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<\/p>\nAce Frehley, who played lead guitar as a founding member of the face-painted, blood-spewing, fire-breathing hard-rock band Kiss, died Thursday in Morristown, N.J. He was 74.<\/p>\n
His death was announced by his family, which said he\u2019d recently suffered a fall. \u201cIn 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,\u201d the family said in a statement.<\/p>\n
In his alter ego as the Spaceman, Frehley played with the original incarnation of Kiss for less than a decade, from 1973 \u2014 when he formed the group in New York with Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss \u2014 until 1982, when he quit not long after Criss left. Yet he was instrumental to the creation of the band\u2019s stomping and glittery sound as heard in songs like \u201cDetroit Rock City,\u201d \u201cRock and Roll All Nite,\u201d \u201cStrutter\u201d and \u201cI Was Made for Lovin\u2019 You.\u201d In the late \u201970s, those hits \u2014 along with Kiss\u2019 over-the-top live show \u2014 made the group an inescapable pop-cultural presence seen in comic books and on lunch boxes; today the group is widely viewed as a pioneer of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll merchandising.<\/p>\n
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A member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Frehley rejoined Kiss in 1996 for a highly successful reunion, then left again in 2002 to return to the solo career he\u2019d started in the early \u201980s. In 2023, Kiss completed what Simmons and Stanley called a farewell tour<\/a> with a hometown show at New York\u2019s Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n Frehley, whose real first name was Paul, was born April 27, 1951, in the Bronx. He learned to play guitar as a kid and joined Stanley on rhythm guitar, Simmons on bass and Criss on drums after responding to an ad in the Village Voice.<\/p>\n Inspired by Led Zeppelin, the New York Dolls and Alice Cooper, the quartet called themselves Kiss and started playing around New York; Frehley designed the band\u2019s eye-catching logo with its pair of lightning bolts. Each member chose a persona with a specific make-up scheme: Frehley the Spaceman, Stanley the Starchild, Simmons the Demon and Criss the Catman.<\/p>\n Kiss signed to Casablanca Records and released its self-titled debut in 1974; Stanley and Simmons wrote most of the songs, though Frehley contributed \u201cCold Gin,\u201d about a down-and-out guy not too proud to admit that \u201cthe cheapest stuff is all I need to get me back on my feet again.\u201d<\/p>\n The band exploded in 1975 with the release of \u201cKiss Alive!,\u201d a concert album that broke into the top 10 of the Billboard 200. By 1978, Kiss was such a sensation that each member of the band released a solo album on the same day; Frehley scored a hit from his with a cover of Russ Ballard\u2019s \u201cNew York Groove.\u201d That same year, the band starred in a TV movie called \u201cKiss Meets the Phantom of the Park,\u201d which was shot in part at Valencia\u2019s Magic Mountain amusement park.<\/p>\n \u201cKiss is the band that made me and millions of others love rock \u2019n\u2019 roll,\u201d Rage Against the Machine\u2019s Tom Morello said<\/a> when he inducted Kiss into the Rock Hall in 2014. \u201cWhat Elvis and the Beatles were to previous generations, Kiss were to us.\u201d<\/p>\n Frehley left Kiss in 1982, not long after the band\u2019s \u201cMusic from \u2018The Elder\u2019\u201d LP was poorly received.<\/p>\n \u201cKiss started out as a great idea, but after a while, it became a nightmare for me, like a chain around my neck,\u201d Frehley told<\/a> The Times a decade later. \u201cI hated to put that damn makeup on.\u201d He recalled drinking too much after a gig in Paris. \u201cI fell asleep with my makeup on, and when I woke up, my eyes were swollen shut from an allergic reaction to the silver paint,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kiss backstage in 1979: Ace Frehley, from left, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons.<\/p>\n (Bettmann Archive via Getty Image)<\/p>\n After Kiss, he recorded and performed under his own name and with a group he called Frehley\u2019s Comet. In 1996, he reteamed with the band\u2019s three other original members for a tour and an album, \u201cPsycho Circus\u201d; in recent years he\u2019d collaborated with the likes of Slash, Lita Ford and Pearl Jam\u2019s Mike McCready.<\/p>\n His survivors include his wife, Jeanette; his daughter, Monique; his brother, Charles; his sister, Nancy, and several nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n