Heart Were Surprised to Be ‘Singled Out as Women’

Heart
helped
to
break
important
ground
for
the
wave
of
female
artists
and
bands
who
followed
in
the
wake
of
their
success.
But
at
the
core
of
the
Seattle-bred
group’s
beginnings,
it
was
all
about
the
music.

“When
we
started
out,
[it]
was
not
a
gender-specific
story,”

Nancy
Wilson
shares
in
the
latest
episode
of
the


UCR
Podcast,
which
you
can
listen
to
below. “The
interesting
thing
about
how
Heart
started
was
that
we
were
in
democracies
with
guys
in
bands,
you
know.
So
we
were
never,
you
know,
female-specific
about
anything.
We
just
were
just
one
of
the
guys,
in
many
ways,
just
slogging
away
side
by
side
with
some
great
players.”

As
the
band
began
to
build
a
name,
tensions
would
develop
between
the
Wilson
sisters
and
the
other
members,
but
their
perceived
dominance
happened
organically,
she
says
now. “We
grew
up
in
a
super-musical
family,
with
all
levels
of
music
and
styles,”
she
explains. “We
[had[
the
advantage
as
two
girls
and
sisters
in
the
Heart
context,
to
be
the
songwriters.
Then,
after
that,
we
got
the
attention,
being
at
the
center
focus
of
it
all.”

READ
MORE:

Top
10
Heart
Songs

All
of
this
created
an
interesting
dynamic, “being
singled
out
as
women,”
she
adds. “We
weren’t
feminists,
we
were
just
strong
military
brats
with
a
really
big
work
ethic
that
wanted
to
be
like
the

Beatles….and
by
the
time
we
came
out
in
the
mid-’70s,
everything
was
possible
in
music.
There
was

Janis
Joplin
and

Grace
Slick
and
then
here
comes

Fleetwood
Mac.
Heart
was
just
a
natural
progression
in
the
family
of
music
at
the
time.”

Listen
to
Nancy
Wilson
on
the ‘UCR
Podcast’

Flashing
forward,
Wilson
will
share
the
things
that
she’s
learned
at
the
third
annual

Women’s
Rock
Camp,
happening
Dec.
5
through
Dec.
8
in
Los
Angeles.
She
sees
that
there’s
been
a
lot
of
progress
in
the
time
since
she
first
began
making
music. “It’s
an
interesting
time
right
now
in
music,”
the
songwriter
admits. “Because,
you
know,
it’s
not
so
wildly
crazy
to
see
women
out
there
doing
it
—
you’ve
got

boygenius
now
and
[so
many]
cool
[artists
like]

Courtney
Barnett
and
also,
the

Last
Dinner
Party
opening
up
for
the

[Rolling]
Stones
and
stuff
like
that.
It’s
not
so
such
a
rarefied,
unusual
thing
anymore
for
women
to
step
forward
and
be
counted
as
rockers
and
and
a
force
in
music.”

Heart
will

resume
its

Royal
Flush
tour
starting
in
February
with
a
rotating
cast
of
special
guests
including

Cheap
Trick,

Squeeze
and

Lucinda
Williams.