Ann Wilson has been writing a lot of poetry lately. “I now see myself primarily as a lyricist,” says the 75-year-old Heart singer. “I really thrive on writing poetry and prose.” This preoccupation has found its way into song lyrics that trace her life’s journey – and have become the starting point for a new documentation.
When she calls ROLLING STONE, Wilson is just days away from the premiere of “Ann Wilson — In My Voice” and just hours before a screening of the film at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. Following the documentary’s May 11 debut, she will embark on a nine-city screening and live Q&A tour that will take her from Seattle to Boston alongside director Barbara Hall. In the fall, Wilson and her band Tripsitter will embark on a North American tour that ends in October.
When asked how she feels about returning to the road, she answers straight out: “I love it. I’m honestly addicted to it – and that’s where I feel most alive, when I’m on stage. That’s where I feel like I can really express myself without worrying about anything.”
Wilson’s own story
While she pioneered Heart with her sister Nancy for decades, “In My Voice” focuses on Wilson’s personal story, from her childhood in Seattle to her evolution into one of the most important singers and songwriters in rock history. The documentary, told entirely in their own words, draws from a personal archive of private footage, photos and diaries and goes back to the time when the Wilson sisters were known as “Little Led Zeppelin.” The film also features interviews with band members, family members and artists such as Chappell Roan and Kiss’ Paul Stanley.
“I think people in my career and in my life have a really hard time separating me from Heart — and you can’t blame them,” Wilson says. “It’s been the work of a lifetime. But this is an opportunity for her to get to know me beyond Heart, even beyond the music – just the things that have happened to me and the journeys that I’ve been through as an older woman.”
“Nothing But Love,” which she co-wrote with Burt Bacharach in the 1990s, showcases Wilson’s ability to charge lyrics with an intensity all her own. The song, which will be part of the film’s soundtrack, “has only just seen the light of day,” says Ann. “I always liked it a lot, but it didn’t fit at all with what was going on in the ’90s. It was so different to what was happening back then – but now it seems completely natural. There’s something soulful about it. It’s something I like to listen to and like to sing. I hope it really inspires people.”
Nancy and the beginnings
Wilson explains in the film that her sister declined to take part in the documentary, adding with a smile that Nancy “has her own stories to tell, in her own voice.” Reflecting on their life together, she adds: “I think people really clung to the idea that my sister and I were the core of the group. So it was really interesting when we wanted to do things separately. That was a big part of this journey.”
In the 1970s, Ann and Nancy made their way through a rock scene that was then dominated by men. “This phenomenon happened again and again: you built yourself up, you did something really great, and you felt really good about it. And then you could easily be belittled and belittled by the other men,” she remembers. “They could make you feel completely ridiculous for even trying. We were lucky to have great people around us – but I know other women who started around the same time and had to fight with all their might to get anything done.”
When asked if there were moments in the film that changed her view of her own history, she answers: “I was surprised by a lot of things – how funny, happy and silly I used to be when I was younger. Today I take life more seriously. Not sad – I’ve become more philosophical.”
Maturity through life experience
Trying to place this change in time, she reflects: “Growing and getting older, falling in love, having children – all the things that life gives you that really demand attention. When you’re really young, sometimes you just think, ‘Oh, life is so wonderful’ – and don’t think about it much. But then over time, life throws things into your lap that really force you to think. And I think that’s helped me mature.”
In July 2024, Ann announced that she was undergoing cancer treatment and Heart would have to postpone remaining North American tour dates. The following September she announced that she had completed chemotherapy and was ready to tour again. Then she broke her arm in three places in a fall in a parking lot. The film shows her triumphant return to the stage during Heart’s resumed Royal Flush Tour last year – in a wheelchair and without her wig.
“It’s so rock star of her to say, ‘Fuck you, I have a broken arm. I’m going to go on stage and rip my wig off my head,'” Roan says in the documentary. “That’s punk to me.”
Cancer and comeback
“I went through a serious health journey through cancer and came out the other side of it free,” Wilson says. “I feel great now. I’m probably two years away from that. And of course I’m in the rhythm of going for CT scans every few months to make sure everything is still OK. I feel really good.”
Wilson has high hopes for the next generation of female artists. She raves about Chappell Roan and Lucy Dacus, both of whom were guests on her podcast After Dinner Thinks, which she co-hosts with her friend Criss Cain. “I have seen two young women who know exactly where they want to go. Both are very young and are already at this incredible point in their careers. I can only imagine where they will be when they are 40 or 50,” she says. “You have so much potential.”
Looking forward, Wilson says she hopes people have a better understanding of “what’s behind the music.”
“We wanted to show my life outside of Heart – the songwriting, the time on the road and the performing,” she says. “It’s wonderful to be able to break out of something you’ve done for so many years. It’s a great feeling.”
