5 Fun Facts About Heart’s Nancy Wilson That You Will Love
Nancy Wilson founded the groundbreaking rock band Heart with her sister Ann in 1975. Fifty years later, Nancy — who turns 71 on March 16 — still looks every inch the rock star, from her fuchsia-striped piecey blonde hair to the over-the-knee platform suede boots in the same shade of fuchsia that she recently wore onstage at L.A.’s Crypto Arena.
Though the sisters, and thus the band, have experienced plenty of heartbreak and upheaval, they are now in the midst of a rigorous North American tour. And, Nancy told the Los Angeles Times, they’re not holding back, even after Ann’s 2023 brain cancer battle.
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“Unlike a lot of entertainment, we do a 100% skin-in-the-game live rock show,” Nancy — who both plays guitar and sings some of Heart’s top tunes — said. “That requires a lot of warmup and a lot of physical training to have flexibility and strength underneath you.”
Here are 5 fun facts about Heart’s eternally youthful Nancy Wilson.
1 She and Ann have another sister
Lynn Wilson is four years older than Ann and eight years older than Nancy. Not much is written about the eldest Wilson sister, but Ann and Nancy post photos of the trio on Heart’s Facebook page.
2 The Beatles were the genesis of Heart
After Nancy saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, she and Ann became obsessed with the Fab Four. The sisters frequently adopted British accents and performed air-guitar driven shows in the family living room, before they became musicians in their own right.
“The first time I dropped the needle on Revolver, it was like being let in through a secret backstage door where the recording session was going on,” Wilson told the music web site Far Out. “You could feel the air move. You could feel their collective consciousness, leaning toward new heights of greatness.”
But as much as she loved Revolver, Nancy credits Abbey Road for bridging her family’s painful generation gap. The Beatles, she told Far Out, “had created an open, loving atmosphere.”
3 She and Cameron Crowe were an ’80s and ’90s power couple
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In the mid 1980s, Heart had emerged from a serious slump to become an arena rock powerhouse. At the same time, Nancy married former Rolling Stone writer and fledgling filmmaker Cameron Crowe, who was on the verge of becoming the voice of a generation with films like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Say Anything, Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous (which was based on his entrée to Rolling Stone).
Nancy wrote music for Jerry Maguire, Say Anything and Almost Famous, plus Crowe’s other films Vanilla Sky and Elizabethtown. Though they became parents to twin sons Curtis and William in 2000, Nancy told People that, “I think our relationship became more about the work than about a real relationship, and we lost track of each other inside the work.” The couple split in 2008.
4 Tom Cruise gave Nancy a personal tour of the Scientology Celebrity Centre
His connection to the controversial religion is much quieter now. But at the time Jerry Maguire and Vanilla Sky filmed, the movies’ star, Tom Cruise, was one of the Church of Scientology’s most famous faces. He gave Nancy and Crowe a private tour of the church’s Los Angeles celebrity enclave.
5 Alex and Eddie Van Halen made the Wilson sisters an offer they could refuse
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In 1979, Heart opened for Van Halen on their World Vacation tour. Though they were no shrinking violets themselves, Ann and Nancy were shocked at the Van Halen brothers’ hard-partying ways, especially before they took the stage. Soon enough, Alex and Eddie — whom, Nancy told shock jock Howard Stern, were demonstrative in the first place — suggested the foursome get funky. “Sounds like a publicist’s dream,” Nancy admitted, before confirming that she and Ann turned the Van Halens down.
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