Ace Frehley, the world greatest guitar hero!

Paul Daniel Frehley was born in the Bronx of New York City on April 27, 1950. Paul had 2 older siblings, a brother and a sister.

On his 14th birthday, his father bought him a Japanese electric guitar. He saved up the money for an amp and began to seriously play guitar. By the time he was 16, Paul had taken up the nickname "Ace" from his ability to get his friends dates.

From then, he played in several different bands with names such as King Kong, Four Roses, and Milllemo until he found an ad in the December 1972 issue of the Village Voice for a band needing a lead guitarist. The ad read "Lead Guitarist Wanted with Flash and Ability. Album Out Shortly. No time wasters please."

On January 3rd, 1973, when roughly 40 aspiring stars had replied to the ad, Ace was among them.

According to legend, Ace entered the loft where auditions were being held wearing one red shoe, and one orange shoe. He unplugged the guitar of the person who was currently auditioning, ironically it was Bob Kulick who would later stand in when Ace wasn't around, and started his own audition, despite protests from Bob, Gene, and Paul.

Later, Bob Kulick would recall that Ace played right after him, saying that if someone had interrupted his audition, "they would have been clocked in the head" with his guitar.

One week later, "Kiss" was formed.

Ace came up with the classic Kiss logo on January 20, which Paul Stanley completed.
(Later in the 1980’s, Ace’s signature lightning bolt “s’s” would raise question in West Germany as to why they were so similar to the military logo used by the Nazi SS during World War II.)

During the perfection of  “their look” through 1973, Ace was reluctant to wear platforms; he had enough trouble keeping upright due to his own clumsiness. But after a few weeks, Ace gave in to the band and appeared at rehearsal wearing “the most dangerous platforms he could handle.”

For the first Kiss album, Ace wanted to match his silver makeup with silver hair. He could think of no other way to do this but spray paint, so he did it. It didn’t come out until weeks later.

Over the years, their look was indeed perfected, but shortly following the release of their 3rd studio album, Dressed To Kill, Ace developed an allergic reaction to the silver makeup around his eyes and began to wear blue eye shadow on the areas closest to his eyes instead of the irritating silver.

A conflict, not the first or last, arose after the release of Destroyer over the song “Sweet Pain.”
It came to light that Ace did not play the solo on the studio track, which shocked even Ace himself. As Gene put it, Ace “had a card game to go to” and instead of waiting for his return, the producer, Bob Ezrin, who Ace eventually openly expressed his disappointment in, had replaced him with a friend by the name of Dick Wagner. In years to come, Ace would elaborate more on his replacement and his feelings following the incident.

After the 1976 release of Destroyer, rumors spread like wildfire about the band having a secret acronym for their name like Knights in Satan’s Service, or Kids in Satan’s Service.  (Though the real origin of these rumors is unknown, I’d bet it had something to do with “God of Thunder.” The whole “lord of the wasteland” and “rob you of your virgin soul” thing might not have flown with some kid’s parents.) While the other band member’s reactions were mixed ranging from amusement, to unmindful, it seemingly bothered Ace, who had a strong Lutheran upbringing, more than others.

Never the less, Destroyer was a hit, with Peter Criss’s song “Beth” winning them a People’s Choice Award and a #7 spot on the charts, they returned to the studio that same year to record Rock And Roll Over, which Ace apparently found enjoyable. The studio where it was recorded was 15 minutes away from Ace’s house. Ace had recently married and had a new car. He described the recording as “a lot of fun.”

In the 3 years that KISS had been a band, they released 7 albums. On all of these albums Ace sang back-up and played lead guitar but had an intense fear of singing lead, even on the songs he had written.

In 1977, Love Gun was released and they became the first band in history to have 4 albums on the charts at the same time. Love Gun not only marked the first time Kiss made the Billboard top 5, but the first time Ace sang lead on track 4, entitled Shock Me, a song jokingly spawned from an incident that occurred in Lakeland Florida on December 12 in 1976.

That night Ace was walking down the steep stage stairs and lost his balance in his platform boots. He grabbed the handrail with his right hand to steady himself all the while clutching the guitar's neck in his left hand. The "improperly grounded" wires used to light up the stairs sending many volts of electricity through his body. Ace managed to let go before blacking out and fell the rest of the way to the stage unconscious.

The show was stopped and Ace was taken backstage to be revived. 20 minutes later, he awoke to hear the crowd chanting his name, and finished the show, though his hands were numb.

During the recording of this song, Ace turned down the lights in the studio so no one could see him, and lay on the ground to calm his nerves.

In 1977, the follow up to their break through 1975 Alive! live album, Ace would once again be replaced.
The reason he was unavailable is unclear. Gene and Paul claim he was at a party, while the closer half, Peter, claims he was having problems with his hands. Ace himself “did not remember.”

Ace stuck around long enough to record his song “Rocket Ride,” which eventually became a highly anticipated live song.

Taking over for Ace was the same Bob Kulick (shown left, the creepy bald guy) who auditioned before him on that fateful day in 1973, playing lead on “Larger Than Life” and “Rockin’ In the U.S.A,” and Rick Derringer who played on “All American Man.”

In May of 1978, they began filming their first movie entitled “Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park” for NBC in California. The movie, backed by Hanna Barbera, was promised to be a multi-million dollar production for TV which would air in October of the same year.

The movie portrayed the four as having magical talisman giving them flying abilities and so on. They had a gig at an amusement park when it was discovered that a mad scientist was turning people into robots for his “life-like display of robots.” He wants the power of Kiss, steals the talisman, the basics.

The scenes would take anywhere from 2 hours to shoot to 45 minutes. While this was a reasonably new experience to all 4 Kiss members, it seemed to take it’s greatest toll on Ace.

With the “normal” application of makeup and regular Kiss getup, Ace would often find himself waiting until needed on the set.He has several times stated they’d call him to the set only to have him wait 45 minutes in the hot California sun in full Kiss garb until they were ready for him.

The film pulled in average ratings. The band lost and gained respect, and Ace Frehley’s struggle to stay afloat in the sea of money, girls, and the engulfing power of Kiss became harder and harder.

In April, Double Platinum was released, which the band had virtually nothing to do with, besides the new disco version of Strutter entitled Strutter ’78.

Ace expressed his disappointment in the new studio track along with the entire album consisting of remixed versions of tracks from previous albums. He felt the band could’ve had more to do with it, and the remixed tracks could have been edited better.

With tensions mounting amongst the band member, time apart was needed. It was decided that they could take a break from each other to record their now-infamous solo albums. (Later, Paul and Gene would state that the solo albums were made because of Ace and Peter’s longing for solo careers.)

When the albums were released, Ace’s was the most successful. His was the only one out the four solo albums to score a top-10 hit "New York Groove.” The album shipped Platinum and gave Ace a glimpse of a successful solo career.

On October 31, 1979, Kiss made a permanent impression on viewers of The Tomorrow Show with host Tom Snyder. During interviews like these, Gene and Paul would take the reins and answer most, if not all questions. This time would be different.

An inebriated Ace Frehley dominated the show and intrigued Snyder by responding to a question about his “spaceman” personality by replying that he was actually a plumber. He laughed manically throughout the show and shocked viewers nationwide.

Gene was visibly upset – and Ace visibly did not care.

Shortly after this appearance, Pete left the band, disgruntled and hurt. The public was uninformed. In 1979, Dynasty was released and the “rock-disco” hit “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” made #11 on the Billboards Top 40. And finally, Peter officially announced his departure on May 20, 1980.

That same year, unmasked was released. Peter had nothing to do with the album, though he appeared on the cover. The album flopped, but contained 3 songs written and sung by Frehley himself.

Eric Carr was recruited as Peter’s replacement after several tedious interviews and auditions, and the band began work on another album. An album which would change the band completely.

Ace In The Hole Studios, Ace’s recording studio in Wilton,Connecticut, was where the mess began. It was there where Bob Ezrin reunited with Kiss and would repeat the “Destroyer” episode again.
Ezrin, along with the support of Gene and Paul, decided to turn the record into a concept album. Ace strongly disapproved. He wanted to get back to the basics of Kiss; to make a rock and roll album.
Ace was outvoted and the band relocated to Toronto,Canada to record what is now known as “Music From the Elder.”From then Ace separated himself from the band and began to drink heavily. He was frustrated and unhappy with where his life was going.

To this day Gene claims the only way they got Ace to perform on the album was to send the tracks to him at his house so he could record.

When the final cut of the album was sent to him, Ace was pissed off. Ezrin had lost sight of the music and cut out his solos without informing him.

To this day, “The Elder” remains the worst selling album in Kiss history.
 

Frehley left Kiss in 1982 because of creative differences with Simmons and Stanley. He formed his own band, Frehley's Comet, in the mid 1980s, and signed to Atlantic/Megaforce Records.

His first album with his new band was called Frehley's Comet, released in 1987. Frehley's band consisted of Tod Howarth on guitars and vocals, John Regan on bass, and Anton Fig on drums, who had played drums with Frehley on his first solo album. The hit song "Rock Soldiers" was featured on this album.

Frehley's Comet released a mini live album titled Live + 1, in early 1988. It featured four live tracks plus one studio track, hence the name of the album.

Second Sighting (1988), featured Jamie Oldaker on drums, replacing Fig. Fig would return for the next album.

By 1989, conflicts erupted within Frehley's band, and Howarth left. Regan and Fig remained with Frehley, and Frehley released the Trouble Walkin' album under his own name. Former Kiss bandmate Peter Criss appeared on the album playing percussion. After this release, Frehley did some touring with Criss in the "Bad Boys Of Kiss" tour.

Frehley joined his old bandmates in 1996 for Kiss' "MTV Unplugged" album. He officially rejoined Kiss a few months later, and went on a huge worldwide reunion tour, which became the most popular tour of that year. In 1997, Atlantic Records released 12 Picks, a greatest hits collection of Frehley's solo material. The album sold well enough that Frehley's second hits collection, Loaded Deck, appeared a few months later, with two unreleased studio tracks to boot.

In 1998, Kiss released the "Psycho Circus" album. Frehley sang on two songs on the album, "Into The Void", which he wrote, and "In Your Face", which was a song that Gene Simmons wrote for him to sing. "In Your Face" was only featured on the Japanese version of the album. The band went back out on the road to support the album.

In 2000, Kiss went on the road for what was to be their last tour, known as "The Farewell Tour". However, all was not well within the band. In January, 2001, Peter Criss left Kiss after a contractual dispute, forcing the band to rehire Eric Singer and put him in the catman makeup for the remainder of the tour. Frehley finished "The Farewell Tour" with Kiss, then assumed that he could go back to his solo career. Then Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley announced that they would not be retiring as planned, and planned more tour dates. Frehley strongly disapproved of this action and refused to tour with Kiss anymore. Gene and Paul welcomed Peter Criss back to the band, and hoped that they could persuade Frehley to come along as well. However, Frehley declined to rejoin Kiss, stating that his contract with the band ended after the completion of "The Farewell Tour". Thus, Kiss had no choice but to hire guitarist Tommy Thayer, a longtime supporter of the band, to wear Frehley's spaceman makeup and costume, and continue on.

After finishing his final tour with Kiss, Frehley started recording his first solo album in more than ten years. He made sporadic appearances with other bands from time to time, but never would say when the album would be completed. By 2004, Ace moved to Florida and reconnected with his ex-wife, Jeanette. He finally embraced sobriety and remained out of the media spotlight. In 2005, he starred in the independent film, "Remedy", in which he played a drug dealer. It appears that Frehley has no plans to reunite with Kiss anytime soon, but only time will tell.