LZZY HALE Says Meeting Her 'Idol' ANN WILSON For First Time Was 'Exciting'

In a new interview with iHeartRadio's Jess Jackson, HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale revealed that she recently met one of her "idols" for the first time, Ann Wilson from HEART. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "This happened — what? — two weeks ago, I think. She was recording a new album and I went to her studio and we did this joint interview together. And I was so happy to finally be able to thank her for not giving up. Because, look, we all have our roller-coaster-ride struggles that we go through just being born a woman, but I didn't have it nearly as bad as she did. [Laughs] Because with every generation, you get to pass the torch to the next and have it be hopefully just a little less difficult because of what you fought to do. And so I got to thank her for not giving up because if that had been her narrative, then that probably would have been my narrative too. It's, like, 'Well, it got too hard. And she got sick of the music business and the struggles that go along with being a girl in the music business.' So then I would be, like, 'Well, wow. That actually seems impossible. Maybe I won't go for that.'"

Lzzy continued: "I remember the first time I ever heard [Ann] really sing was in the '90s. My mom bought me this live CD called 'The Road Home' by HEART and there's this whole version of 'Crazy On You' that's like semi-a cappella and she just wails so hard live. And I'm, like, 'Wow! Girls can sing like that.' And I know it sounds silly, but I was just, like, 'I'm a girl, and she can do it, so I think I can do it too.' It just made that bridge just a little shorter between me and the dream."

Hale added that it was "exciting" to meet Wilson. "And it was neat to just talk to her like a normal person and really be just, like, 'Hey, I want you to know how monumental that CD was,'" she said. "The funniest thing was that [Ann] was, like, 'That live CD? We don't even think of that live CD. They just happened to put it out.'

"You never know where those little keystones in your life are going to land. So that was a lot of fun."

HALESTORM will release its fifth studio album, "Back From The Dead", on May 6. The follow-up to 2018's "Vicious" was produced by Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, MASTODON, ALICE IN CHAINS) with co-production by Scott Stevens (SHINEDOWN, DAUGHTRY, NEW YEARS DAY). The band began writing the album pre-pandemic, but continued throughout lockdown, and the result "is the story of me carving myself out of that abyss," said Lzzy. "It is a journey of navigating mental health, debauchery, survival, redemption, rediscovery, and still maintaining faith in humanity."

A U.S. headline tour in support of the effort will take place this spring, HALESTORM's first U.S. shows since the conclusion of their co-headline dates with EVANESCENCE in January. Kicking off May 10 in Billings, Montana, and running through May 30 in Missoula, the dates, which include festival stops at St. Louis's Point Fest on May 21 and Daytona Beach's Welcome To Rockville on May 22, will feature various openers, including rock icons STONE TEMPLE PILOTS; MAMMOTH WVH, the hard rock band fronted by Wolfgang Van Halen; and Southern rock staples BLACK STONE CHERRY.

Lzzy and her brother Arejay Hale (drums) formed the band in 1998 while in middle school. Guitarist Joe Hottinger joined the group in 2003, followed by bassist Josh Smith in 2004.

In December 2018, HALESTORM was nominated for a "Best Rock Performance" Grammy Award for its song "Uncomfortable". Six years earlier, the band won its first Grammy in the category of "Best Hard Rock/ Metal Performance" for "Love Bites (So Do I)".