The eye section of his "Demon" makeup with Kiss came from the wing design of comic book character Black Bolt. Stanley took on the role of lead performer on stage, while Simmons became the driving force behind what became an extensive Kiss merchandising franchise. Kiss released their self-titled debut album in February 1974. Paul Frehley (better known as Ace Frehley) responded to an ad they put in The Village Voice for a lead guitar player, and soon joined them. ĭuring this time, Criss and Simmons also appeared on an unreleased album by Captain Sanity together with members from Criss' previous band Chelsea. Looking for a drummer, Simmons and Stanley found an ad placed by George Peter John Criscuola (known as Peter Criss), who was playing clubs in Brooklyn at the time they joined and started out as a trio. Met with resistance, they instead quit Wicked Lester, walking away from their record deal with Epic Records, as they decided to form the "ultimate rock band" in its place. Dissatisfied with Wicked Lester's sound and look, Simmons and Stanley attempted to fire their band members. Simmons formed the rock band Wicked Lester in the early 1970s with Stanley Eisen (now known as Paul Stanley) and recorded one album, which was never released. He joined a new band, Bullfrog Bheer, and the band recorded a demo, "Leeta" this was later included on the Kiss box set. Simmons attended Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake, New York. While he played in these bands, he worked at odd jobs on the side to make more money, including trading used comic books. Eventually, he disbanded the band to form the Long Island Sounds, the name being a pun on the Long Island Sound. Simmons became involved with his first band, Lynx, then renamed the Missing Links, when he was a teenager. It blew me away that these four boys the middle of nowhere could make that music." Career Kiss Gene Simmons in his makeup, 2023 Those skinny little boys, kind of androgynous, with long hair like girls. I was watching The Ed Sullivan Show and I saw them. "There is no way I'd be doing what I do now if it wasn't for the Beatles. The Beatles had a significant influence on Simmons. A proficient typist, he served as an assistant to an editor of Vogue, and spent several months as a sixth grade instructor on the Upper West Side. Before his musical career began, Klein worked a variety of jobs in the city. He practiced playing his guitar for hours on end. He later attended Richmond College and Sullivan County Community College, both in New York, and chose a stage name in tribute to the rockabilly singer Jumpin' Gene Simmons. When he was nine, he briefly attended a Jewish religious school, Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, before transferring to a public school. In the United States, Simmons changed his name to Gene Klein, adopting his mother's maiden name. His father remained in Israel, where he has another son and three daughters. Īged eight, he and his mother immigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. At the age of seven, he began to pick wild fruit and sell it on roadsides together with a friend. He has said that his family was "dirt poor", scraping by on rationed bread and milk. Simmons spent his early childhood in Tirat Carmel and was raised in a practicing Jewish household. Simmons' father, Ferenc "Feri" Yehiel Witz (1925–2002), was a carpenter. She and her brother, Larry Klein, were the only members of the family to survive the Holocaust. His mother, Florence Klein (1925–2018 née Flóra Kovács), was born in Jánd and survived internment in Nazi concentration camps. Simmons was born as Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949, at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel, to Jewish refugees from Hungary.
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