Ace Frehley

This article describes the musician. For his album see Ace Frehley (album) .

Ace Frehley logo (from 1989)

Ace Frehley 2011

Ace Frehley (born April 27, 1951 in New York ; actually Paul Daniel Frehley ) is an American musician . He is co-founder and former lead guitarist of the hard rock - band Kiss and founder and namesake of the group Frehley's Comet . With Kiss he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .

youth

Frehley was born in Lebanon Hospital in New York and grew up in the Bronx as the youngest of three children of Carl Daniel and Esther Anna Frehley (née Hecht). His maternal grandfather came from the island of Rügen . The Frehleys were a musical family, in 1964 Ace got an electric guitar from his father . He taught himself to play by himself . Frehley names guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix , Pete Townshend and Jeff Beck as his main musical influences. He has a brother (Charles) who played with him in his first band, The Micro Organism, and a sister, Nancy. Frehley attended Grace Lutheran Elementary School (elementary school), then the Our Savior Lutheran High School , before joining the public DeWitt Clinton High School, whose alumni also Ralph Lauren , Stan Lee and Robert Altman are. As a teenager he was a member of the Irish influenced gang The Ducky Boys . At the age of 17 he was expelled from that school and then attended Roosevelt High School. He left this school in his final year of school, so that he was initially without a degree. He met Jeannette Trerotola, who was a year younger than him, when he was eighteen. Trerotola exerted a positive influence on him and led him to his conclusion on the night school to make up the Roosevelt High School.

On July 17, 1970 he was able to work as a roadie for a performance by Jimi Hendrix at the New York Pop Festival and to set up the drums together with Mitch Mitchell due to the loose habits at the concerts taking place at the time . As a result, he often tried to get access to his musical heroes in this way, including on August 6, 1970, when he was used at the Festival for Peace in Shea Stadium to replace the guitar of Steppenwolf founder John Kay with new strings to provide. For the young Frehley these were impressive events that cemented his desire to make a living from music.

KISS

Ace Frehley in typical pose during his time with Kiss (1977).

Frehley played guitar in a number of local bands, including others in "The Micro Organism" and "The Exterminators" (both around 1965), "The Four Roses" (1966), "The Muff Divers" (1967), "King Kong "(1968)," Honey "(1968/1969) and" The Magic People "(1969). He then became a member of "Molimo", with whom he began recording an album on RCA Records in 1971 , which was never completed and therefore not released. He responded to a classified ad placed by Paul Stanley , Gene Simmons and Peter Criss in the weekly newspaper The Village Voice (" Lead guitarist wanted with swank and talent. Album coming out soon. No time wasters, please. Paul") asking them to hire a guitarist for their band Wicked Lester searched and was hired. In January 1973 it was agreed to change the band name to Kiss , and Frehley designed the band logo. When the band decided to wear makeup for live performances , Frehley became Space Ace , "a strange visitor from the planet Jendell".

The first Kiss album was released in February 1974. Frehley's only song contribution was "Cold Gin", which was sung by Simmons. Frehley wrote more songs for the band over the next few years, but it was not until 1977 before he interpreted one of his tracks himself ( Shock Me ). In addition to his eccentric guitar solos, Frehley's trademark were show effects such as smoking, glowing and blazing guitars.

In 1978 all Kiss band members released their own solo album at the same time. Frehleys was the best-selling of the four, reaching number 26 on the Billboard 200, and the single New York Groove (written by Russ Ballard ) even reached the top 20 in the United States. Frehley's presence within the group increased and he contributed three tracks each for the albums Dynasty and Unmasked . Nevertheless, he found himself increasingly at odds with the musical direction of the band, due to his dissatisfaction, his contribution to the 1981 album Music from the Elder was far less than on previous albums. The situation was further exacerbated by Frehley's alcohol and drug abuse .

Solo career

In 1981 Frehley took part in the recordings for the album Eugene by Crazy Joe & The Variable Speed ​​Band, the title track being by Frehley and Crazy Joe Renda. Frehley produced the piece and also played e-drums on it . The album was released by Casablanca Record & FilmWorks . The band around Crazy Joe Renda also included bassist John Regan, who three years later belonged to Frehley's Comet ; keyboardist Rob Sabino was also involved in the recording of the album, but did not play on the track Eugene . Later on, Sabino was briefly (1985/86) a member of Frehley's Comet. Frehley left Kiss in 1982 and renounced the twenty-five percent stake in the band when he left.

Frehley was rumored to be producing a demo tape for the group WASP , while Kiss worked with fellow guitarists on the album Creatures of the Night . Frehley had been friends with WASPs singer Blackie Lawless since childhood in the Bronx. In 1983, after a police chase in which he drove the Bronx River Parkway in New York in the wrong direction with his DeLorean while drunk, causing an accident , Frehley's license was revoked for six months . He processed the chase in 1987 for the song Rock Soldiers .

In 1984 Frehley founded his band Frehley's Comet and recorded some demos with Eddie Kramer , who had already produced Frehley's Kiss solo album, and with the help of producers Vini Poncia , Chris Kimsey and Tony Bongiovi. A previously signed record deal with Bronze Records expired when the label went bankrupt, but Frehley managed to secure a contract with Atlantic / Megaforce .

The band released their first album in 1987 with the band name as the title. It was produced by Eddie Kramer , who had previously produced not only a number of Kiss albums but also Frehley's 1978 solo album and some of his demos between 1984 and 1985. Frehley's Comet offered a mixture of hard rock and pop and climbed to 43rd place on the Billboard charts, the single "Rock Soldiers" reached number 27. Despite positive reviews and good sales, the band was not granted long-term success, it only followed two more moderately successful albums ( Live + 1 and Second Sighting ), so that Frehley broke up the band in 1989.

In the same year he released the album Trouble Walkin ' as a solo artist, but the sales figures were even worse than when his band was last released. After 20 years, Frehley released another solo album called Anomaly in September 2009 . Almost at the same time a new studio album by his former band Kiss was released. In addition to number 27 on the Billboard 200, Anomaly reached number 8 in the Billboard rock album charts (two weeks) and number 2 in the independent album charts (six weeks).

Frehley also released a DVD in the Behind The Player series in 2010 . In the instructional video he shows how his songs Cold Gin and Shock Me (both Kiss classics) are played, gives insights into his current collection of instruments and his equipment and has an interview ready. There are also various jam sessions, including those with John 5 , George Lynch , Matt Sorum , Chris Wyse and Tommy Clufetos.

On November 1, 2011 , Frehley's autobiography No Regrets was published by MTV Books, a subsidiary of the US publisher Simon & Schuster . Frehley had stated in various interviews that he would also use the memories of former companions, such as roadies , bodyguards and technicians, because, due to his alcohol addiction , he could no longer remember all the events in which he was involved was. The book was created in collaboration with Joe Layden and made it onto the New York Times bestseller list , where it reached number 10 on November 20, 2011.

The founding members of the group Kiss were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 and inducted in February 2014. In the same year, Frehley's next album, Space Invader, was released . The record deal concluded for this with the label eOne provided for the release of three albums, two of which should each contain a collection of cover versions of well-known songs. The first cover album from this contract, Origins Vol. 1 , was released on April 15, 2016.

KISS reunion

For a few Reunion - tours Frehley played between 1995 and 2002 back together with the original lineup of Kiss. In 1998 he recorded the studio album Psycho Circus as part of this original line- up. Guitarist Tommy Thayer has since taken over his role with Kiss .

Death rumor

On Friday, February 23, 2007 the rumor of an alleged suicide from a pill overdose began to circulate on the Internet. Frehley responded with the Mark Twain quote: "Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated".

Trivia

According to his own information, Frehley was abducted by aliens several times from 1968 onwards.

Discography

With Kiss (without compilation albums)

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Ace Frehley   US 26th 10/14/1978 (23 weeks) Frehley's Comet   US 43 05/23/1987 (25 weeks) Live + 1 (as Frehley's Comet)   US 84 02/27/1988 (10 weeks) Second Sighting (as Frehley's Comet)   US 81 06/11/1988 (13 weeks) Trouble walkin '   US 102 11/11/1989 (9 weeks) Anomaly   US 27 October 03, 2009 (4 weeks) Space Invader   DE 42 08/29/2014 (2 weeks)   CH 30th 08/24/2014 (2 weeks)   US 9 09/06/2014 (3 weeks) Origins Vol. 1   DE 54 04/22/2016 (1 week)   AT 51 04/29/2016 (1 week)   CH 44 04/24/2016 (1 week)   US 23 07/05/2016 (2 weeks) Spaceman   DE 45 10/26/2018 (1 week)   AT 38 11/02/2018 (1 week)   CH 28 28.10.2018 (1 week)   US 49 03/11/2018 (1 week)

• 1973: KISS
• 1974: Hotter Than Hell
• 1975: Dressed to Kill
• 1975: Alive!
• 1976: Destroyer
• 1977: Rock and Roll Over
• 1977: Love Gun
• 1977: Alive II
• 1979: Dynasty
• 1980: Unmasked
• 1981: (Music From) The Elder
• 1996: MTV Unplugged
• 1998: Psycho Circus

As a solo musician

• 1978: Ace Frehley / KISS
• 1987: Frehley's Comet
• 1988: Live + 1 (EP)
• 1988: Second Sighting
• 1989: Trouble Walkin '
• 1997: 12 picks
• 1998: Loaded Deck
• 2006: Greatest Hits Live
• 2009: Anomaly
• 2014: Space Invader
• 2016: Origins Vol. 1
• 2018: Spaceman

Video albums

• Frehley's Comet: Live + 4. Atlantic Video, 1988; 50131-3.
• Behind the player. (Instructional video), Season of Mist, 2010.

literature

• Lydia Criss: Sealed with a Kiss. Lydia Criss Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1-56849-739-3 .
• Ace Frehley, Joe Layden: No Regrets. MTV Books, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4516-1394-0 .
• Ace Frehley, Joe Layden: No Compromises , ISBN 978-3931624705 .
• Gordon G. G Gebert, Bob McAdams: Kiss & Tell. Pitbull Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0-9658794-0-2 .
• Jeff Kitts et al. a .: KISStory. Kisstory Ltd., 1994, OCLC 35269726
• Wendy Moore: Into the Void ... with Ace Frehley. Pitbull Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-9658794-4-5 .
• Jens Reimnitz: KISS Creatures of the Dark fan book. Augsburg 2001, ISBN 3-926794-35-6 .

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ace Frehley Gives Us a Ride Around His Old Bronx Stomping Grounds. ( Memento of September 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) villagevoice.com, accessed on September 11, 2014.
2. ↑ Above the Clouds In: Rocks, the magazine for Classic Rock. Issue 05, May 2014, p. 31.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Ace Frehley: No Regrets. Simon and Schuster, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4516-1394-0 .
4. ↑ Bob McAdams. In: Kiss & Tell. Pitbull Publishing, 1997, p. 4.
5. ↑ http://www.kissfaq.com/focus/kiss_family2.pdf Genealogie Dead Link | url = http: //www.kissfaq.com/focus/kiss_family2.pdf | date = 2018-08 | archivebot = 2018-08 -21 23:59:08 InternetArchiveBot}} (link not available)
6. ↑ Reproduction of the ad in Frehley's autobiography: LEAD GUITARRIST WANTED With Flash and Ability. Album Out Shortly. No time wasters please. Paul
7. ↑ Ace Frehley at Allmusic (English)
8. ↑ Crazy Joe & The Variable Speed ​​Band: Eugene ; Casablanca Records / Polygram USA - LP - NBLP-7254
9. ↑ Curt Gooch, Jeff Suh: Kiss Alive Forever - A Complete Touring History. 1st edition. Billboard Books, 2002, ISBN 0-8230-8322-5 .
10. ↑ Information about this demo. kissfaq.com
11. ↑ Blackie Lawless interview. Backstage Axxess.com, accessed June 11, 2010 . 
12. ↑ Information on Frehley's demos. kissfaq.com
13. ↑ Billboard Charts for Anomaly
14. ↑ ACE FREHLEY: 'Rumors Of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated'. (No longer available online.) Blabbermouth.net, archived from the original on February 25, 2007 ; Retrieved February 23, 2007 . 
15. ^ Ace Frehley of KISS claims to have been abducted by aliens. Who else? ( Memento of July 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: The Examiner , accessed July 18, 2015.
16. ↑ Chart sources: Germany - Austria - Switzerland - US
17. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .

Web links

Commons : Ace Frehley  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ace Frehley in theInternet Movie Database(English)