Colton Ford

Early life

Ford was born Glenn Soukesian in Pasadena, California. He was of Armenian descent through his father's side, and also had Italian, Swedish, French, and English ancestry. Ford grew up in a conservative community in Mission Viejo. His father divorced his mother when Ford was three; Ford only reconnected with his father at age sixteen. As a child, Ford learned violin and guitar and participated in musical theater.

Ford's family wanted him to be an engineer and dissuaded him from pursuing music professionally, leading him to briefly attend California State University, Fullerton for a year. Leaving school, he landed a gig in a dinner theater nightclub, where he performed show tunes, R&B, and blue-eyed soul with a group of singers. This was followed by a stint in a jazz quartet that opened for acts such as Wayland and Madame and comedian David Brenner. In 1986, Ford was picked up by a manager, but his music career failed to develop.

Career

Pornography and modeling

During the early 2000s, Ford, who worked as a volunteer program manager for the Wells Fargo bank, also spent two years moonlighting as a nude model. At the age of 39, he ventured into the adult film industry while dating pornographic film actor Blake Harper. When Harper's scene partner could not travel from New York City to Palm Springs due to the effects of September 11 attacks, Harper asked Ford if he would step in. Feeling unfulfilled with his corporate job and wanting to draw attention to his music, Ford accepted. Their scenes were taped and released by All Worlds Video in 2001, entitled PornStruck 2. Ford's pseudonym "Colton" was inspired by the California city he often drove through on his way to Palm Springs. The surname "Ford" was adopted on the advice of Chi Chi Larue, who suggested a name as strong as a car brand.

Ford signed exclusively with All Worlds in December 2001 and made twelve pornographic videos within a 10-month period before retiring the following year. He and Harper also briefly worked as webcam models. Ford's videos made him very popular with audiences, with commentators stating he was "built for porn superstardom", and "took the gay porn world by storm". He garnered several accolades in his adult film career. In 2003, he shared the GayVN Award for Gay Performer of the Year with actor Michael Brandon. His group scene in Conquered (2001), a video directed by LaRue, received a GayVN Award nomination and won a Grabby Award. It was also recognized by the Hard Choice Award as one of the year's best sex scenes. Ford received a Grabby nomination for Best Performer in 2002, and two more GayVN Awards nominations for his collaboration in Aftershock: Part 2 (2002) and Prowl 3 (2003). Ford himself noted that his muscular look set him apart from many other performers at the time. He also credited his success to Harper and LaRue, stating that working with them made him feel safe and comfortable.

In July 2002, Ford decided to leave the industry to refocus on his musical ambitions. He asserted that his foray into the adult film industry was nothing to be ashamed of and offered him both a larger audience and unique advantages. "I felt that I had gotten everything out of the experience that I needed and that it was time to move on and shift gears," he recalled. He retained the pseudonym Colton Ford for his music releases. Ford remained active in modeling years after his retirement; for instance, he was included in Joe Oppedisano's explicit photobook Uncensored (2008). In December 2010, Ford was featured on the cover of Attitude magazine's Sex Issue, one of eleven prominent male porn stars to pose for it. In 2021, at 58 years of age, Ford launched an OnlyFans page. He closed his account three years later, finding content creation too demanding for his age and priorities.

Music

In 1986, Ford moved to Los Angeles, where he joined Jon St. James' production company, performing with artists such as Keith Sweat and Chaka Khan. Under the pseudonym Glenn Street, he released the technopop single "Hardline" through On the Spot Records in 1988. By 1990, he signed with Mighty Productions, leading to a collaboration with American DJ Frankie Knuckles. Although Ford was slated to be featured on Knuckles' 1995 album, Welcome to the Real World, the plans were scrapped and Adeva ultimately took his role on the project. Further music deals, including one with Virgin in 1999 and another with Third Stone Records, also fell through. At 39 years old, believing he was no longer "label material", Ford ventured into adult films with Harper in 2001 to garner more attention for his music.

Ford returned to his music career in 2003 with the release of "Everything", a dance-oriented single. Following this, Ford collaborated with singer-songwriter Pepper MaShay on "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" (2004), a house-influenced cover of Stevie Wonder's 1970 single. The single reached number 9 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in April 2004 and number 25 on the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart the following month.

Ford signed with Outsider Music and released his debut album, Tug of War (2008), featuring house, pop, and R&B influences. The tracks were written and composed by Ford and record producer Quentin Harris. Billboard called the album "a steel-solid second act", while Metro Weekly offered more mixed reviews but stated that "Ford’s voice is actually better than, or at least as good as, many of today’s pop stars". Three singles were released from the album, each featuring a music video: "Tug of War", "That's Me" (featuring Cazwell), and "The Way You Love Me". His second studio album, Under the Covers (2009), featured dance covers of songs from a variety of genres. Daniel Villarreal of Queerty and the writers of Dallas Voice dismissed the generic and dated production on Under the Covers.

Released in June 2013, Ford's third album, The Way I Am, incorporated a blend of dance, electronica, and R&B. He collaborated with producers such as Chris Willis and NERVO on the album, which Lopez and Raj Rudolph of EQ Music viewed as an improvement over Ford's previous releases. The album's uptempo lead single, "Let Me Live Again", reached number 41 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. Ford subsequently released his EP Next Chapter in 2015. In 2016, Ford relocated from New York City to Los Angeles and departed from his management company. That same year, he released Glenn Soukesian, an R&B and soul album he considered a personal project. Ford temporarily stepped away from his music career, before returning in 2020 with the four-song EP Unity, which he wrote during the COVID-19 pandemic. His fifth and final album, Permission, was released in 2023.

Film, television, and theater

Before his pornography career, Ford made a brief appearance in the LGBT-related feature film The Next Best Thing (2000). Later, Ford's shift from adult film back to music was chronicled in Christopher Long's 2005 film, Naked Fame. The film was screened at various festivals in 2004 followed by a limited theatrical run in 2005. Kurt B. Reighley of The Advocate provided a mixed review, noting that the chemistry between Ford and Harper compensated for the film's uneven pacing and cinematography. Ford appeared in a cameo role as Butch Hunk, an escort hired for a threesome, in Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild! (2008).

From 2007 to 2009, Ford featured on the vampire series The Lair, where he played the closeted Sheriff Trout. Fred Olen Ray, the show's creator, intentionally wrote the role to be nonsexual. Sheriff Trout's role was expanded in the second season, with Ford also portraying the character in the series' third and final season in 2009. In 2011, Ford debuted off-Broadway in Little House on the Ferry, a musical centered on a gay love story at the Fire Island summer resort. A year later, Ford participated in the New York production of Match Game Live, a staged version of the popular TV game show. In 2014, Ford starred as a gay partner in the Los Angeles production of Harrison David Rivers' And All The Dead, Lie Down.

Artistry and public image

Ford is considered one of the most popular gay pornographic stars of the early 2000s. He was known for his distinct "muscle daddy" image, with Lopez stating that "Ford is to gay porn muscle-daddies what Meryl Streep is to mainstream movie actresses". Cybersocket stated that he "made an indelible imprint in the industry" with his masculine image. Pink TV declared him one of the world's most famous American gay personalities. He was included in OutQ's Top 100 artists list in 2005.

Coverage of Ford's subsequent music career frequently mentioned the fame earned from his time in the adult film industry. Cameron Scheetz of Queerty commented that despite some success as a performer in the gay club scene, Ford had difficulty breaking through into the mainstream. As a musician, he was most well-known for his dance music, a genre he favored for its resonance with the gay community and being welcoming for artists outside major labels. Although Ford naturally spoke in a baritone, his singing voice spanned a tenor range. Several journalists wrote positively of Ford's voice in their reviews, including Doug Rule of Metro Weekly and J. Poet of Gay.com.

A self-proclaimed exhibitionist, Ford was known to incorporate homoerotic elements in his music videos. The black and white video for "Let Me Live Again" drew inspiration from Tom of Finland's artwork, while in "Handle It", he appears as one of the go-go boys at a gay nightclub. Suggestive content can also be found in the videos for "The Way You Love Me", "Losing My Religion", "All My Love", and "Stay".

Personal life and death

Ford's parents accepted both his homosexuality and his pornography career. His mother died from cancer in 2013 at the age of 69. Beyond his entertainment career, Ford had been a personal trainer since 2002, training clients at a local gym in Palm Springs until his death in 2025. Ford started dating Blake Harper in 2001, a pairing Brady Jansen of AVN described as "arguably the biggest gay porn power couple ever." Their relationship, as Adams observed, was instrumental in elevating both men to A-list status within the industry. Ford stated that despite public perceptions of pornographic actors, he and Harper were "two down-to-earth, genuine guys who are just trying to figure life out". However, they split in April 2007 when Ford moved to New York to pursue his entertainment career, while Harper returned to Canada. In August 2024, Ford dated his Aftershock: Part 2 co-star, Matthew Rush.

On May 18, 2025, Ford was last seen before embarking on a hike on the Goat Trails in Palm Springs, California. The following day, May 19, Palm Springs police received a report of a missing hiker. Later that evening, Ford, aged 62, was found deceased on the hiking trail. The coroner's office ruled out foul play, but no information on the possible cause of death was made available. Although the coroner's office did not release the man's identity, friends and colleagues confirmed Ford's identity and paid tribute to him to multiple outlets and on social media, including LaRue, Steele, and Matthew Rettenmund. In September, it was announced that he died of an accidental drug overdose caused by MDMA intoxication. Toxicology reports also found MDA and betaphenethylamine in his system, with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy cited as a significant contributing factor. A celebration of his life was held on July 5 at the Palm Springs Cultural Center.

Filmography

Discography

Theatre

2012: Little House on the Ferry

2014: And All the Dead, Lie Down

2019: Match Game Live