What Is Lita Ford's Net Worth?
Lita Ford is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and author who has a net worth of $4 million. Lita Ford began playing guitar when she was 11 years old, and when she was 16, she was invited to join the group The Runaways. With the band, Lita released the albums "The Runaways" (1976), "Queens of Noise" (1977), "Waitin' for the Night" (1977), and "And Now… The Runaways" (1978), and the group's 1976 single "Cherry Bomb" was ranked #52 on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs." As a solo artist, Ford has released the albums "Out for Blood" (1983), "Dancin' on the Edge" (1984), "Lita" (1988), "Stiletto" (1990), "Dangerous Curves" (1991), "Black" (1995), "Wicked Wonderland" (2009), and "Living Like a Runaway" (2012), and "Lita" was certified Platinum in the U.S. and Gold in Canada. Her 1989 single "Close My Eyes Forever" (with Ozzy Osbourne) reached #8 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and went Gold in the U.S. Ford appeared in the 1991 film "Highway to Hell," and she has guest-starred on "Howie" (1992), "Herman's Head" (1993), and "Big Time Rush" (2011). Lita published "Living Like a Runaway: A Memoir" in 2016, and she launched Lita Ford Guitars in 2018.
Early Life
Lita Ford was born Lita Rossana Ford on September 19, 1958, in London, England. She is the daughter of Isabella Benvenuto and Harry Lenard Ford. Lita's family moved to the U.S. when she was in the second grade, and they settled in Long Beach, California. Ford started playing guitar at age 11 after she was inspired by Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore.
Career
In 1975, record producer Kim Fowley recruited 16-year-old Lita to join The Runaways, an all-female rock band. The group signed with Mercury Records in 1976, and they released their debut self-titled album in March 1976. The album reached #194 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and #31 on Australia's Kent Music Report. The single "Cherry Bomb" / "Blackmail" reached #6 on the "Billboard" Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and #57 on Australia's Kent Music Report, and it was certified Silver in the U.K. The Runaways followed their successful debut with 1977's "Queens of Noise" and "Waitin' for the Night" and 1978's "And Now… The Runaways." "Queens of Noise" reached #172 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, #28 on the Swedish Albums Chart, #36 on Australia's Kent Music Report, and #83 on Canada's "RPM" chart, and "Waitin' for the Night" peaked at #34 on the Swedish Albums Chart. The 1977 single "Heartbeat" / "Neon Angels on the Road to Ruin" reached #10 on the "Billboard" Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. The band split up in April 1979 due to lead vocalist and guitarist Joan Jett wanting to shift to a punk rock sound influenced by The Ramones while Ford and drummer Sandy West wanted to stick with the hard rock-oriented sound the band was known for.
Lita signed with Mercury Records as a solo artist in 1982, and she released her first album, "Out for Blood," in 1983. Her next album, 1984's "Dancin' on the Edge," reached #66 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and #96 on the UK Albums Chart. The 1988 album "Lita" was released after Sharon Osbourne became Ford's manager, and it went Platinum in the U.S. and Gold in Canada and reached #29 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. All four of the album's singles were successful, with "Kiss Me Deadly" charting in four countries, and "Back to the Cave" and "Falling in and Out of Love" reaching #22 and #37, respectively, on the "Billboard" Mainstream Rock chart. The album also featured the single "Close My Eyes Forever" which Lita recorded with Ozzy Osbourne, and it reached #8 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, #25 on the "Billboard" Album Rock Tracks chart, #14 on the Swedish Sverigetopplistan chart, and #16 on New Zealand's Recorded Music NZ chart. Next, Ford released the albums "Stiletto" (1990), "Dangerous Curves" (1991), and "Black" (1995), with "Stiletto" charting in six countries and "Dangerous Curves" charting in the U.S. and the U.K. The 1991 single "Shot of Poison" earned a Grammy nomination and reached #45 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. After the release of "Black," Lita turned her focus toward raising her children, and she didn't release another album until 2009's "Wicked Wonderland." The album reached #38 on the "Billboard" Independent Albums chart, and Ford followed it with 2012's "Living Like a Runaway."
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Personal Life
In the mid-1980s, Lita dated Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who worked on her unreleased album "The Bride Wore Black," and they were briefly engaged.
Ford married W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes on June 26, 1990. After they divorced in 1992, she wed Jim Gillette, former Nitro vocalist, on May 13, 1994, two weeks after meeting. Lita and Jim welcomed sons Rocco and James together, and they lived in Turks and Caicos, where Gillette ran a real estate development and construction business.
After Jim began negotiating with TLC for a reality show about their family, the couple began having problems in their marriage. In a 2011 interview with "Classic Rock Revisited," Ford said that things changed after she returned home from a 10-day trip to Los Angeles. She stated, "My kids wouldn't talk to me and my husband wasn't talking to me. I was like, 'What happened? Why isn't anybody talking to me?' My kids got coaxed into attacking me. My husband coaxed them into actually attacking me." Lita added that when she was ready to leave Jim, "I don't know why, or how the hell he knew, but he knew I was going to try and take my kids and he wouldn't let them out of his sight. He changed them. I don't know what he said to them but right now my kids are scared to death of me." Ford and Gillette divorced in 2011, and Jim's behavior led to Lita raising awareness about the issue of parental alienation
Awards and Nominations
In 2014, "Guitar Player" magazine honored Ford with The Certified Legend Award. She earned Grammy nominations for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female for the 1984 album "Dancin' on the Edge" and the 1991 single "Shot of Poison," and in 1988, she earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Female Video for "Lita Ford: Kiss Me Deadly."
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