One half Italian, the other Spanish, Peter Criss has long won the hearts of many rock and roll fans. For a long time he acted as a drummer in the band Kiss. After creating solo albums. October 23, 2012, according to the English "Wikipedia", released his own autobiography. Its co-author was none other than Larry Broken, known in Russia thanks to Mike Tyson's book “Ruthless Truth”.
Come from childhood
Peter Criss was born on December 20, 1945 in Brooklyn, in the family of Joseph and Loretta Krisskaulov. He was the oldest of 5 children in the family. He grew up Catholic, went to the appropriate school. From a young age, I felt the rigidity of the church system, which in those years broke everyone and everyone, without exception. The religion of that time left a weighty imprint on Peter. Subsequently, he complained of a poor emotional state. It was just not possible to normalize this, since in the 50–70s. There were no good psychologists of the last century.
School also did not attract the boy. He was a “black sheep” among his peers, and wherever he appeared, he was in danger. As Peter later wrote, peers got into the habit of locking him in a school toilet for several hours. That is, until an adult intervened in the matter. All this time the boy had to sit on a trash can.
Interestingly, Peter Criss was once kicked out even of a church choir. As the future musician explained to one Canadian disc jockey, this was due to the fact that when he stood near the altar, he whipped out all the wine. It is clear that the ministers of the Catholic Church did not understand such behavior.
Carier start
As a teenager, Peter Criss, whose photo is posted here, became interested in playing drums. Once he took and created his own musical group Chelsea, which included local guys. A year later, the young man was already a recognized musician, played in several bands and practiced many styles of performance at once. He recorded an album with his group, though he did not become popular and was quickly forgotten.
When Chelsea broke up, Criss hung out idle for a long time. He was still looking for new musicians among his surroundings. And one day I came across a band Kiss, the guys from which invited him to perform with them. At this time he was already married, but did not miss the opportunity. He suggested that his wife either tolerate what is happening, or disperse. She chose the second.
Role of the musician on stage
Peter Criss chose Kota as a symbol of self-expression for performing on stage. Although such animals were associated with supernature at the time, the undesirable side of the image was finally mitigated by the Morris company, which specializes in advertising cat food on television. Interestingly, when Peter Criss put on a cat costume, his appearance was, although a little stupid, but pretty pretty. As the musician himself explained his choice, his image seemed to “flow out” of his temper: curious and independent. Here is what he said:
Once I was lying on the bed and listening to music, and my cat sat opposite me and stared directly into my eyes. And then I thought what it would look like if his head was attached to my body. And so I had an idea.
Notably, the idea worked! Kriss has become one of the most attractive and pretty members of the Kiss group. When he wrote such a romantic song as Beth, he completely got the image of a soft musician.
Personal life
In his entire life, Peter Cross has been married three times. For the first time on Lydia Di Leonardo, with whom he lived for 9 years. In another - on the model of Deborah Jensen, their marriage lasted from 1979 to 1994. In the third - on Gigi Criss, he lives with her to the present.
It is worth noting that he currently lives in Wall Township (New Jersey). It was from here that he was taken to a hospital in 2008, where he was diagnosed with breast cancer. He managed to defeat this terrible disease, fortunately.
According to friends, Criss is a big fan of pistols. His house has a whole collection of firearms. He sometimes shoots, but never hunts. The musician said this to Tom Snyder during an interview "Kiss at the exhibition of tomorrow", published on 10/31/1979.
Popular albums by Peter Criss
Peter performed for a long time as part of the Kiss band, then left and began giving solo concerts. Then he returned to the team. On October 7, 2000, right on stage in North Charleston, South Carolina, he broke a studio drum kit. And although the audience thought that it was part of the show, for the guys it meant one thing: Criss will not be able to perform with them further. There was a big quarrel, after which Peter again left the group. For all the time of his stage activity, he recorded 5 albums:
- Peter Criss (September 18, 1978).
- Out of Control (September 1980).
- Let Me Rock You (May 1982).
- Cat # 1 (August 16, 1994).
- One For All (July 24, 2007).
Russian listeners are most aware of Peter Criss's Solo on the Drum, which he recorded while still being a member of the Kiss group.