Heart’s Nancy Wilson reveals she was “so jealous” of Fleetwood Mac
Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson has reflected upon the early days of the band’s career, explaining why she felt “so jealous” of Fleetwood Mac’s success.
When Heart released their debut album in 1975, Fleetwood Mac had recently recruited Stevie Nicks to their camp, making her their second female member after Christine McVie. At the time, the rock scene was essentially a boys club, and there was little room for women to occupy, which made Wilson feel it wasn’t possible for Heart to break through.
The guitarist made the confession during a recent appearance on the Broken Record podcast. “They were happening right before us, kind of as Heart was just starting to tiptoe into the scene, and they already had Rumours out there. We were just trying so hard to make an album and get out there and get a tour or whatever, and they were all over the radio,” Wilson recalled.
Elaborating on her feelings of resentment, Wilson explained: “I felt so jealous of that band because there was two women in it that sounded so good together, and they had the acoustic guitar kind of thing that I felt like I was bringing a lot of into our band.”
Due to Fleetwood Mac’s brilliance, Wilson was unable to see how Heart would find a place for themselves within the musical landscape, noting, “They kind of had it already, you know, like something we were trying to capture. They had already captured it. So I was really like, ‘Damn it! What makes us so different now?’”
While Wilson asserted they “did sound very different”, she worried this would not be enough for many to differentiate them from Fleetwood Mac purely due to the fact that both bands contained women.
However, she believes it was her sister, Heart’s singer Ann, that helped the group stand out from their contemporaries, stating, “A lot of it’s Ann’s voice, you know, very signature. The muscle and the power that she possesses and the way she sings is completely its own thing. So lucky for us, we had Ann.”
Reflecting on their rock credentials, she added, “Not just soft rock. We had hard rock, so we could rock very hard and as quietly as well. So we probably had a lot more versatility or something.”
Heart are currently on an arena tour of the United States before visiting Europe later this summer. They are set to play London’s O2 Arena on July 1st and will conclude their current run of dates in Las Vegas at the Fontainebleau on December 15th.
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