{"id":230043,"date":"2025-10-16T22:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/230043\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T22:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:28:07","slug":"kiss-guitarist-ace-frehley-dead-at-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/230043\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiss Guitarist Ace Frehley Dead at 74"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAce Frehley<\/a>, the wild Spaceman of Kiss<\/a> who played guitar in the band throughout their Seventies heyday and again during the reunion period in the Nineties, inspiring an entire generation of musicians to pick up the instrument along the way, died on Thursday in Morristown, New Jersey. He was 74. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are completely\u00a0devastated and heartbroken,\u201d Frehley\u2019s family said in a statement. \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. 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\u2019s memory will continue to live on forever!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA cause of death was not immediately available, but in late September, Frehley cancelled a concert at the Antelope Valley Fair in Lancaster, California, after suffering a \u201cminor fall in his studio\u201d that required a trip to the hospital. \u201cHe is fine,\u201d read a note to fans, \u201cbut against his wishes, his doctor insists that he refrain from travel at this time.\u201d On October 11, Frehley pulled the remaining 2025 dates on his calendar due to unspecified \u201congoing medical issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGene Simmons and Paul Stanley were the primary songwriters in Kiss, but Frehley\u2019s guitar chops and rock star attitude were key components of the band\u2019s success. As a songwriter, Frehley wrote \u201cCold Gin,\u201d \u201cParasite,\u201d \u201cShock Me,\u201d \u201cTalk to Me,\u201d and other fan favorites.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a kid growing up in the Bronx, Frehley was torn between athletics and rock music. But after taking a few nasty hits on the football field, he had an epiphany. \u201cThis is bullshit,\u201d he later recalled thinking. \u201cMy hands are too important. The guitar comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe became even more certain at age 16 when he saw the Who and Cream at RKO Theater in Manhattan. \u201cThe Who really inspired me towards theatrical rock,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I saw them, it totally blew me away. I\u2019d never seen anything like it. It was a big turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tFrehley played in a series of unsuccessful bands throughout the late Sixties and early Seventies until he stumbled across a Village Voice ad that forever changed his life: \u201cLead guitarist wanted with Flash and Ability. Album Out Shortly. No time wasters please.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUnable to afford cab fare, his mother drove him out to the Kiss rehearsal space in Queens. Simmons, Stanley, and drummer Peter Criss initially laughed at his bell bottom trousers and multi-colored shoes. The laughter stopped once they showed him their new song \u201cDeuce.\u201d \u201cI just soloed through the whole song, \u201cFrehley recalled. \u201cThey all smiled. We jammed for a few more songs, and then they said, \u2018We like the way you play a lot. We\u2019ll call you.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt this point, the group didn\u2019t even have a name. And their early attempts at stage makeup didn\u2019t quite work out. \u201cWe put on makeup, but it wasn\u2019t Kiss makeup; it was feminine makeup, like the New York Dolls,\u201d Frehley told Rolling Stone in 1976. \u201cBack then the Dolls were the hottest thing and we always wished we could be the Dolls \u2018cause we were nobody at the time. But we weren\u2019t physically like the Dolls, who were small, skinny guys, so we decided to come on real strong in black and silver.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe band\u2019s distinct stage makeup and bombastic show generated instant attention when they started gigging around New York City in 1973. But they didn\u2019t find mainstream success until their 1975 concert album Alive! took off. To an outspoken segment of young fans, Frehley was the coolest member of the band. \u201cWhen I play guitar onstage it\u2019s like making love,\u201d he told Rolling Stone in 1976. \u201cIf you\u2019re good, you get off every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tBut it didn\u2019t take long for hard drugs to enter the picture. \u201cThere was so much cocaine in the studio with [producer] Bob Ezrin, it was insane,\u201d Frehley recalled to Rolling Stone in 2015. \u201cAnd I hadn\u2019t even done coke before that. I liked to drink. But once I started doing coke, I really liked to drink more, and longer, without passing out. So I was really off to the races. I made my life difficult because there were so many times I\u2019d walk in with a hangover, or sometimes I wouldn\u2019t even show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1978, when every member of Kiss released solo albums on the same day, Frehley\u2019s self-titled LP reportedly sold the most due to his his cover of Russ Ballard\u2019s \u201cNew York Groove,\u201d which became his signature song. \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd as the group grew more successful in the late Seventies and the band\u2019s audience started skewing younger, Frehley grew uneasy. \u201cWe were this heavy rock group,\u201d he told Rolling Stone in 2015, \u201cand now we had little kids with lunchboxes and dolls in the front row, and I had to worry about cursing in the microphone. It became a circus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat circus also featured a lot behind-the-scenes battles stemming from Frehley\u2019s drug use, alcohol consumption, and the band\u2019s decision to use session guitarists on some tracks. By 1982, Frehley simply had enough. \u201cI was mixed up,\u201d he later recalled. \u201cI believed that if I stayed in that group I would have committed suicide. I\u2019d be driving home from the studio, and I\u2019d want to drive my car into a tree. I mean, I walked out on a $15 million contract. That would be like $100 million today. And my attorney was looking at me like, \u2018What are you, crazy?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the Eighties, he formed the band Frehley\u2019s Comet, and released two under-the-radar albums. But a brief Kiss reunion at the band\u2019s 1995 MTV Unplugged special lead to a massive reunion tour in 1996 where the four original members put the makeup back on, dusted off the old songs, and returned to stadiums and arenas all over the world. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1998, they cut the new studio LP Psycho Circus, but Frehley only played on a single track. \u201cI wasn\u2019t invited to the studio,\u201d he told Ultimate Classic Rock in 2014. \u201cWhen you hear Paul and Gene talk about it, they say I didn\u2019t show up. The reason I\u2019m not on any of the songs is because I wasn\u2019t asked. They tried to make it look like I was absent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe once again left the band in 2002 following the conclusion of a farewell tour. He was replaced by Tommy Thayer, who wore his signature Starman makeup and replicated all of his guitar parts. \u201cTommy played the right notes, but he didn\u2019t have the right swagger,\u201d Frehley told Guitar Player in 2014. \u201cHe just doesn\u2019t have my same technique.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tOver the past two decades, Frehley toured heavily as a solo artist and played sets packed with Kiss classics. His most recent show took place last month at Providence, Rhode Island\u2019s Uptown Theater, with Frehley ending, of course, with \u201cRock and Roll All Nite.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tIn a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Frehley spoke about the ardent devotion of the band\u2019s fanbase. \u201cI have a lot of diehard fans,\u201d he said. \u201cAce Frehley fans and Kiss fans are the greatest fans in the world. They\u2019ve always been there for me through ups and downs. My life has been a roller coaster ride, but somehow I\u2019ve always been able to land on my feet and still play the guitar.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ace Frehley, the wild Spaceman of Kiss who played guitar in the band throughout their Seventies heyday and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[58808,88,17715,45482,13441],"class_list":{"0":"post-230043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-ace-frehley","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-kiss","11":"tag-obit","12":"tag-obituary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}