Heart’s Nancy Wilson Recalls The Time She Was Praised By Jimmy Page, ‘I Could Die Now’

Heart rhythm guitarist and back vocalist, Nancy Wilson talked about the first time when she was Led Zeppelin live. She also said that Jimmy Page appreciated her after the band performed a legendary Led Zeppelin song during her interview with Matt Pinfield’s New & Approved on 95.5 Klos Youtube channel.

As you may remember, Heart released their latest sixteenth studio album entitled ‘Beautiful Broken’ on July 8, 2016, including two new songs and rearranged versions of their earlier songs. Later, they announced that they were on a hiatus and didn’t disband it. Along with Heart, Wilson has also a remarkable solo career. Her latest solo album ‘You and Me’ was released on May 7, 2021.

During the interview with Matt Pinfield’s New & Approved, Nancy Wilson recalled the first time when she watched Led Zeppelin in their live show. She admired Led Zeppelin’s performance and the member’s different styles. Later, when she founded her own band, Led Zeppelin had a great influence on their works. Therefore, they were even called Little Led Zeppelin because of their resemblance to the band.

Also, Heart members were asked to perform Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ in 2012 at Kennedy Center Honors for Led Zeppelin. Wilson stated that she was excited and grateful to have that chance. After the performance, Led Zeppelin thanked everyone for this tribute, and the band’s guitarist, Jimmy Page approached her and said that she played great. That time, she was so happy that she could die now.

Here’s what she told:

“Flash forward to the Kennedy Center Honors, when we’ve been asked to honor Zeppelin – of course, it was a surprise, and it was like, ok…

We were on the road, but we had to get a private jet over to DC, and with only one rehearsal, and the next day was the show, so it was a little nerve-wracking.

And it was so cold in DC before Christmas, my hands were really cold, I was trying to keep them warm in any way I knew how in order to be able to play the beginning of ‘Stairway’ all by myself in front of all these dignitaries plus Zeppelin such as the President Barack Obama, and the first lady, all of it.

Anyway, it was like one of those zen exercises where you say that I’m going to focus, and so I focused and started.

We didn’t even see how they reacted until after it was cut together later when we saw it at our home, and I know for a fact that they did get emotional, it was really beautiful how they reacted.”

She continued:

“But I think a big part of that was also because of Jason Bonham, the son of their former drummer John Bonham was on the drums with a bowler hat like John Bonham used to wear, and then there were all these reveals throughout the course of the song with the smaller choir, and the orchestral part…

And then the big choir at the end, at the end they all put on their bowlers, and so I think that had a lot to do with how it surprised them in their heart of hearts.

And then afterward each one of those guys came up to us at sort of our dinner table – kind of like a governor’s ball-type situation afterward – they each came up and they just said, way to go, that was great!

Jimmy Page told me, ‘You played that great’ and I was like, ‘Oh, I could die now.’ He’s my hero, my muse, and that would be like Joni Mitchell or a few different ones, but him in particular I guess.

And then John Paul Jones who we did an album with once called ‘The Road Home’ was really sweet as always, and then Robert Plant said, ‘Ok, I’ve learned how to hate this song, but you guys did it justice, and it was very good a version of the song.

So each one of them had the greatest reaction, really sweet, great guys.

You can watch the video below.

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