Willa Ford made a risky — and ultimately successful — career change after riding the wave of pop superstardom in the early 2000s. With Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera emerging as major music acts in 1999, the 18-year-old Ford (real name Amanda Lee Williford) was initially signed to Atlantic Records under the stage name “Mandah.” Record executives eventually used her real last name as inspiration for an alternative moniker, “Willa Ford,” to avoid confusion with another emerging pop princess, Mandy Moore. Ford soon landed a coveted opening act slot for the Backstreet Boys’ “Into the Millen...

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