Ann Wilson has stated that she agrees with Robert Plant’s reluctance to do a Led Zeppelin reunion in an interview with Woub Public Media. Says she:
“I know that the people of Led Zeppelin are careful about not letting Led Zeppelin turn into a caricature of its former self. I think that’s the ethical thing to do. It’s great. I really have to admire them for that, especially Plant, because he’s the one who I think would be the last holdout for a reunion.”
Ann Wilson And Led Zeppelin
President Barack Obama presented Led Zeppelin with the Kennedy Center Honors on December 2, 2012. Robert Plant broke down in tears during the show’s rendition of Ann and Nancy Wilson’s “Stairway to Heaven,” which included Jason Bonham on drums. Plant discussed the concert, which featured Ann Wilson on vocals, with Vulture earlier this year. He declared:
“Well, ridiculous is a multifarious term. We all stood back at the end of the sessions, reeling from the transitions throughout the song. But ‘Stairway To Heaven‘ has its own life. Later I often felt estranged. It began intimate and vulnerable and sincere, and then the years carried on. It was no longer ours and neither should it be. Now it’s out there driving people to distraction and then maybe driving a hard bargain.”
In 2020, Ann Wilson was questioned again by Vulture about her thoughts around their rendition of Stairway to Heaven. She said,
“I actually felt every second of it as a real, not to overstate it, but pretty damn close to orgasmic in terms of bliss. I felt wide awake and alive, and I felt the emotional content of the song all the way down to the ground. It was really authentic. The emotions involved in performing that were wide awake and in the moment.”
Wilson Says Led Zeppelin Taught Her To Sing Rock ‘N’ Roll
During an interview with the British news site Independent in 2022, Ann Wilson stated that her biggest rock ‘n’ roll vocal inspirations were Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Says she:
“I was maybe 23 or 24, and I was in Heart, but I was just like the chick singer in the band. But then I realised that by singing Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, covering those bands, it taught me how to sing rock ‘n’ roll – loud and high.”
She remembered Heart’s disastrous rendition of Stairway to Heaven at their initial audition. She said that their set was mostly made up of covers and that Nancy Wilson had not yet joined. Says she:
“I was playing the acoustic guitar, and my strap came off and so my guitar fell off during “Stairway to Heaven. I think the cave is closed now.”
Below, you can view Heart’s rendition of “Stairway to Heaven” from 2012.