Several big-name rock stars walked the red carpet during last week’s MusiCares Concert for Recovery honoring Mike McCready, many of which have direct ties to Seattle.One of those rock stars was Heart’s Nancy Wilson, whose career intertwines a bit with Pearl Jam’s career. The main connection comes from Wilson’s high school friend, and former Heart road manager and publicist, Kelly Curtis, who managed Mother Love Bone and who has been Pearl Jam’s manager since the band formed.
I asked Wilson about whether Heart has ever served as a mentor to Pearl Jam and she shared a story about how she helped the group out in 1990.
“When they lost Andy Wood, Mother Love Bone were on the brink of a big album deal. And because they lost their singer, they lost their deal,” she said.
“So Kelly brought some of the guys over to meet us, once we were in New York, Jeff (Ament) and Stone (Gossard) and those guys came in and were like ‘Can we ask you a really horrible favor? We need some money right now’ So we wrote them a pretty fat check and they were like ‘We’re good for it. We’re good for it.”
The money ended up sustaining Ament and Gossard during the transition period between Mother Love Bone and the formation of Pearl Jam.
“It was great because it helped them get by until they could find their singer, which they did find obviously, Eddie. And it put them back on track.”
She said Ament and Gossard paid her back after Pearl Jam signed its deal with Epic Records and no interest was charged.
“We’re not the bank of friends, we’re friends,” she said.
You can listen to the rest of this interview, as well as interviews with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, Mad Season’s Barrett Martin, Mike Ness from Social Distortion and Mike McCready, on the second episode of The Anywhere Shows: A Pearl Jam Fan Podcast.
Nancy is such a wonderful soul!