Ann Wilson recalled meeting Jimmy Page and Robert Plant after performing “Stairway to Heaven” at a Led Zeppelin tribute, speaking on Guitar World. Both musicians told her they enjoyed the performance.
Wilson and her sister Nancy Wilson played the classic song at the 2012 Kennedy Center event. After the show, the performers met with the Led Zeppelin members.
“Nancy and I played ‘Stairway To Heaven’ for the Led Zeppelin tribute [at the Kennedy Center in 2012] and after the show, they sat us all down and gave us, y’know, a rubber chicken dinner,” Ann Wilson said. “We met Page and Plant, and they were very happy and said they really liked our performance.”
According to Wilson, the praise from Page and Plant held special meaning. “That was a big deal because so many bands have tried to cover Zeppelin, and they don’t enjoy being covered by people that don’t feel it,” she explained.
The encounter took place during the Kennedy Center tribute to the British rock band in 2012.
Heart’s connection to Led Zeppelin runs deep. The Wilson sisters fell in love with Led Zeppelin and The Beatles at an early age, and their live covers of Zeppelin songs became the calling card that earned them their first bookings. Their 1975 debut album “Dreamboat Annie” drew directly on the fusion of hard rock and acoustic folk found on Led Zeppelin II, which the sisters transformed into their own signature sound.
The Kennedy Center Honors performance on December 2, 2012, gave Ann and Nancy Wilson the chance to perform “Stairway to Heaven” in front of Led Zeppelin themselves. Joined by Jason Bonham on drums and later the Joyce Garrett Youth Choir, the Wilson sisters delivered a tribute that moved Robert Plant and impressed the audience.
According to Ann in an interview with Howard Stern in April 2024, the sisters had only one rehearsal and a soundcheck before the live show. Plant told them he usually hated people’s covers of “Stairway,” but he liked theirs. Nancy added that Jimmy Page said, “You nailed the guitar part!” Both Page and Plant shared their praise at a post-show dinner for the honorees and participants.
