PENTICTON –– Best known for their hits Barracuda, Crazy on You and Magic Man — the sister duo that created the band Heart is coming to the Okanagan.
California-born, Seattle-bred sisters Nancy and Ann Wilson are behind some of rock’s most iconic hits and will be kicking off the Canadian dates for their Fanatic tour in Penticton’s South Okanagan Events Centre March 9.
In their nearly 40 years as a band the Wilson sisters have been lauded as sex symbols, idealized as feminist icons, and worshiped by critics and fans alike, selling over 35 million albums worldwide and thrilling audiences with their raucous live show.
In 2010 the band returned to the Billboard Top 10 with the release of Red Velvet Car and a Top 5 DVD, Night at Sky Church. The subsequent tour reinvigorated the sisters’ taste for live performance and life on the road, but as they looked forward to recording another record, something seemed to be in the way: their past.
For years, friends and colleagues had been asking the sisters to do a book about Heart.
“They always came to us with a real lascivious tabloid-y type idea,” Ann said, in a press release. “You know — think of the ugliness and the dirtiness — but that’s so one dimensional. We’ve had moments of failure and vulnerability and humiliation, sure, but ours is also the story of women who are being told there are rules to follow and just won’t do it.”
In the wake of the success of Red Velvet Car, the sisters decided to collaborate with veteran music journalist and Seattle rock scene expert Charles R. Cross, who also wrote the definitive Nirvana biography, Heavier Than Heaven as well as Roomful of Mirrors, a biography of Jimi Hendrix.
“We figured if anyone can get the true rock and roll story of it all it’s going to be him,” said Ann.
The resulting biography, Kicking and Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul and Rock and Roll, is in stores now along with the Oct. 2 release of Heart’s brand new studio album Fanatic.
When it came time to record Fanatic, the band’s approach was organic, very much in keeping with their roots as a true performance-oriented rock band.
“These days things are formulated digitally or layered or looped and assembled but this is live groove,” said Nancy. “It was our mission to go in there and capture the energy as it magically happens without too much over-thinking or repetition, just letting it escape.”
In addition to the tour dates, Heart will make an appearance at Canadian Music Week on March 22 for a special in-depth interview and intimate acoustic performance.
Tickets for the Heart 2013 Fanatic tour at the South Okanagan Events Centre go on sale Oct. 12 at 1 p.m. Tickets are $40, $59.50, $69.50 and $77.50 and can be purchased at www.ValleyFirstTix.com, or call 1-877-SOEC-TIX (763-2849). For more information, visit www.heart-music.com
