Interview with Lita Ford and Jim Gillette

Lita Ford is a rock music legend. As a teenager she was a member of The Runaways, the first all-female hard rock band. Ford then segued into a solo career, with early releases like 'Out For Blood' and 'Dancin’ On The Edge' garnering her a rabid cult following, while failing to propel her into the mainstream. A subsequent album entitled 'The Bride Wore Black' was never released due to creative differences between Lita and Mercury Records. Ford spent several years extricating herself from that deal and landing a new contract with RCA, as well as management with Sharon Osbourne. The result was Ford’s 1988 breakthrough 'Lita', which featured four hit singles including Lita’s best-known song “Close My Eyes Forever”, a haunting ballad with guest Ozzy Osbourne. Subsequent albums like 'Stiletto' and 'Dangerous Curves' still found a receptive audience, but the music scene was fast changing, and by the time of Ford’s 1995 album 'Black' the writing was on the wall not just for Lita Ford, but for hard rock in general as it was left behind in the wake of the emergence of grunge. That would prove Lita Ford’s last studio release for fifteen years. She married Nitro singer Jim Gillette and had two sons, and in a remarkable twist the family moved to a deserted island in the Carribbean, far away from the spotlight Ford had once enjoyed. In 2008 Lita Ford shocked the world of hard rock by announcing that she would return to the stage at the Rocklahoma festival in July. This was followed by the news that she would begin touring again in anticipation of a new album. Since June 2009 Lita has been playing festival dates with her new band while preparing for the October release of her first album in fifteen years, entitled 'Wicked Wonderland'. Ford released 'Wicked Wonderland' in October, followed by a tour with Queensryche. She and her husband Jim Gillette just returned from that tour, and they join us tonight!