Legendary vocalist, Ann Wilson, has denied rumours of a rift with her sister Nancy, while confirming that she’d like to make another record with their group, Heart.
Relations between the two sisters were considered to be at an all-time low after a much-publicized incident when Ann’s husband was arrested during a Heart tour in 2016. But in a new, wide-ranging, and exclusive interview with Rock Candy Mag to coincide with the release of her new solo album, Fierce Bliss, Ann insists that there is no feud between her and Nancy.
“Things happen in families,” she explains. “And that was a really good example of something that happened within a family, and we worked it out. But the part that made it hard was that it happened in the public eye. If it had happened privately, we’d have got the family in a room and sat down and worked it out between us. Instead, the police were called, and this myth was born that Nancy and I were feuding, and we were at each other’s throats all the time. And it’s really not like that at all.”
A proposed Heart tour fell through last year after the two sisters failed to agree on which backing band to use. Ann wanted her guys, Nancy didn’t. But Ann now says that another Heart album, which would be the band’s first since 2016’s ‘Beautiful Broken’, is a definite possibility, especially considering the fact that 2023 marks Heart’s 50th anniversary.
“It depends on the songs,” she says in her Rock Candy Mag interview. “The songs lead everything. And I’m writing songs again now. I don’t know if they’ll be for my solo thing or for Heart. But yes, I would like to make another Heart album.”
And there’s more good news for fans of the singer who’s sold more than 35 million albums and has recorded US Top 10 albums in four different decades. Retirement is completely out of the question for Ann Wilson, even at the age of 71.
“I just can’t think of a time when I would retire or go do something else,” she says. “This is a calling for me. It’s what I was put here to do, and I’ll do it for as long as I can.”
Read this 12-page Ann Wilson feature and many other fascinating stories including Edgar Winter, Joe Satriani, and Foreigner in issue 31 of Rock Candy Mag.
Wilson has released the new single, "A Moment In Heaven", featured on her upcoming album, Fierce Bliss, out April 29 via Silver Lining Music.
Says Ann: “’A Moment In Heaven’ tells the story of a one-hit-wonder in the star-maker machinery of Hollywood: the sublime cruelty of transient fame.”
“A Moment In Heaven” carries a specific point of reference for Wilson but could easily apply to anyone who has seen their career suddenly bathed in a bright beam of glory before the spotlight is abruptly moved elsewhere. “It’s one of those anti-Hollywood screed things,” offers Wilson, “the meat grinder of the music image maker machine and what it feels like to be on the inside of that. All of a sudden, it’s ‘happening’ on all thrusters, you’ve got a number one record and everyone’s pouring champagne telling you how much you ‘deserve this.’ You’re in heaven! But then the cruel reality comes down… what’s the next one? Can you follow that? It’s all about the short-lived glamour and ecstasy of being successful in the rock business.”
One of the premier hard rock vocalists of all-time, Wilson smashed boundaries with her band Heart, the 8-times Platinum, 35 million-plus selling Rock and Roll Hall of Fame trailblazers who formed in 1973. During a decades-long career, Wilson rode the roller coaster of fame, fortune and madness, learning both joyous and hard, hard lessons along the way. Fast forward to Summer 2020, and a meeting with legendary veteran ‘artist’s lawyer’ Brian Rohan provided the catalyst for Fierce Bliss’s creation.
“Getting to know him, talking to him and his belief in me made me go: ‘the hell with this sitting around the house, I’ve always wanted to record at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, I’m just going to go do it, I have some songs!” Wilson states firmly. “Brian recommended people to me that knew people in Nashville, so I met [famed Nashville session guitarist] Tom Bukovac and Tony Lucido at those Muscle Shoals sessions. I’d never met them before, and they really inspired me. It was like a big door opening. Put it this way, we’re now a band.”
With the musical chemistry organically established, Fierce Bliss came together quickly. “It grew from that first session at Muscle Shoals,” furthers Wilson, “I had originally intended to go in, record a few songs and see what I had, but it just took on this life. Jim Zumwalt, the attorney, got a hold of it and said I should look at a few other people. We went into Sound Stage in Nashville, where Kenny Wayne Shepherd came in and played on a couple songs. He was a whole other influence coming in, he just played his butt off, and with the gospel singers and everything else coming together, the whole project just started to grow. I’d known Warren Haynes from Government Mule for a while, we’d written a couple songs together with Government Mule playing, and those rounded out the record. So all of a sudden, where there was no record before, suddenly I had eleven cool songs that I really liked.”
Fierce Bliss is not just an album for fans of Ann Wilson and Heart, it is an album for everyone seeking a lavish ticket out of the sharp edges of an increasingly fraught society. Fierce Bliss also marks perhaps the first time in her illustrious career that Ann Wilson has truly felt the wind in her wings, something which might seem a strange statement given her pioneering history.
Fierce Bliss is available to pre-order here on CD Casebound Book (deluxe package), Vinyl and Digital formats.
Fierce Bliss tracklisting:
"Greed"
"Black Wing"
"Bridge Of Sighs"
"Fighten for Life"
"Love Of My Life" (feat. Vince Gill)
"Missionary Man"
"Gladiator"
"Forget Her"
"A Moment In Heaven"
"Angel’s Blues" *
"As The World Turns"
* Available on CD and digital formats only
"Missionary Man":
"Greed" video:
Lineup:
Ann Wilson - Vocals
Tom Bukovac - Guitar
Tony Lucido - Bass
Sean T Lane - Drums, Percussion & Bike
Gordon Mote - Keyboards
Tim Lauer - Keyboards
- Produced by Ann Wilson and Tom Bukovac
- “Gladiator” and “Angel’s Blues” produced by Ann Wilson and Warren Haynes
- Mixed by Chuck Ainlay
- Recorded by Chuck Ainlay at Fame Studios, Muscle Shoals, AL and Soundstage, Nashville, TN
- “Gladiator” and “Angel’s Blues” recorded by Joe Paterno at Power Station, Waterford, CT
- "Black Wing" recorded by Sean Walker at Uberbeatz, Lynnwood, WA
- Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, Edgewater, NJ
- Executive Producer Jim Zumwalt
Musicians who appear on Fierce Bliss:
Vocals - Vince Gill on “Love of My Life”
Lead Guitar - Kenny Wayne Shepherd on “Bridge of Sighs” and “Missionary Man”
Guitar - Warren Haynes on “Gladiator” and “Angel’s Blues”
Guitar - Tyler Boley on “Black Wing”
Keyboards - Danny Louis on “Gladiator” and “Angel’s Blues”
Keyboards - Dan Walker on “Black Wing”
Bass - Jorgen Carlsson on “Gladiator” and “Angel’s Blues”
Bass - Andy Stoller on “Black Wing”
Drums - Matt Abts on “Gladiator” and “Angel’s Blues”
Choir - The Rev Nathan Young Singers on “Missionary Man”
Tour dates:
May
4 - San Francisco, CA - Great American
5 - Napa, CA - The Uptown Theatre
7 - Pala, CA - Pala Casino
9 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
10 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
13 - Los Cabos, MEX - Hard Rock
June
11 - Peachtree City, GA - Fred Amphitheater
13/14 - Nashville, TN - Basement East
16 - Tampa, FL - Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa
17 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - The Parker
Tickets can be purchased here.
