When Heart played the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles back in March, singer Ann Wilson invited rising current stars Chappell Roan and Lucy Dacus backstage for a chat following the show.
The conversation was released on May 6 on the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s podcast, After Dinner Thinks, and you’ll find that none of the artists pulled any punches.
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In fact, at one-point in the one-hour conversation Dacus—a solo artist and a member of the indie supergroup Boygenius with Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers—bluntly asked the “Magic Man” singer, “Are you a witch?”
“I don’t think so,” Wilson replied, “any more than anybody else.”
Dacus, realizing she may have made a misstep, suggested that the question should be cut from the recording, but Wilson was OK with it and continued to address the question.
“Well, I never claimed to be one or felt I was one,” Wilson added. “If you have power over people without trying, I think that’s a form of witchery or what you want to call it.”
“You definitely do,” Dacus responded. “I saw it tonight.”
It turns out that Dacus’s question isn’t completely random. A quick Internet search reveals that others have claimed—or joked—that Wilson is a witch in the past.
A 2014 post on the Recovery from Mormonism (RfM) discussion forum by someone claiming to be Tal Bachman has the heading “Ann Wilson of Heart is a witch.”
Bachman is known for the 1999 hit “She’s So High” and is currently touring with his father’s classic rock band, Bachman Turner Overdrive. He is a former member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Parade reached out to his reps to confirm the authenticity of the post.
“I saw the rock band Heart the other night. Ann Wilson, the lead singer, is SIXTY FIVE YEARS OLD. And she sings better than she ever has. She would completely destroy her idol, Robert Plant (from Led Zeppelin), in a vocal competition. And her sister Nancy was also amazing, both as a vocalist and guitarist. Nancy is sixty,” he wrote.
“What is the explanation for the total rock awesomeness of the Wilson sisters? Following Mormon logic, it can only be something supernatural. And since Ann and Nancy Wilson are not Mormons, or even Christians, that only leaves one possibility: Satan.”
“The Wilson sisters have clearly made some sort of pact with Satan, whereby they keep singing and playing better with age. There is no other explanation. Thank you Mormonism, for teaching me how to think,” he added before signing off with “Praising the witches.”
