A music legend is continuing to rock on.
Heart singer Ann Wilson has returned to performing, appearing on stage in a wheelchair and arm sling. But Wilson, 74, says the injury is unrelated to her recent cancer battle.
“It’s not about cancer, it’s about me being a klutz,” she explained on her “After Dinner Thinks With Ann Wilson“ podcast.
Wilson said she fell in a parking lot five days before Heart’s “Royal Flush” tour started this week. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, she broke her elbow in three places, getting it “pinned back together with screws and all that kind of stuff.”
“The pain level is still way too much to take it out of the sling,” Wilson said. “So I chose to sit because then I can just concentrate on singing and not keeping my balance and having somebody out there catching me when I reel to the side.”
Heart previously postponed tour dates last year when Wilson revealed she was being treated for cancer. She said she had a successful operation to remove it, but required chemotherapy and rest before returning to the stage.
An Albany concert was canceled altogether, but Heart will still rock Upstate New York on March 31 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo. Tickets for the show, also featuring Cheap Trick, are available on Vivid Seats and StubHub.
A fan who posted video of a Heart concert earlier this week said Wilson sat the entire night but was “amazing still.” Wilson said it’ll be “a while” before she can perform without the wheelchair and sling.
“I think it’s looked on as some kind of admission of vulnerability,” Wilson said on her podcast. “And we have to look at the person and go, ‘Oh that’s too bad’ and bring negativity into it. It doesn’t have to be that way. No, it’s a great tool. And I’ll be up and out of it after a while.”
Wilson, who performed at the New York State Fair in 2023 with her side project Tripsitter, and her sister Nancy Wilson started Heart in 1974. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, the female-led hard rock group’s hits include “Alone,” “Barracuda,” “Crazy on You,” “Magic Man,” “These Dreams” and “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You.