LITA FORD..."QUEEN OF 80's METAL"

Lately, I have come to find out people are much more apt to read light-hearted banter here on Gather rather than the more intense and argumentative subjects such as politics and/or religion. They also seem to be forever interested in most any type of entertainment news or information. With that in mind and the fact that I really enjoy writing about music, (being the musician that I am, that shouldn't be hard to believe) I've decided to lay off the politics for awhile and just write some interesting and informative articles about three or four of my more favorite musicians. My choices were decided by the fact that these fellow musicians are seldom heard from anymore, but yet contributed immensely to the fabric of Metal/Rock music during the 80's and early 90's...

My first choice to start off the series not only "smokes" from a visual standpoint, but could hold her own and did, with most of the "Boys in the bands" once she strapped on that custom BC Rich Warlock.                                                

                                                                      "Ladies and Gentlemen", meet Lita Ford...

Lita Ford was born Carmelita Rossanna Ford on September 18, 1958 in London, England. She first picked up
a guitar at the age of 11. After attending her first concert, Black Sabbath at the age of 13 she
knew this was her calling. When she turned 14 she got a job working at a hospital. She saved up 
$400 dollars and bought a chocolate color Gibson SG. By this time she was pretty much a pro since
she had been playing 3 years already.

 In 1976 at the age of 16 her friend's bandmate who
was a bass player got sick, he asked her to fill in for him. At the same time, Kim Fowley was looking for female musicians to join a band called, The Runaways. At this point he only had a drummer, Sandy West, and a guitar player named Joan Larkin (Jett). After seeing Lita perform as a bass player with her friend's band, he called her up to join the Runaways. After explaining to Kim that she was
not a bass player, but a guitarist he said that he needed one of those too. So Lita auditioned
for the Runaways, and blew them away. She performed Black Sabbath and the Deep Purple song, "Highway Star" and they hired her.

 In the beginning all the girls got along great, but Lita quit the Runaways due to Kim's degrading remarks towards them. After quiting she soon started having nightmares that the Runaways got huge and she had missed the boat. So after 6  months they called her asking her to rejoin the group and she did.

 The Runaways toured through the United States, Europe and Japan, playing a brand of rock mixed with punk that no one had seen girls play before. While the girls had a say in much of the writing and were pioneers for today's female hard rock acts, at the time they were largely known as teenage jailbait on the run. Their outfits combined with their lyrics made them pariahs to much of the media but that didn't stop their cult following from growing. The band went through several personnel changes (Vicki Blue replaced Jackie Fox and was then replaced by Laurie McCallister....Cherie Currie also left the band, leaving Jett to take over as lead vocalist) and at the tail end of 1979, the band called it a day.

 Lita hooked up with Sandy and kept playing for a time while Joan Jett went on to start her successful solo career. The Runaways put out 5 albums (3 of which had Cherie Currie on lead vocals) but weren't popular in the U.S.; they were considered teenage jailbait by most people, but in Japan they were treated as though they were Queens. Their last performance was in San Francisco, Californa at the Cow Palace in 1979.

 After the break up Lita went solo, putting out 6 great albums. In 1983, Lita released her first solo album with her three piece band, entitled Out For Blood. Her music was now her music, heavy metal with female attitude. In 1985, she released Dancing On The Edge and received her first Grammy nomination for "Gotta Let Go." Writing began on a third album to be called The Bride Wore Black but the album was never recorded and after a period of argument with the record label, Lita and the label parted company.

 In 1988, with a new record label and a new manager in Sharon Osbourne, Lita released Lita which included the hits "Kiss Me Deadly" and seminal favorite "Close My Eyes Forever", (a duet with Ozzy). While the 90s brought "alternative," Lita relased Stiletto which included a touching tribute to her mother, "Lisa." She followed it up with Dangerous Curves in 1991 but by then, alternative had set itself in stone. Lita waited until 1995 to release Black, then returned home for a much needed period of relaxation.

 She and husband Jim Gillette (of Nitro fame), welcomed their first son into the world, James. When the Millienum came, Lita had released Greatest Hits Live, which included the new studio track, "Nobody's Child." In 2003, BMG Special Products released the first ever Lita Ford video collection dvd. Today, Lita and Jim are the proud parents of two sons and are enjoying their parenthood. Jim has formed a new band called Organ Donor, among other musical projects, and Lita is preparing her boys for the world. In my opinion, she may want the prepare the world for her boys. Never count Lita out....just when you think it's safe, she may just surprise you.
Lita has won 7 Metal Edge Readers Choice awards, among many other awards and was even nominated for a Grammy.