(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
In the mid-1970s the sisters Ann (vocals and lyrics) and Nancy (guitar and music) Wilson (Californians but raised in Seattle) built a career by indulging in the folk-singer clich, but with the more emphatic sound of hard rock. Heart had existed since time immemorial (the original group had been formed as far back as 1963 by guitarist Roger Fisher, and keyboardist Howard Leese had already joined in 1967), but their vocal harmonies and their drive marked the decisive turning point. Having become famous along the stretch of coast between Seattle and Vancouver, Heart released Dreamboat Annie (Mushroom, 1975), in which Crazy On You still clearly reveals the stylistic bridge they were trying to build between folk-rock and hard rock. Magic Man entered the charts and turned them into international stars. The follow-up Magazine (Mushroom, 1976), released only two years later, contained another of their future hits, Heartless.
Little Queen (Portrait, 1977) propelled them even higher, thanks to the single Barracuda, a heavy-metal variation on the theme of Magic Man. Dog And Butterfly (1978) and Bebe Le Strange (1980), without original founder Roger Fisher, completed their maturation.
Two more of the original members departed and the lineup had to reorganize. After stringing together four platinum albums in five years, they adapted to the new AOR arrangement standards with a more emotional and existential style, leaving only the solemn tone of the vocals intact. The record company wisely took the pen out of the duos hands and entrusted songwriting to seasoned hitmakers. The result was Heart (Capitol, 1985), their greatest commercial success. The high-charting singles were: Never, which marries their almost gospel-like vocal harmonies with increasingly thunderous keyboard arrangements; What About Love, the quintessence of their disenchanted romanticism (with their mentor Grace Slick on backing vocals) and of their Wagnerian backdrops; the gritty Nothing At All; and the moving serenade These Dreams. The panzer-paced heavy metal of If Looks Could Kill erased their folk origins altogether.
On Bad Animals (Capitol, 1987) the sisters dished out two more of their sentimental classics: Alone, perhaps the most epic melody of their career and certainly one of their most symphonic arrangements, and Who Will You Run To, sung by Ann Wilson with gospel-shouter fervor over a pounding guitar riff. But that virtue turned into a vice on Brigade (Capitol, 1990), when All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You reduced their style of synthetic-sounding love ballad to a sterile stereotype. Will You Be There, from Desire Walks On (1993), and the timid cocktail-lounge ballads of The Road Home (1995) did nothing more than prolong the merciless agony of a duo by then satiated with success.
Their obvious point of reference is Led Zeppelin, but the trick lay in discovering compromise performance styles (Ann singing with the desperate emphasis of Janis Joplin, but without her rasp; vocal harmonies with her sister that recall those of Jefferson Airplane; a backing power trio in which the rhythm section prevails over the lead guitar; a piano that is more classical than boogie) that do not sacrifice the power of hard rock but smooth its rough edges. Their greatest limitation is having sacrificed any claim to authorship to success: after 1985 they signed only very minor songs, and all their hits were bought from others.
Ann Wilson
debuted solo with Hope & Glory (2007), a cover album.
The Wilson sisters also played in side-project Lovemongers, documented
on Whirlygig (1997).
Heart continued to occasionally reunite for disposable albums such as
Jupiters Darling (2004) and Red Velvet Car (2010).
