The transition from porn to pop has never been an easy one; there have been many who have tried with varying degrees of success. Traci Lords for one did have some success with her singles “Fallen Angel” and “Control” as well as the full length CD named for the latter single.

Traci’s success is an exception to the rule; for the most part the transition never takes. Others like Jeff Stryker, Heather Hunter and Jeff Palmer and have failed to crossover. But it looks like the rules are about to be broken in a big way with the release of Colton Ford’s Tug of War.

What some may not know about Colton is that he only did porn for 10 months, but he has been singing since he was a child. He released his first single with John St. James in 1988. Shortly after a string of unlucky business deals put and end to his actively pursuing his music career.

Colton, tired of struggling in the corporate world, did something unexpected for a professional singer: he turned to porn as a means to an end. Porn was something that provided the financial stability that he needed in order to focus on his dream of making it big in the music industry, and put his name into the publics consciousness.

This career move is something most artists who have failed to make the transition to mainstream success have cited as a roadblock for them as an performer. Colton, however has managed to turn this “roadblock” into an asset.

Colton Ford in The Lair

In 2004 he collaborated with dance diva Pepper Mashay on a cover version of Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” that scaled to number 9 on the Billboard Hot Club Play Chart.

His new album is getting a great deal of positive press for the former adult film star. Colton states that Tug of War “is the completion of a long journey for me, my collaboration with Quentin Harris covers a wide range musically, from House, Soul, R&B and goes all the way to pop.”

His video for the single “The Way That You Love Me” was voted one of Logo’s top ten sexiest videos, and there is also a steamier video version of the track (“The Blue Door Edit”) which, along with the original, can be viewed on YouTube.

With his starring role as Sheriff Trout on Here TV’s gay vampire series The Lair and the release of Tug of War, Colton is enjoying a very successful post-porn career. “The album has something for all of my fans to enjoy,” he says.

Those fans can pick up the album when it hits shelves today, and in the meantime here's the video for "The Way That You Love Me". 

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