As the youngest of three siblings, I can personally attest to the fact that having older brothers and sisters gives you an advantage that older siblings and only children just don’t get. Watching someone go through life a couple of steps ahead of you can help you avoid pitfalls and obstacles you might have missed otherwise, and as Nancy Wilson of Heart can attest, that includes life in the music industry.
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Before Nancy joined forces with her older sister, Ann Wilson, in Heart, the guitarist was doing what most younger sisters do: watching her sibling navigate the world and taking notes on what she saw. The Wilson sisters are four years apart but spent most of their childhood performing together in family bands (notable names included The Prunes and Rapunzel). When Ann went off to high school first, Nancy watched her sister start singing with local rock bands made up entirely of boys.
Ann continued working with local bands after high school, which, again, were almost exclusively composed of male musicians. Such was the way of rock ‘n’ roll in the late 1960s. Working in such a male-dominated industry had plenty of downsides for women, something Nancy experienced secondhand before ever seeing them firsthand.
Ann Wilson Taught Nancy Wilson by Example
Young women falling prey to exploitative men in the music industry is a tale as old as time. These female musicians often have a natural naivete from simply not having enough experience to know any better. Consequently, they can often feel like they have to cede their voice or autonomy just for a chance at being successful. As women slowly chip away at the patriarchal standards of the music industry, more and more women know that these trade-offs are, for lack of a better word, bulls***.
Fortunately for Nancy Wilson, she already knew that because she watched her sister discover it in real time. “When [Ann] was before me, she was already in the guys’ bands,” Nancy explained during an interview with Dan Rather. “There were some people that came along and said, ‘Well, you know, you should be wearing makeup, and you should wear the clothes, the shorter skirts [that show] the light between your thighs. This is what you should be like.’”
“That was pretty off-putting and pretty insulting,” Nancy continued. “And she was really p***ed off about that and let me know. ‘Can you believe what these people are trying to make me do? Who they’re trying to make me be?’”
How the Sisters’ Experiences Shaped Heart’s Musical Legacy
Nancy Wilson watching Ann Wilson’s reactions to male industry members expecting her to be “f***able” or “ornamental,” both descriptions Ann used in that same interview with Dan Rather, taught the guitarist an invaluable lesson about the rock ‘n’ roll world before she ever entered it. Nancy knew that this treatment of female musicians was condescending, inappropriate, and not something she had to tolerate because her sister already shown her by example.
When Nancy finally joined Ann in Heart in the early 1970s, the sisters had to continue to fight for people to take them seriously as musicians. They translated their frustrations into mega-hit songs like “Barracuda”, which simultaneously skyrocketed their careers while flipping a metaphorical bird to every sleazy promoter, record exec, or local yokel who doubted them.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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