Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson Recall Being Propositioned by Eddie and Alex Van Halen: 'One of Many Bad Ideas'

The Heart sisters and the Van Halen brothers seemed like a match made in heaven — at least, that’s what Alex and Eddie Van Halen thought, according to the sisters.

Ann and Nancy Wilson stopped by The Howard Stern Show on April 10, where host Howard Stern asked them about the “famous story” that the Van Halen brothers “thought it would be a good idea to have a sexual relationship with you guys because you’re sisters and they’re brothers.”

“Sounds like a publicist’s kind of dream,” Nancy, 70, said in response. “Kind of like the guys in KISS, you know, the Wilson sisters and the guys in KISS!”

Ann, 73, recalled that the proposition came up “during a long night of reveling,” of which the two musical duos certainly had many. 

“Yeah, one of many bad ideas one night, you know, kinda thing,” Nancy agreed.

Stern, 70, for one, was all for the idea. “Wouldn’t it be great? We mate, and we make future rock bands," he joked.

Recalling the time they spent with the brothers, Nancy said of Eddie, who died in 2020 at age 65, and Alex, 70, “Those Van Halen brothers, they were nuts. They were really imbibers, and they were always in the bag, like way in the bag.”

“It was sure interesting to watch,” Ann added of the brothers’ dynamic, which, as Nancy described, would alternate between “fisticuffs” and proclamations of love for each other.

“We never really hung out and had much of an opportunity in the wild, crazy times that we were in, in the ‘80s there, with so much imbibery and chicanery going on,” Nancy continued. “But they were really solid brothers and cool people and musicians and it was fun to know them and be part of the circus with them.”

In February, Alex announced that he’s releasing a book about his brother, which will chronicle the story of the band, which they formed together in 1972.

Described by its publisher as "nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you’ve ever read," Brothers will share stories from throughout Alex's life, including his family’s immigration to the U.S. from Amsterdam and their rise to fame.

"I was with him from day one,” Alex wrote of Eddie in an excerpt of the memoir shared in a press release. “We shared the experience of coming to this country and figuring out how to fit in. We shared a record player, an 800-square-foot house, a mom and dad and a work ethic."

“Later, we shared the back of a tour bus, alcoholism, the experience of becoming successful, of becoming fathers and uncles and of spending more hours in the studio than I’ve spent doing anything else in this life,” he continued. “We shared a depth of understanding that most people can only hope to achieve in a lifetime.”

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“This book is a fascinating story of a band – and so much more: it’s also a chronicle of family and talent and the passion to create,” the book’s editor Sara Nelson said in the release. “It is the definitive take on Edward Van Halen’s life and death from the one who knew and loved him best.”

Brothers is due out Oct. 22, 2024.