NANCY WILSON On HEART's Longevity: 'If We Were Still Trying To Be The Original Lineup, We Would Never Still Be There'

In a new interview with Orange County Register, Nancy Wilson spoke about HEART‘s upcoming tour, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of HEART‘s 1975 debut album, “Dreamboat Annie”. Regarding the group’s longevity, the guitarist said: “I think me and Ann [Wilson, HEART singer], we represent what HEART is. The perception of HEART is the two of us. If we were still trying to be the original lineup, we would never still be there, you know what I mean? There was a lot of drama, and a lot of just growing up to do since the beginning of HEART, as far as who was in the band and who came through the band and all the different players.

“I think our relationship has always been really unique,” she continued. “We’re sisters, so we’re blood. Our love is blood love and as different as we are, which we really are. And as crazy and divergent as our lives could be from each other, and the circumstantial stuff from the outside and all the static that happens around us, we just plow through.

“I always felt lucky to have another girl, not to mention a sister, inside of HEART. It’s like being in the eye of the hurricane, the way it’s felt over the years, because all the eras go by and the dramas go through, and there’s cows flying around and tractors in the air, but at the nucleus of the story is the quiet center where me and Ann exist.

“We had our own lives and our husbands and our own choices and roads we took,” Nancy added. “But [the band] is kind of like coming back to the good old oak tree called HEART. It exists there. The roots are deep and it’s bigger than all the rest of it, because the music and the songs are there in the culture. It’s a lovely, steady pillar of power that just exists on its own. Even without me and Ann, it’ll still be there.”

Last July, HEART postponed the remaining dates of its 2024 North American tour in order for Ann to undergo cancer treatments.

The rescheduled “Royal Flush” will now kick off on February 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada and wrap up on April 16 in New York City.

Previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new dates.

The current members of HEART feature Nancy Wilson (rhythm, lead and acoustic guitar, backing and lead vocals),Ann Wilson (lead vocals and flute),Ryan Wariner (lead and rhythm guitar),Ryan Waters (guitars),Paul Moak (guitars, keyboards and backing vocals),Tony Lucido (bass and backing vocals) and Sean Lane (drums and bike).

In December 2023, HEART played its first three concerts in more than four years — in Highland, California, at Greater Palm Springs in Palm Desert, California, and in Seattle, Washington.

Prior to HEART‘s December 27, 2023 show in Highland, the band’s last performance took place in October 2019 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The 2024 leg of “Royal Flush” featured CHEAP TRICK as support on most of the North American leg. HEART was also scheduled to join DEF LEPPARD and JOURNEY for summer stadium shows in Cleveland, Toronto and Boston.

HEART toured North America in the summer of 2019 after a nasty split that kept the Wilson sisters estranged for three years.

Ann and Nancy had a falling out during HEART‘s 2016 tour, when Ann‘s husband Dean Welter was arrested for assaulting Nancy‘s then-16-year-old twin sons in a backstage altercation at a gig near their hometown of Seattle. He pleaded guilty to two lesser assault charges to avoid jail time.

HEART‘s 2013 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame saw Ann and Nancy reunited with the four musicians who helped HEART achieve its initial success in the mid-1970s — guitarist Roger Fisher, bassist Steve Fossen, drummer Michael DeRosier and longtime guitarist-keyboardist Howard Leese.

The Wilson sisters’ reunion with HEART‘s original lineup at the Rock Hall ceremony marked the first time the group played together in 34 years.

When Ann and Nancy formed HEART, the idea of two women leading a rock band was still groundbreaking. From the moment 1975’s “Dreamboat Annie” was released, they became stars. With hits like “Magic Man”, “Crazy On You”, “Barracuda”, “Alone”, “What About Love” and “These Dreams”, the band became one of the biggest hit-makers in the Seventies and Eighties, selling more than 35 million records. In 2012, their memoir “Kicking & Dreaming: A Story Of Heart, Soul And Rock & Roll” became a New York Times bestseller.

Photo credit: Criss Cain