Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Lita Ford
Lita Ford (born September 19, 1958) is an American rock musician and singer who was the lead guitarist for The Runaways and achieved popularity for her solo career during the 1980s.
Early life
Ford was born Carmelita Rossanna Ford to a British father and an Italian mother in London, England. She moved with her family to the United States at age 4. She began playing the guitar at age 11. Her vocal range is mezzo-soprano.
In 1975 at the age of 17 she joined the all-female rock band The Runaways, for whom she played lead guitar.
Solo career
After the group fon 1979, she began a solo career. Her first two albums, Out for Blood and Dancin' on the Edge were moderately successful. Out For Blood featured the single "Out For Blood". Her next album Dancin' on the Edge was even more successful. It featured the single "Fire in my Heart" which reached the top 10 in several countries. The next single "Gotta Let Go" was one of Ford's biggest hits. It reached number one on the Mainstream Rock charts.
Ford toured extensively and made several guest appearances on TV shows for the next four years, but had no releases; a follow-up to Dancin' on the Edge, titled The Bride Wore Black, was abandoned and never released due to the fact Ford did not like the production of the album and this upset the head of her record label causing Ford to switch 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 again produced by herself, the album featured four commercial hits, including the #1 "Kiss Me Deadly", #9 "Back to the Cave", #2 "Close My Eyes Forever", "Cross My Eyes-ah Forever(in Japan), and #3 "Falling In and Out of Love" (co-written with Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe). The ballad "Close My Eyes Forever," was a duet with Ozzy Osbourne. It was also her only Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit, reaching #8.
Her next release was called Stiletto. It featured the singles "Hungry" and "Lisa"; which was dedicated to her mother. However this album was not as successful as Dancin' on the Edge and Lita.
Ford's next release was Dangerous Curves. Ford's last release would be with ZYX Records and would be titled Black. It failed to repeat the success of 1991's Dangerous Curves.
Ford was asked by VH-1 to be in the cast of "The Surreal Life" for its 7th season, in 2007. She declined.
Ford appears in the 1992 film Highway to Hell as 'The Hitchhiker'.
During her solo years, she was an endorsee of B.C. Rich guitars and used Warlock, Eagle, Mockingbird and Bich single and double-neck models.
In mid June 2008, Ford and her new solo band played several warm up gigs prior to Rocklahoma under the name Kiss Me Deadly in the New York City area.
Return to stage 2008, new album and tour 2009
For the first time in 15 years, Lita Ford took the stage in her only North American appearance at Rocklahoma, in Pryor, Oklahoma, July 12. Her new band was drummer Stet Howland (W.A.S.P.), Teddy Cook (Dio) and Michael T. Ross (Angel/XYZ).
Ford plans to release a new album during the summer of 2009, as well as playing a 75 date tour.
Lita Ford also takes to the stage at the Legendary Buffalo Chip, Sturgis South Dakota on August 3 2009, supporting Toby Keith
Personal life
Lita Ford 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. She was previously married to W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes, and was engaged to Black Sabbath leader/guitarist Tony Iommi in the mid-1980s.
Tributes
An achievement in the Xbox 360 version of the video game Guitar Hero II, is titled the "Joan & Lita Award" in tribute to Lita and Joan Jett. It is awarded to two players who can get a 100 note streak in cooperative mode.
Her song, Close My Eyes Forever, was included in Karaoke Revolution: American Idol Encore.
The song "Kiss Me Deadly" was covered in a compilation album called Viva La Internet/Blank CD by Reel Big Fish.
Discography
The Runaways Studio albums
1976 The Runaways
1977 Queens of Noise
Waitin' for the Night
And Now... The Runaways
1980 Flaming Schoolgirls
Solo studio albums
1983 Out for Blood
1984 Dancin' on the Edge
1988 Lita
1990 Stiletto
1991 Dangerous Curves
1995 Black
Compilation albums
* The Best of Lita Ford (1992)
* Greatest Hits (1999)
* Greatest Hits Live (2000)
* Platinum and Gold Collection - The Best of Lita Ford (2004)
Other appearances
* "I Want to Be Loved" with LOU on The Other Side (2005)
* "I'll Be Home for Christmas" with Twisted Sister on A Twisted Christmas (2006)
* "Brütal Legend" Video Game (2009)
Singles
1983 "Out for Blood"
"Dressed to Kill"
1984 "Fire In My Heart"
"Gotta Let Go"
1988 "Kiss Me Deadly"
"Back to the Cave"
1989 "Close My Eyes Forever" (ft. Ozzy Osbourne)
"Falling In and Out of Love"
1990 "Hungry"
"Lisa"
1991 "Shot of Poison"
1992 "Playing with Fire"
"Larger Than Life"
1995 "Killin' Kind"
Tours
* 1981 - Queens of Rock Tour with Joan Jett and Sandy West
* 1982 - Rulers of Metal Tour with Black Sabbath
* 1983 - Out For Blood Tour with Scandal, Wes Luthor, and Tony Schladora
* 1984 - Dressed To Kill Tour with Anthrax, The Johnson Brothers Band, Skillet, Metal Mania
* 1985 - South and Central America Tour with Soundgarden
* 1986 - Wild Tour with several local bands opening at different venues
* 1986 - Metal Rulz Tour with Poison, Mötley Crüe, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Joan Jett
Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin September 22, 1958) is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.
She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock N' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard charts from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular recordings including "Crimson and Clover", "I Hate Myself for Loving You", "Do You Want to Touch Me", "Light of Day", "Love Is All Around", "Bad Reputation" and "Little Liar."
Jett has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Her musical and song-writing approach is heavily influenced by the hard-edged, hard beat-driven rhythms common to many rock bands of her native Philadelphia, often featuring lyrics surrounding themes of lost love, criticisms of insincerity, the struggles and resolution of the American working class, and the quest for authenticity.
The Runaways
Joan Jett is one of the founding members of The Runaways along with drummer Sandy West. Micki Steele (who was later replaced), Jackie Fox, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie completed the line-up. While Currie initially fronted the band, Jett also shared some lead vocals, played rhythm guitar and wrote or co-wrote a lot of the band's material along with Ford, West and Currie. The band recorded five LPs, with Live In Japan becoming one of the biggest-selling imports in U.S. and U.K. history. The band toured around the world and some of their opening acts included Cheap Trick, Van Halen and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They found huge success abroad, especially in Japan.
While The Runaways were popular in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada and South America, they could not garner the same success in the U.S. After Currie and Fox left the band (to be replaced by bassist Vicki Blue and later, Laurie McAllister), the band released two more albums: Waitin' for the Night and And Now... The Runaways. Altogether they produced five albums from 1975 until they disbanded in spring of 1979.
Soon after, Jett produced The Germs' first and only album (GI).
Solo
In the spring of 1979, Jett was in England pursuing a solo career. While there, she cut three songs with ex-Sex Pistols Paul Cook and Steve Jones (one of which was an early version of a cover song called "I Love Rock N' Roll," originally written and performed by The Arrows). Later that year, she moved to Long Beach, New York and ultimately, Los Angeles, where she reluctantly began fulfilling an obligation of the Runaways to complete a film loosely based on the band's career called We're All Crazee Now!, with three actresses standing in for her departed band members. While working on the project in 1979, Jett met songwriter and producer Kenny Laguna, who came in to help Jett with writing some tracks for the film. They became friends and decided to work together. The plug was pulled on the project halfway through shooting, but in 1984, after Jett had become a major star, producers were looking for a way to make use of the footage from the incomplete film. Bits of the original footage of Jett were used in a completely new project never commercially released, an underground movie called DuBeat-Eo, produced by Alan Sacks.
Jett and Laguna entered The Who’s Ramport Studios with the latter at the helm. Jett's self-titled solo debut was released in Europe on May 17, 1980. In the United States, the album was rejected by 23 major labels. Jett and Laguna released it independently on their new Blackheart Records label, which they started with Laguna's daughter's college savings. Laguna remembers, "We couldn't think of anything else to do, but print up records ourselves, and that's how Blackheart Records started. It was more or less Joan's idea to do it ourselves." Jett inadvertently became the first female performer to start her own record label.
Albums
1980 Joan Jett
1981 Bad Reputation
I Love Rock 'n Roll
1983 Album
1984 Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth
1986 Good Music
1988 Up Your Alley
1990 The Hit List
1991 Notorious
1992 I Love Rock 'n Roll 92
1994 Pure and Simple
1995 Evil Stig (with The Gits)
1979
2004 Naked
2006 Sinner
Compilations
1993 Do You Wanna Touch Me?
Flashback
1996 Great Hits
1997 Fit to Be Tied
1999 Fetish
2003 Jett Rock
Singles
1981
"Bad Reputation"
1982 "I Love Rock 'n Roll"
"Crimson and Clover"
"Do You Wanna Touch Me"
"Nag"
"Victim of Circumstances"
"Everyday People"
1983 "Fake Friends"
"The French Song"
1984 "I Need Someone"
"I Love You Love"
"Cherry Bomb"
1986 "Good Music"
"Roadrunner"
1987 "Light of Day"
1988 "I Hate Myself for Loving You"
"Little Liar"
1990 "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
"Love Hurts"
"Have You Ever Seen the Rain?"
1991 "Backlash"
"Don't Surrender"
"Treadin' Water"
1994 "I Love Rock 'n Roll"
"Spinster"
"As I Am"
"Eye to Eye"
1995 "Bob (Cousin O.)"
1996 "Love Is All Around"
1999 "Fetish"
2002 "The Word"
2006 "A.C.D.C."
"Change the World"
2007 "Androgynous"
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