Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honorees Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart will be supporting hard rockers Def Leppard and Journey on three dates during their stadium tour next summer, in addition to the group's just-announced gig at the Tons of Rock Festival on June 24 in Oslo, Norway. Apart from three concerts set to go this month, no one has proclaimed a full-scale Heart reunion just yet.
Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart on stage at Love Rocks NYC Benefit Concert For God's Love We Deliver, March 7, 2019.
The two sisters made a surprise splash when Nancy strolled onstage unannounced, on Oct. 10 at Ann's gig in Santa Rosa, Calif., much to the audience's shock. The two then launched into the Heart classic "Barracuda," with Ann's band Tripsetter providing hard driving accompaniment.
Nancy Wilson joins Ann Wilson for "Barracuda" (Santa Rosa, CA, 10/10/23)
Since then, the group has confirmed three shows as Heart to close out the current year: December 27 at the Yaamava' Theater in Highland, Calif., December 28 at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif., and a New Year's Eve bash in their hometown of Seattle, Washington at the Climate Pledge Arena.
The sisters will support three dates in the middle of next-summer's recently announced the Def Leppard/Journey tour: July 30 at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio; August 2 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, ON and August 5 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Other dates on the massive classic rock stadium tour will see Cheap Trick and the Steve Miller Band serve as opening acts.)
Nancy and Ann Wilson playing at a charity concert for the Canary Foundation, July 28, 2007.
Formed in 1973 (with Nancy joining in 1974), the band released their debut album Dreamboat Annie in 1975 to commercial success courtesy of two hit singles, "Magic Man" and "Crazy On You," both of which became FM radio staples.
They continued with rock radio smashes "These Dreams," "Alone," and "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You." Though the band's '70s anthems have proved to be their longest lasting radio staples, it was in the 1980s when Heart experienced its greatest success on the Billboard charts, with LPs Heart, Bad Animals, and Brigade charting at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 respectively between 1985 and 1990. The group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at the most recent ceremony in 2023.
However, the pair's relationship was severely fractured following an incident in 2016. Ann's husband Dean Wetter, was arrested after he assaulted Nancy's then 16-year-old twin sons backstage at a Heart show in Washington State, during their Beautiful Broken tour.
When speaking with Rock Candy magazine in 2022, Ann said of the incident, "Things happen in families, and that was a really good example of something that happened within a family, and we worked it out."
65th Grammy Awards - Special Merit Awards Ceremony: Harvey Mason, jr., Nancy Wilson, Tammy Hurt, February 4, 2023.
"We're sisters, first and foremost," Nancy Wilson said in our interview with Best Classic Bands, "and that's the most important story to tell about Heart. It’s not really a business between me and Ann. It shouldn't really be a business. That [doesn't] help the sisterhood. That's where the blood is thicker than water. That's the biggest joy to celebrate."
