Ace Frehley, Kiss Lead Guitarist, Dies at 74

Paul Daniel “Ace” Frehley, co-founder and lead guitarist of the legendary rock band Kiss and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has died following injuries suffered during a fall last month, according to a statement from his family. He was 74.

Frehley’s family wrote in the statement: “We are completely devastated and heartbroken. In 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’s memory will continue to live on forever!”

His longtime bandmates, Kiss‘ Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, wrote in a statement: “We are devastated by the passing of Ace Frehley. He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history. He is and will always be a part of Kiss’ legacy. Our thoughts are with Jeanette, Monique and all those who loved him, including our fans around the world.” 

While Kiss, who performed in theatrical makeup and costumes, received little respect from music critics and the rock intelligentsia, their impact and influence on a generation of musicians and fans has been immense and enduring. The band’s songs were in many ways a gateway for their concerts and larger-than-life mystique: In an era that preceded MTV, their performances were almost overwhelmingly visual and experiential, with explosions, fire-breathing, smoke-spewing guitars and fireworks. Yet the mystique of Kiss was key: the bandmembers’ faces were not revealed for more than a decade, by which point Frehley and drummer Peter Criss had left the band. Frehley was known as “Space Ace” and cultivated an otherworldly image.

Frehley joined cofounders Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss late in 1972 and remained with the band for their most significant eras: He left in 1982 for a solo career, but rejoined when the original band reunited in 1996 for a highly lucrative reunion tour and remained until 2002. He worked a solo artist during the intervening years, with his band Frehley’s Comet and under his own name; in 1978, when all four members of Kiss released solo albums simultaneously, many fans felt that Frehley’s, which featured his hit cover of the song “New York Groove,” was the best.

Paul Daniel Frehley was born to a musical family in the Bronx borough of New York City and received an electric guitar as a Christmas present in 1964. He never took lessons, and never looked back: With Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and the Who as his stated primary influences, he began playing in bands as a teenager and purportedly acquired his nickname from friends based on his ability to score dates with girls.

He dropped out of high school after one of his bands, Cathedral, began earning money, but later returned and got his diploma. He continued playing and by 1971 was a member of Molimo, a group that signed with RCA Records and recorded several unreleased songs for the label.

But late the following year, a friend spotted an advertisement in the Village Voice that turned out to be for the lead guitar slot in the embryonic Kiss. Famously, Frehley went to the audition in Manhattan wearing one red sneaker and one orange one. Stanley, Simmons and Criss were dismayed by his appearance but sufficiently impressed with his fiery lead guitar work, and he was invited to join a few weeks later. The band, which was preceded by Stanley and Simmons’ previous group Wicked Lester, dubbed themselves Kiss in January 1973 and soon, inspired by the New York Dolls and Alice Cooper, began painting their faces and donning outrageous costumes for their concerts.

Kiss weathered cynicism and disinterest from the snobby New York music scene in their early months — Frehley worked as a taxi driver to pay the bills — but, crucially, united with manager Bill Aucoin in September 1973, who began plotting the band’s path to stardom with the bandmembers.

The band released its self-titled debut album in February of the following year, which featured some future favorites like “Firehouse,” “Black Diamond” and Frehley’s composition “Cold Gin,” but that album and the follow-ups “Hotter Than Hell” and “Dressed to Kill,” were only minor successes.

However, the 1975 live set, “Kiss Alive!,” driven by a supercharged version of the song “Rock and Roll All Night,” combined with memorable television appearances and Aucoin’s business savvy to vault the band to superstardom. Their core audience was teenaged boys, who were delighted by their parents’ mortified reactions to this loud and heavily made-up group of “freaks.” The band’s painted faces soon began appearing on jean jackets across the United States, and their iconic logo — with a pair of lightning-bolt “S”s purloined from David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era — on untold thousands of high school notebooks.

The band united with Alice Cooper/Lou Reed producer Bob Ezrin for the vitally important follow-up studio album, “Destroyer,” which became their biggest release to date. Ezrin’s elaborate production (and strategic use of session musicians) powered such classics as “Detroit Rock City” and “Shout It Out Loud,” and the band followed Cooper’s example by including a sensitive (and image-defying) ballad, “Beth,” which was co-written and sung by Criss. The song quickly became the band’s biggest-ever hit single.

“Destroyer” and the band’s increasingly elaborate concert productions (not to mention its ample and well-marketed merchandise, which grew to include everything from comic books and Halloween costumes to transistor radios and trading cards) quickly made them one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

Two more studio albums followed in rapid succession, “Rock and Roll Over” and “Love Gun,” the latter featuring Frehley’s first lead vocal on “Shock Me” (which was inspired by a near-electrocution during a concert in Florida). Another live album, “Alive II,” was released in the fall of 1977 and included a side of studio recordings, including Frehley’s second lead vocal, “Rocket Ride.”

The band’s anonymity was a big part of its allure. “Onstage I’m Ace Frehley, and offstage I’m a kid from the Bronx,” Frehley told Rolling Stone in 1977. “I consider myself lucky in a way. Mick Jagger will always be Mick Jagger, but I can take off my makeup and know who I am.”

However, hubris began to set in, not least in the form of the four solo albums the band released simultaneously in September of 1978. Surprisingly — considering Stanley’s role as Kiss’ lead singer and the all-star cast Simmons assembled for his album — Frehley’s was widely considered by fans to be the best of the batch. He played a number of instruments on the album, wrote or co-wrote most of its songs, and was accompanied by some top New York session musicians — including drummer Anton Fig and bassist Will Lee, both of whom would later join the house band for David Letterman’s late-night television show — and production from Hendrix/ Led Zeppelin/ Kiss veteran Eddie Kramer. The album also featured a surprise hit single in his cover of Russ Ballard’s composition “New York Groove.”

Kiss returned in 1979 with the “Dynasty” album and the disco-influenced hit single “I Was Made for Loving You,” but the backlash had long since begun — and any embrace of disco by a rock band was regarded as sacrilege by most of the band’s fans. Criss and Frehley also had challenges with the band’s musical direction and, not least, substance abuse, which led to both of their departures, in 1980 and 1982, respectively, although Stanley and Simmons continued the band with other musicians.

Frehley’s abuse of drugs and alcohol grew worse, and in May of 1983, he was arrested following a high-speed chase on the Bronx River Parkway in his 1981 DeLorean. He was charged with DUI, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident after hitting four cars during the incident (luckily with no injuries). He spent two weeks in a hospital detox unit and was required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

He formed the solo outfit Frehley’s Comet and eventually signed with the heavy metal powerhouse label Megaforce Records, releasing a strong album (co-produced by Kramer) in the summer of 1987. The album included songwriting collaborations with Kiss drummer Eric Carr and “Wild Thing” writer Chip Taylor, as well as a song about his arrest called “Rock Soldiers” that included the lyric, “I cried, ‘I am invincible’ / Said I was high above the law / But my only high was just a lie / And now I’m glad I saw.”

Released during the commercial heyday of heavy metal, the album was certified gold and relaunched Frehley’s career, although tours with Iron Maiden and Alice Cooper ended early, reportedly over money issues; also, his sobriety did not last. The band continued for another couple of years before Frehley dropped the name and worked as a solo artist.  

In 1996, he and Criss rejoined Kiss for a major reunion tour, and the group recorded the studio album, “Psycho Circus,” although Frehley contributed just one song and minimal instrumental work. THe reunited Kiss continued touring in the following years, staging what was ultimately its first “Farewell Tour” in 2001 (Stanley and Simmons completed what is apparently the last Kiss farewell tour in December 2023), and Frehley left in 2002.

He continued solo work, touring and guest appearances over the following years, releasing five albums between 2009 and 2024, working with such admirers as Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready and Motley Crue guitarist John 5, along with Robin Zander of Cheap Trick (who spent the entire summer of 1977 opening for Kiss) and even Stanley and Simmons. His most recent album, “10,000 Volts,” was released in 2024.

Frehley released an autobiography, “No Regrets – A Rock ‘N’ Roll Memoir,” in 2011, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Kiss in 2014. According to Stanley and Simmons, he was invited to join Kiss for encores during the final tour but declined, although Frehley disputed those accounts.

“I never set my sights low,” he wrote in his autobiography. “I’ve always believed most people are ruined by the limitations they put on themselves.”

Frehley is survived by his wife Jeanette, daughter Monique, brother Charles, sister Nancy Salvner, nieces Suncere Frehley and Julie Salvner, nephews Sky Frehley and Andrew Salvner, sister-in-law Michelanne and brother-in-law Ron Salvner.