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Lita Ford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carmelita Rossanna Ford (born September 23, 1958) is a glam metal singer and guitarist who achieved popularity during the 1980s.
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Ford was born in London. She moved with her family to the United States while still very young. She began playing the guitar at age 11.
Her vocal range is that of a mezzo-soprano.[1]
In 1976 at the age of 17 she became one of the founding members of the legendary teenage all-female proto-punk-metal band The Runaways. There she played lead guitar.
After the group folded in 1979, she began a solo career. Her guitar playing was well respected amongst her peers, both when she was a member of The Runaways and as a solo act. During her solo years she was iconically sporting a B.C. Rich Warlock guitar, becoming a trademark of her visual appearance. Her first two albums, Out For Blood and Dancin' on the Edge were relatively successful, and in 1985, Ford was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Performance for "Gotta Let Go", along with Wendy O. Williams and Pia Zadora. However the musical genre of "arena metal rock" of the Kiss ilk had already crested and was now beginning its decline in the second half of the 1980s.
Nothing was heard from Ford for the next four years; a follow-up to Dancin' on the Edge, titled The Bride Wore Black, was abandoned and never released, as Ford switched from Mercury Records to RCA Records. By the time Ford returned again, the lighter pop-metal she had long favored had broken through to mainstream audiences, which set the stage for her most commercially successful album, 1988's Lita. With Sharon Osbourne as her manager, and slickly produced by Mike Chapman]], the album featured Ford's first commercial hit, the #12 "Kiss Me Deadly". Its follow-up ballad, a duet with Ozzy Osbourne entitled "Close My Eyes Forever", provided both artists with their first Top Ten single. Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead (whom she'd met in 1975 when she was with the Runaways) was in LA staying at the Park Sunset hotel when Lita Ford came in the hotel and told him she needed songs. Lemmy wrote the song "Can't Catch Me" there and then for her (he wrote it as a twelve-bar, but she didn't record it that way).
Lita Ford was married to Chris Holmes (from W.A.S.P.) from June 1990 to July 1991. She has been romantically involved with Nikki Sixx, Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner, Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, Hurricane's drummer Jay Schellen, and finally, with successful business man and former bodybuilder Jimmy Tavis of (Lostboys)(Odin)and (The Anti Social).
Currently, she is married to Jim Gillette, of the band Nitro. With him she has two sons, with their first son having been born on Jim and Lita's third wedding anniversary.
Lita was asked by VH-1 to be in the cast of "The Surreal Life" for its 7th season, in 2007. She declined.
- Out For Blood - 1983
- Dancin' On The Edge - 1984 US #66
- Lita - 1988 US #29
- Stiletto - 1990 US #52
- Dangerous Curves - 1991 US #132
- The Best Of Lita Ford - 1992
- Black - 1995
- Greatest Hits - 1999
- Greatest Hits Live - 2000
- Platinum and Gold Collection - The Best of Lita Ford - 2004
- I'll Be Home for Christmas with Twisted Sister on A Twisted Christmas (2006)
- I Want To Be Loved with LOU on The Other Side (2005)
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | ||
| US Hot 100 | US Mainstream Rock | UK | |||
| 1983 | "Dressed To Kill" | - | - | - | Out For Blood |
| 1984 | "Gotta Let Go" | - | - | #94 | Dancing On The Edge |
| 1988 | "Kiss Me Deadly" | #12 | #40 | #75 | Lita |
| 1988 | "Back To The Cave" | - | #22 | - | Lita |
| 1989 | "Close My Eyes Forever" (with Ozzy Osbourne) | #8 | #25 | #47 | Lita |
| 1989 | "Falling In And Out Of Love" | - | #37 | - | Lita |
| 1990 | "Hungry" | #98 | #14 | #76 | Stiletto |
| 1990 | "Lisa" | - | - | - | Stiletto |
| 1991 | "Shot Of Poison" | #45 | #21 | #63 | Dangerous Curves |
| 1992 | "Playing With Fire" | - | - | - | Dangerous Curves |
| 1994 | "A Future To This Life" (with Joe Walsh) | - | - | - | Robocop 3 OST |
| 1995 | "Killin' Kind" | - | - | - | Black |
- ^ Martin, Bill (2002). Pro Secrets Of Heavy Rock Singing. Sanctuary Publishing, Page 9. ISBN 1-86074-437-0.