Paul Stanley is a world-famous rock guitarist, vocalist and musician for the Kiss band. The favorite of millions won the hearts of listeners with his talent for creating real rock masterpieces. We will talk about how a musician achieved such a tremendous success in our article.
Childhood and youth
Paul Stanley (Stanley Harvey Aizen) was born on January 20, 1952 in the city of New York. A boy grew up in Upper Manhattan. It should be noted that the Jewish family of Paul was the only one in the quarter. Mostly immigrants from Hungary, Ireland and Germany lived here.
Sex is not the only child in the family. His sister Julia is 2 years older than her brother. In 1960, when Aizen Jr. was 8 years old, the family decided to move to Queens (New York). It is in this place that Paul enters the Higher School of Music and Art, which he graduates with success in 1970. In the same year, Stanley took college entrance exams called Bronx Community College.
As the musician himself recalls, at that time the parents of his friends were preparing them for admission to law and medical colleges, and Stanley was full of dreams about the future of a rock star. To earn his first guitar, Paul worked as a taxi driver in a local company. The guy often drove people to Madison Square Garden and secretly dreamed of everyone that someday he would perform on this great stage with other world rock stars.
The beginning of a musical career
Stanley founded the first musical group at the age of 14. At that time, the boy did not yet have outstanding skills in playing the guitar, but the whole district already knew about Paul's amazing vocals. Inability to cope with musical instruments did not stop him from singing in a group called Incubus, which included two more guys of the same age - Matt Ral and Neil Thymene. The year of the trio existed in the same composition, but the leader of the group decided to change the name of the musical group. Now the guys were called Uncle Joe.
The young and promising group lacked only a bass player. But since it was quite difficult to find such a “virtuoso” in their area, the guys interrupted as best they could.
The group lasted until 1970 and even left behind a demo song called Stop, Look And Listen, which was recorded on a regular household tape recorder.
After the collapse of the collective, Paul is invited to participate in the Tree group, where the now famous US rock musicians Stephen Coronel, Marty Cohen and Stan Singer play with him.
The fateful meeting that determined the future of the musician
The meeting with Gene Simmons became fateful for the musician. As Paul Stanley later confesses, he didn’t immediately like Gene. He seemed to him too arrogant and spoiled. But later, Paul’s opinion of the musician will change quickly. “You just need to get through his thick protective carapace, which he put on himself, and then his real, kind nature will open,” Paul said in an interview about Gene.
Later, two friends decide to create a musical group, which will subsequently go down in rock history. The dominant role in the team was Paul, because it was he who came up with the name of the group, he worked out ideas for the show, and also looked for stories to create songs.
Stanley got the most difficult job - to wear heels, perform various tricks on stage, perform music and songs at the same time. It is worth saying that Kiss listeners also indicated the primacy of Paul in the group.
By the way, to the question of journalists about why Stanley’s makeup involves applying a star around the eye, the musician replied: “I always dreamed of becoming a star, which is why I use it as the main element of makeup.”
Work outside the team
Paul Stanley (Kiss) rarely wrote music outside the band. In 1987, his first solo record was released. The album is written in the style of Kiss. According to Paul, this disc revealed his nature and showed the musician’s subtle sensitivity to reality.
Unlike his friend Simmons, Stanley continued to search for new ideas for songs and support life in the team, while Gene was actively acting in films and was looking for new talents on the side.
Paul knew that if he turned his back on the band and devoted himself entirely to a solo career, that would be the end of Kiss. And for him - the founder of this team - it was quite difficult to put up with this idea. That is why Paul tried hard not to step aside.
First tour
In 1989, Stanley went on his first tour, which was supposed to perform only Kiss compositions. He assembled a musical group in a rather short period of time (only 3 weeks). But this did not stop to make a lasting impression on the audience. The band consisted of guitarist Bob Culick and drummer Eric Singer, who subsequently began to play Kiss.
It is worth saying that, despite the fact that his group was waiting for dizzying success, Paul Stanley still continued to play in the team and create songs for him. The compositions that the musician wrote for his solo album were later included in the Kiss collection. Thus, Paul showed true love for his creation, while Simmons completely retired.
A few years later, Stanley is preparing the release of his second album, called Live to Win. It is worth saying that the name of the first song from the album is mentioned in an episode of the animated series South Park.
In 2006, Paul went on tour to support the released Live to Win record. The team then consisted of keyboardist Paul Mirkovich, guitarist Jim McGorman, lead guitarist Rafael Moreira, drummer Nate Morton and bass player Sasha Krivtsov.
Paul Stanley (height 183 cm) continued to tour with the team until 2007. On the way, the team “dropped in” to Australia (Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Cullangatt).
It should be noted that parts of the concerts were filmed to create a Paul Stanley documentary called Live to Dream. And the group’s performance in 2008 was taped and subsequently released on DVD.
Parallel Projects by Stanley
In addition to Kiss (group), Stanley is engaged in other projects. Among them is the recording in 1989 of the soundtrack to the tape called Shocker (directed by Ways Craven). The composition was written by Stanley colleagues - Jean Beauvoir and Desmond Child. Performed by her group, calling itself The Dudes Of Wrath.
In 1999, Paul was offered to play a role in the musical The Phantom of the Opera in Toronto. He got a performance of the Ghost.
In 2005, it became known that Stanley showed his artistic abilities. He sold his paintings at exhibitions. As it turned out, creating on canvas was prompted by a desire to recover after a divorce.
It is also noteworthy that in 2008 Sarah Brightman invited Paul to perform a joint song called I Will Be with You, which was included in the album of the singer Symphony.
It is also curious that on February 19, 2009, Stanley wrote two compositions for Pushking, a Russian group from St. Petersburg. Both entered the record of a well-known Russian rock band. The disc was released on February 28, 2011 and is called The World As We Love It. The album also includes songs recorded by the leader of the group Konstantin Shustarev with other world rock performers.
In 2014, Paul Stanley's autobiography of Face The Music: A Life Exposed. It should be noted that the book in the future took second place in the list of world bestsellers The New York Times.
Awards and achievements of the musician
In 2006, Paula was included in the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. In 2008, the musician was awarded the title "Showman of the Year." The award is given by Classic Rock.
One cannot ignore the fact that in 2009 Stanley was awarded the Telly Awards for the solo DVD of One Live Kiss.
The personal life of Paul Stanley
In 1992, Paul marries the beautiful Pamela Bowen, who gives the musician a son, Evan. This couple broke up in 1994. Pamela serves up the divorce, tired of her husband's constant touring and the plentiful attention of numerous fans.
In 2005, Stanley marries Erin Sutton. The wedding took place in Pasadena, California.
A year later, the wife made Paul happy and gave birth to his son Colin, and after 4 years a second child appeared in the family - the girl Sarah. In 2001, Stanley became dad again. Erin gave him a daughter, Emily.
Interesting Facts
Few people know that Paul Stanley in his youth was afraid of the public and the scene. Before each of his concerts, the musician was very worried, but after a few minutes he calmed down, because he felt the love and support of the audience.
It is also interesting that Paul Stanley (Kiss) does not hear in one ear. As the musician admitted , this does not prevent him from writing songs and making music. As you know, he has had partial deafness since birth.
Operation
In 2004, when Kiss (the band) was on tour, fans heard unpleasant news - Stanley urgently needs to be operated on. The reason was the problems with the rib, which a well-known musician had for a long time.
Doctors said that Paul would need at least a replacement joint for an artificial one. The first surgical intervention occurred in 2004 (in October), followed by serious complications. It took another operation, which was quite successful.
Paul's fans no longer hoped to see him on stage, but after 2 years, Stanley was again seen at the next concert. The musician performed in the same form and with the same fantastic mobility.
Paul Stanley, whose quotes are known throughout the world, is still the idol of millions of viewers. Unfortunately, while he is in no hurry to please us with his new compositions. We hope that in the near future we will hear several more rock hits performed by him.