In the 1970s, yes. Ann and Nancy Wilson wrote or co-wrote the band's early hits such as 'Crazy on You,' 'Magic Man,' and 'Barracuda.' That changed in the mid-1980s, when several of Heart's biggest singles were supplied by outside professional songwriters, before the band returned to more self-written material in later years.
By the Numbers
15
Studio Albums
160
Tracks Credited
84%
Self-Written
35 million+
Records Sold
53
Years Active
74
Collaborators
Authorship Breakdown 134 / 160 self-written
Who wrote the songs?
Across all 160 tracks: how many Heart wrote alone, how many they co-wrote, and how many were written by others. The bracket marks every track they hold any writing credit on.
Heart has a writing credit84%
33%
51%
16%
Sole author52tracks33%
Co-written82tracks51%
Outside writers26tracks16%
Role Fingerprint how they contribute
Heart's roles across the catalogue
Share of all 160 tracks where they are personally credited, by role.
Lyricist (words)84%
Composer (music)84%
Producer23%
Performer100%
Member Credit Breakdown share of tracks each member is credited on
Percentage of all 160 tracks, across every album, where each member holds a credit - split by role.
Member
Period
Lyrics
Music
Production
Performance
Ann Wilson
1973-present
72%
72%
7%
99%
Nancy Wilson
1974-present
74%
74%
23%
99%
Roger Fisher Former
1967-1979
7%
7%
0%
21%
Steve Fossen Former
1967-1982
1%
1%
0%
34%
Michael Derosier Former
1975-1982
2%
2%
0%
28%
Howard Leese Former
1975-1998
5%
5%
7%
66%
Mark Andes Former
1982-1992
4%
4%
0%
28%
Denny Carmassi Former
1982-1993
5%
5%
0%
34%
Ben Smith Former
1995-2016
1%
1%
0%
29%
Mike Inez Former
2002-2005
0%
0%
0%
10%
Craig Bartock Former
2003-2019
11%
11%
10%
23%
Authorship Over Time writing credit per album
Heart's writing credit per album, in release order. Hover any bar for the album.
avg 84%
100%
100%
63%
100%
100%
100%
91%
60%
50%
38%
77%
94%
100%
100%
90%
1976Dreamboat Annie
1977Little Queen
1978Magazine
1978Dog & Butterfly
1980Bébé le Strange
1982Private Audition
1983Passionworks
1985Heart
1987Bad Animals
1990Brigade
1993Desire Walks On
2004Jupiters Darling
2010Red Velvet Car
2012Fanatic
2016Beautiful Broken
Early · 93% written
Mid · 67% written
Late · 92% written
Authorship by Decade track-weighted
92%
1970s
Dreamboat Annie, Little Queen +2 more
81%
1980s
Bébé le Strange, Private Audition +3 more
58%
1990s
Brigade, Desire Walks On
94%
2000s
Jupiters Darling
97%
2010s
Red Velvet Car, Fanatic +1 more
Authorship Spectrum pure performer to complete author
Where Heart sits on the scale from a pure performer (0%, sings songs written by others) to a complete author (100%, writes everything). The bright marker is their catalogue authorship score, plotted against other artists on the site.
Heart
Other artists on the site
Reference artists spread across the scale, closest by genre and era.
Written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Wrote it
Magic Man
Dreamboat Annie
Written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Wrote it
Dreamboat Annie
Dreamboat Annie
Written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Wrote it
Barracuda
Little Queen
Written by Ann Wilson, Roger Fisher, Nancy Wilson, Michael Derosier, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Wrote it
Heartless
Magazine
Written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Wrote it
Straight On
Dog & Butterfly
Written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
Dog & Butterfly
Dog & Butterfly
Written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
Even It Up
Bébé le Strange
Written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
This Man Is Mine
Private Audition
Written by Ann Wilson, Sue Ennis, Nancy Wilson, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
How Can I Refuse?
Passionworks
Written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis, Howard Leese, Mark Andes, Denny Carmassi, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
Allies
Passionworks
Written by Jonathan Cain
Outside writers
What About Love
Heart
Written by Sheron Alton, Brian Allen, Jim Vallance
Outside writers
Never
Heart
Written by Holly Knight, Gene Bloch, Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
These Dreams
Heart
Written by Bernie Taupin, Martin Page
Outside writers
Nothin' at All
Heart
Written by Mark Mueller
Outside writers
Alone
Bad Animals
Written by Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg
Outside writers
Who Will You Run To
Bad Animals
Written by Diane Warren
Outside writers
There's the Girl
Bad Animals
Written by Nancy Wilson, Holly Knight, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
I Want You So Bad
Bad Animals
Written by Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg
Outside writers
All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You
Brigade
Written by Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Robert John Lange
Outside writers
I Didn't Want to Need You
Brigade
Written by Diane Warren
Outside writers
Stranded
Brigade
Written by Jaime Kyle, Jeff Harrington
Outside writers
Will You Be There (In the Morning)
Desire Walks On
Written by Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Robert John Lange
Outside writers
Black on Black II
Desire Walks On
Written by Lisa Dalbello, Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
The Woman in Me
Desire Walks On
Written by Michael Clark, John Bettis
Outside writers
Oldest Story in the World
Jupiters Darling
Written by Nancy Wilson, Ann Wilson, Craig Bartock, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson, Ann Dustin Wilson
Wrote it
WTF
Red Velvet Car
Written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Craig Bartock, Ben Mink, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
Hey You
Red Velvet Car
Written by Nancy Wilson, Ben Mink, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
Fanatic
Fanatic
Written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Ben Mink, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
Dear Old America
Fanatic
Written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Ben Mink, Ann Dustin Wilson, Nancy Lamoureux Wilson
Co-wrote
None of the signature songs above fall in this category.
Discography 15 albums
Covers all fifteen Heart studio albums, from Dreamboat Annie (1976) through Beautiful Broken (2016). Live albums such as The Road Home and Alive in Seattle, and the band's compilations, are outside this scope.
Bubble size = tracks worked on together. SE Sue Ennis · MF Mike Flicker · BM Ben Mink · RN Ron Nevison · RM Ric Markmann · RZ Richie Zito
The Authorship Story
Data Insight
Heart's authorship map has a clear three-act shape. In the 1970s the band wrote its own material: Ann and Nancy Wilson, often with guitarist Roger Fisher, drummer Michael Derosier, and writing partner Sue Ennis, are on nearly every early credit, from 'Crazy on You' and 'Magic Man' to the four-way-written 'Barracuda.' The mid-1980s Capitol comeback flips that: the hits that made the band superstars again, 'What About Love,' 'These Dreams,' 'Never,' 'Alone,' and 'All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You,' were written by outside professionals such as Bernie Taupin, Holly Knight, Diane Warren, Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, and Mutt Lange, with the Wilsons' own songs pushed to the deep cuts. From Jupiters Darling in 2004 onward the sisters take the pen back, writing with Craig Bartock and Ben Mink. Across all of it the composer credits run on the sisters' legal names, Ann Dustin Wilson and Nancy Lamoureux Wilson.
Quick Facts
Sister-led bandHeart is fronted by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, the only members present across every era.
Seattle rootsThe band took shape in the Seattle and Vancouver area, with the classic lineup set by 1975.
Records soldHeart has sold more than 35 million records worldwide.
Rock HallInducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
1980s writing pivotThe band's biggest 1980s hits came largely from outside professional songwriters rather than the Wilsons.
Grammy Lifetime AchievementReceived the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023.
Creative Fingerprint
A band built on the Wilson sisters' own songwriting in the 1970s that turned to outside professional writers for its biggest 1980s hits before returning to self-written material.
The Story
Heart is an American rock band formed in Seattle in the early 1970s and fronted by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, the first women to lead a hard-rock band to that level of success. They broke through in 1975 with Dreamboat Annie and its hits 'Crazy on You' and 'Magic Man,' then defined a run of 1970s rock with 'Barracuda' and 'Straight On.' The band's story is unusual for its authorship arc: the Wilsons wrote their early catalog themselves, then in the mid-1980s Capitol-era comeback handed the biggest hits to outside professional songwriters, giving them the number ones 'These Dreams' and the Steinberg-Kelly song 'Alone.' Later albums from Jupiters Darling onward returned the writing to the sisters. Heart has sold more than 35 million records worldwide, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023 across a catalog of fifteen studio albums.
Awards & Recognition
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted 2013
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 2023
Four competitive Grammy Award nominations (1986, two in 1988, and 1991)
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 2012
Frequently Asked Questions Heart
Did Heart write their own songs?
In the 1970s, yes. Ann and Nancy Wilson wrote or co-wrote the band's early hits such as 'Crazy on You,' 'Magic Man,' and 'Barracuda.' That changed in the mid-1980s, when several of Heart's biggest singles were supplied by outside professional songwriters, before the band returned to more self-written material in later years.
Who wrote 'Alone'?
'Alone' was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, who had first recorded it themselves under the band name i-Ten in 1983. Heart's 1987 version became the definitive one, reaching number one on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Who wrote 'These Dreams'?
'These Dreams' was written by Bernie Taupin and Martin Page, not by the Wilsons. Released in 1986, it became Heart's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. Nancy Wilson sang lead on the track.
Who wrote 'Barracuda'?
'Barracuda' was written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Roger Fisher, and Michael Derosier. Ann Wilson drafted the lyrics in anger after a record-label publicity stunt spread a false story about the sisters. It was released in 1977 as the lead single from Little Queen.
Are Ann and Nancy Wilson sisters?
Yes. Ann Wilson (born 1950) and Nancy Wilson (born 1954) are sisters and have been the constant core of Heart since Nancy joined in the mid-1970s. They are the only members present across the band's entire history.
Why did Heart use outside songwriters in the 1980s?
After signing with Capitol Records, Heart pursued a more polished, radio-focused sound aimed at the mid-1980s pop market. That approach brought in professional writers for singles like 'Alone,' 'These Dreams,' 'Never,' and 'What About Love,' and it produced the band's commercial peak.
Which Heart hits did the Wilsons write themselves?
The Wilson sisters wrote or co-wrote most of Heart's 1970s signature songs, including 'Crazy on You,' 'Magic Man,' 'Barracuda,' 'Straight On,' and 'Dog & Butterfly.' These credits sit alongside guitarist Roger Fisher and other early members on several tracks.
When was Heart inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Heart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. The induction recognized the classic lineup, including Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Roger Fisher, Steve Fossen, Michael Derosier, and Howard Leese.
Who are the core members of Heart?
Ann Wilson on lead vocals and Nancy Wilson on guitar and vocals are the band's core. The classic era also featured Roger Fisher and Howard Leese on guitars, Steve Fossen on bass, and Michael Derosier on drums, with a rotating cast of players in later lineups.
Heart