Bernie Taupin - Born in the English countryside near Lincolnshire, Bernie Taupin is regarded as one of the hte most prolific lyricists of the 20th Century. His 27 year collaboration with Elton John has been said to rival the success of the song writing team of Lennon and McCartney. In 1986 Heart released a Taupin penned song titled "These Dreams" which propelled them to their first number one hit in the U.S. Taupin's perceptive lyrics have sold in excess of 100 million records. Other accolades include the 1994 ASCAP Songwriter of the Year and introduction into the Songwriter Hall of Fame. In 1992 Taupin produced Commitment to Life VI which raised an unprecedented $4 million dollars for AIDS Project Los Angeles. Taupin is now a U.S. citizen and lives in California where he is pursuing other careers as a painter and restaurant owner.

Below is Bernie's speech for those who have wondered what was said....

Two Daughters of a Marine Corps captain growing up in Southern California and Taiwan.

In that one sentence I think it's pretty easy to understand the inherent tenacity, the geographical success and the strong will of the Wilson sisters to continually move forward and succeed even when they have momentarily been regarded as being out of the picture.

I live and work a horse ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley above Santa Barbara, California and get pretty cranky these days when anyone tries to force me anywhere but home. But there is a force of human nature and overwhelming respect that compels me to be here tonight.

The thing that has always moved me most and still does along with a dream of perpetual peace and the need to be surrounded by dogs and horses is music. Some people create music that is here and gone like cheap candy and then there are those that fore a soundtrack for people lives and whose material sounds as fresh today as it did the moment you first heard it.

I defy anyone to not crank up the volume on the car radio, roll down the windows and bellow out with unabashed karaoke abandon when "Crazy on You" and "Magic Man" come on. Who hasn't knocked back a few shots and performed reckless air guitar to "Barracuda". Actually just thinking about it now makes me wonder how many hundreds of cover bands must have taken a shot at that, plenty I can guarantee but none of 'em ever got to say BARRACUDA with the awesome venom that came through Ann Wilson's equally awesome voice.

I might add that if there's anything about the history of Ann and Nancy's astonishing careers that irks me it's the fact that not enough attention has been paid to their talent as song writers. Just take a swift look at the writing credits on the songs I've just mentioned, along with those on "Dreamboat Annie" "Little Queen" "Magazine" Dog and Butterfly" and the erotically titled "Bebe Le Strange" and so on and so on.

Believe me the Wilson's between those brackets aren't the Beach Boys, they are two exceptional young women who came from backgrounds in folk music, the club circuit and all manner of resistance.

It's in our best interests that these two finally hooked up and decided to work together. Whether Nancy did it to rescue Ann from having to be in a band called Hocus Pocus and sing Yes's "Siberian Khatru" and Moody Blue's medley's or whether Ann felt Nancy had more of Jimi Hendrix in her than Joan Baez, I'm not sure. Luckily they decided to pool their resources and build an American institution.

To talk about women in rock, and Ann and Nancy's place in the war to break down barriers is irrelevant. When you play guitar like Nancy Wilson and sing like Ann, believe me you have nothing to prove to anyone.

As I've mentioned before when they were counted out and written off they simply regrouped and stormed back for a second coming launching a salvo of top ten hits and multi million selling albums.

Not many groups or artists can claim to have achieved such a feat. In fact the only one that comes to mind is Areosmith, which poses and pretty good analogy.

Both have balls to the wall survival mentality, both are charismatic as all hell, both have great songs and rock like a motherf***** and most of all both have an American heart, a passion for what they do that can only be nurtured from the music that this country forged.

I'm really proud to say that I've played a small part in their history not necessarily because of the success of "These Dreams" but because it afforded me the chance to get to know them better. Of course at the time (Cameron please forgive me) like so may hapless teenagers and twenty something I harbored a huge crush on Nancy. However very sensibly she chose a different path.

Although we have not spent as much time in each others company as I would have liked, I would like to take this opportunity to say that I am thrilled to be here for them tonight and be able to convey to them how important their contribution to popular music has been. If talent is a gauge by which we measure the metal of the human spirit then Seattle's very own Rock N Roll sisters stride like giants, believe me they are all HEART

Ladies and Gentlemen Ann and Nancy Wilson Back