Ace Frehley, the unique lead guitarist and founding member of the glam rock band KISS who captivated audiences together with his elaborate make-up and smoke-filled guitar, died Thursday. He was 74.
Frehley died peacefully surrounded by household in Morristown following a current fall, in response to his agent.
Members of the family mentioned in a press release that they’re “utterly devastated and heartbroken” however will cherish his laughter and have a good time the kindness he bestowed upon others.
KISS, whose hits embody Rock and Roll All Nite and Detroit Rock Metropolis, was recognized for its intense stage exhibits, which included fireworks, smoke and eruptions of pretend blood carried out by band members in black-and-white painted faces, platform boots and black wigs.
KISS’ unique lineup included Frehley, singer-guitarist Paul Stanley, tongue-wagging bassist Gene Simmons and drummer Peter Criss. Frehley’s is the primary dying among the many 4 founding members.
Band members took on the personas of comedian book-style characters — Frehley was referred to as “House Ace” and “The Spaceman.” The New York-born entertainer and Rock & Roll Corridor of Famer typically experimented with pyrotechnics, making his guitars glow, emit smoke and shoot rockets from the headstock.
“We’re devastated by the passing of Ace Frehley,” Simmons and Stanley mentioned in a joint assertion. “He was an important and irreplaceable rock soldier throughout a number of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its historical past. He’s and can at all times be part of KISS’s legacy.”
Born Paul Daniel Frehley, he grew up in a musical household and commenced enjoying guitar at age 13. Earlier than becoming a member of Kiss, he performed in native bands round New York Metropolis and was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix at age 18.
Get breaking Nationwide information
For information impacting Canada and all over the world, join breaking information alerts delivered on to you after they occur.
KISS was particularly fashionable within the mid-Nineteen Seventies, promoting tens of tens of millions of albums and licensing its iconic look to turn into a advertising marvel. Beth was its greatest business hit within the U.S., peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard High 100 in 1976.
Because the Kennedy Heart’s new chairman, President Donald Trump named Kiss as certainly one of this 12 months’s honorees.
In 2024, the band offered their catalogue, model identify and mental property to Swedish firm Pophouse Leisure Group in a deal estimated to be over $300 million.
Frehley continuously feuded with Stanley and Simmons by way of the years. He left the band in 1982, lacking the years after they took off the make-up and had blended success. Stanley later mentioned they practically changed Frehley with Eddie Van Halen, however Vinnie Vincent assumed the lead guitar position.
Frehley carried out each as a solo artist and together with his band, Frehley’s Comet.
However he rejoined KISS within the mid-Nineties for a triumphant reunion and restoration of their unique model that got here after bands together with Nirvana, Weezer and the Melvins had expressed affection for the band and paid them musical tributes.
He would go away once more in 2002. When the unique 4 entered the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame in 2014, a dispute scrapped plans for them to carry out. Simmons and Stanley objected to Criss and Frehley being inducted as an alternative of then-guitarist Tommy Thayer and then-drummer Eric Singer.
Simmons instructed Rolling Stone journal that 12 months that Frehley and Criss “now not need to put on the paint.” “The make-up is earned,” he added. “Simply being there at first shouldn’t be sufficient.”
Frehley and KISS additionally had an enormous affect on the glammy model of Eighties so-called hair metallic bands together with Mötley Crüe and Poison.
“Ace, my brother, I absolutely can not thanks sufficient for the years of nice music, the various festivals we’ve finished collectively and your lead guitar on Nothing However A Good Time,” Poison entrance man Bret Michaels mentioned on Instagram.
More durable-edged bands like Metallica and Pantera have been additionally followers, and even nation celebrity Garth Brooks joined the band members for a recording of their Laborious Luck Lady on a 1994 compilation.
Frehley would seem often with KISS for exhibits in later years. A 2023 live performance at Madison Sq. Backyard was billed because the band’s final. Whereas Stanley and Simmons mentioned they’d not tour once more, they’ve been open to the opportunity of extra live shows, and so they’ve stayed lively selling the group’s music and memorabilia.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
