Ford - Living like a runaway : a memoir

THANK YOU TO PETER HUBBARD AND EVERYONE AT HARPERCOLLINS, FOR your patience, trust, and belief in this book and for always having my back. To Bobby Collin, Jim Morey, Kyle Whitney, and everyone at the Morey Management Group: I asked to write a book, and they delivered HarperCollins. Along with Jeff Silberman from Folio Literary Management, together we made it all happen!

To everyone at King, Holmes, Paterno, and Soriano LLP, especially Peter Paterno, Harold Papineau, and Marjorie Garcia.

To Amir Malek from Glass/Malek: I wouldnt have made it so far without you. Special thanks to your staff and for all you do for me.

To Jon Freeman at Freeman Promotions: The fun has just begun. LOL. Youve done an amazing job ever since we met. Now its time to do it again. I have a list for you...

To my kick-ass band: Marty OBrien, Bobby Rock, and Patrick Kennison. When youve got rolling thunder like these guys in your band, youd better thank God and hope your face doesnt melt!

To my tech Kevin (Dugie) Dugan: We all love the Dugster. You are the number one road tech of all time.

To Michael Dan Ehmig, my favorite songwriter whose friendship is as close as friendships get. Michael is the best lyricist on the planet, and together with Gary Hoey, producer on Living Like a Runaway, we had a blast! I talk to Michael a lot, and he keeps me grounded. So did recording Living Like a Runaway with Gary. It was a huge undertaking; I spent approximately four days at a time at Gary and his wife Nicoles place. Wed write songs with Michael on the phone and Gary and I in his studio. Nicole would be cooking, and their kids, Ian and Alison, would hang out and talk with my dogs. I loved them so much, because I was losing my kids and Ian and Alison were so wonderfuland the same age as my boys too. I felt my kids through Ians and Alisons hearts. They knew it, and it was good. My God, a gift from God again! In so many ways.

To my sons road dogs, Churro and Rascal: two four-legged, faithful, five-pound dogs.

To fireman Michael Tassaug, who was the only one there at times when I had no money or food.

To Robyn Melvin and everyone at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood, Florida, my own personal SWAT team and my home away from home. My dear friends, they took in me and my children, fed us, and treated me like royalty.

To Kim Fowley: There are times when I think I wouldnt still be in the music business if not for you. Even though you want everyone to think youre one of the most frightening people in the world, youre the exact opposite. You actually have a heart. RIP Kim. Thank you for the gift youve given me.

To Chris Kizska, my partner in crime: Youre a daredevil, and we make a good team. Thanks for always having my back.

To Kristine Johnson, my awesome neighbor: Thank you for being real. You saved me by letting me stash my guitars at your house.

Thanks to my endorsing companies: B.C. Rich Guitars, Marshall Amplification, Taylor Guitars, Dunlop, Dean Markley Strings, Peterson Strobe Tuners, Majik Box Custom Pedals and Electronics, Seymour Duncan, Monster, Taurus pedals, and to I.C.O.N., Lovecraft Leather, and Rockwood Saloon.

It seems like God has been listening to me a lot lately. When I was asking myself Who the hell understands what its like to be Lita Ford enough to help me write this book?, the answer had to be a gift from God. Out of the blue, when I needed her most, God drops this little Italian rock-and-roll chick from Toronto, Canada, into my lap, who seems to know more about me than I know about myself. Thank you, God, and thank you, Martina Fasano, for being my cowriter.

From Martina Fasano: Thank you to my husband, Rocco; my daughter, Emily; and my parents for all your love and support; and to Lita for the opportunity to help her write the story of her life.

For more information about Parental Alienation and Kids First Parental Alienation Awareness, please go to www.kidsfirstpaa.org.

In addition to Parental Alienation awareness, I am also a proud supporter of cancer research, and pray that one day a cure for this horrible disease will be found.

And, for rock and roll that will melt your face off, please go to www.litafordonline.com.

LITA FORD was the lead guitarist of the Runaways before embarking on her platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated solo career. In 2014 Lita received Guitar Players Certified Legend Award and was inducted into their Hall of Fame. She lives in Southern California.

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I had a dream that I was sweet sixteen And could play in a rock and roll band I saw some guys that played guitar They said, Come on if you think you can. R OCK AND R OLL M ADE M E W HAT I A M T ODAY (W RITTEN BY L ITA F ORD )

I GUESS I COULD START WITH WHEN I WAS BORN OR MY FIRST CONCERT OR the first time I picked up a guitar or something like that. Well get there. But if you want to know the moment when everything started to shift for me, it was my sixteenth birthday party.

It was a Saturday night in September 1974. I was going to turn sixteen in a few days, and my mom wanted to throw me a party at our house. I wasnt really the type to have a Sweet Sixteen, but I told my mom I would invite some friends from school and wed keep it small. My mother had my aunt Rose and uncle Wyman over; they were planning to play cards inside and keep an eye on the party in the backyard. My dad was on a fishing trip in Oregon and due back the following night.

We lived in Lakewood Village, the safe part of Long Beach, California. My parents chose the area because the schools were better than the ones in downtown Long Beach, though not in my opinion. They were too white-bread for me. By the time I got to the ninth grade, I begged my parents not to send me to Lakewood High. It was full of football players and cheerleaders, and I knew I wouldnt fit in. I wanted to go to Long Beach Poly. Long Beach Poly was rivals with Compton High and a war zone. Behind wrought-iron walls that were approximately forty feet high, we would be searched for guns or knives with metal detectors. It was more like a prison yard than a high school. A thirty-minute bus ride across town for me, Long Beach Poly was full of Crips and gang fights, drugs, guns, drive-by shootings, and riots. Violence was a common occurrence, and then school administrators would shut down both schools for days. If they felt the schools were ready to rumble, or that a riot was about to start, wed all be on high alert.

Poly was where I met three guys who liked to play rock music as much as I did: Marc Seawright, Anthony Bledsoe, and Kent Taylor. These were the guys who taught me you had to have dynamite in your soul to have dynamite in your guitar playing. We often would ditch school to go to somebodys house to jam.

Mark Seawright, who played bass and sang, was a tall, intelligent, and handsome black guy who was a star football player. He wore a rainbow-colored wool hat with a little ball on top and reminded me of Jimi Hendrix. Anthony Bledsoe played guitar. He was a badass. He played with his thumb, never a pick, which I thought was so weird. The school was majority black; me and my friend Kent Taylor, who was our drummer, were minorities. Kent was tall and as skinny as a string bean, with long brown hair. At the time, he lived mostly in his car. We all met in this program called School of Educational Alternatives, or SEA for short. It was for kids with high IQs but low grade-point averages. Teachers said we werent applying ourselves. The truth was school just didnt interest us in the least. Basically, we didnt fit in the box. A few years later, one of my schoolteachers saw me in the rock magazines at Queen parties, or with Kiss, Alice Cooper, or Rod Stewart. He knew I would amount to something someday. So he let me slide and gave me the credits I needed to graduate.