The first time Ann Wilson fell in love with the power of vocal projection was while listening to Harry Belafonte’s Belafonte at Carnegie Hall.

 The first time she discovered the endearment of group charisma was when she was exposed to The Beatles. However, the first time she felt a holistic attachment to music in all its potential was when she discovered The Beach Boys.

Like many musicians, justifying her love for The Beatles never really felt that necessary. “Obviously,” she once said, allowing the mere word itself to capture all of the reasons she gravitated towards the Liverpudlian quartet in the first place. For Wilson, they proved that musicianship could hinge on both collective energy and winning individualism, qualities she later injected into Heart.

For Wilson, they also enabled her to experience music in a different way, peeling back the layers to reveal their tricks and how they mastered the art of blending nostalgic tropes with new ones. Some of the best and most original musicians know how to strike the delicate balance between then and now, and to Wilson, The Beatles knew the exact recipe.

However, beyond her love for The Beatles’ musicianship and sonic diversity was The Beach Boys and the powerful work of Brian Wilson, who not only introduced her to “fun” music at an early age but set her on a path of artistic discovery alongside his own sonic progression. Wilson discovered The Beach Boys as a young girl and immediately fell in love with their melodies, but growing into her own career, she soon realised Brian Wilson was a musical mastermind who knew how to take risks.

As she once put it: “Brian Wilson’s a renaissance man. A genius. A seer. Pet Sounds is his finest work and shines through the generations of true art.”

She continued: “I am of the generation that fell in love with The Beach Boys as children. It was sunny, happy music that was perfect for a 10-year-old girl. I think Brian’s magic lies not only with his recording prowess—he’s unafraid to try new things.”

Her appreciation for the musical mastermind is something she also shares with her sister, Nancy, who once described him as “completely distinct from anything that came before or since” while naming ‘God Only Knows’ as one of “the most melodically sophisticated and heart-rendingly beautiful songs in rock history.” While many musicians share her love for this particular song, she also took it as an opportunity to praise Wilson, just as her sister had.

“I was maybe 12 years old when this came out, and I was trying to work the song out on guitar, but it’s such an elusively beautiful thing, and it’s almost sacrilegious to try to pull this kind of perfect art apart,” she told Louder. “Brian Wilson gave a real gift of music to the world, completely distinct from anything that came before or since.”

There are many facets of The Beach Boys that the Wilson sisters carried into Heart beyond their appreciation for endearing melodies and arrangements. They also embraced the new age of blending different genres and the art of flitting between “fun” sounds and more intricate ones that reached into deeper meanings. Ann, in particular, also carried a dose of the band’s vocalisation and ability to carry storytelling techniques on different registers, especially in the slower-paced songs to show versatility.