Little Queen

Overview

The group intended Magazine to be the official follow-up album to the debut Dreamboat Annie. However, a contract dispute with their label, Mushroom Records, resulted in the group signing with the newly formed Portrait Records, a division of CBS Records (now Sony/BMG).

The Mushroom contract called for two albums and the label took the position that they were owed a second one. On that basis, Mushroom attempted to prevent the release of Little Queen and any other work by Heart. They took the five unfinished tracks for Magazine and added a B-side and two live recordings. The first release of the album in early 1977 came with a disclaimer on the back cover.

The dispute dragged on and ended with the court deciding that Heart was free to sign with a new label, but added that Mushroom was indeed owed a second album. So, Heart went back to the studio to rerecord, remix, edit, and resequence the Magazine recordings in a marathon session over four days. A court-ordered guard stood nearby to prevent the master tapes from being erased.

Little Queen was released 14 May 1977 and Magazine was re-released 22 April 1978. With the hit single "Barracuda", Little Queen outsold Magazine handily, eventually achieving 3X Platinum status. However, the almost contemporary release also gave the band the distinction of having all three of their albums on the charts at the same time.

"Barracuda"

After the first album became a million seller, Mushroom took out a full-page ad in Rolling Stone magazine touting the band's success, using the headline "Million to One Shot Sells a Million". The ad looked like the front page of a tabloid newspaper and included a photo from the Dreamboat Annie cover shoot. The caption read: "Heart's Wilson Sisters Confess: 'It Was Only Our First Time!'".

Just after this ad appeared, a Detroit radio promoter asked Ann Wilson where her lover was (referring to sister, Nancy). Ann was outraged and retreated to her hotel room to write a song. When she relayed the incident to Nancy, she, too, was outraged. Nancy joined Ann and contributed a melody and bridge. The song became "Barracuda", which peaked on the charts at number 11 and remains one of the band's signature songs.

Heart

Additional musicians

Production