American musician (born 1958)
Lita Ford
|
---|
Ford performing in 2023
|
|
Birth name
| Lita Rossana Ford
|
---|
Born
| (
1958-09-19
)
September 19, 1958
(age 65)
London, England
[1]
|
---|
Origin
| Long Beach
,
California
, U.S.
|
---|
Genres
| |
---|
Occupation(s)
| - Musician
- singer
- songwriter
|
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Instrument(s)
| |
---|
Years active
| |
---|
Labels
| |
---|
Formerly of
| The Runaways
|
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|
Website
| litafordonline
.com
|
---|
Musical artist
Lita Rossana Ford
(born September 19, 1958)
[7]
[8]
is an American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the lead guitarist for the all-female rock band
the Runaways
in the late 1970s, and then embarked on a successful
glam metal
solo career that hit its peak in the late 1980s. The 1989 single "
Close My Eyes Forever
", a duet with
Ozzy Osbourne
, remains Ford's most successful song, reaching No. 8 on the US
Billboard
Hot 100
.
[9]
Early life
[
edit
]
Ford was born to Harry Lenard Ford and Isabella Benvenuto in London, England; her father was British and her mother was Italian.
[10]
When she was in second grade, she moved with her family to the United States, eventually settling in
Long Beach, California
.
[11]
[12]
Inspired by
Ritchie Blackmore
's work with
Deep Purple
, she began playing the guitar at the age of 11. Her vocal range is
mezzo-soprano
.
[13]
Music career
[
edit
]
The Runaways (1975?1979)
[
edit
]
In 1975, at age sixteen, Ford was recruited by recording
impresario
Kim Fowley
to join the all-female rock band
The Runaways
. The band soon secured a recording contract and released their
first album
in 1976. The band garnered significant media attention and the Runaways became a successful recording and touring act during their late-1970s heyday. Ford's lead-guitar playing became an integral element of the band's sound until their eventual break-up in April 1979.
[14]
In 2016, Ford published her autobiography,
Living Like a Runaway: A Memoir
, through Dey Street Books. In the book, Ford claimed that she left The Runaways temporarily in 1976, after coming to the conclusion that her bandmates "were all gay", a situation she didn't feel comfortable with.
[15]
In 1977, internal conflicts were erupting within the Runaways, who had by that time already parted ways with producer Fowley, lead singer
Cherie Currie
, and bassist
Jackie Fox
. Vocalist/guitarist
Joan Jett
wanted the band to shift to a more
Ramones
-influenced
punk rock sound
, while Ford and drummer
Sandy West
wanted to continue playing the
hard rock
-oriented songs the band had become known for.
[16]
With neither faction willing to compromise, the band finally broke up in April 1979.
[16]
Solo career (1982?1995)
[
edit
]
In 1982, Ford signed with
Mercury Records
and set about launching a solo career. Her debut solo album,
Out for Blood
, released in 1983, was a commercial disappointment. Her next release,
Dancin' on the Edge
(1984) achieved moderate success, and Ford's popularity began to rise.
Dancin' on the Edge
included the single "Fire in My Heart", which reached the Top 10 in several countries outside the United States. The follow-up single, "Gotta Let Go", performed better. Ford said in an interview that she recorded an unreleased album with
RCA Records
, and
Tony Iommi
did not perform on it.
[11]
Ford signed with
RCA Records
, hired
Sharon Osbourne Management
, and re-emerged with a more radio-friendly
pop-metal
sound. In 1988, she released her most commercially successful album,
Lita
. The album featured several singles including "
Kiss Me Deadly
", "Back to the Cave", "
Close My Eyes Forever
", and "Falling in and Out of Love", a song co-written by
Nikki Sixx
of
Motley Crue
. The ballad "Close My Eyes Forever", a duet with
Ozzy Osbourne
, remains her most successful song, reaching No. 8 on the US
Billboard
Hot 100
.
[9]
Ford followed up the success of
Lita
with the album
Stiletto
(1990).
Stiletto
featured the singles "Hungry" and "Lisa" (a song dedicated to her mother). However, the album failed to match the success of her previous release. Ford's next release was
Dangerous Curves
(1991), which featured her last charting single to date, "Shot of Poison". Ford's final album prior to a lengthy recording hiatus was
Black
on the German
ZYX Records
.
[
citation needed
]
Long hiatus (1996?2007)
[
edit
]
By the mid-1990s, Ford had turned her attention towards raising her two young sons, causing her music career to become less of a priority. Following the release of
Black
in 1995, Ford did not release new material until
Wicked Wonderland
in 2009.
Return to stage (2008?present)
[
edit
]
In June 2008, Ford re-emerged with a new band with Stet Howland (
W.A.S.P.
) on drums, playing several warm-up gigs under the moniker
Kiss Me Deadly
prior to
Rocklahoma
in Pryor, Oklahoma.
[17]
In June 2009, she toured the United States and Europe with a new line-up on her last fourteen shows, consisting of former
Guns N' Roses
guitarist
Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal
, drummer
Dennis Leeflang
, and
Deepfield
bassist PJ Farley.
[18]
[19]
After a long recording hiatus, Ford released
Wicked Wonderland
on 6 October 2009, on the JLRG Entertainment label.
[20]
In an interview with ExclusiveMagazine.com, Ford spoke about her new material: "I just wanted to kick ass! I don't know what's popular, or the flavor of the day. I just wanted the music to rock! The lyrics are very personal and that's it. I wasn't going to come out in sandals with hairy armpits!"
[21]
In May 2011, Ford promised to release a "real comeback album" later in the year with drummer Chuck Spradlin, saying that 2009's
nu metal
-inspired
Wicked Wonderland
was too much of a collaborative project with ex-husband
Jim Gillette
. "A lot of people have told me that they want a real Lita Ford album, and I know what they mean. They are going to get it", she was quoted as saying at the time.
[22]
Living Like a Runaway
was released in June 2012 on
SPV/Steamhammer Records
. True to her word, the album was much more in line with her earlier work. The title is also celebratory, as Ford had recently settled differences with her former Runaways' bandmates.
[23]
During 2014, she was bestowed with The Certified Legend Award by
Guitar Player
.
[24]
In November 2014,
Heaven Below
guitarist
Patrick Kennison
joined Ford's band.
[25]
In 2016, Ford released
Time Capsule
, a collection of songs she discovered on old analogue tapes from the 1980s, featuring recordings she had made with
Billy Sheehan
,
Gene Simmons
,
Bruce Kulick
,
Robin Zander
,
Rick Nielsen
,
Dave Navarro
, Rodger Carter, and
Jeff Scott Soto
.
[26]
Personal life
[
edit
]
In the mid-1980s, Ford was briefly engaged to guitarist
Tony Iommi
of
Black Sabbath
.
[27]
Iommi co-produced her album
The Bride Wore Black
, which was never released. Ford said in a 1989 interview with
Kerrang!
that "there's a certain amount of bad blood between Tony and I". She claimed in her autobiography that Iommi physically abused her throughout the relationship.
[28]
Ford was married to W.A.S.P. guitarist
Chris Holmes
in the early 1990s for a short time. After the couple divorced, Ford met former
Nitro
vocalist
Jim Gillette
in 1994; the couple were married after knowing each other for only two weeks. They have two sons, James and Rocco. The family moved to
Turks and Caicos
, where Gillette operated a small construction and real estate development business.
[29]
The marriage to Gillette began to crumble after he entered into negotiations with
TLC
for a
reality TV show
, tentatively titled
The Gillettes: An Extreme American Family
. In a March 2011 interview on the Classic Rock Revisited website, Ford claimed that she had taken a business trip to Los Angeles to discuss the show with TLC executives, and returned home to find her husband and sons not speaking to her.
[30]
Ford also claimed that Gillette turned the couple's children against her by insinuating that she was going to do harm to them, after she had assumed a greater level of control in the proposed series.
[31]
She subsequently claimed that Gillette began encouraging her sons to physically attack her, a situation which prompted her to seek a divorce.
[32]
In a February 2011 radio interview, Ford acknowledged that her marriage to Gillette was indeed over,
[33]
ending any plans for a television series. Following the end of her relationship with Gillette, Ford became an advocate for the awareness of
parental alienation
.
Acting and other projects
[
edit
]
During her solo career, Ford endorsed musical instrument manufacturer
B.C. Rich
and exclusively used several of the brand's guitars, most notably
the Warlock
. The 1992 TV series
Howie
, starring
Howie Mandel
, saw Ford as a regular guitarist for the house band. Ford also had a small role in the 1992 horror/comedy film
Highway to Hell
, playing a character called "The Hitchhiker", and played herself in a 1993 episode of Fox comedy television series
Herman's Head
.
[34]
Ford was also asked by
VH-1
to join the cast of the seventh season of the reality television program
The Surreal Life
in 2007, to which she declined.
[35]
Ford contributed her likeness and voice to the
Xbox 360
,
PlayStation 3
, and PC video game
Brutal Legend
. She appears as the character Rima, alongside
Jack Black
,
Tim Curry
,
Ozzy Osbourne
,
Rob Halford
, and
Lemmy Kilmister
. Her song "Betrayal" is also one of the 100+ songs that appear in the game.
In 2010, a major Hollywood motion picture chronicling the career of Ford's first band, The Runaways, was produced. Ford was portrayed by actress
Scout Taylor-Compton
in the movie, entitled
The Runaways
. Ford is featured extensively in the 2005 documentary film
Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways
, in which she spoke candidly about her time in the all-female band. Among other things, she alludes to verbal and sexual abuse endured by the band members at the hands of their management, specifically
Kim Fowley
.
[
citation needed
]
In 2013, Ford reunited with former
Runaways
bandmate
Cherie Currie
to record a Christmas single.
[36]
The single tied into work Currie and Ford both have done on behalf of
Toys for Tots
, a charity run by the US Marine Corps, which gives holiday toys to children of need.
[37]
Ford appeared on the May/June 2013 cover of
Making Music Magazine
to discuss her life and career.
[38]
In 2014, Ford narrated
The Life, Blood, and Rhythm of
Randy Castillo
.
[39]
Ford competed on the reality cooking show
Chopped
in hopes of raising $10,000 for her charity.
[40]
Ford made it through the first round, but was eliminated in the second round.
Ford released her autobiography
Living Like a Runaway
in June 2016.
[41]
In 2018, Ford and Jim Cara started Lita Ford Guitars, creating guitars and experiences for fans and players.
[42]
Discography
[
edit
]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Video game
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Lita Ford Biography"
. Biography.com. Archived from
the original
on 12 May 2016
. Retrieved
18 May
2014
.
- ^
McPadden 25 September 2015, Mike.
"The Hair Metal 100: Ranking the '80s Greatest Glam Bands?The Final 20!"
.
VH1 News
.
Archived
from the original on 29 June 2022
. Retrieved
1 March
2021
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Phillips, William (2009).
Encyclopedia of heavy metal music
. Brian Cogan. Westport, Connecticut. p. 96.
ISBN
978-0-313-34801-3
.
OCLC
475534546
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Popoff, Martin (2014).
The big book of hair metal : the illustrated oral history of heavy metal's debauched decade
. Minneapolis, MN. pp. 49, 57, 144, 188.
ISBN
978-1-62788-375-7
.
OCLC
891379313
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Weinstein, Deena (2015).
Rock'n America : a social and cultural history
. Toronto. p. 223.
ISBN
978-1-4426-0015-7
.
OCLC
883939738
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
"The Runaways - A Punk Rock History"
. Punk77.co.uk
. Retrieved
31 October
2011
.
- ^
"Lita Ford."
Contemporary Musicians
. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale, 1993. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 24 August 2011.
- ^
"Lita Ford."
Almanac of Famous People
. Gale, 2011. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 24 August 2011.
- ^
a
b
"Lita Ford"
.
Billboard.com
. Retrieved
3 November
2019
.
- ^
Ford, Lita (23 February 2016).
Living Like a Runaway: A Memoir
(First ed.). Dey Street Books.
ISBN
9780062270641
.
- ^
a
b
Eddie Trunk.
"ET- Lita Ford ? The Eddie Trunk Podcast"
. Podcastone.com
. Retrieved
20 November
2015
.
- ^
Ramirez, Carlos (25 April 2012).
"Lita Ford on Her Wild Teenage Days in '70s Southern California"
.
Noisecreep
. AOL Inc
. Retrieved
10 June
2012
.
- ^
Martin, Bill (2002).
Pro Secrets of Heavy Rock Singing
. Sanctuary Publishing. p. 9.
ISBN
1-86074-437-0
.
- ^
"Lita Ford looks back on The Runaways' breakup: "We were going in different musical directions"
"
.
Brave Words
.
- ^
Brekke, Kira (29 February 2016).
"Lita Ford Reveals She Quit The Runaways Because Her Bandmates 'Were All Gay'
"
.
HuffPost.com
. Retrieved
3 November
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Sherman, Dale.
20th Century Rock And Roll: Women In Rock
. Collector's Guide Publishing, Inc, p53
- ^
"Eddie Trunk"
. EddieTrunk.com. Archived from
the original
on 27 September 2011
. Retrieved
9 October
2011
.
- ^
"Guns N' Roses Guitarist Bumblefoot To Tour With Lita Ford"
. Blabbermouth.net. 9 June 2009
. Retrieved
20 November
2015
.
- ^
"Lita Ford Tour History from 2008 to 2016: Lita Ford Past Tour Dates"
. Bandsintown.com
. Retrieved
20 November
2015
.
- ^
Price, Jason (12 November 2008).
"Lita Ford: The Next Chapter In Her Rockin' History"
. Live-Metal.net
. Retrieved
14 March
2010
.
- ^
Russell A. Trunk.
"
Desert Island Diva!
"
.
Exclusive Magazine
. Retrieved
5 September
2010
.
- ^
"Lita Ford: New Video Interview Posted Online"
. Roadrunner Records. Archived from
the original
on 12 September 2012
. Retrieved
28 December
2012
.
- ^
Greg Prato (18 June 2012).
"Album Premiere: Lita Ford, 'Living Like a Runaway'
"
.
Rolling Stone
. Retrieved
28 December
2012
.
- ^
"The 2014 Guitar Player Hall of Fame Awards"
. guitarplayer.com. 17 November 2014.
- ^
Jay Nanda.
"San Antonian Patrick Kennison new guitarist for Lita Ford"
.
Axs.com
. Retrieved
7 November
2014
.
- ^
"Lita Ford Is Bringing Back The '80s with 'Time Capsule'
"
. Blabbermouth.net. 3 March 2016
. Retrieved
8 May
2017
.
- ^
"Lita Ford History: Sleaze Roxx"
. Archived from
the original
on 12 August 2011
. Retrieved
26 July
2011
.
- ^
Pasbani, Robert (15 February 2016).
"Lita Ford Alleges BLACK SABBATH's Tony Iommi Physically Abused Her During Their Marriage In New Tell-All Book"
.
Metal Injection
. Retrieved
27 December
2023
.
- ^
"Colonies and Territories"
. Outpostmagazine.com. 20 March 2009. Archived from
the original
on 23 August 2011
. Retrieved
9 October
2011
.
- ^
Wright, Jeb.
"Nightmares & Dreams both Come True: An interview with Lita Ford"
.
Classic Rock Revisited
. Archived from
the original
on 15 October 2011
. Retrieved
13 March
2018
.
- ^
"Lita Ford Plays Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?"
. Loudwire.com. 5 November 2013
. Retrieved
18 May
2014
.
- ^
"Lita Ford interview"
.
Classic Rock Revisited
. Archived from
the original
on 15 October 2011
. Retrieved
9 October
2011
.
- ^
"Lita Ford interview"
. Ultimate-guitar.com. 26 January 2011. Archived from
the original
on 5 February 2011
. Retrieved
9 October
2011
.
- ^
"Lita Ford | Actress, Composer, Music Department"
.
IMDb
.
- ^
"Lita Ford 'Turned Down' Chance to Appear in 'Surreal Life'
"
.
Blabbermouth.net
. 26 June 2006.
- ^
Lita Ford & Cherie Currie ? 2013 Christmas single
,
The Guardian
, 27 August 2013.
- ^
"Rock pioneer Lita Ford to shred at Naperville's Last Fling"
.
Daily Herald
. September 2015.
- ^
"Lita Ford: Rock and Roll Moms"
. 1 May 2013
. Retrieved
11 September
2014
.
- ^
"The Life, Blood and Rhythm of Randy Castillo"
.
IMDb.com
. Retrieved
3 November
2019
.
- ^
"Rock Stars: Chopped"
. Food Network
. Retrieved
20 November
2015
.
- ^
Ford, Lita.
"Living Like a Runaway ? Lita Ford ? Hardcover"
.
HarperCollins US
.
- ^
Ford, Lita (4 April 2018).
"Interview: Lita Ford talks new tour, music and career highlights"
.
AXS
(Interview). Interviewed by AXS. Archived from
the original
on 27 March 2019
. Retrieved
27 March
2019
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Studio albums
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Live albums
| |
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Compilation albums
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Singles
| |
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Related articles
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Studio albums
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Live albums
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Compilation albums
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Songs
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Films
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International
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National
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Artists
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