Heart’s Nancy Wilson Designs New Epiphone ‘Fanatic’ Guitar
The new instrument marks the Heart guitarist’s first Epiphone signature guitar and her second guitar overall with Gibson Brands.
Epiphone, the leading accessible guitar brand For Every Stage, have unveiled their new Nancy Wilson Fanatic guitar. The Fanatic is created and co-designed by Nancy Wilson of Heart and the luthiers at Epiphone in Nashville, TN, and marks Wilson’s first Epiphone signature guitar and her second guitar overall with Gibson Brands. The Epiphone Nancy Wilson Fanatic is now available worldwide from the official Epiphone website.
“In the midst of the distant eighties, I was approached by Gibson to design a signature model,” says Wilson. “I put pencil to paper to first design the body shape and chose a curvy female diminutive silhouette for the cut away. Many years later the body shape remains exact and the hardware I requested makes the Fanatic a solid citizen amongst the great rock guitar screamers.”
A guitar virtuoso from the age of 9, Nancy Wilson – and her sister Ann – lead the multi-platinum group, Heart, who have sold over 35 million albums, garnered 10, Top Ten albums, been nominated for four Grammy Awards, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Wilson is revered as an ingenious guitar player, as well as a gifted songwriter and lead vocalist. In an era when females in rock ‘n’ roll were scarce, Nancy carved out a place for women to front rock bands and dominate on stage across the globe. In fact, that’s Nancy singing on Heart’s first No. 1 hit song, “These Dreams.” As a songwriter, Wilson has co-written a collection of indelible songs that have earned their way into the classic rock canon including “Magic Man,” “Crazy On You,” “Barracuda,” “Straight On” and more.
In April 2021, Nancy Wilson will release the first-ever solo album of her storied career via Carry On Music. Nancy plays guitar and sings every song on the new album which features collaborations with Sammy Hagar, Duff McKagan, and Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins.
Listen to the best of Heart here.