ROCKWiRED iNTERViEWS LiTA FORD

WiCKED QUEEN
METAL QUEEN LiTA FORD TALKS TO ROCKWiRED
ABOUT HER COMEBACK CD WiCKED WONDERLAND
HiTTiNG THE ROAD WiTH A VENGEANCE
AND SETTiNG HER SiGHTS ON REALiTY TELEViSiON

Rock vixen LITA FORD was metal’s one and only bad girl. Rock n roll has seen its share of female guitar slingers and singers from HEART’s WILSON sisters to COURTNEY LOVE’s full on angst but FORD’s heavy metal thunder was as sharp and jagged as the stiletto heels she sported. Hers was a package made in heaven – a busty blond chick in heals with an axe to grind and her six string assault was one that could put most male players to shame. There weren’t any schematics for a young CARMELITA ROSANNA FORD to follow in pursuing that often times elusive rock n roll dream. She picked up her first acoustic guitar at seven and after witnessing her first rock concert decided to go for something “…big and beefy and mean sounding”. She found it in a GIBSON SG and in short order was approached by KIM FOWLEY to join an all-girl band of his called THE RUNAWAYS. For four years, she served as the bands lead guitarist and shared the limelight and the tears with fellow band mate and future BLACKHEART - JOAN JETT. When the band fizzled, LITA went solo to prove to the world that she was a front woman and a guitarist to be taken seriously. Initially, acceptance proved to be slow with the albums OUT FOR BLOOD (1983) and DANCIN’ ON THE EDGE (1984). It wasn’t until 1988 when the world would catch up with FORD’s vision. Her third, MIKE CHAPMAN-produced album LITA was a gritty rock n roll gem that boasted the breakout hit KISS ME DEADLY and the stirring OZZY OSBOURNE duet IF I CLOSED MY EYES FOREVER. It was then that the British-born FORD became an all-American, heavy metal icon. Sales remained consistent with 1990’s STILETTO and 1991’s DANGEROUS CURVES but with the advent of grunge and the rejection of anything metal in the nineties, FORD’s 1995 release BLACK received a bruising reception. Before the rock world could blink, FORD did the unexpected – she walked away and stayed mum until now. LITA FORD – the metal queen – is back with a whole new album and a whole new set of priorities. Armed with a rock solid marriage to musical collaborator and former NITRO front man JIM GILLETTE and raising two children, FORD is on the road promoting her new release WICKED WONDERLAND – a delectable heavy metal stab at polite society and political correctness. “When we made WICKED WONDERLAND, it was something that we made because it was what was in our hearts and not trying to appeal to society’s taste.” says FORD of her latest offering “After we wrote and recorded the record, the hard part was putting together a band and trying to find the right guys and right rehearsals. We were trying to find the right people to live with basically. That was pretty weird. We’ve hired and fired a few people and that was the hardest part of everything – that and a couple of sore muscles.” (READ MORE)