KISS Guitarist Ace Frehley Dies at 74

[opus]

>>>Paul Daniel “Ace” Frehley, co-founder and lead guitarist of the legendary rock band Kiss, has died following injuries suffered during a fall last month, according to a statement from his family. He was 74.<<<

https://variety.com/2025/music/news/...ad-1236554943/

[Zoneboy]

I was going to post this, but here's the full Variety article.

Paul Daniel “Ace” Frehley, co-founder and lead guitarist of the legendary rock band Kiss, has died following injuries suffered during a fall last month, according to a statement from his family. He was 74.

Frehley’s family issued the following statement:

“We are completely devastated and heartbroken. In his last moments, we were fortunate enough to have been able to surround him with loving, caring, peaceful words, thoughts, prayers and intentions as he left this earth. We cherish all of his finest memories, his laughter, and celebrate his strengths and kindness that he bestowed upon others. The magnitude of his passing is of epic proportions, and beyond comprehension. Reflecting on all of his incredible life achievements, Ace’s memory will continue to live on forever!”

While Kiss received little respect from music critics and the rock intelligentsia, their impact and influence on a generation of rock musicians and fans has been immense and enduring. The band, who performed in theatrical makeup and costumes were in many ways a gateway for their concerts and larger-than-life mystique: In an era that preceded MTV, their performances were almost overwhelmingly visual and experiential, with explosions, elevators and more. Yet the mystique of Kiss was key: the bandmembers’ faces were not revealed for more than a decade, by which point Frehley and drummer Peter Criss had left the band. Frehley was known as “Space Ace” and cultivated an otherworldly image.

Frehley joined cofounders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons in 1972 and remained with the band for their most significant eras: He left in 1982 for a solo career, but rejoined when the original band reunited in 1996 for a highly lucrative reunion tour and remained until 2002. He worked a solo artist during the intervening years, with his band Frehley’s Comet and under his own name; in 1978, when all four members of Kiss released solo albums simultaneously, many fans felt that Frehley’s featuring his hit cover of the song “New York Groove,” was the best.

Paul Daniel Frehley was born to a musical family in the Bronx borough of New York City and received an electric guitar as a Christmas present in 1964. He never took lessons and never looked back: citing Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and the Who as his primary influences, he began playing in bands as a teenager and purportedly acquired his nickname from friends based on his ability to score dates with girls.

He dropped out of high school after one of his bands, Cathedral, began earning money, but later returned and got his diploma. He continued playing and by 1971, one of his bands, Molimo, signed with RCA Records and recorded several unreleased songs for the label. But late the following year, a friend spotted an advertisement in the Village Voice that turned out to be for the lead guitar slot in the embryonic Kiss. Famously, Frehley went to the audition in Manhattan wearing one red sneaker and one orange one. Stanley, Simmons and Criss were dismayed by his appearance but sufficiently impressed with his fiery lead guitar work, and he was invited to join a few weeks later. The band, which was preceded by Stanley and Simmons’ previous group Wicked Lester, dubbed themselves Kiss in January 1973 and soon, inspired by the New York Dolls and Alice Cooper, began painting their faces and crafting outrageous costumes for their concerts.

Kiss weathered cynicism and disinterest from the snobby New York music scene in their early months — Frehley worked as a taxi driver to pay the bills — but, crucially, united with manager Bill Aucoin in September 1973, who began plotting the band’s path to stardom with the bandmembers.

The band released its self-titled debut album in February of the following year, which featured some future favorites like “Firehouse,” “Black Diamond” and Frehley’s composition “Cold Gin,” that album and the follow-ups “Hotter Than Hell” and “Dressed to Kill,” were only minor successes.

However, the 1975 live set, “Kiss Alive!,” driven by a supercharged version of the song “Rock and Roll All Night,” combined with increasing buzz and memorable television appearances to vault the band to superstardom. Their core audience was teenaged boys, who were delighted by their parents’ mortified reactions to this heavily made-up group of “freaks” with their loud music. The band’s painted faces soon began appearing on jean jackets across the United States, and their iconic logo — with a pair of lightning-bolt “S”s purloined from David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era — on untold thousands of high school notebooks.

The band released its self-titled debut album in February of the following year, which featured some future favorites like “Firehouse,” “Black Diamond” and Frehley’s composition “Cold Gin,” that album and the follow-ups “Hotter Than Hell” and “Dressed to Kill,” were only minor successes.

However, the 1975 live set, “Kiss Alive!,” combined with increasing buzz and memorable television appearances to vault the band to superstardom. Their core audience was teenaged boys, who were delighted by their parents’ mortified reactions to this heavily made-up group of “freaks” with their loud music. The band’s painted faces soon began appearing on jean jackets across the United States, and their iconic logo — with a pair of lightning-bolt “S”s purloined from David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era — on untold thousands of high school notebooks.

The band united with Alice Cooper/Lou Reed producer Bob Ezrin for the vitally important follow-up studio album, “Destroyer,” which became their biggest release to date. Ezrin’s elaborate production (and strategic use of session musicians) powered such classics as “Detroit Rock City” and “Shout It Out Loud,” and the band followed Cooper’s example by including a sensitive (and image-defying) ballad, “Beth,” which was co-written and sung by Criss. The song quickly became the band’s biggest-ever hit single.

“Destroyer” and the band’s increasingly elaborate concert productions (not to mention its ample and well-marketed merchandise, which grew to include everything from comic books and Halloween costumes to transistor radios and trading cards) quickly made them one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

Two more studio albums followed in rapid succession, “Rock and Roll Over” and “Love Gun,” the latter featuring Frehley’s first lead vocal on “Shock Me” (which was inspired by a near-electrocution during a concert in Florida). Another live album, “Alive II,” was released in the fall of 1977 and included a side of studio recordings, including Frehley’s second lead vocal, “Rocket Ride.”

However, hubris began to set in, not least in the form of the four solo albums the band released simultaneously in September of 1978. Surprisingly, given Stanley’s role as lead singer and the all-star cast Simmons assembled for his, Frehley’s was widely considered by fans to be the best of the batch. He played a number of instruments on the album, was accompanied by some top New York session musicians — including drummer Anton Fig and bassist Will Lee, both of whom would later join the house band for David Letterman’s late-night television show — and production from Hendrix/ Led Zeppelin/ Kiss veteran Eddie Kramer. The album also featured a surprise hit single in his cover of Rod Argent’s composition “New York Groove.” However, all of the album’s other songs were written or cowritten by Frehley.

Kiss returned in 1979 with the “Dynasty” album and the disco-influenced hit single “I Was Made for Loving You,” but the backlash had long since begun — and any embrace of disco by a rock band was regarded as sacrilege by most of the band’s fans. Criss and Frehley also had challenges with the band’s musical direction and, not least, substance abuse, which led to both of their departures, in 1980 and 1982, respectively, although Stanley and Simmons continued the band with other musicians.

Frehley’s abuse of drugs and alcohol grew worse, and in May of 1983, he was arrested following a high-speed chase on the Bronx River Parkway in his 1981 DeLorean. He was charged with DUI, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident after hitting four cars during the incident (luckily with no injuries). He spent two weeks in a hospital detox unit and was required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

[ABlairican Pie]

First Ozzy, now Ace. These two figures were instrumental in helping me navigate my treacherous teens in the 1970s. Ace Frehley made guitar look and sound exciting (right before EVH). Who will inspire us now?

[Dude111]

This is sad.....

I have a record he did SOLO.. All the band members did.............

[stevea]

Ace had some very minimal involvement in the evolution of their biggest hit, "Beth."

I was just reading about this song on Wikipedia, and, unrelated to Ace, found something interesting. From Wikipedia:

"Casablanca Records released "Beth" in August 1976 as Destroyer's fourth single. The album, released on March 4, peaked at #11 on the Billboard 200, but quickly began to decline. Its first two singles, "Shout It Out Loud" and "Flaming Youth", failed to match "Rock and Roll All Nite" - at that time the group's most successful song in the United States - and Casablanca Records executives had to choose another song from the album to release as a single. Casablanca president Neil Bogart asked promoter and disc jockey Scott Shannon for his honest opinion on which of Destroyer's tracks was a potential hit. To his surprise, Shannon chose "Beth", although Bogart asked him to forget it because he felt the song had only been included as a favor to Peter Criss. In the face of Bogart's refusal, Shannon contacted vice president Larry Harris, who revealed that Bogart disliked "Beth" because it was his ex-wife's name and he felt the lyrics reflected the process of their divorce.

Before the release of the third single, Bogart took a vacation in Acapulco, but not before giving the order to release "Beth" as the B-side of the next single, in order to reduce its chances of commercial success. During Bogart's absence, "Detroit Rock City" was released as a single, accompanied by "Beth", and was sent out to radio stations. To the bewilderment of the Casablanca executives, the jockeys chose to broadcast "Beth". The song soon became one of the most requested by listeners, and Harris made the decision to reissue the single with "Beth" as side A."

RIP, Ace Frehley.

[1960'sTVfan]

R.I.P. Ace Frehley.

Rock And Roll Over is probably my favorite KISS album. Of the solo albums, Paul Stanley's is my favorite with Ace Frehley's album second favorite.

[opus]

His big solo song (which is a cover version)


https://youtu.be/DXeeY9D9u94?si=42LCMqbojy4bvN5w

[ABlairican Pie]

Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley had an interesting career during his time with KISS.

Born in 1951, he became intrigued with the figures in the British Invasion such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and The Yardbirds with Jeff Beck before discovering Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin with Jimmy Page and others before he applied his trade to KISS in the early 70's.

He responded to an ad looking for a "guitarist with flash". When he auditioned for KISS, he wore different-colored shoes which caught the band's attention. The other thing which caught the attention of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley was that he seemed rather impatient to show off his guitar skills while others were playing. Gene told him to wait his turn, but when Frehley finally played for them, the band realized that he was in fact the missing piece in the puzzle. He was hired for the band.

While Gene and Paul were solid tea-totallers (allegedly), Ace was a kind of party animal. In contrast to their workmanlike ethic, Ace was a sort of wild card who liked to have fun and keep a sense of fun and eccentricity to his personality, his persona being from "outer space".

[JamesG]

Ace was also the only one of the original 4 members still doing music and touring. I've always liked him.

[JamesG]

Gene Simmons says "Bad Decisions" Caused Ace Frehley’s Death
by Geoff Earle
Dec. 6, 2025


A series of “bad decisions” by KISS guitarist Ace Frehley contributed to his death, band frontman Gene Simmons told The Post.

Simmons condemned the substance abuse he suggested contributed to Frehley’s fatal fall down the stairs in his Morristown, NJ home studio, leading to a brain bleed that killed him days later on Oct. 16 at age 74.

“He refused advice from people that cared about him – including yours truly – to try to change his lifestyle. In and out of bad decisions. Falling down the stairs — I’m not a doctor — doesn’t kill you. There may have been other issues, and it breaks my heart,” said Simmons.




The Morris County medical examiner report lists the cause of death as a blunt trauma injury of the head due to a fall. It said a separate toxicology report on Frehley’s blood would be issued.

“The saddest thing – you reap what you shall sow unfortunately,” said Simmons, 76, the co-lead singer and bassist for the band.



“It was just heartbreaking. Saddest of all perhaps is that Ace just couldn’t stay alive long enough to sit there proudly at the Kennedy Center and listen to – I can’t even tell you who’s going to come out … really impressive people, just to say how much KISS meant to them.”

“What can you say – sad.”

https://nypost.com/2025/12/06/entert...rehleys-death/

[Edward216]

Originally Posted by JamesG

Gene Simmons says "Bad Decisions" Caused Ace Frehley’s Death
by Geoff Earle
Dec. 6, 2025


A series of “bad decisions” by KISS guitarist Ace Frehley contributed to his death, band frontman Gene Simmons told The Post.

Simmons condemned the substance abuse he suggested contributed to Frehley’s fatal fall down the stairs in his Morristown, NJ home studio, leading to a brain bleed that killed him days later on Oct. 16 at age 74.

“He refused advice from people that cared about him – including yours truly – to try to change his lifestyle. In and out of bad decisions. Falling down the stairs — I’m not a doctor — doesn’t kill you. There may have been other issues, and it breaks my heart,” said Simmons.




The Morris County medical examiner report lists the cause of death as a blunt trauma injury of the head due to a fall. It said a separate toxicology report on Frehley’s blood would be issued.

“The saddest thing – you reap what you shall sow unfortunately,” said Simmons, 76, the co-lead singer and bassist for the band.



“It was just heartbreaking. Saddest of all perhaps is that Ace just couldn’t stay alive long enough to sit there proudly at the Kennedy Center and listen to – I can’t even tell you who’s going to come out … really impressive people, just to say how much KISS meant to them.”

“What can you say – sad.”

https://nypost.com/2025/12/06/entert...rehleys-death/

And Gene Simmons proves what a complete assh@t he is once again lest anybody should forget.

Ed.

[Edward216]

Originally Posted by Dude111

This is sad.....

I have a record he did SOLO.. All the band members did.............

I seem remember reading somewhere once that all the band members' debut solo albums were released at the same time, as in on the very same day. It was probably a publicity stunt on their part.

Ed.