In 1967, Bassist Steve Fossen formed a band, The Army, along with Roger Fisher on guitar, Don Wilhelm on guitar, keyboards and lead vocals, and Ray Schaefer on drums. They played for several years in and around the Bothell, Washington area (northeast of Seattle). They frequently played Bothell High School, Inglemoor High School and Shorecrest High School, as well as many taverns and club venues. In 1969 the band went through line-up changes (Gary Ziegelman (former lead singer of Buffalo Clancy) on lead vocals, Roger on guitar, Steve on bass, James Cirrello on guitar, Ron Rudge on drums, Ken Hansen on percussion, and a new name, White Heart. The name White Heart came from a discussion Roger Fisher's brother Mike Fisher had with Michael Munro, who had come up with the name White Hart (without the "e", a reference to Arthur C. Clarke's Tales from the White Hart) for a band with Toby Cyr on lead guitar. Fisher asked and received permission to use the name for the Army, added the "e", and the Army became White Heart. For a brief time in 1970 this line-up shortened its name to Heart and dropped "White"; however, the band went through more personnel changes. In 1971, Heart consisted of Steve Fossen, Roger Fisher, David Belzer (keys) and Jeff Johnson (drums). After Ann Wilson joined (in 1970 or 1972), the band was renamed Hocus Pocus.
Heart has sold over 35 million records worldwide, had 20 Top 40 singles, seven Top 10 albums and four Grammy nominations. Heart achieved Top 10 albums on the Billboard charts in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2010s, with chart singles in each decade. This span of over four decades gives them the longest span of Top 10 albums by a female fronted band.
Mike Fisher, Roger's brother, was set to be drafted into the military. Nancy Wilson has stated that when he did not report for duty, his home was raided, but he slipped out a rear window, escaped to Canada and became a Vietnam War "draft dodger". One day in 1972 (or 1971), Mike crossed the border to visit family and, by chance, met Ann at a Hocus Pocus (or White Heart) show. According to Nancy, that meeting was "when she and Michael fell in love" and Ann decided to follow Mike back to Canada. Steve Fossen finished his college education before he also decided to move to Canada in late 1972, and Roger followed in late 1972/early 1973. Along with Ann, Brian Johnstone (drums) and John Hannah (keyboards), the band Heart was officially formed. Ann's sister Nancy Wilson joined in 1974, and soon after became romantically involved with Roger.
The group played numerous shows around their new home in Vancouver, and they recorded a demo tape with the assistance of Producer Mike Flicker and session-guitarist and keyboard player, Howard Leese. Hannah and Johnstone had left by this time, and soon after Leese became a full-time member. Flicker produced the band's first five albums. This team recorded the debut album, Dreamboat Annie, at Can-Base Studios in Vancouver (later known as Mushroom Studios). Mike Derosier eventually joined Heart as full-time Drummer. Some of the same Canadian Investors who had backed the studio also backed a separate company Mushroom Records, which was managed by Shelly Siegel. Drummers Duris Maxwell, Dave Wilson, Kat Hendrikse, Michael Derosier, keyboardist Rob Deans, and Bassist Brian Newcombe were among those who also played on the sessions for the album. The album was picked up by Siegel and sold 30,000 copies in Canada in its first few months. Siegel soon released the album in the US, where, helped by two hit singles in 1976 ("Crazy on You" and "Magic Man", which reached numbers 35 and nine respectively on the Billboard Hot 100), it reached number seven in the Billboard 200. It eventually sold over one million copies.
Little Queen, with the hit "Barracuda" (No. 11, 1977), became Heart's second million-seller. Ann and Nancy appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone on July 28, 1977 (issue No. 244). Heart performed at the second California Jam on March 18th, 1978 in Ontario, California, at the Ontario Motor Speedway, in front of 350,000 people along with Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Foreigner, Santana, Bob Welch, Mahogany Rush, Dave Mason, and others. Heart performed at the first Texxas Jam on July 4 weekend in 1978 in Dallas, Texas, at the Cotton Bowl in front of 100,000 people, along with Aerosmith, Van Halen, Ted Nugent, Journey, Frank Marino, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Head East, and Walter Egan.
In late 1978, the double-platinum Dog and Butterfly peaked at 17 on the Billboard 200 and produced top 30 hits with its title song and "Straight On" which hit number 15.
In 1979, the Wilson-Fisher liaisons ended — Roger Fisher was voted out of the band by the other members, and his brother Mike left the orbit of the group within a month. Nancy Wilson and Howard Leese shared the guitar role, and childhood friend Sue Ennis helped with song collaborations.
Heart released Bebe le Strange in 1980. It became the band's third top ten album, peaking at number five, and yielded the Top 40 hit "Even It Up". The band embarked on a 77-city tour to promote the album. By the end of the year, the band scored their highest charted single at the time; a version of the ballad "Tell It Like It Is", which peaked at number eight. In November 1980, the double album Greatest Hits/Live was released and reached number twelve on the US chart, eventually achieving double platinum status. The two-disc set featured studio versions of most of Heart's singles to date, plus a couple of new studio tracks and six live tracks, amongst which were versions of "Unchained Melody", Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" and the Beatles' "I'm Down". But with a total of only two hit singles in 1980 (five singles were actually released) and a hiatus of almost two years to their next studio album, sales following this greatest hits package were weaker than previous efforts.
Their next album Private Audition (1982), provided the minor hit "This Man Is Mine" (No. 33 on Billboard) and was the first not produced by Mike Flicker. Initially the band turned to Jimmy Iovine, one of the leading producers of the time, who suggested that the material lacked potential hits, but eventually the Wilson sisters produced the album themselves. The track "Perfect Stranger" foreshadowed the power ballads that would dominate the band's mid-1980s sound. At the end of recording Derosier and Fossen were fired from the band. They were replaced by Denny Carmassi on drums and Mark Andes on bass for Passionworks (1983), while at the record company's insistence the band turned to established Producer Keith Olsen. Both Private Audition and Passionworks had relatively poor sales, failing to reach gold status. Despite the albums' poor sales, the single "How Can I Refuse" was a success reaching number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart. In 1984 Ann Wilson recorded a duet, with Mike Reno of hard rock band Loverboy, the pop ballad "Almost Paradise", which was featured on the Soundtrack of the movie Footloose. The song reached number seven on the US pop chart, and strongly influenced the band to use other songwriters and to change their sound. Nancy Wilson made cameo appearances in the films Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and The Wild Life (1984), both written by Journalist, Screenwriter and Director Cameron Crowe, whom she married in June 1986.
The band moved to Capitol Records and their first album for their new label was simply titled Heart (1985). The move to Capitol coincided with a glam metal makeover that included minimizing the acoustic and folk sounds characteristic of their early work. The album reached number one, sold five million copies and launched four Top-10 hits: "What About Love" (No. 10, 1985), "Never" (No. 4, 1985), the chart-topping "These Dreams" (1986) and "Nothin' at All" (No. 10, 1986). A fifth single, "If Looks Could Kill" also charted, giving the band five hit singles from the same album for the first time.
Heart's next album, Bad Animals (1987), named after reactions to the band when they entered an upmarket Memphis hotel, continued the move away from the band's folk and acoustic leanings towards a glossier arena rock sound. It contained the hit singles "Alone" (1987), which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, "Who Will You Run To" (1987), which reached number seven, and "There's the Girl" (1987), which reached number 12. Bad Animals also became the band's first top 10 album success in the UK, peaking at number seven on the UK Album Chart.
Following the 1990 tour, Heart released their first complete live album in the autumn of 1991. Rock the House Live! largely featured tracks from the Brigade album rather than more familiar hits in an effort to capture the harder rock side of the band. The album's single, a version of John Farnham's "You're the Voice" received moderate airplay on rock stations and hit No. 20 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The Wilson sisters then put together an informal acoustic group called the Lovemongers with Sue Ennis and Frank Cox. Their first show was a Red Cross benefit for troops in Seattle. A four-song EP, that included a live version of Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore" and an updated version of the Heart standard "Crazy On You", came out in late 1992. Their cover of "The Battle of Evermore" also appeared on the original Soundtrack for the 1992 film Singles.
Heart returned in 1993 with Desire Walks On, on which bass player Andes was replaced with Fernando Saunders. The album peaked at No. 48 on the Billboard 200, eventually being certified Gold. The lead track "Black on Black II" was an AOR (Album Oriented Rock) hit peaking at No. 4 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, while the single "Will You Be There (In the Morning)" was a moderate pop hit reaching No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100. A third single, "The Woman In Me" hit No. 24 on the Adult Contemporary chart but missed the Hot 100. An interactive CD-ROM, Heart: 20 Years of Rock & Roll, with five hours of audio footage, was released in 1994. Their next album, The Road Home (1995), offered live acoustic versions of the group's best-known songs and was produced by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.
In addition to their own recording careers, the Wilson sisters have played a role on the Seattle music scene. Among the artists that have used their Bad Animals Studio up to 1995 were Neil Young, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains.
The Lovemongers released a full-length album titled Whirlygig in 1997, and a collection of mostly self-penned Christmas songs titled Here is Christmas in 1998. This was re-released as a Heart album with the title Heart Presents a Lovemongers' Christmas in 2001. In 1998, the band maintained its profile by being the subject of an episode of VH1's Behind the Music. The band released a Greatest Hits boxed set covering their early work (a second volume focusing on the later part of their career followed in 2000). Also in 1998, Ann toured without Nancy, billed as "Ann Wilson and Heart". The lineup was the same as it had been in 1995, but without Scott Adams. This was longtime band member Leese's last tour with Heart; he left the band later in the year. Nancy kept busy scoring her husband's movies Jerry Maguire (1996), Almost Famous (2000), Vanilla Sky (2001) and Elizabethtown (2005). In 1999 Nancy released a solo album, Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop. Also in 1999, Nancy and Ann undertook their first tour without a backing band. In 2001 Ann participated in the A Walk Down Abbey Road: A Tribute to the Beatles tour, which also featured Todd Rundgren, John Entwistle of the Who and Alan Parsons. The sisters also appeared at benefits and special events, including the tribute to Brian Wilson at New York's Radio City Music Hall in March 2001.
In 2002, Ann and Nancy returned to the road with a brand-new Heart lineup that included Scott Olson, Ben Smith, Alice in Chains Bassist Mike Inez, and keyboardist Tom Kellock. In 2003, Heart released a DVD of their last stop in the tour as Alive in Seattle. Also in 2003, Gilby Clarke (ex-Guns N' Roses) and Darian Sahanaja replaced Olson and Kellock for an American tour.
In 2004, with the new lineup, Heart released Jupiters Darling, their first studio album since 1993. It featured a variety of songs that included a return to Heart's original hard rock sound, as well as a blend of vintage pop and new textures. Stand-out tracks included the singles "The Perfect Goodbye", "Oldest Story in the World" (No. 22 Billboard Rock Airplay, 2004) and "Lost Angel". In 2005 the Wilsons appeared on the CMT Music Awards as a special guest of country singer Gretchen Wilson (no relation) and performed the Heart classic, "Crazy on You", with Gretchen.
Heart performed with Gretchen Wilson on VH-1's March 10, 2006 tribute to the band, "Decades Rock Live". The special also featured Alice in Chains, Phil Anselmo, Dave Navarro, Rufus Wainwright, and Carrie Underwood. Later in the year, bass player Inez left Heart to re-join the reformed Alice in Chains.
On October 28, 2007, Activision put their song, "Barracuda", in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
Heart was ranked in 2008 as number 57 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock", and Ann and Nancy Wilson ranked number 40 (in 1999) on VH1's "100 Greatest women in rock and roll". Also, Ann Wilson was ranked in Hit Parader's 2006 "Greatest Heavy Metal Vocalists of All Time" at number 78. In 2009 the Wilson sisters were awarded ASCAP's Founders Award in recognition of their songwriting career.
In May 2010 there was a reunion of former male members of the band, including Roger Fisher and Steve Fossen; they performed at the Synergia North West concert in Tacoma, Washington.
In 2011, Heart earned their first nomination for induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the 2012 class, but were ultimately not picked. After a second nomination, the band were announced as inductees to the 2013 class on December 11, 2012. Their Hall of Fame page described the Wilson sisters as the first women to front a hard rock band, and "pioneers … that inspired women to pick up an electric guitar or start a band".
At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on April 18, 2013, the original members of Heart (the Wilson Sisters, Howard Leese, Michael Derosier, Steve Fossen, and Roger Fisher) reunited for the first time in 34 years to play "Crazy on You". The band was inducted by Chris Cornell, who emotionally talked about what heroes and role Models Ann and Nancy Wilson had been to him and other Musicians in Seattle. "For me, and for countless other men and women, they have earned, at long last, their rightful place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame", Cornell said.
In 2014, the band released another live album, Fanatic Live from Caesar's Colosseum which peaked at No. 13 on Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums chart.
Although the band played the remaining 2016 tour dates that were already booked, the Wilson sisters only spoke to one another through third parties for the remainder of the tour. Following the end of the tour in October 2016, the sisters opted to tour with their own side project bands. The pair's relationship was strained by the incident; an April 2017 article in Rolling Stone reported that although they remain on amicable terms, they had not spoken to one another since the 2016 tour ended, and only sporadically contact one another through text messaging.
In April 2017, Ann described Heart as being on hiatus, although both sisters claim the band has not permanently disbanded.
