Heart’s Wilson sisters dish on Jane Scott.
Jeff Stacklin, Yahoo! Cleveland Editor
There are women in rock 'n' roll, and then there are women in hard rock, a very exclusive club. Ann and Nancy Wilson might be the charter members.
The Wilson sisters, leaders of the rock band Heart, visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland this week to chat with fans and play an intimate set.
As part of it, they paid a special tribute to Jane Scott, playing and dedicating to her an acoustic version of "Sand" from their newest recording "Red Velvet Car."
Scott, a former Plain Dealer music writer, died on July 4. During her lengthy journalism career, Scott wrote about everyone from the Beatles to Springsteen to U2, and was known for her, er, glowing reviews.
Heart was one of the acts Scott met in 1976.
"We were just on the bottom of a bill," Ann said of that encounter with Scott in 1976. "She asked us all about ourselves and took an interest in us. And we never forgot her."
"She was a character," chimed in Nancy, who probably knows something about the music critic business. Her ex-husband Cameron Crowe's movie "Almost Famous" detailed the sometimes-salty relationship between rock groups and the media (aka "the enemy").
Heart's visit to the Rock Hall was part of the museum's "Women Who Rock exhibit." The Wilson sisters talked about their early influences and family, stories from back in the day, and their place in music: "We didn't want to be the girlfriends of the Beatles," Nancy said. "We wanted to be the Beatles."
They shared their thoughts on today's female singers, noting their discontent with musicians and singers who use electronic gadgets to modify and enhance their voices. They also gave shout-outs to a couple of impressive young stars.
"There are a few really good voices out there," Ann said. "Adele: Amazing … a really good voice.
"And Lady Gaga has a really good, churchy voice. I don't think she's even begun to touch her potential as a singer."
And, to Nancy's surprise, Katy Perry, whose show she saw with her twin sons.
"I was not expecting to love it as much as I did," Nancy said. "I thought it was going to be all an Auto-Tune kind of show with no humanity anywhere.
"There are some beautiful things about people like Katy Perry, who are bold enough to go up on a pink cotton-candy cloud, with a guitar, in a tutu, and sing all by herself.
"That is proof you know how to do it. You need to know how to play live. The ones who can do that are the ones you'll see around for a long time."
It's probably safe to assume that in their four-decade-long music careers, the Wilson sisters have seen pretty much everything. Among the revelations they shared with fans: Women in rock do have a "groupie" set, but these gents aren't like their female counterparts.
"For women [rock stars] they do exist, but they're not the same," Ann explained. "They're more like Pepe Le Pew. They're not as sleazy."
"Guys that want to get close to us are usually so shy and so romantic with it," Nancy added. "They'll bring flowers, some chocolate, some poems, really elegant things. For girls, not so much."
Jeff Stacklin, Yahoo! Cleveland Editor
There are women in rock 'n' roll, and then there are women in hard rock, a very exclusive club. Ann and Nancy Wilson might be the charter members.
The Wilson sisters, leaders of the rock band Heart, visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland this week to chat with fans and play an intimate set.
As part of it, they paid a special tribute to Jane Scott, playing and dedicating to her an acoustic version of "Sand" from their newest recording "Red Velvet Car."
Scott, a former Plain Dealer music writer, died on July 4. During her lengthy journalism career, Scott wrote about everyone from the Beatles to Springsteen to U2, and was known for her, er, glowing reviews.
Heart was one of the acts Scott met in 1976.
"We were just on the bottom of a bill," Ann said of that encounter with Scott in 1976. "She asked us all about ourselves and took an interest in us. And we never forgot her."
"She was a character," chimed in Nancy, who probably knows something about the music critic business. Her ex-husband Cameron Crowe's movie "Almost Famous" detailed the sometimes-salty relationship between rock groups and the media (aka "the enemy").
Heart's visit to the Rock Hall was part of the museum's "Women Who Rock exhibit." The Wilson sisters talked about their early influences and family, stories from back in the day, and their place in music: "We didn't want to be the girlfriends of the Beatles," Nancy said. "We wanted to be the Beatles."
They shared their thoughts on today's female singers, noting their discontent with musicians and singers who use electronic gadgets to modify and enhance their voices. They also gave shout-outs to a couple of impressive young stars.
"There are a few really good voices out there," Ann said. "Adele: Amazing … a really good voice.
"And Lady Gaga has a really good, churchy voice. I don't think she's even begun to touch her potential as a singer."
And, to Nancy's surprise, Katy Perry, whose show she saw with her twin sons.
"I was not expecting to love it as much as I did," Nancy said. "I thought it was going to be all an Auto-Tune kind of show with no humanity anywhere.
"There are some beautiful things about people like Katy Perry, who are bold enough to go up on a pink cotton-candy cloud, with a guitar, in a tutu, and sing all by herself.
"That is proof you know how to do it. You need to know how to play live. The ones who can do that are the ones you'll see around for a long time."
It's probably safe to assume that in their four-decade-long music careers, the Wilson sisters have seen pretty much everything. Among the revelations they shared with fans: Women in rock do have a "groupie" set, but these gents aren't like their female counterparts.
"For women [rock stars] they do exist, but they're not the same," Ann explained. "They're more like Pepe Le Pew. They're not as sleazy."
"Guys that want to get close to us are usually so shy and so romantic with it," Nancy added. "They'll bring flowers, some chocolate, some poems, really elegant things. For girls, not so much."
