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Amanda Lee Williford-Modano, known professionally as Willa Ford (born January 22, 1981) is an American pop singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, television personality, and presenter. Time ill tell if the infamous Willa Ford will earn more attention for her music, or for her relationship with Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter. Fueled by envy, fans of BSB have heaped abuse upon Ford, setting up at least three anti-Willa websites and accusing her of a cornucopia of crimes and faults, ranging from crossed eyes to physical abuse of Carter and BSB fans. The fact that Ford had her first national tour opening for BSB helped strengthen fans accusations that she was just using their beloved Nick for her own gain. She became known in 2001 as the self-proclaimed "Bad Girl of Pop", when she released her debut album, Willa Was Here. Aside from her music career, Ford has hosted several reality television shows, posed for Playboy, and competed on ABC's top-rated Dancing with the Stars in 2006. Ford will also portray Anna Nicole Smith in an upcoming television movie about Smith's life and death. Willa Ford is married to NHL player Mike Modano. However, when you get past all of the anti-Willa hype, the story of her path to stardom doesn't look all that different from her Florida brethren. Basically, Willa Ford is an attractive girl who had a long history of professional work as a child who signed record contracts with companies who wanted to capitalize on the lucrative teen market. Born on January 22, 1981, in Ruskin, FL, Willa Ford (born Amanda Lee Williford) began singing at the age of eight with the Tampa Bay Children's Choir and by the time she was 11, she joined her first professional group, the Tampa-based performing arts troupe Entertainment Revue. The group, which consisted of 20 girls ranging in age from five to 16, performed throughout the region at fairs and conventions, as well as at Walt Disney World and Busch Gardens. At 15, she briefly became part of a vocal quartet called FLA but soon left them for a solo career. Performing under the name Mandah, she was signed to MCA, who intended to market her as a clean-cut teen act. During her time at the label, she changed her stage name to Willa Ford to avoid confusion with Mandy Moore. MCA later dropped her, in part because of the negative publicity that conflicted with their intended good-girl image; Ford signed with Atlantic, who placed one of her songs on a Pokיmon soundtrack and then released her debut album, Willa Was Here in 2001. The music is pure teen pop with its use of vocoders, pop/R&B grooves, and dance beats, but the lead single, "I Wanna Be Bad," and the highly sexualized cover art seem to indicate that Atlantic is embracing Ford's bad-girl image instead of trying to counter it. Ford dated Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys from 1998 to 2001. She reportedly lost her virginity to Carter when she was 16. She has also dated Christopher Jones and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell. While rumoured to be dating Modano, on the third episode of Dancing with the Stars, host Samantha Harris remarked to Ford and her dance partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, "Wow, you two have really fallen for each other." The couple looked stunned but did not deny it. In the segment preceding their Jive dance, they confirmed having "bonded way beyond the dance floor." In an interview with ABC after the Jive performance they were prodded by a reporter about their relationship status, Ford stated, "We are not an official couple." Maks followed this with, "Right. Not official." After their elimination from Dancing with the Stars, Chmerkovskiy posted on his official Web site, "Willa and I have become very close friends. I really like her and we are having a great time together. If you don't mind I would like to leave it at that." After Thanksgiving in November 2006, he announced his intentions to withdraw from the tour and stated clearly that the pair were not dating. Ford reported to Access Hollywood that she was in fact, engaged to Mike Modano. They had been dating on and off for the past four years excluding the year she was living with Chuck Liddell, with Ford making that announcement at the end of November. According to an interview with Access Hollywood she stated that Modano popped the question while "doing the dirty" at the end of October and presented Ford with an engagement ring over Thanksgiving. She has also decided to pull out of The Tour along with Chmerkovskiy, and is opting to work on her next album. Ford married Modano in Athens, Texas on August 25, 2007, in a private ceremony, wearing a wedding gown purchased at Stanley Korshak in Dallas, TX. The couple lives in Dallas in a home Modano purchased May, 2007. |
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