- Writers: Ann and Nancy Wilson
- Producer: Mike Flicker
- Recorded: August 1975 at Can-Base Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia
- Released: 1976
- Players:
Ann Wilson — vocals
Nancy Wilson — guitar
Roger Fisher — guitar
Howard Leese — guitar, keyboards
Steve Fosen — bass
Mike Derosier — drums - Album: Dreamboat Annie (Mushroom, 1976)
- Also On:
Greatest Hits/Live (Epic, 1980)
These Dreams — Heart’s Greatest Hits (Capitol, 1997)
Greatest Hits (Epic/Legacy, 1998)
Greatest Hits 1985-95 (Capitol, 2000)
Essential Heart (Epic/Legacy, 2002)
Alive In Seattle (Epic/Legacy, 2003) - “Magic Man” was Heart‘s second Top 40 hit, following “Crazy On You.” It was also the group’s first to reach the Top 10, hitting Number Nine in 1976.
- “Magic Man” remained Heart’s biggest hit until a cover of Aaron Neville‘s “Tell It Like It Is” hit Number Eight four years later.
- Ann Wilson said “Magic Man” is drawn from her own life: “That song was autobiographical, written about a boyfriend I had at the time. It’s pretty straight-ahead.”
- In the early days, the members of Heart were involved in a series of romantic entanglements, including a relationship between Ann Wilson and guitarist Roger Fisher, and one between Nancy Wilson and Roger’s brother Mike, who was the group’s sound engineer.
- The relationships ended while recording the 1980 album Bebe Le Strange, leading to a breakup of the original Heart lineup and a series of ongoing personnel changes.
- For many years, “Magic Man” was rumored to be about the Wilson sisters’ rumored fascination with serial killer Charles Manson, and that they gave some of the song’s royalties to him, both of which the duo earnestly denied. Ann Wilson said, “Well, he’s not involved in it at all. That’s just a stupid rumor that keeps persisting and persisting. It may be that because Charles Manson had a connection to Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys that there’s some kind of misunderstanding there with the name Wilson or something. Nancy and I certainly never had anything to do with him. I don’t really see how anyone can think we’d give our heard-earned money to a psychopath or support him in any way.”
FAST FORWARD:
- Ann and Nancy Wilson continue to record and perform as Heart. They also have solo projects outside the band, along with their acoustic-oriented side project called the Lovemongers.
- Nancy Wilson is married to Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Cameron Crowe and has scored several of his films.
- Heart enjoyed a second wind with power ballads like the Number One hit “These Dreams.” They got that song after Stevie Nicks passed on it.