The multi-platinum HEART, centred upon the Wilson sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, have enjoyed a lengthy career that has seen the band open up with huge successes in the Folk Rock field, through an interim low and bouncing back in spectacular style with the slickest of AOR and melodic Rock. Although visually all about the striking looks of the Wilson siblings their musical merit, and in particular Ann's soaring vocal talents, has given HEART a unique foil.

The daughters of a Colonel-In-Chief in the US Marines Corps, Ann and Nancy Wilson, both born in Southern California, spent much of their childhood as Army brats moving from town to town and country to country, wherever their father was posted to next. At one point the Wilson's were living in Taiwan before, following his retirement, Colonel Wilson accepted a teaching job in Seattle. The family - including the third Wilson sister, Lynn, settling in to a permanent home in the suburb of Bellevue.

Discovering THE BEATLES, the girls became intrigued by music at a fairly young age. Nancy took up the guitar at the age of nine, whilst the older Ann began to exercise her vocal talents in a progressively tainted little high school outfit called GROOVY. Ann's first 'official' band is credited as DAYBREAK, a band in which she was paid by a couple purporting to be a Country And Western duo to record three of their songs and one of DAYBREAK's own numbers entitled 'Through Eyes Of Glass'. These four tracks were promptly released in 1967 on the Topaz label as two separate singles, with 'Through Eyes Of Glass' appearing as a B-side of the second release

DAYBREAK soon began to evolve into a far more serious affair. Coincidentally, Ann Wilson had become involved in another pretty serious affair, having met boyfriend Mike Fisher and deciding to move north across the border to Vancouver, Canada with him after Fisher had decided to evade being drafted for military service in Vietnam.

Once in Canada Ann decided to put together a new group. By coincidence, Nancy Wilson had started dating Mike Fisher's brother Roger and decided to join her sister in Vancouver. The pair began working together, being joined by guitarist Roger Fisher and bassist Steve Fossen and, because of the location, giving rise to the popular misconception that the band is Canadian.

HEART, under the wing of Fisher, had in fact already existed in name since 1963 with name changes from ARMY to WHITE HEART to HEART. Ann Wilson joined the band in 1973.

by the British Blues Rock pioneers HEART toured locally and throughout British Columbia before gaining a record deal in 1975 with independent Vancouver label Mushroom Records, a company owned by the Vogeul family, whose main income was derived from a family owned paint company.

The band recorded their debut album, 'Dreamboat Annie', with producer Mike Flicker. The record featured musical assistance from erstwhile ZOO guitarist Howard Leese (who had made his first ever live appearance in a band at the Santa Monica Civic when only a mere 15 and made his first recorded appearance on The ZOO's debut 1968 album 'Meets Chocolate Moose'). Leese was soon to join HEART on a full-time basis along with ex-BANG drummer Duris Maxwell and one Rob Deans on keyboards. The latter would become a founding member of enduring Canadian outfit TROOPER.

To the band's, and especially the label's amazement, 'Dreamboat Annie' exceeded platinum status in Canada and produced three hit singles, 'Magic Man', 'Crazy For You' and 'Dreamboat Annie'.

The problem, however, was that a small label like Mushroom encountered severe distribution problems, a fact the band discovered as soon as they hit the road. In theory, 'Dreamboat Annie' could have sold far more than it actually did, especially across the border in the America. The sisters were also extremely unhappy at how they themselves were being marketed by the label, the result being that the band moved back to Seattle and were quickly signed by Epic Records' new subsidiary Portrait., something that angered Mushroom enormously, prompting the Vancouver based label to threaten the release of a half-finished second album HEART had begun to record under the title of 'Magazine'.

The first fruits of HEART's new relationship with Portrait was the 'Little Queen' album in 1977. This was followed by the vastly underrated 'Dog And Butterfly' a year later. Mike Fisher would take time out to produce the debut album for another Seattle act RAIL. This album would also witness Ann lending her support as backing vocalist.

However, HEART's growing stature was marred by behind the scenes squabbling that saw the exit of Mike Fisher as both band manager and Ann's boyfriend and he was soon followed by brother Roger who predictably formed THE ROGER FISHER BAND and much later the hugely successful ALIAS.

Roger Fisher's departure, Howard Leese began to take more of a leading role in partnership with the Wilson sisters.

1981 was to put HEART in front of more people than at any time in their career as the band pulled off the coup of opening for the ROLLING STONES on their gargantuan tour of America, often playing to more than 80'000 people a night. Festival headline shows followed to more modest audiences of 30'000.

1983's 'Passionworks' marked the recording debut of new HEART members ex-JO JO GUNNE, SPIRIT and FIREFALL bassist Mark Andes and erstwhile MONTROSE and SAMMY HAGAR man Denny Carmassi on drums. Derosier would re-emerge in ex-BOSTON guitarist Barry Goudreau's ORION in 1984 and later reunite with Fisher and Fossen in ALIAS.

years there have been rumours of a Nancy Wilson solo album in the works. Initially approached by Portrait in the early 80's to do an instrumental album, Nancy started work on what was essentially a musical storybook for children entitled 'The Dream Friends' in 1981, a tale centred upon a flying horse.

In the end Ann beat her sister to a solo record when, in 1989, she teamed up with CHEAP TRICK front man Robin Zander to record a track for the Mel Gibson movie 'Tequila Sunrise'. The song, 'Surrender To Me', was released as a single through Capitol. Musicians on the 45 included Nancy (acoustic guitar), Denny Carmassi and TOTO's Jeff Porcaro (drums and percussion). AOR hero RICHARD MARX was heavily involved in penning the track.

HEART switched labels to Capitol Records and underwent a radical transformation for the 1985 'Heart' record. The visual aspect of the band was pushed to the maximum with lavish videos and a host of outside hit songwriters took HEART from the lower reaches of the international charts to the very top. Contributors were ELTON JOHN lyricist Bernie Taupin and Holly Knight. Backing vocals came courtesy of JEFFERSON STARSHIP's Grace Slick with additional guitar from SURVIVOR's Frankie Sullivan.

'Heart', an American number 1, gave the band four monster hit singles with 'Never', the soaring ballad 'What About Love', and the number 1's 'Nothin' At All' and 'These Dreams'.

1987's 'Bad Animals', produced by Ron Nevison, kept up the heat. Another multi platinum monster seller it was launched with a further number 1 single 'Alone', a record that found Ann scaling some quite incredible vocal heights. The album included a version of LISA DALBELLO's 'Wait For An Answer'.

The Richie Zito produced 'Brigade', issued in 1990 continued the trend. The Mutt Lange penned 'All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You' just missing out on the number 1 spot in America. Holly Knight's influence was much in evidence once more whilst SAMMY HAGAR gained songwriting credits on 'The Night' and 'Fallen From Grace' whilst JAIME KYLE contributed 'Stranded'.

'Brigade' was followed by a live album 'Rock The House' which included a version of JOHN FARNHAM's 'You're The Voice'.

Although 1993's 'Desire Walks On' failed to repeat the lofty chart success of previous outings this darker, more mature album remains a favourite with HEART fans. The album caught Ann in a duet with ALICE IN CHAINS vocalist Layne Staley on a version of BOB DYLAN's 'Ring Them Bells'. HEART also reworked DALBELLO"s 'Black On Black' and collaborated with the Canadian diva on 'Anything Is possible'. By this time Andes was out of the picture reforming FIREFALL for 'The Messenger' album. Bass on the album was handled by Schuyler Deale.

The 1995 live album 'The Road Home' proved to be a unique outing. A collection of acoustic versions of HEART standards and new material produced by LED ZEPPELIN bassist JOHN PAUL JONES. HEART's rhythm section for this album comprised of bassist Fernando Saunders and drummer Denny Fongheiser. The record included versions of ELTON JOHN's 'Seasons' and JONI MITCHELL's 'The River'.

By 1998 it appeared that Nancy was no longer a member of HEART, although she continued to play an active role in the side project LOVEMONGERS with Ann. A new LOVEMONGERS record 'Whirlygig' was released independently earlier in the year followed by a Christmas album 'Here Is Christmas'. Leese and Ann Wilson continue to tour billed as ANN WILSON'S HEART. The trio also cut a track 'Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves' for THE SIMPSONS comedy album 'The Yellow Album'.

Ann also took time out to appear in a theatre production of 'Teatro Zin Zinni, Love, Chaos & Dinner' appearing as a 20's chanteuse.

Leese also enjoys activity in the production role working on INDIKA's 'Mass' album, SISTER MARY and English guitarist STUART SMITH's 'Heaven And Earth' record. In amidst all this activity Leese has contributed guitar solos to an EP by JOEY MOLLAND'S BADFINGER, NORTHERN PACIFIC RAIN FACTORY's 'All Those Yesterdays' album and DANA ANTON's 'Dream Of The Mystic Lovers'. The workaholic musician also plays with a side project band that has evolved from BITCH MAGNET to PARTY NINJAS to THE HOWARD LEESE BRIGADE. Musicians include vocalist Freddy Krumins, bassist Jason Boyleston (also a member of SISTER MARY) and drummer Jeff Karhin. The band regularly play covers shows.

Nancy Wilson issued her first album 'Live At McCabe's Guitar Shop' in 1999. The guitarist also has recorded numerous film soundtracks for movies directed by her husband Cameron Crowe. Howard Leese contributed to the 2000 HEAVEN AND EARTH album 'Windows To The World'. By 2001 it emerged that the guitarist had hooked up with former FREE vocalist PAUL RODGERS. The guitarist would also guest on Paul Shortino's THE CUTT project the same year. Meantime some of the THE LOVEMONGERS material would be collected together under the HEART banner for a seasonal 2001 album release 'Heart Presents A Lovemongers Christmas'.

The Wilson sisters announced a brand new formation of HEART in March 2002 for summer roadwork. The new look band saw Ann and Nancy complimented by OZZY OSBOURNE, SPYS 4 DARWIN and ALICE IN CHAINS bassist Mike Inez, guitarist Steve Olson, keyboard player Tom Kellock and THE LOVEMONGERS drummer Ben Smith. Ann Wilson would also be in the news for her efforts to lose weight, publicly admitting to have been fitted with a gastric lap band, as used by another famous music business figure OZZY OSBOURNE's wife and manager Sharon, in a drastic measure to lose weight. When this procedure had been announced the singer had already lost some 50 lbs.

Sure enough, HEART announced their return for a mammoth 2003 Summer run of North American shows, the Wilson sisters joined in the new look band by erstwhile GUNS N' ROSES guitarist GILBY CLARKE, guitarist Craig Bartock, bassist Mike Inez, keyboard player Darien Sahanaja of THE LEMONHEADS and drummer Ben Smith. News of a projected new studio album title of 'Jupiters Darling' emerged in November. Former ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist JERRY CANTRELL would add a guest solo to the track 'Fallen Ones' in February of 2004. Cantrell would later jam through encores 'Barracuda' and 'Misty Mountain Hop' at the band's 1st August Los Angeles Greek Theatre show. Ex-guitarist HOWARD LEESE signed to Blackstar Records in October of 2004 for a solo album.

As 2005 opened it was announced that Clarke had joined DKT/MC5, the band assembled by founding MC5 members guitarist Wayne Kramer, bassist Michael David and drummer Dennis Thompson, THE DICTATORS guitarist 'Handsome' Dick Manitoba alongside Lisa Kekaula of THE BELLRAYS.

Both Ann and Nancy Wilson performed at a Tsunami benefit Show in Seattle at The Premier on 18th February. The duo united with former ALICE IN CHAINS members JERRY CANTRELL, Mike Inez and Sean Kinney together with DAMAGEPLAN's Pat Lachman for acoustic performances then took on a couple of LED ZEPPELIN numbers. ANN WILSON would also find herself in an on screen project, as part of the 2005 'Rock School' documentary chronicling the pioneering work of Paul Green's School Of Rock Music in Philadelphia. Wilson fronted up a version of HEART's 'Barracuda' backed by musicians from the school. That same year Ann Wilson guested on AMBROSIA vocalist DAVID PACK's solo album, gracing the track 'The Secret Of Moving On'.

HEART would be subject of the episode of VH1 Classic's "Decades Rock Live!" tribute show, taking place on 10th March at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. This show also featured a highly publicised ALICE IN CHAINS reformation as opening act. Following HEART's set, ALICE IN CHAINS returned for 'Rooster', to which Ann Wilson contributed vocals. Bass player Mike Inez put in double duty for the evening, playing for both ALICE IN CHAINS and HEART.