NANCY WILSON Honored With 'Music For Life' Award At 2019 NAMM Show

January 29, 2019

During the opening Breakfast of Champions session at The 2019 NAMM Show, Nancy Wilson, the celebrated guitar virtuoso and co-founder of seminal rock band HEART, was presented with the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) "Music For Life" award. The award honors pioneering artists who, through their careers and artistic expression, have inspired others to pursue a more musical world.

The award was presented by NAMM president and CEO Joe Lamond, who introduced Wilson with a tribute to her pivotal role in helping to redefine women in rock music, and a legacy of music at the top of the charts. "She is a guitar pioneer, a songwriting pioneer, a legendary singer, a film composer, a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, and has done so much to advance the cause of music-making," Lamond said. "And for those reasons and many more, we are honored to recognize her today."

Nancy Wilson spoke of her early inspiration: "As a kid, when THE BEATLES happened, it was a lightning bolt that struck us and we were driven to have guitars, to write songs, to be in a band and get up on stage and to just turn it up. We had the work ethic of go get 'em and to not take no. We just went and did it."

Wilson also fondly remembered her childhood music store. "There was a little music store I could walk to called Band Stand East near Seattle; it was a mom-and-pop," she said. "They had really good guitars and I got to hang around and play them."

Wilson is celebrated as one of the seminal musicians in the history of rock 'n' roll from an era when female-fronted acts were scarce. Nancy and sister Ann helped carve out a place for women on the stage and at the top of the charts in the multi-platinum rock group HEART. An ingenious guitar player, gifted vocalist, and songwriter, she has co-written a collection of unforgettable songs that have earned their way into the classic rock canon, including "Magic Man", "Crazy on You", "Barracuda" and "Straight On".

Nancy has also built a successful career as a film composer. Her composing credits include scores for top-grossing films, including "Say Anything..." , "Jerry Maguire", "Almost Famous", "Vanilla Sky" and "Elizabethtown", for which she has received several critic nominations.

The "Music for Life" award is NAMM's highest honor and recognizes individuals or organizations that exemplify NAMM's vision of music making as a precious element of daily living for everyone. Past recipients have included business leaders, public officials, and musicians, including Graham Nash, Stevie Wonder, Yoko Ono, Henry Mancini, Smokey Robertson, Robbie Robertson and, in 2018, Bob Weir. It is awarded each January during the global music products gathering, The NAMM Show, held in Anaheim, California.

Find more on Nancy wilson
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).