Ann Wilson

Ann Dustin Wilson (born June 19, 1950) is an American singer best known as the lead singer of the rock band Heart.

Wilson has been a member of Heart since the early 1970s; her younger sister, Nancy Wilson, is also a member of the band. One of the first hard rock bands fronted by women, Heart released numerous albums between 1975 and 2016; the early Heart albums Dreamboat Annie (1975) and Little Queen (1977) generated US hit singles such as "Magic Man", "Crazy on You", and "Barracuda". Heart has sold over 35 million records worldwide, placed 29 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and has scored top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2010s.

Wilson was ranked no. 78 in Hit Parader's 2006 list of "Greatest Metal Vocalists of All Time". In 2013, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Heart. She is known for her operatic abilities.

Ann Dustin Wilson was born in San Diego, California. Her father was a major in the United States Marine Corps. Due to her father's military career, the Wilson family moved frequently. They lived near American military facilities in Panama and Taiwan before settling in Seattle, Washington, in the early 1960s. To maintain a sense of home no matter where in the world they were residing, the Wilsons turned to music. "On Sunday we'd have pancakes and opera," her sister Nancy Wilson recalled. "My dad would be conducting in the living room. We'd turn it way up and rock. There was everything from classical music to Ray Charles, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, bossa nova, and early experimental electronic music."

Wilson's family eventually settled in Bellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, Washington. In 1968, she graduated from Sammamish High School. Shy because of a stutter, Wilson sought fulfillment in music. In the early 1970s she joined a local band, White Heart, which changed its name to Hocus Pocus, and then in 1974 to Heart. Wilson also attended Cornish College of the Arts.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.