Riding High And Singing Strong -- Home Is Where Heart Is

Heart always has been Seattle's band. Ever since the group first hit the charts some 15 years ago, local fans have been behind the group through thick and thin. A lot of rock bands have no fixed identity with a city, but rockers all over the world know Heart is from Seattle.

The band has always celebrated that connection, but never more so than in recent years. Ann and Nancy Wilson especially have been visible supporters of the local scene. Both attended the NAMA music awards show last April, presenting awards and mingling with Northwest musicians without any rock-star pretentions.

They contributed their singing talents, and Nancy played guitar, on the Earth Day 1990 charity single, ``Future of the Whole World,'' a fine song featuring many Northwest stars, which unfortunately didn't get heard much because of poor distribution.

The Wilson sisters even contributed to a Rolling Stone story in May about Northwest summer hot spots. Their responses - Ann wrote that she hangs out at Belltown's Two Bells Tavern, Parker's (where Heart got its start in the mid-'70s), University Bistro, the Rain City Grill (not far from Ann's secluded home) and the Pink Door, and Nancy named the Vogue, the Central and Shuckers - reflected the fact that both really do go out in public here, just like ordinary people.

But never has Heart made a statement about local pride as strongly as the one they're making with ``Puget Sound Live,'' the

benefit concert they're starring in at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Coliseum, with Cheap Trick opening. The event is expected to raise more than $200,000 for the environment, with proceeds going to a variety of groups concerned with pollution in and around the Sound.

Heart and its management and production companies are donating their services, and several local companies and radio stations contributed funds to the effort (Cheap Trick and concert support staff, including roadies, ushers, etc., are getting paid.)

This isn't a publicity stunt for Heart because they don't need that right now (if it had come in the early 1980s, when they were at an artistic and commercial low point, it would have been suspect.)

Heart is sailing into its hometown on a high tide of success that it's been riding for five years now. Starting with the 1985 ``Heart'' LP through to this year's ``Brigade,'' Heart has been on top of the rock world. It's scored hit after hit, including a pair of No. 1s with ``These Dreams'' (the band's first single featuring Nancy as lead singer) and ``Alone'' (with Ann in one of her finest ballad performances.)

Ann, at 39, is singing with more ferocity than ever. ``Brigade'' includes some her most stunningly powerful vocalizing, in songs such as the gritty ``Call of the Wild,'' the punchy ``Tall, Dark Handsome Stranger'' and the dramatic ``I Didn't Want to Need You.'' She shows that her voice is maturing into an even more assured, versatile instrument (which we will be hearing for a long time to come as Heart has just signed a new five-album contract with Capitol Records.)

Nancy contributed another of her power ballads to ``Brigade,'' the current hit single ``Stranded.'' And the third member of the original Heart team, Howard Leese (also a Seattle resident), plays some of the best guitar solos of his recording career.

The fact that tomorrow's concert is sponsored by the Washington Environmental Council makes it something of a family affair. Ted Pankowski, executive director of the council, is married to the third Wilson sister, Lynn. Although Ann and Nancy have been talking for years about doing something for their hometown - they talked about it the first time we met, some 16 years ago - it was Lynn's connection to the council that got the ball rolling for the benefit.

Family is one of the reasons for the show, Ann said at the October press conference announcing the event. ``The closer we get to raising our own families,'' she said, ``the more we want to use our business to help the future environment.''

That was a reference to Ann's plan to adopt a baby, which is to be born in February. She will take some time off when the baby is born, but will become a working single mother in the spring, writing songs for her and Nancy's upcoming double-solo record (the next Heart album will be a live recording.)

The Wilson sisters concern for Seattle will continue after tomorrow's concert. Their next project is a world-class recording studio, so they can make their future albums here, and also have it as a resource for local bands, so they won't have to go to Los Angeles or Vancouver, B.C. to make a first-class recording.