Kiss legend Ace Frehley dead at 74

Founding Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley has died at the age of 74.

“We are completely devastated and heartbroken,” Frehley’s family said in a statement. “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!"

Earlier today, it was reported that Frehley was on life support in hospital, suffering from a brain bleed following the fall last month that led to the cancellation of his upcoming shows.

Frehley was born The Bronx, New York City, in 1951, and grew up surrounded by music. After playing in a series of local bands he auditioned for the band that became Kiss in late 1972, becoming the final member of the classic line-up to join, alongside singer/guitarist Paul Stanley, singer/bassist Gene Simmons, and drummer Peter Criss.

"I wanted to call the group Fuck," Frehley, who adopted the persona of 'The Spaceman' when Kiss chose their make-up and costumes, said. "But Paul thought Kiss was better suited for the press and we agreed. I came up with the idea for the Kiss logo with a felt tip. Paul cleaned up my artwork with a rapidograph pen – he always had steadier hands."

The band recorded their debut album after Manager Bill Aucoin landed the band a deal with Casablanca Records, although the band's studio recordings failed to capture the epic nature of their ever-more spectacular live shows. 1975's live album Alive!, however, changed all that.

"Kiss Alive! was the album that broke the band," Frehley told Classic Rock. "And it really did capture what Kiss is all about, because our live show was our biggest strength. A lot of the show was choreographed, with all the special effects – the bombs, the fire, and me shooting rockets out of my guitar."

Frehley played on all of Kiss's classic 70s albums, and when the four band members all released solo albums on the same day in 1978, his was the most well-received and best-selling, a success largely driven by the hit single New York Groove. He left in the wake of 1981's more experimental Music From "The Elder" ("I don’t think Kiss fans were ready for an album like that," he told Classic Rock) and didn't appear on 1982's Creatures Of The Night album, despite appearing on the cover.

Frehley's first solo album, Frehley's Comet, was released in 1987, after he was signed to Jon Zazula's pioneering metal label Megaforce Records by the company's A&R man, Eddie Trunk.

"There was a risk in that, because there were so many stories about Ace being a degenerate and a drunk that no one wanted to take a chance on him," Trunk told Classic Rock. "He was considered damaged goods. But Jonny said, 'Track him down and see what you can do.' We tracked him down, had lunch with him, Jonny ended up signing him, and I ended up working on four albums with him."

Frehley recorded a second Frehley's Comet album in 1988, and released a solo album the following year. He rejoined Kiss in 1996 for a reunion tour, which ran for nearly 18 months and raked in over $140 million. However, he played on just two tracks on 1998's Psycho Circus album as producer Bruce Fairborn relied on session musicians to complete the recordings.

"Gene and Paul wanted it to be the original band," said engineer Mike Plotnikoff. "[But] when Bruce heard Ace and Peter play in preproduction, he thought to make the kind of record he wanted to make, Ace and Peter wouldn’t cut it as players."

"I wasn't invited to the studio,” said Frehley. “When you hear Paul and Gene talk about it, it's like I didn’t show up. The reason I'm not on any of the songs is because I wasn’t asked to be on them. I just wasn’t invited to any of the sessions."

After completing the so-called Farewell Tour with Kiss in 2001 (the band would subsequently complete another 13 tours), Frehley left once again. He released another six solo albums, the most recent of which, 10,000 Volts, arrived last year. He was working on Origins Vol. 4, the latest in a series of albums of cover versions, at the time of his death.

Frehley's late-career prolificacy ran parallel to his perpetually fractious relationship with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, and he didn't take part in Kiss's final show in New York in late 2023, despite initially expressing a willingness to join the COVID-delayed End Of The Road tour.

"Hopefully next year, what all the Kiss fans really want to happen will happen," he said in 2018. "I'm hoping. I want to be involved, especially for the fans. It's not like my dream job, because I've done it a couple of times and quit, but I really want to do it for the fans if it's going to happen."