from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with the wilson sisters, members of the rock-and-roll bad heart. over four decades that have sold more than 30 million records worldwide. just this week they have been inducted to the rock-and-roll hall of fame. this is our 10th anniversary and we are approaching that 2000 episode. we continue to introduce you to some of those folks who make that possible. joining me is our own set photographer. he comes from one of the most important families of the civil- rights struggle. he is the son of medgar evers. >> thank you very much for allow me to be on this group. for many years, i have been able

to see the guest, what shoot, and as a photographer watched the guest. you make them comfortable, and you bring out the best in them, which helps me in my job. tavis: that is my job, to make your job easier. and you do a fine job of it. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

tavis: after four decades and more than 30 million records solarann and nancy will just inducted into the rock-and- roll hall of fame. the road was not always smooth and some of their conflicts and behind-the-scenes dramas have been well chronicled, including their own autobiography. there is a boxed set, and they recently released a studio album titled "fanatic."

let's take a look again doing what they do on their signature song "magic man." ♪ understand he is the magic man ♪ starters, congratulations. a big deal, hall of fame. >> yes. >> does it feel like a big deal? >> it does feel like a big deal. work.kind of a life's

you have a whole bunch of decades that you do this one thing for a long time, and suddenly, here is your crown, in here is an award for it. ok, i'll take it. [laughter] tavis: i was saying to you when you came on the set, first of all, beautifully done, the packaging, they did a great bit job putting this together. the good news about a box thing is that you have a corpus of work that is worthy of a boxed set. the groups that have a box that have been around for a while and have a lot of hits. when you see this, it says what to you? that is like the heft of our body of work. there are things on their that we put on their, comedy bits, kind of, like outtakes from the

studio that you would not ordinarily here on the boxed set. it is everything. it is what we think is special and unusual. collectible. tavis: what does this say to you, nancy, to have a boxed set out? >> it is interesting because when we did the boxed set, we were also working on the new album. at the same time, it was lovely to have something new coming forward and not just a retrospective of another time. i loved the boxed set, too, because it covers all the various characters that we have played in many ways throughout the span of our story. some of them are kind of euphorialike "strange " is a funny title for us.

the best thing about the box set for me is that it shows the multi character of us. we are not just a serious rockers or the romantic rockers or the kickers. we are also the comedians and soul singers and the various people who we are. tavis: when i said in the introduction that the two of you as heart pave the way for other women in rock, i said we would talk about that. i tried to pull back from that comment. i know you take great pride in that on the one hand. on the other hand, that can also be like a sort of news around your neck. >> absolutely. tavis: tell me about the latter part. >> gloria steinem says there should not even have to be the word to identify the fact that women are treated as equals.

in our case, for us to have to really go to work at trying to make it be ok for women to be involved, we should not have had to do all that work, but we did. "ere are the scars of going yes, we will." and hopefully that will reverberate for others. some of the mistakes we made will be remembered. tavis: when you say mistakes, you have written a book about this, so give me one or two examples of what you regard as a career mistake. >> i regard a career mistake as doing something contrary to what you know is right for you, but doing something anyway but digino it will advance your career.

because you know if we'll advance your career. making that robert johnson decision when maybe it is not the right thing. tavis: you cannot be in the music business and not feel the pressure to do something you don't want to do in your career. for women in rock, that that happen more often? >> it sure did for us. it happened in the 1980's, in particular. brought global attention towards -- a little bit away from the music and more towards the image. it mattered more than music for a while there, the imaging of music was more important than the music itself for a while. that was the tough part for us to play, to. , high- made those videos

powered, high finance videos, then you go out and let huge stadium tour, and you would be to put that show on the same as the video. hair and those corsets and those high heels and ,he smoke, all the explosions but overblown, overproduced layer cake of it all. it was really tough for us, because we were hippies first. we were really more natural. tavis: that really was the production end. [laughter] biz, so itin show would follow that you will try to create mythology about yourself, but then to go out and try to embody it in life, that

is where it is difficult. tavis: i was fascinated reading the book. 2012 was a big year for you. the box set came out in 2012. the record came out in 2012. back to the text, the book was a fascinating read, the passage about you being kids and watching the beatles. i love when you tell the story, all of your girlfriends were screaming and yelling and passing out, as girls did when they saw the beatles. they were turned on by the beatles and wanted to hang out with these guys. the two of you were annoyed by all the screaming and yelling. you wanted to hear the music. >> just shut up so we can hear the music. tavis: you knew then that you

wanted to do this. >> it is true. something about that particular music just reached an and let us both up in a way that was so much more than just want to be their girlfriends. it was too big for that. we wanted to be them, doing that. tavis: not with them, but be them. kids at the time, when we saw them on ed sullivan show, it was like a lunar landing. it was a culture shift. it was a shape shifter for the rest of time for us. sexualbefore we had our identity put together either. we had no concept that girls were not really necessarily expected to not do it. our mom being really strong and kind of a self-made pioneer tyvon was all for it.

we were like, ok, there is nothing wrong with this. later, we come to find that it was really unusual, what we are trying to do. tavis: but your mom encouraged to early on. how important was it that both your parents encouraged this? >> they saw other kids who were drifting and had no direction, and they saw this thing that really illuminated us and made us really happy, and they wanted us to be happy and to have a direction. that is my opinion now, that they saw we were excited about something, and go for it. better than being a drifter. like lateme, it was 1960's, early 1970's. the human potential movement is what they called it at the time. it was a lot of self realization

going on, and self-help books and things like that. church camps were more about that than organized religion. we had a really great community and great support system. one of the catch phrases was followed your bliss, and that was definitely our bliss. tavis: since you mentioned the church, i cannot resist one of the funny stories. i am laughing already because they know what i am talking about. [laughter] tell the story. >> i think what you are referring to is one of the first times that nancy and i ever played live in front of people was that our parents church. it was the first congregational church. it was a pretty liberal church for the 1960's. so we on a youth sunday, were up there in front of the church playing, and we chose to

play the doors song, "when the music's over." cancel myes the line " subscription to the resurrection." [laughter] we didn't see anything wrong with it, because we just thought it was mind expanding. some people started to get restless and some people started to get up and sort of file out. by the end of it, one have had left and one half had stayed. tavis: i just thought that was so funny, you are in front of a first congregational church singing and that. >> when you think of it, in the 1960's, at a pretty wide open

protestant church, that was the perfect place to say something , to beat, to be wild revolutionary. contrarian concepts. >> and we got the reaction we wanted. [laughter] trying tom just figure out to what extent you are being contrarian was a part --not just the process >> we were raised that way, to always question, never just accept, go along with the plan, the herd. we are being contrarian probably was not mandated, it was then our dna.

people could just say one little wrong word and we work off on it, we are not going to do that. thing that also a happened in rocked, entertainers in general might have this, too, but i think in rock in particular, there is a spirit that is fueled by the music itself. when you play the allowed, amplified, larger than life in front of all these thousands of , ande, and it is muscular people like it, they want it, and they want more. it sort of feeds a part of you that not necessarily is always a good thing. you can get your head really blown out of proportion, your ego can go out of control if you believe you are hyped -- your

hype, you know. they expect it in rock-and-roll for you to be kind of a bad boy. tavis: egomaniacal. i am glad you said that, because it does raise a question that i want to ask about to the extent that you have, how you avoided the egomaniacal part, how you avoided the drugs, the meltdowns. every career has its ebbs and flows, but you seem to have survived rather well adjusted. >> the holt egomaniacal thing in defeating. self- at this point is a spinal tap issue. rock is human beings playing music from their most vital

core. the whole ego trip and drugs and all that, those are trappings that are kind of stereotype, at this point. myhink speaking from my age, generation, when i was 27 i did not think this at all. i thought, bring it on. [laughter] i think people confuse personal power with ego all the time. hads: if the hall of fame not come calling, if this selection, this honor had not occurred, would you, did you, have you phelps respected -- have you felt respected by the profession, have you been given the respect that you deserve, or does that happen now with this induction? or did it never mattered to you?

>> no, it does matter. you talk yourself into thinking it did not matter when it looked like it might not be able to happen. in that way, we have never fit the profile. there have not been a whole lot of women previously that did to begin with. cautiously optimistic. our fans, however, were like the angry mob coming down into the village with portis. they were ready to go to new act.with the angry mob i would cared more in a way that the fans would get their justice, because they cared super intensely about us. tavis: say a word to me about your families. here you are again, doing

something that has not been done away the to be sisters for doing, and yet you developed a huge fan base. they fought to get you guys in the rock-and-roll hall of fame. talk to me about that fan base that you have established for decades now. >> everyone says this about their fan base, but i've got to say that our fans are the most true. they are deep and loyal and they will come to europe. they will go to canada. i don't know how they afford it. [laughter] but they will show up in the front row, a matter where we are. and they will also make their displeasure known, like last year we open up for def leppard.

no art fans because we were not closing the show. they sent us a message that we will not come unless you are the open and close. they are amazing people. our music is sentimental at times. and theally honest stock to get times. there are people that can encompass all those kinds of emotions. they read the lyrics, they like the poetry. they are awesome. tavis: you said something a moment ago that took me back right quick. e has been on this program, and i had never seen him perform outside the country until a couple of years ago. montreuil few years ago and i went with him.

i was just hanging out during the day. he has been a guest on the program a number of times. i was getting mobbed by people on the street because they had seen him on my program. why are people walking up to me, and then it occurred to me they had seen him on the program so many times. the point is that i was blown away, i would sit and talk to these folks at the cafe engage them in conversation. how many times have you seen prints? 55.72, they started naming cities around the world. he said after a while you spot some of them in the audience. you get to know them. you know some of these fans because they come to so many shows. >> there is one girl, one lawman who -- one woman who has

had really severe health problems over the last few years. we came to know about it, and then we saw her so many times and we would see her looking sicker and sicker. then she would come back and she would look a little better. just like that, you get really familiar with these people. then you start to treat them right. you want them right down there in front, because you know that understand. tavis: and the energy is always right. i got that from watching prince. consort, any prince the front part is always rope taut. down front, the energy that the audience needs will be there. >> they have a big, warm smile and they are really happy to hear the same songs on and on, or new ones.

tavis: speaking of new ones, is it fun are difficult or both to put out new stuff after all these years? >> it is really a lot of work to do a whole long player like that. it is really fun, deeply satisfying, the most satisfying. just to avoid repeating ourselves, to make sure we are relevant as a band to ourselves, and we are trying to cut new ground all the time. that is why it is really important to not just go out there and pull people fled. tavis: you guys have been given them what they want for a lot of years now. congratulations to ann and nancy wilson, the sisters who make up part, for their induction into the rock-and-roll hall of fame.

the boxed set is available now called "strange euphoria." the latest project is called " fanatic" and you will want to get that as well. let to have you. that is our show for tonight. thanks for watching. she said come on the road with us. my bags are packed. i am ready to go. that's our show for tonight. until next time, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with the breakthrough star of the movie about jackie robinson. that is next time. we will see you then. >> there is a saying that dr.

king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs.