Guitar hero Lita Ford was born on September 19, 1958, in London, England, to a couple right out of an old school romance novel. Harry Lenard Ford, a British soldier, and Isabella Benvenuto, an Italian nurse met during World War II, and afterwards settled briefly in England. When Lita was a young child, the family moved first to Boston, where her mother had relatives, and eventually made their way to Los Angeles for more opportunity and a better lifestyle.
As Ford later wrote in her memoir Living Like a Runaway (2016), her parents “gave me a strong, stable, middle-class home to always crawl back to,” a foundation she carried with her even as she entered the unpredictable world of rock.
Growing up in the Long Beach suburb of Lakewood, California, she developed a fascination with music and taught herself guitar at an early age. Her passion for hard rock and metal was just one of the ways she stood out as she leaned toward the heavy styles of Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore and Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi.
By her early teens, she could already shred and did it with attitude. In her book, Lita remembered blasting Sabbath in her bedroom as the founders intended, and got little pushback from mom and dad.
“My parents didn’t always like everybody, but they always tolerated Black Sabbath and supported me,” she wrote. “They knew it was my world, and they let me live in it.”
Her life changed dramatically in 1975 when producer Kim Fowley and Sandy West put together the Runaways, the all-female rock band that would set the scene for women in rock for decades to come.
Ford, then only 16, was recruited as the group’s lead guitarist alongside Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, Jackie Fox, and West. Their raw, simple, rebellious sound and provocative image challenged gender expectations in the industry and upped the ante as far as the rebellious nature of hard rock and it's kissin' cousin, punk.
The Runaways quickly gained attention both in the United States and abroad, particularly in Japan, where they became hugely popular.
It was in Japan, however, that Lita endured one of the most frightening moments of her young career, which she documented in her memoir.
“One night in Japan I woke up in a hotel bed with some strange guy next to me and blood everywhere,” she wrote. “The sheets were soaked. I didn’t know what had happened. I freaked. The guy didn’t know either. My wrist was cut wide open, and I had to go to the hospital. They put fourteen stitches in it. To this day I still don’t know what happened that night.”
The episode raised an enormous red flag about how out of control the band’s life and lore had become. They were teenage girls barely out of high school, dropped into a whirlwind of freaky fame, alcohol, and exploitation.
Ford later framed the Japan incident as a symbol of how vulnerable they were: young women thrust into adult situations without real protection.
Though the group released several records between 1976 and 1978, and knocked out the hit "Cherry Bomb," like most bands, tensions over musical direction split the members.
Jett pushed toward punk and glam-influenced sounds, while Ford favored heavier, guitar-driven rock.
Her parents, though, were unified in their support for her unconventional path and style. When David Bowie of all people once asked her mother if she always let her daughter dress in such wild outfits, Isabella quickly replied, “Yah Dave, THAT’S rock and roll!”
By 1979, the Runaways disbanded, and Ford, just 20 years old, was ready to embark on a solo career. Signing with Mercury Records, she initially struggled to find her groove alone.
Her first solo LP, Out for Blood (1983), didn’t do much on the charts. Nevertheless, it was a statement from one of the few women shredders in a business that had historically only rewarded female guitarists like Nancy Wilson of Heart or Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders.
Radio at the time was more inclined toward pop stars such as Madonna, Whitney Houston, and Cyndi Lauper.
Fortunately she didn't give up and her second solo record, Dancin’ on the Edge (1984) went gold, selling over 500,000 copies. With no major guest stars, the record boasted the singles “Dressed to Kill” and “Fire in My Heart,” earning her a Grammy nomination in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance category. That year she lost out to Tina Turner’s “Better Be Good to Me,” which is the furthest thing from shameful.
But the best was yet to come. Her 1988 album Lita included the hit singles “Kiss Me Deadly” and “Close My Eyes Forever.”
“Kiss Me Deadly,” became one of MTV’s most played videos of the year and remains her best-known truly-solo tune. But “Close My Eyes Forever,” her duet with the legendary Ozzy Osbourne reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“He changed my life, from the time I was 13 years old going to a Black Sabbath concert,” she told Consequence this year.
“That was it. That was the day and the night the light bulb went off over my head, and I just thought, ‘I have to do this. This is what I wanna do….’ And so that night I came out of there, and I knew what I was gonna do with my future.”
Both Ford and Osbourne have admitted that it began during a night of partying. “The song was written while drunk,” she wrote, noting that they stumbled onto a melody that stuck. Ozzy’s wife Sharon, who was also Ford’s manager at the time, recognized its potential.
“She was being managed by my wife,” Ozzy told Ultimate Classic Rock.
“I record the song, go back to England again, and a couple weeks later they want to do a video … I must have done like five million masters … but it turned out OK and I was pretty happy with the end result as she was.”
In the early 1990s, as grunge overtook glam and hard rock, Ford’s commercial presence waned as many in the metal world did.
Still, she continued to tour and record, releasing Dangerous Curves in 1991, which included the single “Shot of Poison.” She continued to rock throughout the decade, though she stepped back at times to focus on her personal life, including raising her two sons.
Though the Runaways had disbanded long before, Ford’s role in the group was later reappraised as critics and historians recognized their influence.
Without the Runaways, bands like the Go-Go’s, the Bangles, or later acts like Hole, Sleater-Kinney, the Donnas, Otoboke Beaver, and the Linda Lindas might have experienced and even tougher road than they had.
Today, Ford is recognized as a rock pioneer, and in many circles the queen of hard rock. The best way to celebrate her birthday is to blast her music and dress up in a way even Bowie would raise an eyebrow over.
Another way is to get some tickets to her upcoming shows. Currently she's touring around the US with the likes of Warrant, Firehouse and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister. Get tix from her website.
Lita Ford 2025 Tour remaining dates
9/24 Warrendale, PA Jergel's Rhythm Grille
9/25 Troy, OH Hobart Arena w/ Warrant & Firehouse
9/26 Fort Wayne, IN Foelinger Theater w/ Warrant & Firehouse
9/27 Lafayette, IN Loeb Stadium w/ Warrant & Firehouse
10/3 St. Charles, MO The Family Arena w/ Firehouse + encore performance w/ Dee Snider
10/4 Temecula, CA Pechanga Resort w/ Warrant
10/10 West Hollywood, CA Whisky a GoGo
10/25 Lewiston, ID Clearwater River Casino & Lodge + encore performance w/ Dee Snider
11/15 Mashantucket, CT Foxwood Casino w/ Firehouse + encore performance w/ Dee Snider
12/5 St. Charles, IL The Arcada Theatre w/ April Wine
12/27 Choctaw, MS Pearl River Resort w/ Firehouse + encore performance w/ Dee Snider
Next year catch her as part of the Monsters of Rock Cruise
