Nancy Wilson Recalls Daunting Led Zeppelin Memory: “It Was So Embarrassing”

In a new interview with Talk Is Jericho, Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson has recalled a daunting Led Zeppelin memory while paying tribute to the band with a cover of Stairway To Heaven.

Led Zeppelin was an English rock band formed in 1968. Consisted of Robert Plant on vocals, Jimmy Page on guitars, John Paul Jones on bass and keyboards, and John Bonham on drums, Led Zeppelin had released eight studio albums in total.

Released numerous hits throughout its career, Stairway To Heaven is still one of the biggest hits of the Led Zeppelin. The song came inside of the band’s untitled fourth studio album, commonly referred to as Led Zeppelin IV.

On December 2, 2012, Stairway To Heaven was covered by Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, along with Jason Bonham, at Kennedy Center as a tribute for Led Zeppelin. Also, as you remember, Wilson had said previously that she was so nervous when she played in front of Led Zeppelin.

Now, Wilson made a recent appearance on Talk Is Jericho to recall those moments once again. Discussing how it was like to cover Stairway To Heaven in front of the band members, Wilson admitted that it was daunting. She also mentioned an embarrassing moment.

“Yeah, it was daunting because we only had one rehearsal the night before because we were on tour already,” she recalls.

“We had a private way in to get there for the one rehearsal the day before the show, and it was cold in December, and waiting for a car outside to take us to the rehearsal.

“My hands got really frozen like icicles, and then we were rushed straight into this rehearsal room with everybody, all the singers, all the bands and players, and everybody, and it’s like, ‘OK, go…’

“So I was like kind of blowing it, just because my fingers wouldn’t move very fast, because it was so freaking cold.

“Then after I stumbled my way through, I was probably red as a beet because it was so embarrassing.”

Wilson Recalls What Jimmy Page Told About Their Led Zeppelin Cover

Later then, Wilson once again touched on her nervous moments. Revealing Jimmy Page‘s first reaction to her cover performance, Wilson said that Page loved that very much.

“I know the song, I played it all my life, and they’re [the band] saying, ‘We can shadow you, we can have somebody playing behind,'” she continues.

“And I’m like, ‘No, no, that’s not going to do it. I’m going to have my hands warmed up by the time I play, I can do this, so no shadow.’

“I put my fingers in my husband’s armpits before we walked out there, but it was still, in a room like that with Zeppelin there, a bunch of dignitaries and musicians and notables, I just whooped it in deeply, took a breath, focused – don’t be in a hurry, whatever you do, just do it.

“I was all about myself to start out the song, and I was just as methodical as I could possibly be, and later [Jimmy] Page said, ‘You played that great. I learned to hate this song, but you guys really nailed it…’

“Because people murder the song all the time. And then Jonesy, who we worked with [before], he’s like, ‘Way to go!’

“He’s really sweet, they’re all really sweet. I love the way that the musical director guy at the Kennedy center, how they planned the arrangements so beautifully.”