f.Ace Frehley Dies: Kiss Founding Guitarist Was 74.f

Ace Frehley, who co-founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band Kiss and was its fan-favorite lead guitarist for eight years, nine studio albums and two live discs, died today after spending several weeks hospitalized for a fall. He was 74.

His family confirmed the news in a statement. “We are completely devastated and heartbroken. 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!”

Frehley had been on life support with a brain bleed, according to reports. He had suffered a fall in his recording studio in late September, forcing him to cancel a Southern California concert date. Days later, his camp posted on social media that he was canceling the rest of his 2025 tour, citing “some ongoing health issues.”

Frehley’s rep, Lori Lousararian, told our sister publication Rolling Stone that his death was due to “a recent fall at his home,” but she did not cite a specific cause of death.

Born Paul Daniel Frehley on April 27, 1951, in New York City, he co-founded Kiss — an acronym for “Keep it simple, stupid” — in 1973 with singer Paul Stanley, bassist and part-time singer Gene Simmons and drummer Peter Criss. The band initially was more famous for its wild costumes and kabuki makeup, and its even wilder live shows, which featured pyrotechnics and stunts including Simmons’ infamous “fire breathing.” Each member had a different persona: self-taught guitarist Frehley was the Spaceman, Simmons the Demon, Stanley the Starchild and Criss the Catman.

“We are devastated by the passing of Ace Frehley,” Simmons and Stanley said in a joint statement. “He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history. He is and will always be a part of KISS’s legacy. Our thoughts are with Jeanette, Monique and all those who loved him, including our fans around the world.”

The group’s rise began slowly, with its first two albums stalling near the middle of the Billboard 200 in 1974. Its third disc, 1975’s Dressed to Kill, sold better, reaching the Top 40 with the help of modest radio hit “Rock and Roll All Nite.” But an audacious move by its label Casablanca Records and owner Neil Bogart would change the group’s fortunes forever.

Released in the fall of 1975, Alive! was a live disc featuring Kiss’ best-known songs — basically its concert set. “Rock and Roll All Nite” was released as its first single and peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album went top 10, selling more than a million copies, and Kissmania was on.

The group’s next LP was Destroyer (1976). Its first three singles mostly stiffed, with “Shout It Out Loud” doing best with a No. 31 peak. But another offbeat move pushed Kiss into the stratosphere.

The band’s next single was “Beth,” an off-brand piano ballad sung and co-written by Criss about the lonely life of a rocker’s lover. Purists screamed “treason,” but radio caught on quickly. The song was Kiss’ first Top 10 pop single, pushing Destroyer to No. 11 and platinum status. Like a planned attack, the 45’s B-side was “Detroit Rock City,” a punishing track featuring Frehley’s guitar that told the first-person story of a guy who is headed to a concert and speeding while loaded. It ends with the narrator needing a laugh because “I know I’m gonna die” — just before a head-on crash with a truck, and a memorable sound effect.

Kiss wouldn’t have another Top 10 until long after Frehley left in 1981, but the quartet’s albums continued to sell well as its arena concerts became spectacles. The group amassed seven consecutive platinum LPs in just three years from 1976-79, including studio sets Rock and Roll Over (1976) and Love Gun (1977); a second concert record, the double-disc Alive II; and a two-LP compilation titled, fittingly, Double Platinum.

Love Gun featured, “Shock Me,” one of about 10 Kiss songs written or co-written by Frehley. He also sang lead on the track, as evinced by Stanley’s memoprable intro on Alive II: “We got a little surprise for you tonight,” he half-yells. “We’re gonna turn the microphone over to Ace Frehley — ‘Shock Me!’”

The last of that platinum half-dozen albums was Dynasty, whose lead single threw yet another curveball at fans. “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” was an unrepentant, unapologetic disco song, spurred by the spate of rock acts scoring pop hits with dance music. (Credit or blame The Rolling Stones’ “Miss You” for that.) Once again, the Kiss Army wailed about the move, but the song just missed the pop Top 10 as the LP topped the million-unit mark.

By then, Kiss was among the world’s biggest rock groups. After Alive II and Double Platinum, all four of the group’s members released eponymous solo albums on September 18, 1978. All eventually would go platinum, but Frehley’s record was the best-received by critics — a rarity for any Kiss-related disc — and spurred the only hit single among them, a remake of “New York Groove” that reached No. 13 on the Hot 100.

The media saturation continued with the band — always in full costume and makeup — leading a NBC telefilm called Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. The “park” was Magic Mountain, northwest of Los Angeles, and the silliness wrapped with a concert that included “Rip and Destroy,” basically its 1974 song “Hotter Than Hell” with more network-friendly lyrics.

Kiss was at its commercial zenith. But the high times were about to end. Whether that was a backlash of “disco Kiss” and/or the group’s merchandizing ubiquitousness — lunchpails, comic books, damn near anything they could squeeze a logo onto — remains debated.

The dawn of the 1980s saw the release of the band’s eighth studio album, Kiss Unmasked. Hard rock ballads were all the rage, leading to the release of “Shandi” as its firtst single. It stiffed, failing to reach the Top 40, and the LP broke the group’s platinum streak. By that time, Criss had become the first original Kiss member to leave the band.

The group’s follow-up, Music from ‘The Elder,’ was a 1982 concept album that added orchestration to the Kiss sound. It sold even more poorly, peaking at No, 75 and again failing to spawn a hit single. Frehley’s contributions to the record were reduced, including his crowd-pleasing signature solos, and Kiss began its tour to support the disc with Vinnie Vincent replacing Frehley.

Frehley’s Kiss career was over — for nearly a decade and a half — although he continued to earn royalties on the group’s next few albums. He formed Frehley’s Comet, a backup band that including drummer Anton Fig, who was part of The World’s Most Dangerous Band on NBC’s Late Show with David Letterman and Letterman’s subsequent CBS late-night talker. Under that moniker, the group released two studio albums, a self-titled 1987 set that reached the Billboard Top 50 and 1988’s Second Sighting, along with the concert disc Live + 1. The latter two reached the 80s on the album chart.The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard

Frehley released a second solo album, 1989’s Trouble Walkin’, that failed to reach the top half of the Billboard 200. That disc marked Frehley’s first collaboration with Criss in nearly a decade. The ex-Kiss drummer sang backup on some tracks, as did Sebastian Bach, who was just about to hit the big time with his band Skid Row.

Fast-forward to 1996, and all four original Kiss members reunited for what was billed as its “Farewell Tour” — it ended up lasting more than five years. Its 1998 album Psycho Circus would become the highest-charting record of the group’s career, reaching No. 3. Frehley and Criss mostly were on the sidelines during its recording, though.

Frehley resumed his solo career in the mid-2000s, releasing his third album, Anomaly, in 2009. He would put out a few more solo discs through last year’s 10,000 Volts.

Kiss, of course, continued to tour with Simmons, Stanley and myriad guitarists and drummers. Personal spats and legal battles would keep Frehley and Criss out of the mix, for the most part. Both reportedly refused invites to rejoin Simmons and Stanley for Kiss’ farewell shows in 2022.

The original foursome reunited onstage one last time for its 2014 Kiss’ induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which came after 15 years of eligibility. During his speech that night, Frehley said: “When I was 13 years old and I picked up my first guitar, I always sensed that I was gonna be in for something big. And several years later, we got together — and you know the story. It’s all Kisstory.”

Watch Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello induction speech here:

Along with Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, Frehley had a few TV and film roles over the decades. Frehley and his bandmates re-enacted a ’70s-era Kiss concert in the 1999 film Detroit Rock City, and he did a cameo in a 1998 episode of Millennium and voiced himself in a 2001 Family Guy episode. Frehley’s “New York Groove” played in a 2019 episode of The Simpsons and a 2016 episode of Girls, among other appearances.

Kiss’ Frehley-era music has played in many movies over years, ranging from Endless Love and Dazed and Confused to Beautiful Girls, Magic Mike and Wet Hot American Summer. Countless TV Shows have rocked with Kiss including such classic series as The Sopranos, Stranger Things, ER, The Simpsons, Full House, Freaks and Geeks and Dharma & Greg.

The band also has been the subject of numerous documentaries, and their early years were chronicled in the 2023 film Spinning Gold, about the rise and fall of Casablanca Records founder and leader Neil Bogart. The band also famously was name-checked in Cheap Trick’s first U.S. single “Surrender,” when Robin Zander sings: “When I woke up, Mom and Dad are rolling on the couch/Rolling numbers, rock and rolling/Got my Kiss records out.”

Frehley’s autobiography, No Regrets – A Rock ‘N’ Roll Memoir, was published in 2011.