Lita Ford

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Lita Ford on the cover of her 1988 album Lita
Lita Ford on the cover of her 1988 album Lita

Carmelita Rossanna Ford (born September 19, 1958) is a glam metal singer and guitarist who achieved popularity during the 1980s.

Contents

[edit] Biography

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.

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. 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.

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 and Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi. 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 VH1 to be in the cast of "The Surreal Life" for its 7th season, in 2007. She Declined.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Other appearances

[edit] Singles

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

[edit] External links

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