Ford was born in London but is of Italian heritage. She moved with her family to the United States while still very young. She began playing the guitar at age 11 and she joined The Runaways at the age of 16. After the group folded in 1979, she began a solo career. Her guitar playing was well respected amongst her peers, both when she was a member of The Runaways and as a solo act, and "displayed guitar heroics on the level of any male metal hero". When she had the material to back her up, Ford was inarguably capable of rocking out aggressively and assertively, and more times than not, better than the best of her male counterparts. Her first two albums, "Out For Blood" and "Dancin on the Edge" were relatively successful, and in 1985, Ford was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Performance on Gotta Let Go , along with with Wendy O. Williams and Pia Zadora. However the musical genre of "arena metal rock" (KISS, Metallica etc.) had already crested and was now beginning its decline in the 2nd half of the 80's.

Nothing was heard from Ford for the next four years; a follow-up to "Dancin' on the Edge", titled The Bride Wore Black, was abandoned and never released, as Ford switched from Mercury to RCA. 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 slickly produced by Mike Chapman, the album featured Ford's first commercial hit, the #12 "Kiss Me Deadly". Its follow-up ballad, a duet with Ozzy Osbourne entitled "Close My Eyes Forever," provided wboth artists with their first Top Ten single.

Lita Ford was married to Chris Holmes (from W.A.S.P.) from 1986 to 1992. She has been romantically involved with Nikki Sixx and Tony Iommi. Currently, she is married to Jim Gillette, of the band Nitro.