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Ann (l) and Nancy Wilson and their groundbreaking band Heart are among the new inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced Tuesday. (Heart image)

Rock Hall of Fame finally gets Heart

December 11, 2012 @ 11:42 am (Updated: 12:22 pm - 12/11/12 )

A decade of disappointment has finally come to an end for Ann and Nancy Wilson, as word came down Tuesday voters have chosen Heart for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"I wasn't quite sure this was real when I got the news," Ann tells Rolling Stone. "We've just had this long running joke about it for so many years. But I got the text while I was at the airport and it took a little while to sink in."

The Seattle sisters join Rush, Public Enemy, Randy Newman, Donna Summer and Albert King for the class of 2013.

It's an honor many have argued is long overdue.

"You know, music is not the exclusive domain of the male gender but that's the way unfortunately that the Rock Hall has operated. So it's a horrible oversight that they have not been in before," says Seattle-based author Charles Cross, who co-wrote this year's autobiography of Heart "Kicking and Dreaming" with Ann and Nancy.

"I can't remember the exact statistic now with the addition of Heart, but previously somebody added it up and it was like 10 percent of the performers in the Hall were female and that's a crime I think that needed to be addressed and still needs to be addressed," Cross says.

But he says their legacy is the groundbreaking music they made far more than the fact they're women.

"Dreamboat Annie, Barracuda, Little Queen, Dog and Butterfly, those albums are truly some of the best classic rock albums of that decade (the 70's). And they are long remembered by people and those songs have a history that are a big part of rock and roll."

Cross credits the band with creating a unique concoction of hard rock tinged with folk that would influence a generation of musicians to come.

The Hall of Fame selection is just the capper on what's been an amazing year for the sisters. They released a well received new album, Cross' book made the bestseller list, and they got to meet their heroes Led Zeppelin, and play Stairway to Heaven for President Obama at the Kennedy Center Honors.

"It's the sweetest of all things," The band has been working hard and touring for the past 35 years without much stopping. It's really good to go, 'Hey, someone noticed,'" Nancy tells Rolling Stone.

"We're always out there doing it. We're always onstage. We're always traveling. It can start to feel like you're a tree falling in the forest, but nobody notices. So this kind of acknowledgement is really sweet," says Ann.

The votes were cast by a panel that includes musicians, music writers, and industry leaders. For the first time, the public also had a say, with online balloting added to the others.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on April 18, 2013 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles and broadcast on HBO May 18.

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Comments (9)


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  • xplanes wrote...
    Well...
    December 11, 2012 12:24 pm
    It's about time.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @xplanes
    December 11, 2012 12:38 pm
    Agreed. Now if they would only allow Chicago in. The first rock & roll band that integrated brass into thier sound as a constant thing - as an additional voice in many ways. Other rock bands tried it on and off, but Chicago is the only band who made it a permanent and major part of thier sound. Beleive it or not, they're still around and still have about half of thier original lineup. They even put out an all new album a couple years ago. Come on, Saturday in the Park, I'm a man, 25 or 6 to 4? Just You and me, Fancy colors, Etc. etc, etc... They've got as much going for them as many of the bands who've made it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    Right On!
    December 11, 2012 6:15 pm
    I couldn't agree more with you about Chicago. Total injustice. I also feel the same bout Three Dog Night and The Doobie Brothers. I put Chicago above them, but I think they deserve serious consideration. As a kid growing up I loved Feeling Stronger Everyday, Just You and Me, and many others.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • artimus wrote...
    the bar's pretty low
    December 11, 2012 12:56 pm
    That's like voting Dan Wilson into Cooperstown. And I'm a Dan Wilson fan...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Lessmith50 wrote...
    Well they FINALLY got two right
    December 11, 2012 1:23 pm
    Now lets finish off the other bands that belong before FRIGGIN PUBLIC ENEMY. THEY STINK and are not even ROCK AND ROLL.

    The other bands are the Cars, Boston, Foreigner, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, George Thorogood. EVERY one that I named above belong a thousand years before Public Enemey. I cannot believe they allow that crap band in before actual rock and roll bands that shaped the history of ROCK AND ROLL NOT RAP CRAP!

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • 2112 wrote...
    RRHF is just an extension of Rolling Stone Magazine
    December 11, 2012 3:37 pm
    And they have made it a joke. At Least they finally put in Rush and Heart, both way more deserving than most of the inductees over the last 15 years.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    Broken Hearted Seattle kid
    December 11, 2012 7:45 pm
    I still have a crush on Nancy.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • BikeNazi wrote...
    It's good to see a picture of the two of them together
    December 11, 2012 8:07 pm
    Looking at Ann she could have eaten her sister. They had the same problem in Wilson Phillips.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Newton wrote...
    Heart earned it flat out solid Rock-N-Roll.
    December 11, 2012 10:16 pm
    Good for HEART the Legends of music.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }