LITA FORD: Why THE RUNAWAYS Reunion Will Probably Never Happen

Lita Ford says a full reunion of iconic seventies rockers THE RUNAWAYS will probably never happen.

Speaking on Daily Mail at the Las Vegas F.A.M.E Awards last month, Ford outlined in great detail her relationships with former bandmates Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, Jackie Fox and Sandy West and the previous attempts to get the band back together.

Lita said: "Joan Jett is very much in 'Joan Jett land,' I guess you could say. Will she ever come out of Joan Jett land? I don't think so. I think her [longtime] manager [Kenny Laguna] controls that and it's really up to him and her. It seems to me like Joan Jett's manager just runs her life in every way, shape, or form. He's very controlling and he has a real problem with me. He has a real issue with me. He sees me as a threat, which is ridiculous, because she's like my sister and I love Joan. It's ridiculous, it's uncalled for, and it's caused a little bit of rivalry between her and I, which is totally uncalled for. It's his fault."

Ford claims that Jett's manager has prevented her from even talking about a RUNAWAYS reunion with Jett.

"The hard part is just trying to communicate with Joan without her manager involved," she added.

"We had dinner a couple of years ago, what was supposed to be a girl's night out, and she brought her manager with her.

"So it's like, "Dude, answer the question. I'm trying to ask you a question. Are you interested in putting THE RUNAWAYS back together?' She never answered the question."

Although Ford admits to feeling "pissed off" at not having been able to speak to Jett alone about a RUNAWAYS reunion, she denies being upset. "I have my own life with her or without her, with THE RUNAWAYS or without THE RUNAWAYS," she said. 'I have my own life and I will continue on with my own life, because I have a kick-ass life, but it could be great too with THE RUNAWAYS, you know? Why not?"

Currie told the "White Line Fever" podcast in 2016 that RUNAWAYS came close to reunining more than two decades ago. "Lita had reached out to us to convince us, me and Joan, to do a RUNAWAYS reunion. And we did, with Kenny Laguna basically at the helm, he secured a tour and Lita, she just basically doesn't get along with Kenny and she just walked away from that."

In a 2015 interview with with the WHMH (Rockin' 101) radio station, Lita explained that she decided against a possible RUNAWAYS reunion in the early '90s because "NIRVANA was just kicking in, and it was really bad timing; it wouldn't have worked. People would have just turned their nose up at it."

A movie about THE RUNAWAYS' brief history, starring Dakota Fanning as Currie and Kristin Stewart as Jett, came out in 2010.

Photo credit: Dustin Jack