	Guitar	2003
Craig Bartock	Guitar	2004–present
Electric Bass
Steve Fossen	Electric Bass	1963–1982[5]
Mark Andes	Electric Bass	1982–1993
Schuyler Deale	Electric Bass	1993
Fernando Saunders	Electric Bass	1994–1995
Mike Inez	Electric Bass	2002–2006
Ric Markmann	Electric Bass	2006–present
Keyboards[7]
John Hannah	Keyboards	1970-1974[6]
Howard Leese	Guitar, Keyboards, Synthesizer	1975–1997
John Purdell	Keyboards	1993
Tom Kellock	Keyboards	2002
Darian Sahanaja	Keyboards	2003–2004
Debbie Shair	Keyboards & Synthesizers	2004–present
Drums
Brian Johnstone	Drums	1970-1974[6]
Michael Derosier	Drums	1975–1982
Denny Carmassi	Drums	1982–1993
Denny Fongheiser	Drums	1994–1995
Ben Smith	Drums	2002–present
Vocals, Flute & Mandolin
Ann Wilson	Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Harmony Vocals, Flute	1970–present[6]
Nancy Wilson	Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Lead Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals, Piano[7]	1974–present

For a complete list of Heart albums and singles, see Heart discography.

• List of bands from Canada
• List of best-selling music artists

• Heart's official site
• Interview with Howard Leese

v • d • e Heart
Ann Wilson | Nancy Wilson
Heart discography
Studio albums: Dreamboat Annie| Bad Animals | Bebe Le Strange | Brigade | Desire Walks On | Dog and Butterfly | Heart | Jupiter's Darling | Little Queen | Magazine | Passionworks | Private Audition Compilations: Alive in Seattle | The Essential Heart | Greatest Hits | Greatest Hits: 1985-1995 | Greatest Hits Live | The Road Home | These Dreams: Greatest Hits | Love Alive Singles: Allies | All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You | Alone | Back to Avalon | Barracuda | Bebe Le Strange | Black on Black II | Crazy on You | Dog and Butterfly | Dreamboat Annie | Even It Up | Heartless | How Can I Refuse? | I Didn't Want to Need You | If Looks Could Kill | In Walks the Night | I Want You So Bad | Kick it Out | Little Queen | Magic Man | Make Me | Never | Nothin' at All | Oldest Story in the World | The Perfect Goodbye | Secret | Straight On | Stranded | Tall, Dark, Handsome Stranger | Tell It Like It Is | There's the Girl | These Dreams | Things | This Man Is Mine | Unchained Melody | Vainglorious | What About Love | Who Will You Run To | Wild Child | Will You Be There (In the Morning) | The Woman in Me | You're the Voice