In the distant 70s, during the heyday of rock culture, in America began his career Gene Simmons, a musician that everyone knows now. He became famous not only for becoming the co-founder of the legendary band Kiss and playing excellent bass, 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 shocking is a rare occurrence, a highlight of a distant era, which will forever remain in the hearts of fans of heavy music.
The early years in Israel and moving to America
Gene Simmons was not a native of America. 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 still a child.
Life in Israel was full of deprivation and want, and at the age of eight, Chaim left his country with his mother to find his second homeland - the United States - overseas. In New York, he was waiting for a new life and a new name - Eugene Klein. However, it was not fixed to him forever. When he was a Kiss bass player, Eugene changed his name to a more harmonious one for the stage - 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. Gene studied it, spending whole days in a Jewish school, where his mother gave him away to protect him from troubles, while she tirelessly earned money to support her family.
The first creative ideas and their implementation
A year later, Jean mastered the language and entered an ordinary American school. In those years, the wonderful world of comics opened up before him. The stories in the pictures about Superman and Batman captivated the imagination of the future frontman of the Kiss group 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 propagated on a mimeograph. They caused a real delight among Gene's classmates, but were not suitable for sale. However, Simmons was able to earn on his hobby in a different way. He sought out used comics and resold them if that was profitable.
Why did Gene Simmons decide to become a rich and famous bass player?
The future musician in his youth was engaged in those activities that could bring money. Seeing how Florence works hard, 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 wealth and success, and glory. In February 1964, he first saw the concert of The Beatles. Right before the future legend of the rock scene, four guys from Liverpool were creating brilliant music that struck Simmons and forced them to do their own work.
Gene already knew how to play the guitar. However, from that day on, his attitude to music became serious. At the beginning of his career, Simmons changed more than one group. He played in both Lynx and The Long Island Sounds. It was then that he decided to abandon the usual guitar. After all, everyone plays on it in a row. Gene preferred her bass, which immediately distinguished him from the general mass of musicians.
How did the Kiss band come about?
Leaving first Lynx, then The Long Island Sounds, Simmons joined Bullfrog Bheer. The group recorded the song Leeta, which, years later, became part of one of Kiss's collections. And in the early 70's, Simmons met with Stanley Aizen (Paul Stanley). Together they created the first serious project - Wicked Lester.
Having assembled a rather strong team, the musicians recorded their first and, as it turned out, last album. The Epic Record company 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 for the musicians. However, failure is not a reason to give up, as Gene Simmons decided. The group, which he intended to create together with Paul Stanley, was supposed to be a brand new project with a catchy image and more aggressive music.
She got the name Kiss. Its structure, in addition to Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, included Ace Freilly and Peter Criss. Together they created a unique image of the group. In many ways, he was influenced by the shocking appearance of the 70s shock rocker Alice Cooper, horror films and comics, which raved about all Kiss members. Now not just ordinary New York guys, but Cat-Man, Star Baby, Space Ace and Demon came on the scene. The musicians were right. Outrageous costumes, defiant make-up, spectacular show in combination with atmospheric aggressive music made them favorites of the whole world.
The legendary image of a demon
Particularly recognizable was the image of the demon that Gene Simmons chose for himself. The growth of the musician, amounting to 1.88 m, became simply "space". After all, he wore terrific high heel boots. In the classic version, they were covered with silver scales, and capes were crowned with dragon heads with fiery eyes. In addition to them, the legendary bass player wore a massive armor chest and studded shoulder pads. Leather wings flashed on Gene’s back, like a bat’s. He applied black and white makeup to his face. The guitar in the form of an ace of spades or an ax supplemented the image of a demon.
The musician tied blue-black hair tied in a bun on the top of his head. It was a kind of precaution, which Gene Simmons observed at all concerts. The musician during the group’s performances was supposed to perform the fiery breath trick, which once ended in a bad 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 started to cherish his hair.
In addition to fire tricks, Gene took off on ropes and spit blood. Of course, it was not real and consisted of juices with yoghurt mixed with food colors, but the show looked realistic.
However, not only bloody antics were remembered by fans of Gene Simmons. The language of the musician, reaching a length of 12.7 cm, has become an indispensable attribute of concerts. Simmons regularly demonstrated it at performances. And journalists, looking at this "anomaly", came up with a bike that he transplanted his cow tongue to look more shocking. The bass player subsequently had to publicly refute the crazy rumors about his person.
What did Gene Simmons tell about in his book Kiss: The Demon Takes A Mask Off?
Gene Simmons also gained fame as a hero-lover and sex addict. However, he never refuted, on the contrary, strongly supported this idea. Simmons devoted many pages of his book “Kiss: The Demon Removes the Mask” (2013) to his passion for women, in which he talked about the difficult everyday life of a rock musician. The bass guitarist clearly outlined in his work the number of his short-term novels - 4600, which plunged the fans into shock. Simmons captured his girlfriends on Polaroid, and his famous collection of pictures was once stolen from a hotel room in which the musician was staying.
In addition to being overly passionate about women, Simmons led a very decent life. The musician claimed that he never suffered from the typical "sins" of all rock stars: he did not get drunk to unconsciousness, he did not smoke, he did not use drugs. All bad habits, as the jokes in the press, crowded out the girls.
In the book “Kiss: the demon takes off the mask”, Gene described not only his affair, but also the relationships within the Kiss band. They, as it turned out, were full of conflicts and problems. In each chapter, Simmons rebuked Ace Freilly and Peter Criss, who left the band every now and then. The bass player paid attention to himself. Own person, as it turned out, sometimes was the main source of inspiration for Simmons. At the same time, Jin and Kiss were identified in the modern rock hierarchy - the second after The Beatles, and nothing else.
The extraordinary creativity of the bass player of the band Kiss
The scandalous daring image created by the bass player fully reflects what Gene Simmons was actually an experimental creator. The musician (photo below) has become a real generator of ideas and creative leader of Kiss. Compositions created by Simmons, although suited to the format of the group, invariably stood out against the general background. His creativity is characterized by the hits of Going blind and Almost human.
And when the famous four released one solo album, the work of Simmons was recognized as the most intellectual and versatile, and this is not surprising. Indeed, in music, he recognized all styles: from jazz to the modern alternative. So, the album included a cover version of the song When You Wish Upon A Star created by Simmons from the Disney movie "Pinocchio", which expressed his position in life: "Dreams are wonderful, because they come true."
Third-Party Projects and Movies
The Kiss group could not be the only field of activity for such a versatile person as Gene Simmons. The musician was actively involved in various business projects, and also acted in films.
He began his acting career in the 80s, when members of Kiss were forced to take off their masks due to the rapidly falling popularity of the group. Simmons did not become a Hollywood star, but there are still some noteworthy roles in his filmography. So, in the film “Take Alive or Dead,” he transformed from a rock star into an Arab terrorist who organized several bloody explosions in Los Angeles.
In addition to participating in various film productions, Gene Simmons was engaged in producing beginner rock groups, led the show Mr. Romance, created the Rock School series and its own reality show Gene Simmons Family Jewels, produced coffins with the Kiss logo for storing soft drinks, as well as Gene Simmons' Tongue magazine for men.
Perhaps the famous bass player did not achieve enchanting successes in his endeavors far from musical activity, but he could not do without them because of the characteristics of his personality, eternally striving for everything new. Once, even before the great success of Kiss, he even worked as a teacher at school. Undoubtedly, Simmons could not become an ordinary teacher. In the lessons, he used comic books about Spiderman and played The Beatles songs, which shocked the entire teaching staff.
Family life
A rock musician, in principle, never supported generally accepted standards. He also opposed the institution of marriage. Gene Simmons built a happy relationship with Canadian actress and model Shannon Tweed and raised two children (Sophie and Nicholas) outside the state form of registration of relations. However, Simmons changed his principles and married his chosen one in 2011, and the momentous event was presented to the public as part of its reality show.
It is worth noting that a happy family life and numerous business projects did not force the musician to disregard the main business of his life. Whatever activity Gene Simmons is engaged in, Kiss he does not forget. The composition of the group changed many times, the loud success was left behind, but this does not prevent the legendary bass player and his partner Paul Stanley from making music more than forty years after the founding of Kiss.