KISS founding member Ace Frehley dead at 74

KISS founding member Ace Frehley has died after suffering injuries from a fall last month. He was 74.

I was one of those KISS fans as a kid. Like others, I took up guitar after seeing them on the Midnight Special. And then getting a couple of 8 tracks. His interview with Tom Snyder is classic.

I followed him after he left KISS and really kept up over the last 15 or so years thanks to social media and YouTube.

I read his book and found that interesting. He filled in some holes too. Admitted he had issues but he turned sober and has been sober for over a decade.

As a kid he avoided street gangs by playing guitar. He credited Led Zep’s first album as what really got him. He sneaked into a Jimi Hendricks concert at Shea stadium and someone thought he was with the band, and he ended up working on Mitch Mitchell’s drum kit. Too bad they band didn’t ever get back together the final time.

While Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley owned the concept they treated Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss (who wrote and sang "Beth") as disposable employees who were lucky to get what money Gene let them have. Both Ace and Peter would either quit or be fired, always to be hired back when replacements wouldn't cut it for the endless "retirement tours" the original two never tired of doing.

Frehley and Criss did well despite the mistreatment and purposely being unacknowledged, earning fortunes anyway due to the massive amount of money KISS earned over the years as an entity, enterprise and cultural phenomenon. The four solo album project was meant to prove that the founders' popularity far outstripped that of "the help" - and it hilariously blew up in Simmons' and Stanley's faces.

Ace was never the greatest guitarist nor known for innovation like Clapton or Page, but he was a trooper who dutifully played thousands of shows in uncomfortable make-up and costumes; often risking injury due to pyrotechnics, stunts and the vices that plague rock stardom. Thank you, sir.

If you only know his work from his time with KISS please listen to this instrumental, "Fractured Mirror", from that solo album.
(Truly great astronomy photographs in the video for you cosmological compatriots.)

Nice! The space telescope shots and the music go good together!

Instead of listening on my tablet, I went to YouTube on my 55”, put on my Bluetooth headphones, and hit play. I saw another video with some other music of his named Fractured III. Space Station footage set to music- awesome. Thanks for pointing it out, I added it to my playlist.

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