Lita Ford life and biography

Lita Ford aka Lita Lita Gillette (born Carmelita Rossanna Ford) is a well known British-born hard rock singer and guitarist who achieved popularity during the 1980s. Ford was born in London, U.K., but at the same time she is of Italian heritage. 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. When she had the material to back her up, Ford was inarguably capable of rocking out aggressively and assertively, and more times than not, better than the best of her male counterparts. 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” 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.

Lita Ford realizes that her last release, 2009's nu metal-inspired Wicked Wonderland, left many of her hardcore fans befuddled. In 2012, the famous guitarist recorded an album much more in line with her earlier efforts: Living Like a Runaway released June 19th via SPV Records.

"It's a real Lita Ford record," Ford told about her album. "It's what the fans expected from me a while back. It was something that really came natural to me. I hid away in [producer] Gary Hoey's studio and started writing and writing, like God cast some spell over me and said, 'Thou shall write songs now!' What makes this album so special is that it's real. I was able to write this album in one of the darkest times in my life. It really was a gift from God."

Ford is touring in 2012 with Def Leppard and Poison entire summer, with the kick off date one day after album's release, June 20th. "I'm honored to be on the Def Leppard/Poison tour. I know it's going to be a kick-ass tour," she says. "We're going to play a lot of the new album – it's just the best way to get it started."


In 2013, Ford reunited with former Runaways bandmate Cherie Currie to record a Christmas single. 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.

Ford appeared on the May/June 2013 cover of Making Music Magazine to discuss her life and career.

In 2014, Ford narrated The Life, Blood, and Rhythm of Randy Castillo. Ford competed on the reality cooking show Chopped in hopes of raising $10,000 for her charity. 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.

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