Heart’s Ann Wilson shares her five favourite albums
Ann Wilson rose to fame as the lead singer of the rock band Heart alongside her sister, Nancy. The pair were brought up in a musical household, with “everything from classical music to Ray Charles, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, bossa nova, and early experimental electronic music” played by their parents, according to Nancy.
Influenced by hard rock, heavy metal and folk, Heart gained popularity in the 1970s, with the band’s debut album, Dreamboat Annie, spawning the classic rock singles ‘Magic Man’ and ‘Crazy on You’. Although the Wilson sisters have remained the only consistent members of the band since the ’70s, they have continued to tour and release music over the past few decades, most recently dropping their sixteenth studio album, Beautiful Broken, in 2016.
During a 2021 interview with Spin, Wilson shared the albums that have a permanent place in her collection, inspiring her in both life and music. First, she selected David Bowie’s final album, the tragically beautiful Blackstar, which she described as “brave and poetic”. She explained: “All through his career, Bowie took on various status quos, including the rules of fashion, middle-of-the-road musical styles and gender fluidity. I feel on Blackstar he challenges the most immutable law of all: mortality.”
Furthermore, Wilson elucidated: “The album is haunting and wide awake as he ponders his own demise and invents a new religion with the relic of Major Tom as its mythological deity. Musically, it’s Bowie’s most sophisticated work. He allows the breezes of modern jazz to blow through the open window of his soul.”
Another pick comes in the form of a life-long favourite, Joni Mitchell. Discussing the folk icon’s 1976 album, Hejira, Wilson said: “This album does not age. Rather, it unfolds with time… I love this album like I love a lifelong friend. On Hejira, Joni is a grown woman, a free agent, travelling solo. The songs are full of the rich imagery of the things and people she encounters and interlaced with her poetic, unforgiving introspections.”
In keeping with the folk theme, Wilson also couldn’t live without Lucinda William’s Essence, which was nominated for Best Contemporary Folk Album at the Grammys in 2002. The Heart vocalist described the album as “the perfect marriage of unpretentiousness, honesty and badassery”. Offering more detail, Wilson shared: “Such a welcome relief from female singer/songwriters as Kardashian/warrior/ Barbies who just want to show you how hyper-sexual and badass they are. Watch out…Lucinda actually IS a badass.”
Another album from the early 2000s that Wilson adores is Chris Whitley’s Perfect Day. “I love this album because it is so intimate,” she explained. “Chris’s tangled, smoky vulnerability is wide open here, and there is no effort made to pretty things up with production. Rather, there is nearly no production at all save for a kind of 4am, relaxed and buzzed atmosphere. This is a covers album that I believe really takes the versions somewhere wonderful.”
The musician continued: “As a singer, he is in my top four of all time, and I love hearing him this naked. You can feel him right through the skin to the bone and all the way down to the soul.”
Ann Wilson’s five favourite albums:
- Blackstar – David Bowie
- Hejira – Joni Mitchell
- Essence – Lucinda Williams
- Perfect Day – Chris Whitley
- Quadrophenia – The Who
Finally, Wilson dipped back in time and chose The Who’s rock opera Quadrophenia, released in 1973, as her final pick. “I feel it’s The Who with all cylinders firing,” she noted. “Don’t hate me for not thinking Tommy was the one. I just feel Quadrophenia has more depth; more beauty…it has it all. This music and story of alienation feels to me like Pete Townshend and the lads could really relate close up, and so can I.”
Describing the songwriting as “iconic”, she stated: “All my favourite albums are timeless and ageless, and this is another. I could listen to Quadrophenia all my life.”
