Peter Criss

This article is about the musician Peter Criss. For his solo album of the same name, see Peter Criss (album) .

Peter Criss, 1995

Peter Criss (actually Peter George John Criscuola , born December 20, 1945 in Brooklyn , New York City ) is a founding member and former drummer of the rock group KISS .

Life

Peter Criss is the eldest son of Joseph and Loretta Criscuola and has four siblings, namely his brother Joey and the sisters Nancy, Joanne and Donna. The family lived in an apartment on the first floor of a house in Williamsburg . As a child Peter sang in the church choir, and he was early friends with Jerry Nolan, who later became drummer for the New York Dolls . Both adored Gene Krupa , he was Criss' musical idol .

First bands

Criss first known engagement as a musician was that of the drummer in the group The Barracudas , which released a single in 1967 and 1968. The group consisted of Angelo Opper, Carlos Cancel, Peter Criss and Alan Rosen. In 1966, Criss also accepted the offer to help out the Joey Greco Band , and he also played with Angelo Opper on The Sounds of Soul , which broke up in March 1968.

nautilus

His next group was Nautilus. This band, which was founded in May 1969 with Kevin Reese (guitar), Criss on drums and vocals, and Pepi Gennarelli (keyboards) and joined in September 1969 with bassist Peter Shadis, was not particularly successful. On January 31, 1970, Criss married Lydia Di Leonardo, whom he met in 1966 at a Barracudas concert . Jerry Nolan was his best man.

Chelsea

Chelsea, the group to which Criss belonged from the summer of 1970 to 1972, was his most successful band to date: the group released a self-titled album on Decca Records in the fall of 1970 . The album also played John Cale , co-founder of Velvet Underground ; he contributed a viola solo.

Lips

Before Chelsea could record another album, guitarist Chris Aridas left the group and was replaced by Stan Penridge. Chelsea worked on demo recordings for a second album, but only four tracks were made before the band broke up. The remaining three musicians Criss, Penridge and Michael Benvenga founded a new formation called Lips. Lips recorded several pieces between 1970 and 1972, but it was not enough for a record deal. The songwriters were Criss and Penridge, and many later published tracks were created around this time, including the song Beck , which became Beth in 1976, making it the first big radio hit for Kiss. Michael Benvenga left the band when he noticed that there was no success. He died in 1977 at the age of 28.

Kiss

After separating from Chelsea, Criss advertised a classified ad in Rolling Stone Magazine on August 31, 1972 ( EXPD. ROCK & roll drummer looking for orig. Grp. Doing soft & hard music. Peter ), and was played by Gene Simmons , the bassist and singer the group Wicked Lester, invited to a meeting. The widely spread story that the text contained the words “willing to do anything to make it” is wrong. Wicked Lester recorded an album, but it wasn't released until 2002. Simmons and his partner Paul Stanley broke up the group and formed the band Kiss with Criss, which Ace Frehley joined shortly afterwards .

Make-up sample by Peter Criss

Kiss released their first record in February 1974. From the start, wore Criss the cat - makeup KISS and did not show his face more bluntly in public. Peter Criss' greatest hit with Kiss was the ballad Beth , which he penned and which he often sang at the end of hard rock shows with the participation of a symphony orchestra.

At a party at Rod Stewart's 1978, Criss met Debra Jensen, who appeared with Hugh Hefner at the party. He invited her to come with him to Vincent Price's house that he had rented . Both got closer and began an affair.

In 1978 Peter Criss lost control of the vehicle under the influence of narcotics while taking a ride in a rented Porsche in Marina del Rey and crashed into a tree. He was catapulted out of the car through the windshield and sustained broken arms that required hospitalization. His co-driver, tour manager Fritz Postlethwaite, had to be taken to hospital with third-degree burns because he could not get out of the burning wreckage quickly enough.

On September 18 of the same year his solo album "Peter Criss" was released (all four Kiss musicians released their solo albums at the same time). He dedicated his album to the musician Michael Benvenga, who died the previous year and with whom he had played at Chelsea and Lips.

Main article: Peter Criss (album)

Criss had developed a serious drug problem in the course of time, so that the band was already thinking about separating from their drummer during the production of the album Dynasty . Criss had previously threatened to leave the group. Although indicated as a drummer, he only played one track on the 1979 album Dynasty ( Dirty Livin ' ) and not at all on Unmasked from 1980, but he was seen in the video clip for "Shandi". On September 13, 1979 Criss was from his first wife, Lydia, divorced, in December, he married Playboy - Playmate Debra Jensen.

In May 1980 he officially left Kiss due to musical differences, but kept his contractually agreed 25% stake in the group. The real reason for his departure, however, was that he was barely able to play because of his drug problems. His instrument at Kiss took over after Eric Carr was expelled .

Solo career

Criss then released two solo albums, Out of Control (1980) and Let Me Rock You (1982), both of which were released on Kiss' record company Casablanca Records . His daughter Jenilee was born on April 7, 1981.

In contrast to Out of Control , which contained tracks written almost exclusively by Criss, Let Me Rock You came up with songs mainly written by other artists in 1982. The album contained a cover version of the John Lennon song Jealous Guy , as well as the title Tears , which Vincent Cusano had written with Adam Mitchell. The track Feel Like Heaven , written by Gene Simmons and not used by Kiss, was also part of the record. Other Let Me Rock You writers included Steve Stevens ( First Day in the Rain ), Russ Ballard ( Let Me Rock You , Some Kinda 'Hurricane ) and Vini Poncia , with whom Kiss worked on Dynasty and Unmasked . Both albums were not commercially successful.

In 1984 Peter Criss and Debra Jensen divorced.

In 1986, Criss ceded his stake in Kiss to Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. He sang backing vocals on the title Best in the West of the group Black 'n Blue , the album Nasty Nasty was produced by Gene Simmons, in 1989 he took with Ace Frehley the backing vocals for the title 2 Young 2 , Hide Your Heart and Trouble Walkin ' for his album Trouble Walkin' .

In November 1988, Kiss released the best-of album Smashes, Thrashes & Hits , which was titled Beth , which Criss had written with Stan Penridge and Bob Ezrin and which was Kiss' first radio hit in the United States. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley Criss had obtained permission to publish the song, but had not informed him that his successor in the group, Eric Carr, would sing the song.

On January 1, 1991, the anniversary of Criss' mother's death, The Star newspaper published a report that Peter Criss had lost everything and was homeless under a bridge. The report was based on an interview a reporter for the newspaper allegedly had with Criss. In fact, the person was Christopher Dickinson, who looked vaguely like Criss and hoped to make some money from the story. The two met on February 5, 1991 on the TV show Donahue . Criss founded the band named after him, Criss . The group consisted of Mark Montague (bass), Kirk Miller (lead guitar), Mike Stone (vocals) and Criss on drums. In 1993 the band released a limited EP called Criss , which contained five tracks; The cover featured the drummer with his face half made up with the Kiss make-up. The EP also included a re-recorded version of Beth . In August 1994, the group released a full album called Cat # 1 , which included Ace Frehley on three tracks; Kirk Miller had since been replaced by Mike McLaughlin.

Reunion with Kiss

Peter Criss returned to Kiss in 1996 to reunite the original line-up, left the band again in December 2000 and returned once more for a 2003 tour. Eric Singer has since taken over his job at Kiss.

In 1998, Criss married for the third time and returned to solo projects: in 2007 he released an album entitled One for All , which reached number 36 on the Billboard Independent Album Chart. He announced that he would be working again on his autobiography, which was finally published in May 2013 ( Makeup To Breakup , German unmasked ). He also devoted himself more to his family.

After he was diagnosed with breast cancer, he received successful treatment and is actively working on cancer education and cancer prophylaxis. His main focus is to make it clear that men can get breast cancer too.

In 2010, Criss was working on a new rock album that also included former Frehley's Comet guitarist Richie Scarlet.

Discography

• Peter Criss , Casablanca Records, 1978
• Out of Control , Casablanca Records, 1980
• Let Me Rock You , Casablanca Records, 1982
• Criss (EP), Tony Nicole Tony Records, 1993
• Cat # 1 , Tony Nicole Tony Records, 1994
• One For All , Neo Megafo, 2007

Bands before kiss

• Stars
• Joey Greco & The In Crowd
• Barracudas
• Sounds Of Soul
• The Brotherhood
• nautilus
• Chelsea
• Lips
• Infinity

Bands after Kiss

• Solo (1980-1983)
• The Alliance (1984–1985)
• Balls Of Fire (1986)
• The Tree / Keep (1989-1991)
• Criss (1992-1995)

literature

• Peter Criss: Makeup to Breakup: My Life In and Out of Kiss, ISBN 978-1-4516-2082-5
• Peter Criss: Makeup to Breakup German title: Ungeschminkt: The official autobiography, ISBN 978-3-931624-75-0
• Lydia Criss: Sealed with a Kiss. Lydia Criss Publishing, ISBN 1-56849-739-3 .
• KISStory. Kisstory Ltd., 1994.
• Jens Reimnitz: KISS Creatures of the Dark fan book. City Rock Entertainment.
• Peter Criss, Larry “Ratso” Sloman: Makeup To Breakup. Scribner / Simon & Schuster, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4516-2082-5 .

Web links

Commons : Peter Criss  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• petercriss.net - Official website of Peter Criss
• kissonline.com - Official Kiss website
• Peter Criss in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Lydia Criss: Sealed With a Kiss. Lydia Criss Publishing, ISBN 1-56849-739-3
2. ^ ^{A b} Dale Sherman: Black Diamond - The Unauthorized Biography of Kiss. Collectors Guide Publishing, 1997, ISBN 1-896522-35-1
3. ↑ Background information and audio samples at kiss-related recordings (English)
4. ^ Photo of the original ad in the book Sealed With A Kiss. Lydia Criss Publishing, 2006
5. ^ The New Peter Criss Is a Different Drummer: Remarried, Unmasked and Kiss-Less . In: People Magazine , October 20, 1980 (English)
6. ^ ^{A b c} Curt Gooch, Jeff Suhs: Kiss Alive Forever - A Complete Touring History. Billboard Books, 2002, ISBN 0-8230-8322-5
7. ↑ Dale Sherman: Black Diamond 2 - The Illustrated Collector's Guide to Kiss. Collectors Guide Publishing, 1997, ISBN 1-896522-36-X
8. ^ Ex-Kiss drummer Peter Criss had breast cancer . Welt.de. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
9. ↑ Interview. ( Memento of the original from February 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. rockmusicstar.com (English) 
10. ^ Makeup to Breakup: My Life In and Out of Kiss . Scribner, ISBN 978-1-4516-2082-5 .