Gene Simmons, musician of the legendary band Kiss

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In the distant 70s, during the heyday of rock culture, Gene Simmons, a musician that everyone knows now, began his career in America. He became famous not only for being a co-founder of the legendary band Kiss and playing the bass guitar superbly, but also for his eccentric appearance. The image of the demon, which Simmons regularly demonstrated on stage, became a real rock icon of those years. Now such outrageousness is a rare occurrence, a highlight of a distant era, which will forever remain in the hearts of heavy music fans.

Early years in Israel and moving to America

Gene Simmons was not an American native. The future rock musician was born in the Israeli town of Tirat Carmel on August 25, 1949. Then he had a different name - Chaim Witz. He grew up in an incomplete family. His parents Florence Klein and Feri Witz divorced when he was just a child.

Life in Israel was full of deprivation and need, and at the age of eight, Chaim left the country with his mother to find his second home overseas - the United States. In New York, a new life and a new name awaited him - Eugene Klein. However, it did not stay with him forever. During his tenure as the bassist for Kiss, Eugene changed his name to a more stage-sounding Gene Simmons.

In America, he had to overcome many difficulties, and first of all the language barrier. Simmons knew Hungarian and Hebrew, but not English. Jean studied him, spending whole days in a Jewish school, where his mother sent him to protect him from trouble, while she worked tirelessly to earn money to support the family.

First creative ideas and their realization

A year later, Jin mastered the language and entered an ordinary American school. In those years, the wonderful world of comics opened up before him. Picture stories about Superman and Batman captivated the imagination of the future Kiss frontman and had a significant impact on the formation of the creative component of his personality, and later on the stage image.

Simmons even published his own Cosmos comics, hand-drawn and mimeographed. They caused a real delight among Jin's classmates, but they were not suitable for sale. However, Simmons was able to capitalize on his hobby in a different way. He sought out used comics and resold them if it was profitable.

Why did Gene Simmons decide to become a rich and famous bass player?

The future musician in his youth was engaged in activities that could bring money. Seeing how hard Florence worked, Simmons tried to help his mother: he worked part-time in a butcher shop and delivered newspapers. It was then that he decided that he would definitely get rich and become famous.

At the age of 14, he found his true calling, which gave him we alth, success, and fame. In February 1964, he saw The Beatles in concert for the first time. Right before the future legend of the rock scene, four guys from Liverpool were creating genius music that amazed Simmons and forced him to do his own work.

Jin already knew how to play the guitar. However, from that day on, his attitude towards music became serious. At the beginning of his career, Simmons changed more than one group. He played for both the Lynx and The Long Island Sounds. It was then that he decided to abandon the conventional guitar. After all, everyone is playing it. Jin preferred bass to her, which immediately distinguished him from the general mass of musicians.

How did Kiss come about?

After leaving first Lynx, then The Long Island Sounds, Simmons joined Bullfrog Bheer. The group recorded the song Leeta, which years later was included in one of the Kiss compilations. And in the early 70s, Simmons met Stanley Eisen (Paul Stanley). Together they created the first serious project - Wicked Lester.

Having gathered a rather strong team, the musicians recorded their first and, as it turned out, last album. The company Epic Record, with which they collaborated, systematically delayed the signing of the contract. As a result, her vice president did not like the material recorded by the group. The album was never released, which was a huge blow to the musicians. However, failure is not a reason to give up, as Gene Simmons decided. The group, which he set out to create with Paul Stanley, was supposed to be a qualitatively newa project with a catchy image and more aggressive music.

She got the name Kiss. Its composition, in addition to Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, included Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Together they created a unique image of the group. In many ways, he was influenced by the defiant appearance of the shock rocker of the 70s Alice Cooper, horror films and comics, which all the members of Kiss raved about. It wasn't just your average New York boys that were taking the stage now, but Catman, Starchild, Space Ace, and Demon. The musicians did not fail. Outrageous costumes, evocative make-up, a spectacular show, combined with atmospheric aggressive music made them the favorites of the whole world.

Legendary Demon Skin

The image of the demon chosen by Gene Simmons has become especially recognizable. The musician's height, which was 1.88 m, became simply "cosmic". After all, he wore over-the-knee boots with terribly high heels. In the classic version, they were covered with silvery scales, and the capes were crowned with dragon heads with fiery eyes. In addition to them, the legendary bass player put on a massive armored breastplate and spiked shoulder pads. On Jin's back were leather wings, like those of a bat. He wore black and white makeup on his face. The image of the demon was complemented by a guitar in the form of an ace of spades or an ax.

The musician tied his blue-black dyed hair into a bun at the top of his head. It was a kind of precautionary measure that Gene Simmons observed at all concerts. The musician during the performances of the group had to perform the "Fire Breath" trick, onceended not in the best way. At one of the concerts, Simmons, spewing pillars of fire, set fire to his hair. They managed to put it out, but the guitarist has since begun to take care of his hair.

In addition to tricks with fire, Jin flew up on cables and spit blood. Of course, it was not real and consisted of juices with yogurts mixed with food coloring, but the show looked realistic.

However, not only bloody antics are remembered by fans of Gene Simmons. The musician's tongue, reaching a length of 12.7 cm, has become an indispensable attribute of concerts. Simmons regularly displayed it in performances. And the journalists, looking at this "anomaly", came up with a story that he transplanted a cow's tongue to himself in order to look more outrageous. The bassist subsequently had to publicly refute the crazy rumors about his identity.

What did Gene Simmons say in his book Kiss: The Demon Takes Off the Mask?

Gene Simmons is also known as a hero-lover and sex addict. However, he never denied, on the contrary, strongly supported this idea. Simmons devoted many pages to his passion for women in the book “Kiss: the demon takes off the mask” (2013), in which he talked about the difficult everyday life of a rock musician. The bass player clearly indicated in his work the number of his short-term novels - 4600, which shocked the fans. Simmons captured his girlfriends on Polaroids, and his famous collection of photographs was once stolen from a certain hotel room in which the musician settled.

Besides being overly attracted to women,Simmons led a fairly decent life. The musician claimed that he never suffered from the typical “sins” of all rock stars: he didn’t get drunk to unconsciousness, he didn’t smoke, he didn’t use drugs. All bad habits, as joked in the press, were forced out by girls.

In Kiss: The Demon Removes the Mask, Jin described not only his affairs, but also the relationships within the Kiss team. They, as it turned out, were full of conflicts and problems. In each chapter, Simmons rebuked Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, who kept leaving the group. The bass player also paid attention to himself. Own person, as it turned out, was sometimes the main source of inspiration for Simmons. At the same time, he determined Gene and Kiss's place in the modern rock hierarchy - second only to The Beatles, and nothing else.

Extraordinary creativity of the bass guitarist of Kiss

The bass player's scandalously daring image captures exactly what Gene Simmons was as an experimental artist. The musician (pictured below) has become a real inspiration and creative leader for Kiss. The compositions created by Simmons, although they fit the format of the group, invariably stood out from the general background. As well as possible, his work is characterized by the hits Going blind and Almost human.

And when the famous four released one solo album each, Simmons' work was recognized as the most intellectual and versatile, and this is not surprising. Indeed, in music, he recognized all styles: from jazz to modern alternative. So, the album included a cover created by Simmonsversion of the song When you wish upon a star from the Disney cartoon "Pinocchio", which expressed his position in life: "Dreams are wonderful, because they come true."

Side projects and film careers

Kiss could not be the only field of activity for such a versatile personality as Gene Simmons. The musician was actively involved in various business projects, and also acted in films.

He started his acting career in the 80s, when the members of Kiss were forced to take off their masks due to the rapid decline in the group's popularity. Simmons did not become a Hollywood star, but there are still several notable roles in his filmography. So, in the film "Take Dead or Alive", he transformed from a rock star into an Arab terrorist who organized several bloody explosions in Los Angeles.

In addition to participating in all kinds of film productions, Gene Simmons was engaged in producing aspiring rock bands, hosted the show Mr. Romance, created the TV series Rock School and his own reality show Gene Simmons Family Jewels, produced coffins with the Kiss logo to store soft drinks, and a magazine for men, Gene Simmons' Tongue.

Perhaps the famous bass player did not achieve enchanting success in his undertakings far from musical activity, but he could not do without them due to the peculiarities of his personality, eternally striving for everything new. Once upon a time, even before the resounding success of Kiss, he even worked as a teacher at a school. Undoubtedly, Simmons could not become an ordinary teacher. In class, he used Spiderman comics and played TheThe Beatles, which shocked the entire teaching staff.

Family life

Rock musician, in principle, never supported the generally accepted standards. He also opposed the institution of marriage. Gene Simmons built a happy relationship with Canadian actress and fashion model Shannon Tweed and raised two children (Sophie and Nicholas) outside of the government's formal relationship. However, Simmons changed his principles and married his chosen one in 2011, and the significant event itself was presented to the public as part of his reality show.

It is worth noting that a happy family life and numerous business projects did not force the musician to ignore the main work of his life. Whatever activity Gene Simmons does, Kiss is never forgotten. The line-up has changed many times, the resounding success has been left behind, but this does not prevent the legendary bass player and his partner Paul Stanley from creating music more than forty years after the founding of Kiss.