Heart’s Ann Wilson Made a Bid to Audition for Led Zeppelin in Late 2000s

Led Zeppelin's influence on Heart has never been secretive and singer Ann Wilson once decided to take a shot at a full circle moment with a bid to become the singer for a project involving Led Zep members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones in the late 2000s.

After one reunion performance in London in 2007, both Page and Jones had intentions on finding a means of continuing with live performances and, perhaps, even new music, but singer Robert Plant had other intentions. Namely, he wanted to continue to develop and promote his solo career rather than head down a new path with his former bandmates.

Zeppelin held auditions for potential singers, but most of these details have been kept quiet over the years, other than Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler previously confirming they rehearsed with the group, which also included drummer Jason Bonham, son of late Led Zep legend John Bonham.

Speaking with Planet Rock's Liz Barnes, Wilson revealed that she "threw [her] hat in the ring" when she learned that the Led Zeppelin members were holding singer auditions.

"Yeah, it's such a boy's club," said Wilson while touching on the Zeppelin song "The Battle of Evermore," which featured singer Sandy Denny.

"Zeppelin always was a boy's club," she continued, "I know that because there was a minute when the rumor was that they were auditioning singers and I just threw my hat in the ring. I went, 'I'm here!’ and it was crickets."

Barnes suggested that the band should have extended the invite for her to try out a few songs in rehearsal, to which Wilson replied, "Who knows what went on there? But, anyway, who would want to hire somebody that could sing just like Plant? I don't think that's what they were into, you know? I don't think they want it to be a caricature of Led Zeppelin."

Returning her attention to "The Battle of Evermore," off Led Zeppelin IV, Wilson enthused, “I think my favorite Led Zeppelin persona is the acoustic but rock – rock with acoustic at its heart. 'The Battle of Evermore' is kind of Druid! It's got this this crazy sort of ancient Celtic feel to it but it's entirely modern for its time. It’s timeless, really. You just picture these cave dwellers dancing around a fire a thousand years ago but it's (Robert) Plant and it’s Sandy Denny."

The Heart vocalist had once tackled the song in her other band The Lovemongers for the Singles soundtrack.